Matt1892

He’s playing well dropping deep to to lay the ball off and then going forward, he set Jacob Ramsey up as well with a good ball but Ramsey unselfishly played it across the box when he should have took the shot on. He found space for his goal and took it well but would likely have been offside I think if they had VAR, not Gordon but someone was interfering with play.

To save anyone reading… • We have spent the majority of our budget on Tonali. • Southampton want £30 million for Livramento, we have offered £21 million and will walk away if we can’t get an agreement this week. • Our most pressing need is a right centre back, we also want a left back and another centre midfielder. • No mention of wanting a right winger. • Looking throughout Europe for bargains or players we can take on loan with either an option or obligation to buy. • Interested in Kelvin Phillips on loan and we have tried for Gallagher on loan the last 2 windows. A nothing story.

Spurs are likely to be close to being done as well unless they sell Kane, they have spent a lump buying players that were on loan last season so no Improvement to the first team.

I thought his game evolved last year for him to become one of the stand out performers most weeks for us, he is getting in to some fantastic positions with the late runs in to the box and he now needs to find that composure with his finishing when making these runs at pace because his finishing is decent when he has time to compose himself. As fans we can be guilty of the other 89 minutes of a performance going out of the window and focusing on that one chance that was missed. Whilst he is clearly capable of scoring more due to the off the ball runs Howe has him making it is also worth remembering that he isn’t playing as a 10 for us and doesn’t take corners/free kicks so comparisons with midfielders that do in terms of goals and assists is unfair, he also has as much defensive responsibilities as Longstaff does when playing as a LCM. That isn’t to say we shouldn’t expect more from him when he does get in to those positions and i f he can do that then he could become one of the most dynamic midfielders in the league, the player Kieron Dyer should have become.

He would be a really good signing on a free transfer, although we would have to pay Arsenal compensation I believe. Similar to Willock with his movement and intelligence with the ball, they would know each other from their time at Arsenal being the same age. The downside is we should be aiming higher for the right wing, unless we are going to move on one of Almiron or Murphy to help with FFP.

Then you bring in someone like Tielemans or Lerma on a free if it is about squad depth, that or you spend more on someone who should improve the starting 11, like we have with Tonali over Longstaff. Spending big money on a player who isn’t going to improve the starting 11 would be daft unless it is part of some sort of succession planning, especially after we did it with Gordon.

I’m not convinced Thuram would improve our starting 11 once we sign Tonali.

I think it’s more likely that we sign someone unproven like Franca to play as an attacking midfielder that we can bring through rather than going big on a more experienced player, I wouldn’t be shocked if we don’t sign another midfielder. This is separate from a new right winger who will have that level of experience.

Here is an article about him from last summer when he was linked with Arsenal, it gives you an idea of the sort of player he is and his attributes. https://www.football.london/arsenal-fc/transfer-news/who-is-maxence-lacroix-arsenal-24455517?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target

Isak Joelinton Almiron Willock Tonali Bruno Almiron is a stand out weak link there.

If we buy another midfielder it will be a defensive midfielder. The creativity will come from a new wide right player.

The same people panicking on Twitter now are the same people who were trying to mock Hope about his budget story when we moved for Tonali just over a week ago. Such extreme highs and lows in their emotions. Almost Bipolar.

We arguably have the best squad out of Pots 3 and 4, so to say the squad isn’t CL quality seems harsh. A squad good enough to win it is a different thing altogether.

At the end of last season I wanted first team upgrades to Burn, Longstaff and Almiron, as well as some cover for Schar at the back. That is where my thinking is with this still. I do wonder if we are looking at players coming in to the final year of their contract from abroad that we are hoping to pick up at a discount, as if we have already tapped the player up their club will know we can sign a pre agreement from January. So the later in the window it goes the more they will be squeezed.

Reports have been between 2 and 5 coming in of varying quality. That was why I asked what would be considered enough.

How many is enough?

Nico Williams is a good shout, I know he was negotiating a new contract but he’s only got 12 months left and was looked at it January.

Any second CM for us will be low cost I imagine with any signing of significant cost would be on the RW. I know he has played there a few times this season but it is plausible that we want different attributes from a wide player, in the same way we didn’t follow up on Maddison.

Hypothetically if we triggered it late then Liverpool either need to decide straight away to do the same or RB would be under no obligation to accept their offer, so if he rejected us they can ask for more. Not that I think that is the case, I’m not convinced either feel he is worth the release clause, if we did then we would have tied him up before Tonali.

Linked with Bremer from Juventus in their local paper.

It is no different than taking a loan from a bank and won’t impact FFP, as if you pay all of the fee up front or in instalments the cost of the player is still stretched over the contract at a maximum of 5 years.

What would also help with FFP is extending the contracts of Joelinton and Bruno I think.

The Athletic were also making a big deal of Chelsea needing to get players off their books before July 1st to stop them going over FFP.

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