Pablo

Brighton are very greedy when they sell, and the price is a lot for someone who mostly scores penalties and links up play. He might be Pedro but he’s no Peter the great. This is coming from someone who really likes him. I can’t stand Psr, and the cartel set up. We identified and wanted him 3 years ago and the stupid financial rules meant we couldn’t afford him at 25m, but now we can afford him at 60m. Im glad I don’t run my personal finances in the same way football clubs are forced to operate, I’d be ruined.

As a footballer I really like Joao Pedro, and I think he slots into the team to help us become better in position and progress up the pitch. I was all in on signing him 2 or 3 years ago. I can’t help but think we have missed the boat in terms of a fair or even a good value though, and should be walking away at anything over 45m. We aren’t a cartel club and psr means we need to make astute signings. Every mid table team is demanding obscene money for good players, it’s gone mad. At the price being banded about Cunha offers so much more in terms of output, admittedly being about 3 years older. Both pedro and cunha have discipline issues, so let’s not kid ourselves about no dickheads. I trust the scouting and the coaching and would rather buy 2 or 3 development players at a cheaper price to improve the squad, than go for ready made players from gimp clubs which will screw us financially. Any player we purchase at over 50m should be raising the ceiling and walking into the starting 11.

If the club want to spend the majority of our budget on Mbeumo, then I’m all in. No further debate. Personally, I think it’s a bad move. I just don’t trust him in a possession dominant team, as for me based on my eye test he isn’t that accomplished. He is more than handy in transition, and has overshot his xG for a while now. (Let’s not forget Darwin Nunez did similar pre Liverpool). He’s just another Harvey Barnes who has elite characteristics but not a complete game, who will have some amazing moments, but frustrate us too. There is clearly a love in with him amongst our fan base, so apologies to anyone who disagrees, it’s not personal, and debate is what makes the beautiful game so much fun. At £40m or so, it’s probably worth it for us, or if we sell a Gordon and get Mbeumo with a few £m to spare then I can also see some logic. The risk of a drop off, the ACON, and him being a double down on high press high intensity, just doesn’t do it for me. I firmly believe there are much more suitable players out there for significantly less. The main issue is we need to completely overhaul the squad, raising the floor and the ceiling (in certain positions) at the same time. It’s close to impossible to do what we need to do without more impeccable transfer business. What Eddie has done over nearly 4 seasons is a miracle. I have every faith he will continue to perform minor miracles and just hope he has enough of a squad to handle the assault on 4 competitions. To be a fly on the wall during our transfer meetings…

I really thought we should have picked up Ekitike when he left PSG. Whether a loan or an outright purchase. Maybe we tried, kept it quiet, or maybe they lost faith in him after 2 public refusals. Young players can really damage their careers going to the super clubs too early. Very few are Bellingham at such a young age. I really hope we find a way to recruit Arda Guler this summer.

We looked at Kerkez the summer we signed Hall. More evidence that our scouting system is strong. Shame we don’t have the funds to pull the trigger more often.

Didn’t he say he would only return after we had won something…

Back to topic. Trippier, solid C

If you look who is immediately next to Tino on the pitch, it doesn’t help his development. An aging Schar and JMurph, and to a lesser extent our Gk and Bruno. Love them all, but I’m sure this affects our right backs game, as normal passing angles and passes received are from those players. He will get better again, as the quality around him increases. Totally wild and needless take to want to cash in or to criticise him on social media.

We under-value him. Always have since it turned out he wasn’t a £50m player good enough for Manchester Utd. Hes a fine understudy, good character, home grown which is useful for Europe. Not good enough to start regular, and I don’t want to rely on him. However it will be very rare the reason we lose is solely down to him. There are 10 other players on the pitch too. Would be a good pick up for a lot of teams. Happy to sell, but only when it suits the club. I trust Eddie to make that call.

Agree, we should pull out the stops to get another elite midfielder for lcm. In any other era we are on the brink of something special. The fact we can’t buy players to compliment the quality we have is so frustrating. We have 4 players who Grace any team in England, complimented by a handful of quality players and then some great grafters to support them. 3 additions to the first 11, with no injuries and we can go toe to toe with anyone in a one off game. Sadly we need another 10 players to challenge on all fronts. if we can keep the core, and mother age doesn’t beat us down, we have the potential to be the best team in England. Sadly, I just don’t see it happening as I dream, and we remain stuck in no man’s land bobbing between mid table and top 5. If I were a quality young player with time for a career to develop, we are the best destination is England. I’m just less sure a player at their peak pick us, until the financial handcuffs are off. Its both the most exciting and the most annoying time to be invested in this team.

But we buy 2 or 3 other key players, squad building. With luck, one of them turns out to be world class. I don’t want to do it, as I like having Isak as our talisman, but that is a legitimate strategy to improve as a team and as a club.

We were strongly linked with Cunha before he went to Wolves. That ship has sailed. Good player though.

Villa got an obscene amount for Grealish. Without that they wouldn’t have been able to have a go. They sold a 50m player for twice his value, and have been excellent ever since they replaced their fraud managers. if we could have sold one of our wingers, ASM. Miggy or Murphy for a similar amount, we would be title challengers now. Sad thing is, we spent good money on all of them. Shows the value of building your own ‘superstars’

I’m happy for Sven to be a rotation option. He’s done well since coming back, but after a serious injury, if we don’t have to force him to start every game, all the better

There’s a young lad at Forest called Elliot something or other, if we could attract a player like that it’d do wonders for our squad depth. He looks very well coached, greatly motivated and apparently loves Newcastle. Wonder what we could do to attract such a well rounded and versatile player.