Checko

I still wonder if we might go three at the back a bit more. He'd be perfect on the left of a three and it would allow Tino and Newcastle United Fan Lewis Hall to just bomb forward with gay abandon.

I love a dodgy source rumour to be fair. Thought he looked great when we played them.

You can speak to a player from another club with written permission from his existing club.

He does dribbly dribbly. He does shooty shooty. And he does passy passy. Only silver cloud in us inevitably missing out on him is we won't have to go through the most excrutiating interview in NUFC TV history.

I watched a highlights video of Olise. I shouldn't have watched a highlights video of Olise.

Believe it's first of July so the fee counts for the next acounting period. He was in Chelsea's end of season retained list, so I think that means he's still contracted to them until the end of the season.

Not professional enough to spell his name right!

Reckon you'll be in for him? I heard he was a boyhood Man U fan and you can offer him a prestigious club, immediate European football, big wages and a clear starting spot in his favoured position. I'd be in on that if I was Man U. I imagine it's very unlkely we'll get him but a boy can dream.

And to the list of players whose firstname and surname can both be surnames.

He's got a good thing going on here with a team he's building and ambitious owners. Can't see him trading that in. Also his favourite part of the job is coaching and he basically won't get to do that for England. I can see him maybe doing it for a bit later on when he's burnt himself out here, but I'd be shocked if he went now.

I doubt him being an Ashworth signing is a factor in the sale. I imagine these prospect signings are scouting team & DoF territory, rather than the manager. Just seems like an obvious way to make a bit of money - he's had a good season, good stats, if people are interested it opens up the finances a bit and gives us more options in the market. I'd be suprised if anyone is offering the reported 40 million outright though, unless there's a bit of a bidding war. Maybe 20/25 million upfront with some extras and a sell on? There's probably a couple of other guys I'd sell first to make money, but you can't force peope to buy your players.

Dunno what happened with Sancho, but the flip in blaming Ten Hag is to say maybe Eddie should have found a way to integrate Ryan Fraser back into the squad instead of banishing him. Could have done with his little legs at times last season. Obviously Sancho is a much more valuable asset, but sometimes you've just got to put a red line in the sand to avoid crossing the rubicon to the tipping point of no return.

Wonder if they're going to start trying their luck with Football Manager streamers.

Probably nothing in this, but that's not going to stop me embracing that sweet, sweet righteous indignation.

Yeah, I can see the doctor asking him to sign a consent form for the examination and as soon as he does the doc rips off a prosthetic mask, A-Team style, and it's Todd Boehly holding a signed 8 year contract.

If Barca need to sell players I bet they're releasing rumours about bids at low prices to drum up some interest.

No idea what SKIMS is, googled it & from their website: "SKIMS is a solutions oriented brand creating the next generation of underwear, loungewear and shapewear." Quite frankly I'd rather they focused on creating a fucking right off solution.

Does anyone know how this works when there's an option year? If it's 4 + 1 year club option for example, I'd presume it's amoritised over 4 years until it's confirmed the option's been activated, at which point whatever's left goes over the rest of the contract?

Only concern really is his injury record, though the lack of a transfer fee certainly compensates for that. Seems a good player and professional, adds pace to our CB group, which we really need.

5+1 is a long deal for someone who's had a lot of injury issues.

Pope is 6' 6" Wiki has Trafford at 197 cm or 6' 6" - 197cm is actually 6' 4.5" Tranfermarkt has Trafford at 192cm which is about 6' 3". Tbh the Transfermarkt one looks most accurate based on random photo evidence.

The main issue for me would be, he's mainly going to improve by playing. Did well in League 1. Struggled in the Prem. Probably needs a year in the Championship now. Are we spending a lot of money on a prospect for him to not play and develop as much as he could do?

If someone was prepared to pay 35/40 million for Minteh it would seem a very good price for someone who's only played one season in the Dutch leage. That's what we played for Bruno and Botman, more experienced and established players. He obviously seems a very talented young lad, but maybe a bit raw and untested at the top level. He may well be worth more than that longer term, he may not, but it would be a guaranteed sort out of our finances in the short term and allow us to invest a bit more now, which would probably be worth it. The flip side is we do currently have a long-term vacancy at RW looking for filling, and who knows, he could be our guy in a year or two. A lot might depend on how our finances are.

C'mon you magnificent, sun-starved Nordic bastards, almost there.

5 minutes? Fuck off.