Sibierski

They sell him next summer for £35m + add ons to take the piss.

I decline.

“Isak has returned his Newcastle training gear. He has no intention of ever wearing Newcastle United training wear ever again”.

Nghouma is the Diaz replacement. Back up for Etitike would need to be Wirtz as a false 9, or Gakpo played there and Nghouma / Chiesa at LW.

Weakens someone who’s just beat them in a cup final, and will be troubling them in future seasons. Also the most sure thing for the win mode they’re in now. Don’t give Salah / VVD new wealthy deals then sign Wirtz for £100m to view it as a building block for next few seasons. They’re in “We have to win everything going for next 2-3 seasons” mentality, and Isak is as close to the best thing they can get for striker. Just hope it blows up this season, because after selling some youth (and more next summer to balance things), they’ll be a bit stagnated squad wise.

Scouts aware, but probably only have a years or 6 months so don't want to make the call unlike in the early days. All safe stuff these days, players we've known for multiple years. Which is fine to a degree, but it really does narrow down your scope when you miss out on targets as we're seeing with the striker. Gamble needs doing, and him at £25m mark is better than likes of Agahowa at £70m.

Striker has always been what's helped us. Even in the days of Wood, whilst not scoring, there was no denying just having a physical presence up there that knew how to play the role, press and bring others in elevated us. Can have a great defence and midfield, but if we don't have anyone competent leading the line, we're going to be so shit We're not a side that can roll out some lightweight CAM/Winger up front and continue as normal.

I really don't understand why we're not signing him for that price.

Think they go elsewhere. Seemingly only made a play for Isak as agent said he’s available and they made a move but were slammed away immediately as he’s not available. Diaz was always leaving and Nghouma (sp?) being promoted. Nunez always leaving and Eititke arriving, the Jota death then leaves an unplanned gap. A world class striker in Isak being available was an opportunistic move (otherwise they would’ve moved as soon as season ended), which after being pushed away, they’re better off leaving it till January or at worse going elsewhere. They have more than enough array of different players to slot up front if Etitike was ruled out for a period of time.

It's annoying he had a set back in pre-season, because he really should be at all full speed now and pushing to start first game. Instead, he's going to have wait for a serious league start and potentially be rusty. He doesn't strike me as a player that can just come in and out the side. Maybe with no striker for the first two games, we see a back 3 for one or both of the games and it something like: Schar, Botman, Burn Trippier, Tonali, Bruno, Tino Elanga, Gordon, Joelinton Out of possession Joelinton slots into midfield and we have Gordon / Elanga as pace outlets.

Torn between two things Friday night. Liverpool win and Etitike scores again, that surely reduces their appetite to pay £130m rising to £150m on another striker when one they've signed already has scored in their first two games? Liverpool lose, the noise will be ramped up again that a bid is incoming as they deflect the attention away from the result and the saga continues. Think if Liverpool win in that first scenario, it won't be long after for the narrative to shift and "Isak is ready to stay and fight for his space".

If he doesn't move this summer, I'd wager more money on him moving to Real Madrid on a free in 2026 rather than Liverpool. They need many CBs, especially if Alonso ends up settling long term on a 3-4-3 / 3-5-2. Only Rudiger (34 when contract ends in 2027), Militao (Solid, but injuries likely decimiated his reliability), Asencio (Prison) and Hujsen on the books. Konate is someone they seemingly will either push for this summer or take on a free next summer, but another CB will be needed next summer too if they want to cash in on Rudiger or Militao. Whilst Guehi isn't the elite, he's dependable and would slot into the group well.

I mean, if it hasn't happened by now, will it ever happen? Or are we 100% happy to go to the final 5 mins of deadline day, all hinged on Brentford getting a replacement then us not getting gazumped at the end by someone else? Just feels a mental thing to do if it's the latter, when we currently have no proper striker available right now.

Yea, that was a signing after getting UCL that gave the feeling “Yea, they’re not messing about. They’re going for top tier and getting them”.

If the feeling is Willock is off, then we should get both and aim to move Willock on in January for £15m+.

First game for them is so huge. Can’t be understated how hard it can be to shift a losing culture under a manager. This is suppose to be a fresh start, but if Arsenal turn up and win comfortably, the players will be back to last season mentality of being defeated at the first point of pressure in any game.

This imminent bid taking a while, again.

Muniz going to score a boatload for Atalanta and some of our fans will be questioning why we didn’t sign him.

We always would have to sell one of the big players to move forward, just during last season, Isak was 100% at the bottom of that. His stance this summer has now made him disappointingly number 1 guy, but giving we missed out on top targets, we can’t afford to sell him this summer. It’s better next summer even if it’s £100m rising to £115m because it gives us time to scout his replacement and how we spend that money on the correct purple. Rushing that in final week of this window can set us so far back.

Feels like we have: LCM - Joelinton, Willock, Miley, Ramsey CM - Tonali, Bruno, Miley RCM - Tonali, Bruno Probably going to need Miley to be a strong player for RCM.

But how many of them naturally play on the right of the midfield or deep? It’s an unbalanced collection to the left side we’ve assembled, all of similar profiles.

Hopefully it’s Willock, but who’s buying him after his latest injury

I don’t rate him, but City probably see him as best they can get right now and it’s a GK for post Pep (this could be Pep’s last season). With Ljinders there, there other signings, it’s a squad that’s being shaped for post Pep. God I hope Klopp rocks up there

I’m going to stick my tin foil hat on and say we’re expecting a serious bid to come in for one of Barnes or Gordon by end of window.

Really not sold on this deal. Theres enough injuries to make the deal more concerning too, all whilst the championship guy will move for less and be linked with £55m+ moves next summer.