Bunk Moreland

Worrying!

Laurens is basically Tier 0 for French players isn't he?

80m Euros isn't even £70m. I kneel before the God that is Andy Howe

He's the German Romano, for better or for worse. Probably Tier 1.5 (assuming Ornstein is Tier 0 and Romano Tier 1)

Aye, I was trying to look for that data before getting ahead of myself

Clubs don't own their own planes tbf, they just charter them as and when so there wouldn't be any outward signs pointing to a club. How often has it done the Frankfurt-Innsbruck route?

Was just watching the vid, here's what he said (in precis form) - Newcastle are working hard on the deal to sign Ekitike from Frankfurt - They are really pushing and working on the deal with the player's side and Frankfrut - This is happening as we speak, as opposed to in a few days or week - There's still interest from other clubs in Europe like Liverpool, who are waiting to see what happens with Nunez, and Chelsea who called for him at the beginning of summer - For Man United he looks too expensive - Claims to be in contact with people involved in the deal

Awkward

I had no idea we had a "Football Directorate" I thought a lot of those duties described were part of the Sporting Director role tbh

Looks like the games in Asia are on international TV, no news on the Sela Cup yet but it has been on abroad in previous years

I'm also excited that the new recruits, if we get them, will allow us to play in new ways and switch things up when a tactical change is needed to win the game. Feels like something we've not been able to do consistently under Howe yet.

Genuinely better than the club's media team Amazing lad, can't wait to see him play for us

“Eintracht Frankfurt asked Chelsea for £84m a few weeks ago for Hugo Ekitike,” he [Romano] told his YouTube channel. “However, there’s a feeling among top English clubs that Frankfurt may accept around £68m to £76m for him in the coming days or weeks.” I haven't watched it myself, but apparently it was in this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkf6f73Ii_s ) on his YT channel he said it, according to among others: https://chelsea.news/2025/06/fabrizio-romano-ekitike-chelsea/

I saw that Romano had mentioned Frankfurt had dropped the price in reference to Chelsea before they went for Joao Pedro. Think it was to about £65-75m as Ekitike wants to leave this summer and they hadn't had any bites at the release clause amount. I will try and dig it out when I'm at home if no one else can find it

Ah, makes sense. I thought they were trying to censor his top for some reason. Should have continued watching to see that everyone else wearing one wasn't being censored

The Athletic reported that Jamie negotiated directly with Marinakis on the Elanga deal, so looks like he's another great resource we can draw on if needed in the absence of an SD.

Who are these lads in the blue and yellow Adidas tops (in the reflection in the second pic) and why the censorship?

The idea that we can only work on one deal at a time is so farfetched that you'd expect anyone calling themselves a journalist to seek other sources to confirm its accuracy before spouting it. That's far too much to ask of football "journalists" though, I suppose. We know from this deal and others that Jamie Reuben, Eales, Nickson and Andy Howe all get involved in negotiations and dealing with players reps, not to forget the legal/finance team we have who work in the background on deals. The lack of sporting director is obviously not ideal, but it's not like the sporting director was even the one conducting negotiations in most cases anyway. Add to that the nature of transfer deals with there being a back-and-forth between the parties and liaising with the various legal and financial departments supporting the process naturally meaning the main deal team don't need to be focusing on each deal 100% of the time. I can't imagine being a fan writer or shitty Youtuber and not being incredulous about the claims Downie is reporting as fact, let alone a "journalist". Wasn't it widely reported a couple of weeks ago that we had bids in for Joao Pedro, Trafford and Elanga at the same time and that negotiations were being conducted simultaneously?