Magic Rat

I voted 6 The club has made a fool of itself in its handling of Isak - they were always going to sell - not having a replacement for Wilson sorted early in the window and overpaying for Wissa out of desperation. They should also have walked away from Wissa when he went on strike, buying a player who goes on strike because they are being asked to fulfill their contract is not a good look and will come back to haunt them again. Isak won't be the last. In actual playing terms I think it's a small step forward in the first 11 - depending on how big Nick and Wassa fit in - and in squad depth a strong step forward in a Champions League year and when we want a couple of good cup runs. But with the possible exception of Big Nick noone special. If we didn't know before we found out that we can't attract the top stars yet, and the one we had wanted to leave. That could take a good few years of being in the final stages of tournaments. So improving squad depth may turn out to be a strong positive. But it's looked amateur. The new CEO has a lot of work to do.

Maybe we should try to sign the man who makes the decisions at Brentford. No to play but to add backbone to the Board

So it's looking like Wissa throws his toys out of the pram and doesn't get his move - and rightly so, well done Brentford for sticking to what you think is right for Brentford. Newcastle should have withdrawn from that. Isak throws his toys out of the pram with added tantrum and sulking and it looks like he's getting his move. Well that will be a lesson for players everywhere, and especially those dealing with Newcastle (assuming it happens).

Barca are skint. If they can raise £120m next year they are unlikely to want to spend it all on one player.

If the want Howe they can take a running jump. Rather Liverpool got Isak on a free than this lot getting Eddie.

I suspect that his agent has received very little in encouragement from any of the big clubs that they will be likely to be bidding over £100m for him in a year's time and / or NUFC would be prepared to sell them either. If he believed that such a deal was likely would he be adopting such a scored earth policy to try to force the sale to Liverpool now?

On this forum since Isak issued his statement last night the opinions against him from NUFC fans seem to have strengthened. His agent will be delighted. The more it appears that there is no way back for Isak with the fans the more likely the club is to sell to Liverpool. There are also a number of posts saying sell him to someone other than Liverpool. It's probably not a realistic option His agent most likely has already hawked him round all the possible clubs before landing on Liverpool. It's quite possible that only Liverpool with their £110m offer (probably hoping to settle at about £120m) was by far the best offer. If there was someone else there prepared to do a better deal (or even something similar) I suspect the agent would have got them involved by now. NUFC probably have the options of £120m from Liverpool, £90m ish from someone else or don't sell

A contract is a two way street. Had Isak been a flop on the field the club would have tried to offload him. But if they were unable to find someone who was prepared to give Isak personal terms that were acceptable to him Isak would have has the option of saying no and the club would have had to continue to pay him his contracted amount until his contract ran out. As he has been a success on the field he wants to move on. But if noone is prepared to pay what is acceptable to the club then he should honour his side of the contract. This idea that the club are at fault for not renegotiating his contract because he has been a success is a nonsense. They are trying to build a top class outfit under restrictions of PSR. To get the squad depth they require they can't keep upping what they pay their top stars.

Sounds like the type of player we would be better off without. Can't expect Isak and potentially others to behave with respect to the club if we sign someone who acts badly to their club.

If the bids and personal terms are about the same a footballer from Slovenia who is 22 and a few months (and has probably been told he's one of the best since he was in short trousers) will be asked to chose whether he wants to play for Manchester United or Newcastle United. If you were a 22yo from Slovenia which one would you pick? This transfer window is sending home just how difficult it's going to be to land the top players who have options. It shows the need to keep hold of a manager over a number of years who can do a bit each season to improve our attraction to the top class players.

Derby's premier league record under threat next season.

As Arsenal and Liverpool have to play each other...

If we can beat Arsenal at the Emirates then runners up possible.

Come on Ipswich

According to the international Commentator database ITV are taking Sky's commentary of Drury and Neville. Their normal commentator Sam Matterface is on Talksport. No idea if that is correct but in previous rounds the Sky commentary has doubled up as the World F eed international commentary.

Some of the applications would be for more than one ticket. You can normally apply for up to 6 named members on one application.

But who would be. Better captain? Tonali seems to keep his calm but I don't know if he is a leader. Tripps was a good captain but no longer good enough to start.

Bruno played better when he wasn't captain but unless Tonali is a leader I can't see who else could do the job.

Will bang his head on a low ceiling

Who is playing so badly that Long staff will be an improvement?

Another opportunity to be involved at the end of a competition (and a Europa League place for the winners). We need to take the very seriously. For me it should be the same team as against Arsenal except Miley in for one of the three centre backs. Tripos showed his value last night and needs game time. Possibly Pope in goal -depending on the reason Eddie stuck with Dubs against Fulham and Arsenal - and sub off Isak, Gordon etc if we go two up.

Current odds on Arsenal winning the Carabao Cup is 7/5. We are 6/1.