SKD

I've not been made aware of any change (other than that generally the squad are happier with MP), but obviously he can only go if an offer comes in for him... As of yet one hasn't. That being said, I don't think he's the sort of person to go on strike, like VVD and he will only leave for a CL club. I'd say there is less chance of him leaving now Puel as gone (similar to a few others....), but I'm still expecting him to leave, lets hope I'm wrong. In my personal opinion, I still think he'll go to Chelsea.

Of course this is all my personal opinion and which I why I asked the question to gauge the responses. If I had the choice, given all circumstances, I'd sell him should an offer around our valuation come in. However it wouldn't be to Liverpool under any circumstances. It would leave VVD with 2 choices: 1) Shut up, get on with the job he is paid (very well) to do, in a professional manor. 2) Get his agent to tout him around and fanatically apologies to City, Chelsea ect.. for the embarrassment of the press saying he's turned them down.

If our back 4 looks anything like it did Saturday come the start of the season, we are in big trouble IMO. Still yet to see anything of this polish lad to suggest he's PL quality (given i've only seen him in 3 games and I'm willing to give him time to adapt but only as cover for the moment). Yoshida stepped up when needed last year was fantastic but still has a mistake in him. I would not be confident of having him as first choice CB. Stephens is a young lad, he will get better with game time and as it currently stands deserves a place in the starting 11. However, he is only a young lad and I don't think he's good enough (yet) to lead the line for a club that wants to push top 7. If VVD goes we need 2 CB's IMO, if he doesn't then we should get his replacement in this summer, ready to lead the line once VVD is sold next year. Add to that we will need a LB should Bertrand leave and I still feel we are weak at DCM and out wide (a genuine Mane type player). A number 10 would be nice and I think we've needed one for years, but I think we could get by without one for this season. It's worrying that we are a couple of weeks away from the start of the season and our squad is average, at best. A lot of work needed if you ask me.

How much longer does he have fans confidence and support, if we sell Van Dijk to Liverpool this summer? I don't intend this to become a slagging off session of Les and FWIW I've met him a couple of times and I actually think he's a decent bloke who's done a fantastic job for us. However, given he and Ralph have reiterated that Virgil is not for sale and the complaint to the PL about Liverpool, I think if Virgil goes to them this summer, it could be the straw that breaks the camels back for most fans, IMO. They're in a bit of a difficult situation really, as the player wants to go there and they're probably the only club that will match our asking price, but they just cannot (surely) sell to them given the two reasons as mentioned above. If they do, it will just make us look extremely weak and a bit of a joke if i'm honest. Personally I think this will drag on, but he will end up a Liverpool player at the end of the window which will be very disappointing.

As I've said previously Lovren, Alderweireld and Van Dijk would have been sounded out when Mitchel was still at the club. Ross' record in the transfer market has been somewhat questionable if I'm honest. I'm not convinced Ross is the right man for that role, which is concerning giving our business plan of buy cheap, develop and sell high as your recuirtment has to be spot on.

In which case it's a game of cat and mouse and we currently hold all the cards. If I was him/his agent I'd be going to the Victims and saying "I'll hand in a transfer request but I want you to pay my loyalty bonus". Also, what a crock of **** these loyality bonus' are. Demonstrates everything that's wrong with modern football.

I've been told, from a good source at united, that they don't rate him. This was early last season though so obviously things may have changed under Jose.

Let's be honest, it's the agent who's pushed this.

I'll repeat what I said a couple of days back, it's probably best we sell, just not to Liverpool. Also, how the FA cannot directly link this to tapping up is beyond me. Vile club with a vile set of fans.

Agree - anything slightly negative is jumped on by the usual suspects either calling you a troll or making up bullsh*t. FWIW I tend to believe Tom a few bits from what he has posted matches what I've been told (as I said previously, I've not been told that he's on strike, but that doesn't make it not true). It's down to you if you believe what you read, but from what I've been told, VVD wants to leave (to join Liverpool) and that he/his agent is pushing for a move.

He's a player we have tracked and wanted for some time. I've no doubt that we enquired about his availability, however given the state of this transfer window and the fact that Swansea want c.£50m for him, I very much doubt that we would peruse him (and rightly so, IMO). However that being said, £50m seems to be the benchmark for an above average player these days (look at Benteke to Palace for £30m last season, or Walker this season, and player values have only gone up since then). Perhaps Les and the board feel that a player valued at £50m today will be valued at £70m next summer. Whilst £50m is a ridiculous amount of money to me and you, realistically it's probably the equivalent of a £20m player 2 years ago and we could defiantly afford it. I'd love to see Sigurdsson in a saints shirt next season, however very much doubt that it'll happen.

