Dusic

According to Nixon, whose strike rate is even worse than Adam Armstrong.

I actually thought second half he was pretty much our only threat for most of it. He had a big role in the winning goal which was a great team move but he was the player who committed defenders and opened up a bit of space. Totally get that he is nowhere near a finished article but his potential is extremely obvious and whilst his decision making may not be natural, his ability to glide easily past opponents is also something inate rather than overly coachable. If he did it all then we would never have signed him because he would be in the City first team. Tella had shown pretty much no end product until last season in the Championship and I think Edozie could be a big player for us this season. Promising start for sure.

Plenty of time for desperate Prem clubs to meet our valuations. Still far, far more likely that proven PL, English players like JWP, KWP etc leave rather than stay. All this stuff about JWP only wanting to stay near to his home is also pretty ridiculous - plqyers are always moving all over the place and I highly doubt he would turn down a decent midlands or northern club because he only want to play for Bournemouth or Fulham so he doesn't need to move house.

Good to see him play well yesterday, was a big threat all game and had a hand in the winning goal. Yes his final ball/shot needs improvement but as that improves he will be a major weapon at this level. He had Paterson and Delgado on toast all game and got both booked as they couldn't really handle him 1v1, so created good set oiece opportunities also. Encouraging signs and good to see that he kept trying to be positive almost every time he got the ball. We don't have many (any?) other dribblers in the team really so he is a nice point of difference especially as so many teams will defend deep.

Lumley has been a starting player in the Championship for the last two season and won Reading's Players Player of the Season last year (low bar admittedly). Ages 28 I don't see why anyone would go from being a #1 to a #3 in the same division, so surely he is being signed to actually make the match day squad and be the #2 keeper. Its clear AMC isn't suited to the style and its utterly stupid to have one of your highest paid players as a backup goalkeeper, at alone a thirs choice. Surely this means he will be leaving, even if its just a loan until his contract is up in the summer? Perfectly fine to have one of Bycroft or McNamara as 3rd keeper as if ot gets to the stage where you actually need them to play any games then you can almost always find a more experienced free agent like we did with Caballero. Bottom line - zero chance that Lumley or McCarthy are going to spend a season as a third choice GK in the Championship.

Looks like he is being signed as a no2 keeper rather than a no3 based on recent playing time so I would say McCarthy likely to go which would free up wages.

Its more likely a sign that we want to push him to the exit door but he is standing his ground a bit, no reason to be pissed off if he is about to leave as would be irrelevant. That Besiktas failure has probably thwarted some incoming plans. Still can't believe some on here rate him, shows a decent proportion of fans are clueless unfortunately.

RM very clear when asked this morning: we need to move players out before we will bring any in due to the squad size. Imagine no chance of a striker until either or both of Adams/Onuachu go and the same at CB, we have 4 senior CBs plus Charles on the books.

Will be interesting to see what happens at centre back, if we say now we have ABK, Bednarek, Stephens and Lyanco with Charles able to cover and Awe on the way. Pretty obvious ABK will go if a suitable bid comes in and assume we will try to find someone to take Lyanco even if on loan. Bednarek and Stephens seem likely to stay, Charles/Awe would be 4th/5th choice so would leave a space for one signing to really compete for a starting spot with JB and JS. Haven't really been any strong links in this position and I guess we need to ship out ABK and/or Lyanco before there is really a space for anyone else, but will be interesting to see if we opt for a young player like Edwards or go with more experience like Holgate - especially as we have a young keeper and rookie #6 in Charles.

You have to consider the installments we owe selling clubs for the likes of Orsic, DCC, Onuachu etc. We will probably still be paying out more to those clubs than we will recoup from the sales because the likes of Orsic, DCC are being sold at a loss and Onuachu will be a substantial loss or a loan.

Its pretty obvious we are trying to dump them but are stuck in a difficult position of not having offers that meet our valuation as yet. Will be good tonget Salisu gone, sounds like DCC could follow and have been pretty unlucky with Lyanco's Besiktas move falling apart. The latter two aren't players who will have teams fawning over them, we will do well to shift them at all. Aside from that for the most part its back to the players that probably will go (Lavia, ABK, JWP, Tino, Adams etc) but we obvious don't want to/need to sell them on the cheap and thats why there hasnt been much movement. Its in our interest to get an acceptable offer for at least Lavia as soonnas possible to allow us to bring some people in, and he seemingly isnt going to start on Friday anyway so ita not doing us much of a favour to have this protracted negotiation.

How would we know? For all we know we might have been interested in Coady, Winks and Mavididi for example as have been linked with all three in the past. The longer we go without selling then it surely becomes a bit of an issue unless we are able to buy before we sell. I hope the exits speed up a bit as many are inevitable anyway.

Obviously great to hold out for good fees but also comes a point where we need to sell and be able to reinvest. The players RM said have indicated want to move here and are being patient won't stay that way forever. Hopefully there is some movement out soon, Salisu move should be done shortly and still no DCC training and the Lyon move seemingly being discussed.

