qwertyell

He's broken into the Belgian senior squad. There's not a chance in hell he slums it for a season in the championship when there's an international tournament next summer.

Maybe they can throw in a couple of their youngsters to sweeten the deal. I hear Jimmy Jay Morgan is quite promising.

The championship might turn out to be his level. Good dribbler, but lacks acceleration and body strength - and literally has no end product. Not sure his raw attributes are all that special, to be honest.

He stopped getting away with it. In his heyday at Chelsea, they always said Hazard was by far the worst trainer, never looked after himself with his diet or lifestyle, and was basically coasting through his career purely on his incredible talent. It's kind of remarkable how good he was able to become given his total lack of drive. But he wasn't a young man anymore when he joined Madrid. The body was starting to creak with all the accumulated injuries over the years, and he just couldn't be motivated to get properly fit. He was on a huge contract, in a place he always wanted to live, and pretty much checked out.

Tielemans is leaving on a free, as is Soyuncu. Castagne, Perreira, Ndidi, Justin, Daka, Dewsbury-Hall, Amartey, Souttar, and Faes will all find decent new clubs pretty easily if they want to. Leicester might have to subsidise part of their wages, but they'll be moved on without too much fuss. That Leicester squad should've never been in the relegation fight. They're a top 10 team. (I'd wouldn't mind Hamza Choudhury coming here. Think he's out of contract. 25 year old holding midfielder who likes a tackle/assault. We've lacked some nastiness for a long time. He can play a bit too.)

Not named in the Ghana squad for the upcoming African Nations qualifiers. Got to admire everyone's commitment to the cover up.

Well, he definitely left the Ghana squad after being called up at the last international break (March), and injury was cited as the reason. Chris Hughton, the Ghana manager, said he'd "suffered some recent injuries at his club". In mid-April, Ruben Selles talked about Salisu: "He went with the national team and had some problems in the past with us like in the game against Chelsea." "Then when he went with the national team, he felt it again. So when he came back we needed to put him into the injury process. He was expected to play today with the B team to try and get the problem solved, but he didn't feel great so he is not available. The injury is related with his hip abductor, there's been problems there during the season but it's got worse." What else is there to say? His two managers have confirmed he's injured. Unless you think they're both lying as part of some unspecified wider conspiracy which everyone is apparently in on except internet lemons.

Stoke forums I've read were thoroughly underwhelmed with Smallbone. The consensus was that he had barely a handful of good games and was otherwise an anonymous backwards and sideways passer who drifts through long runs of fixtures without making any impression at all. Apparently took all their free kicks and corners - and they were nothing special either. Maybe a decent squad option for us, but shouldn't be starting. Seems like he at least wants to play for us, though. Which is something unique, I guess.

I can certainly believe there'll be walking involved.

Unbeaten against Chelsea, Man United, Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool. Yet barely anything against the absolute dregs. A very strange few months.

Come on, Bournemouth. Everton'll shithouse a goal from somewhere, unfortunately. Bournemouth are putting in an honest shift, but they've not got a threat going forward. Everton are diving and rolling around every time they get in the box. They'll wear the ref down eventually.

If this is the standard of the top six in the championship, I think we'll do all right. Probably confirm survival with a couple of games to spare...

Is Nathan Wood worth a punt?

Swap deals never happen, but he's actually a decent young player. Not like for like with Lavia, but has what I consider the "modern" midfielder requires, which is to be comfortable taking the ball under pressure and move it progressively. He can twist and carry the ball well. I can see him appealing to Martin's supposed ethos. I'd like someone with a bit more physicality alongside him, though. Not that any of this is happening.

Sent off after 31 mins tonight. Second red card in half a season with St Mirren, when he hasn't even been a regular starter. I guess he's developing: he's gone from being a defensive liability to a disciplinary liability. Who also can't defend.

I think he'll probably carve out a good career for himself in time. Seems a very decent chap. But this wasn't the club, the situation, or the stakes to be learning on the job. That's on the board for giving him a hospital pass. No experience, not able to bring in any players or even any support staff - what were they expecting him to achieve with a squad that two experienced managers (a Bundesliga runner up, and, with respect, one of the best managers in Europe) couldn't squeeze a fucking thing out of? It didn't work. Obviously. It was never likely to. Good luck to him.

He turned down Ajax a few months ago. Linked with PSG recently - who he played for. Seems to be waiting around for the right job, not just any old offer. I suspect a Championship basket case run by a spreadsheet wanker is probably not the one.

Bella-Kotchap out, another 20 year old unit in. Why not? Wood's got a bit of a Chris Smalling vibe about him, I think. Not sure about Piroe or Grimes, but beggars can't be choosers - who knows what dregs we'll be left with after our summer fire sale?

Imagine how much higher they'd be if they just hoofed the ball away like a live hand grenade. Arteta's young. He'll learn.

The modern midfielder has to be press resistant, and Ward-Prowse just isn't. He doesn't have any pace and can't dribble, so when receiving the ball under any amount of pressure all he can really do is play the way he's facing - which is usually backwards, as he's never on the half turn. Any attempt to turn and wriggle away from challenges usually results in him losing the ball. He's not alone: former partner in crime Hojbjerg has been driving Spurs fans nuts with his backwards and sideways passing, as he's another that just can't move the ball progressively under stress. These are a still good players, but probably too limited for sides that aspire to be among the best. I'd be very surprised if Prowse moved to a top 6-8 side. Even more so if he's successful there. But good luck to him regardless. He's done his absolute best for us, and you can't ask for much more than that.

Aribo had worse numbers in Scotland than Elyounoussi. Let that sink in.

Ended the season playing a back 4 for the last 10 or so games - Swansea's best run of form of the campaign. So he seems flexible. Which is probably a bonus.

It'd be a very Sainstsy thing to do to sign 4 wingers in the last year (Edozie, Sulemana, Orsic, Amo-Ameyaw) - perhaps 5, as Aribo seems to think RW is his best position - and give new contracts to wingers Djenepo and Diamond Edwards, and then go and hire a manager who doesn't like playing with wingers. Although it does seem like Martin isn't totally wedded to his back three - Swansea finished the season with a back four for the last 10 games.

To repeat myself from earlier in the thread, Jones has played 2 games in 3 years due to knee problems, and reportedly hasn't even managed a single training session this season. Tuanzebe is talented and younger, but has also been ruined by injuries. Managed 5 games on loan at Stoke this season due to a back injury that also plagued him last season. 14 starts in 2 years isn't great.

Sunderland reportedly trying to get Matthias Jaissle from Salzburg to replace Tony Mowbray. If they can pull that off - persuading a current Champions League manager to slum it in the Championship - maybe we should be setting our sights higher than lower mid table Championship fodder.