Vaj

Just checking the comments to that post and all the Chelsea fans under it are not happy that they’re going for him, makes it more annoying if they do get him because I think he would be brilliant for us

Very frustrating if they sign Delap and Pedro over us, especially when they’re in a position to do so by bending the rules.

He can be slightly worse in every other metric but if he has good distribution then he will do more for the team than Pope. Distribution is huge these days and can enable us to have another element to our game

Chelsea

I was convinced that we were going to have a really good season under McClaren. He talked a good game in pre-season and we signed some really promising players to go with what we already had (Mitro, Thauvin, Mbemba and Wijnaldum). I think based on that he was the worst premier league manager for me, should never have gone down with the players we had

Wrong thread! p.s. sign Pedro

I think that gives you the option to buy a development player as the final centre mid. Maybe someone like Chukwuemeka (although he appears to be staying at Dortmund) that can fill in and hopefully decelop into a solid option over the course of the season

Yeah it would give us the option to go 4-2-3-1 or 5-4-1 as opposed to reverting to 5-4-1 no matter the opposition. For instance the Everton game I am sure we would have gone to a 4-2-3-1 with Joelinton out if we had the option of someone with the quality of Joao Pedro

Of course the owners aren't perfect and could do things better but in a PSR dominated footballing world that was inevitable. However, the achievements so far since they took over are amazing and we are only going to grow and get better and more consistent. Not even in July yet, I would love a signing as much as anyone but some perspective is needed.

Need to start him straight away to be honest. £30m to be on the bench is a lot of money on a goalkeeper and his passing could open so many doors for us. If he signs get him straight in there!

Don’t want to give them more money to potentially go for Isak but Elliott could be a great signing!

If you flip that bottom line round to 7 wins, 4 draws and 3 losses, which doesn't feel unlikely, then we would have finished second only four points behind Liverpool. That's is the obvious area of improvement. I feel like playing Tonali centrally has already improved our performances against these sorts of teams as the gap and recovery pace between defence and midfield caused us big problems in some of those games. Find a way to sort that and continue as we are in other games then we will have a great season.

All the local journos doing the same thing now. Reporting the exact same story but tweaking it ever so slightly to make it look like they had an idea when they don't have a clue. Douglas adding that it is £40 to £45m and Downie saying we have targets not in the public domain. Other than Ornstein, none of them have a clue.

Not a chance that Elanga wouldn't want to join us. Champions League with a team that has qualified twice in two years and won a trophy and the chance to play at club level with Isak and he obviously has some mates here as well as him. Or playing for the basket case owner at Forest for a team that is more than likely going to have a dip next year with just Conference League football. Anyone thinking he wouldn't want to come to us is clueless. The only way he wouldn't is if Chelsea or someone else comes for him for double the wages.

Where is £30 million from? Started most games last season, scored a decent amount of goals, now an England international and signed originally for around that amount originally. Would jump at £30m but surely they are going to want over £50m for him.

Trust the club with signings but going over £50m for Elanga will concern me, hopefully I am wrong if we do get him but just seems far too much money.

Risk comes when something happens like what has happened with Mudryk. They are stuck with a player on a long term contract now who will be suspended for a while and even when playing was useless so they won't be able to shift him for any money even when he does return.

There's a reason he might go to Turkey and that is because he is on the decline, they love a signing of a player on the decline. 12 league goals over the last three seasons.

At a wedding for the Villa game and at Leeds Festival for the Liverpool game, great start

I think getting a goalkeeper who is good with his feet is as important as any other position needed in this side with the exception of an RCB. To grow as a team we need a goalkeeper that is comfortable passing it out from the back and we need to get Botman back in instead of Burn. The problem of course is affording everything we need but I think the signing of Trafford would be huge long term. To challenge higher up and to stay there we need players in every position that are comfortable on the ball: Sign a goalkeeper Bring Botman back in Sign a right winger who can retain the ball more Sign a right sided centre back comfortable on the ball with a bit of pace Last piece would then be to sign another central midfielder who is comfortable at retaining possession to replace Joelinton (won't be this summer) People will moan that Pope, Burn and Joelinton have done so much for this team which I would not argue against, and they would still be in the squad and getting plenty of opportunities. But to progress into an elite team all those positions need to be filled.

Signed Tino and Hall for a combined £60m (according to Transfermarkt). They are already worth around £150m combined you would imagine, brilliant business!

I guess if teams of the quality of Ajax are interested and will play him (like Minteh at Feyenoord) then it makes a lot of sense to just do it. His best position is LW so he is going to be behind Gordon, Barnes and Joelinton in the pecking order here and that won't change throughout the season, best get him somewhere he will play.

I had the gross outlay as £210m (which may be ambitious): Trafford - £30m Forster - Free Guehi - £40m Ederson - £40m Madueke - £50m Joao Pedro - £50m

I don't think they will have problems shifting other players first. Martinez and/or Ramsey would be my bets for the pure profit that Ramsey would generate. Onana cost £50m so has a book value of £40m so they would have to sell for at least £60m you would imagine for it to make financial sense to even consider to sell.

I think Onana would be an amazing signing but I can't see Villa selling him. I think they are expecting him to go to another level this season, he has so many qualities.