Russell Martin couldn't have been clearer in his messaging (listen to his talksport interview this morning) about what will happen but I still think some of our fans will be suprised when it does. This is my opinion on likeliness of players to move before Sept: Lavia: 99% - will go to Liverpool shortly Salisu: 95% - hope he passes his medical ABK: 90% - not heard of over pre season so unless he has a bad injury assume he will be going Livramento: 80% - as soon as Newcastle came in strong its extremely likley something gets done. We can replace him and still pocket a load of cash. DCC, Lyanco, Onuachu: 80% - we would virtually give these guys away assuming someone will take their wages. None are in the plans as proven over pre season JWP: 70% - proven PL player who 15 of the PL teams could afford. Someone will buy him and not sure Saints will price him out of a move given his service and seemingly great attitude this summer KWP: 70% - again a proven PL player, relatively cheap and positionally versatile, would be amazed if he is still here. Adams: 70% - same as with KWP plus only a year left Perraud: 70% - Manning brought in as first choice so writing on the wall. Best chance to sell with 2 years left on contract. Tella: 60% - would be good to keep but if Burnley rate him that highly then likely they will eventually make a fair offer Kamaldeen: 50% - hard to tell as havent heard much about him. Wouldnt be suprised either way and with him the idea of a year loan somewhere is also a possibility Stu Armstrong: 50% - not fussed if he goes as he can't get fit and cannot be relied upon Djenepo: 50% - doesnt seem like Martin rates him, almost whats the point of keeping him, especially if Tella and/or Kamaldeen stay. Alcaraz: 40% - seems content to stay and has been a key man in pre season but if concrete interest came then can't rule anything out McCarthy: 40% - would be good to get his wages off the books and sign a no2 keeper so can actually pressure Bazunu and is comfortable on the ball but don't see many suitors given wage/recent level Aribo: 30% - still think he might work out, suited to the style and does have goals in him which we generally lack. Assuming the rest pretty likely to stay. Obviously not all of those listed will go but a large chunk will IMO. Going to be a busy month with probably at least 5 more incomings too (CB, Central Mid and Forward areas pretty bare).

Seems now almost certain Livramento will go, and would personally be amazed if KWP is still here too in September. On that basis, Aarons would be a decent replacment that fits our ethos and has previously been very highly rated. Despite being young he is also very experienced at this level. At least it seems clear that Bree is only seen as backup.

I don't think bidding wars really happen these days as the bids are made to clubs usually once the player has already decided where to go, as in the case of Lavia. If we are looking at getting £10-£15m for Adams who has a year left then I think the similar would be appropriate for Piroe.

Left footed but good finisher with his right foot also. Lots of goals from around the edge of the area. When I have seen him play (just a few times) he strikes me as just being a good technical player rather than having any particularly standout physical attributes. Certainly not a traditional no9, possibly a little similar in style (obviously not quality) to Robin van Persie. If we do want him then you would think the Martin link would be a significant factor given his best goal returns have come under RM. Unless of course there is top level interest. One thing for sure, zero chance Swansea will allow him to run his contract down and leave for free next summer.

Everything is basically pending the transfer window. The good thing is that Martin has shown in a short time he can coach the team to play in a very specific way. He will basically need to do this again from early Sept when we know what the team will be.

"Saints Mike" having a nightmare yesterday, slagging people off for reading up on Zach Awe, getting really worked up about it and then pretending he didn't care. He seems to get triggered by similar stuff to Paul Chuckle from this parish.

Martin said in one of his first interviews that it would be character first and was keen to point out that Manning is a good, aggressive (NJ shudder) character, whilst Charles comes across as very focused and he wouldnt have got PL mins for City if he was a wally, and nor been fast-tracked into a team like NI which is based on character as much as ability. Reality is though we need to be selling players and Martin has said all along that some who play the first game or two won't be here in Sept. Its entirely possible we start with KWP, Tino, JWP, Tella and Adams next week (could add Alcaraz to that list) and then none are here in September. Its not ideal but it is what it is and we are probably more likely to win with KWP and/or Tino starting than James Bree. End of the window will surely be mental and its hard to really make a judgement until September because nobody knows who will still be here until then.

We are all expecting/hoping to sell at least ABK, Salisu, Lyanco and DCC. We will need to sign new CBs. Not all of them will be starting XI every week type signings. Wilcox knows the pool of good academy players better than most so if he thinks he will add to the squad then I'm sure he will. Low risk signing and exactly the kind that, alongside some more established types, we should be looking to make.

Hard to judge these type of roles over a short period, also because we don't know the specifics. In many cases we seemingly identified very good players (Gakpo, Ramos, Hojlund, Colwill etc) but obviously didnt sign any of them. Now I highly doubt that it was Shields handling negotiations with other clubs on the specifics, always came across that he was more a talent ID guy and arguably you can do that well and it falls down in the negotiation side. I would imagine given his background Shields also had a role in the signings of Sam Amo and Jayden Meghoma. Those could prove very valuable at low cost in the medium term. Even now there has been very little mention of Darren Mowbray (Shield's replacement). I don't think Martin has even refered to him, instead putting the responsibility on Wilcox. So very hard to really apportion blame to individuals in any kind of educated way IMO as we don't really know who did what. It seems a bit clearer now.

Second part of the article very good too. Wilcox was a key appointment and I thonk a good one. He has credibility and the transparency is also appreciated. The club need to bring supporters with them, not treat us as mugs and explaining clearly what they are doing is simple but really helps build bridges.

Good if Lavia gets done soon, hopefully movement on others too to give RM clarity. Re Sulemana, wonder if his is a situation where a loan would be the best option, if he is determined to leave this summer? He still has 4 years left and a good season in France would increase his value. If we sold him now we would probably get less than we paid which seems pointless, especially as he is clearly a player of high potential and with some in demand characteristics. There is also the factor that if we sell all the players with PL quality/potential and still go up we would have a huge recruitment need next summer to be competitive at PL level. A loan could protect the asset and give future options.

Thats what happens when you get relegated and some players have interest from the PL. There is a foodchain and we have fallen down it.