Pretty sure that this is the case. I'm led to believe that Koeman wanted to play Toby DM with VVD and Fonte as Cb's.. It would probably have evolved into 3 at the back, but my god, it would have been amazing to see!

He was, he didn't like Puel (do you think that shows in his interview ) and was one of those that wanted out. I find him a very frustrating keeper. Sometimes I find myself thinking that he just doesn't save anything, then other times he'll have an amazing game (usually 2 or 3 a season), but they are generally shots that are straight at him. I also look back at the season before last and the impact he had when he came back from injury. He's not as bad as people make out and I'm not sure if we could do better, sensible to extend for a year as it'll add value to him, should we wish to sell.

If i'm being honest, I'm past the point of caring if he leaves, in fact I think we should sell, however I'll be really ****ed off if/when we sell to Liverpool. If I was Les or the board, I'd say to VVD you can go, should we receive an offer of £70-£75m, however you will go to Liverpool under no circumstances. If he then decides to throw his toys out of the pram, I'd point him in the direction of Berahino who was on the brink of joining Tottenham, but after a poor season or two is now at Stoke.

I agree. He was Bournemouth's best player for the first part of last year. £7m is nothing to a PL club however I would assume he'd be on a fairly high (for our standard) wage, which would obviously prove a risk given his injury record. When he's fit, he could and would give us the creativity from midfield we are lacking. Personally I'd take the gamble and offer a decent deal of x amount (I'd assume that'd be around £60k, at a minimum) when you're fit and available to play, and x amount (say £20-25k) when injured. Or heavily lean towards bonus'.

If you're struggling to find a position for him to "fit" he's clearly not the first name on the team sheet, is he.

This bit is true - Not sure about him being on strike, although I have been told he is 'fully fit'. It could just be that the club don't want to risk him or they are trying out other options for if or when he does leave. Personally I'm expecting him to go and if it does, IMO, it'll be to Liverpool. A bit of good news.... I know it's still early days, but from what I've been told (which has been very little for the past couple of months), it looks like the squad are getting on and are happy with Pellegrino.

I agree we were heading that way with Nicola, however it wasn't his money he was spending. Had Markus still been around who knows where we'd be, but he's not and therefore we could not let Nicola continue to act the way he did and spend ridiculous money that wasn't his. As for clubs that operate a similar business model to us, I'd look at Atletico Madrid, Dortmund, Monaco & Ajax (obliviously much bigger than us). You also have teams such as Sevilla / Bilbao from Spain and Hoffenheim / Hertha Berlin who are currently a good watch.

The main difference being, when he had to replace Toby and Lovren Paul Mitchell was still about (or at least his legacy and shortlist of players he looked at)... I'm not as convinced by Ross, I have to say.

From experience if it's in the Liverpool Echo, it's probably true. **** poor from the club if we give in and sell to Liverpool given the disrespect they've shown us. The fact the Liverpool speculation hasn't gone away, even tho they said they have ended interest, says a lot, IMO.

We should have done the deal with City or Chelsea at the start of the window, in order to give us time to snap up replacements. We could be in great danger of being left with £60m in our pockets, egg on our faces after selling to Liverpool and arguably on of the weakest back CB pairing in the league. We've generally been very good at finding CB's and i'm sure there is one out there we've got our eyes on. Lets just hope we can get it across the line, before the start of the season. We need to get points on the board early.

Fair point and I agree he'd make reasonable cover for Romeu. However, if we are to bring him in, I'd expect and want us to offload at least 1 CM that we currently have (probably Clasie). I'd be happy with this next season: --- Romeu / Chalobah -- New / PEH --- --------- Davis or new / JWP ----------- I guess my point is unless we're planing to sell, we should only bring in players that will improve our starting 11.

Could the same not be said about international players at all other clubs, therefore leveling this theory out?

We need quality over quantity, this summer. Chalobah and Bednarek (from the limited amount I've seen) are squad players. They would have been perfect last summer (when we needed a big squad for the demands of EL), but not this one. Any player we sign should be better than what we have in our starting 11.

The pool of English players is currently very very average.