Bunk Moreland

I'm guessing fines don't count as expenditure from a PSR perspective? Would be useful for us if they did here

Would love him. Reckon there could be a deal to do later in the window if Southampton don't do much other selling

He just retweeted this as well from the other week:

Aye, the Joao Pedro stuff has got me paranoid like Hopefully we've learned our lesson from that and are leaking this to Hardy because a deal is close (althugh I doubt it...)

Was scratching my head about why Hardy is saying "£30m-rated" as we all know it's more likely he'll cost £40m-50m at least. Must be from Transfermarkt because that lists his value as €35m. Why would you do that man

We are in such a great position to bed him in properly and give him the time he needs to recover/acclimate. Transfer makes sense on so many fronts, hopefully we can convince him of that

He has been good this summer. Got the rejected bids for Joao Pedro and Trafford last week before anyone else. I want to believe!

Think I remember reading that he had the most assists from crosses in the PL last season too

Definitely, put some proper sweet ones in for Wood last season

Alanga Asak Aordon

Looks like he did about 5-10 mins ago aye

Elanga is also more composed on the ball in general play which even during his purple patch has sometimes been an issue for Murphy imo

Classic Howe transfer... in that people who've never watched him play more than a handful of times think it's a waste of money while fans of his club who watch him every week are seething that the fee isn't high enough.

Apparently he's not convinced by them, although seems they've agreed a fee with Milan.

Nothing new. I suppose this tidbit is mildly interesting: "Ideally, Newcastle would prefer to bring in a chief executive before a sporting director but, should they decide upon the right candidate for the latter, those appointments could be reversed." Apparently CEO is in the final stages.

https://x.com/Be_OM13/status/1940093465049932228 Marseille fans responding to this thread in their droves saying they don't want to sell/want an outrageous price. Pretty good sign

Interestingly if we paid £35m it would be Marseille's record sale. Surprising (assuming the source I used is right).

From Hope's article: NEWCASTLE UNITED are exploring a move for MARSEILLE centre back Leonardo Balerdi. The 26-year-old Argentina international has been impressing under Roberto de Zerbi and has drawn enquiries from Juventus in recent weeks, having worked previously with their coach Igor Tudor at Marseille. However, with Juventus juggling a number of targets and their budget limited, Newcastle have sensed an opportunity in the window and are seeing if a deal can be struck around £35million.

Here's the actual article: https://www.bild.de/sport/fussball/rb-leipzig-kein-angebot-warum-der-klub-angst-vor-xavi-rueckkehr-hat-68623be9de41a677fd5554b9 Translation of relevent part: However, according to BILD, there hasn't been any inquiry from any other club so far. Recently, rumors of interest from Champions League participant Newcastle have circulated. But the English club hasn't made any moves yet. It's also questionable whether Xavi is up for it. It's rumored that he'd prefer FC Barcelona, where he trained in the youth system. But the Catalans have financial constraints and, in Nico Williams (22/Athletic Bilbao), have a completely different caliber of player on their list.

Possibly would need to bulk up a bit, but his off-the-ball work being so good makes me optimistic about him integrating more quickly. I would love the opportunity to find out which of us is right (as long as he comes here and not some other PL club)

Good point, although arguably those two came from a different pool of players than Elanga and the others we've been looking at this window. Think we just needed a couple of experienced operators in those positions at the time.

In terms of players who have a high chance of hitting the ground running, probably not. Monaco want £60m minimum for Akliouche for example, who I do think would hit the ground running in the PL. There will of course be cheaper options who would require a longer bedding in period. Hard to say if those cheaper options would constitute better value though, because the premium for PL players is about reducing risk of the player not being able to cope in the PL.