TWar

Nketiah is much worse than Smith-Rowe imo. I don't really rate Nketiah at all whereas Smith-Rowe looked really good last season.

Maybe save that until something actually happens.

Don't agree with this, I think Abraham has looked quality for Chelsea when I've seen him. Scores a good number of goals too. At his age I would take a straight swap of Abraham for Ings in a heartbeat even if Ings had a contract signed.

Not sure about Sorloth, turns 26 this year and has already struggled in the prem. Doesn't really fit the model of buying young talent to develop for a profit that our press have been touting. From a personal perspective I'd take him for £10m or so. 7 goal involvements in 1400 minutes isn't dreadful in the German league. Would be worried if he were more than a depth option though. Would rather we spend £5m on the Greek fella for depth and then spend a good chunk grabbing Armstrong.

Ooo first build up thread! That's exciting! Lets start off with the lineup: Forster KWP Bednarek Salisu Perraud Romeu Diallo Armstrong Walcott Tella Adams Play JWP if fit and play Vest if he isn't leaving but I suspect he may be gone by then. If we sign a forward who we rate soon and he gets plenty of time training put him next to Adams and drop Tella to Walcott's position. I guess all these things are why you don't propose a team so early in the window! Prediction 1-0 Saints, nick it with a goal from Adams set up by Tella against the run of play, Benitez booed heavily.

If he's available for under £5m as is rumoured it seems like a pretty low risk bet. Weird he's not more hyped to be honest, Daka gets 27 goals in the Austrian league and is linked with Liverpool and Chelsea, eventually ending up at Leicester for £25m. This guy gets 26 goals in a stronger league as part of a weaker team and no one seems interested. Granted he is 4 years older and his history before this season isn't exactly inspiring whereas Daka has two good seasons instead of one but £5m still feels very very cheap.

Agreed. Was hoping him, Elyounoussi, Long and Obafemi would be off/sidelined and we'd have upgrades at AM and striker this summer. Doesn't seem so likely now.

Don't mind this. Would rather we got two good players in for £30m than spend £25m on one striker. Armstrong should be somewhere around £17m or we are overpaying

He's gone around a bit. Was quite good for a season when everyone else was crap. To be honest I think he is superb against championship oppo and looks like a great prem player and one of our star assets but dreadful against prem oppo and looks like a bad championship player. It's so weird. He is so much more effected by it than everyone else.

They had 20% of profit over £20m so they only get about £1-2m depending on how add ons work in the deal.

We haven't had a positive net spend window in years and the club have said we can use what we make, if we end with a +£35m net spend I'll be astounded

Missed that, cheers. Maybe another youth player in that role then. Not sure tbh.

I think given the number of subs and the second team cb pairing we may have had a secret behind closed doors friendly with a couple of youngsters, Mccarthy not being in suggests that too. Second lineup maybe Macca Livramento bednarek vest ferry Armstrong youth Walcott djenepo Obafemi youth

Someone at Blackburn telling porkies to Nixon to drive price up before our inevitable bid? Or maybe pinkun is fibbing to make the gazump more covert. Wonder if rumoured Palace interest is similar espionage.

Can never guarantee these things, but we had to replace him at some point. Even if he signed a deal this is probably around the peak of his value (we'd be getting more obviously as we could pick our price). Good time to reinvest to be honest.

Keep the rebuild going, get Vest out the door and spend the £50m or so on some excellent replacements

Means our valuation will be higher as without Ings, losing JWP makes us more likely to be relegated. No matter how much we make off JWP it won't be enough to offset that cost.

Would prefer Armstrong to Edouard personally

Absolutely. This makes it even less likely. It's not evidence we are "skint" if we sell an injury prone 29 year old in his final year for £30m. Thats more than enough.

JWP will be in it, and Bednarek/Vest both start over Stephens

Has he ever done this before and then the player has left same window? VvD, Lallana, Shaw? Blackmore is a respected journo, he aint putting his rep on the line to post fake news

I don't agree with this. With Ings going and Vest probably too we are weak, it would take a monumental bid to get him as it would severely risk relegation which would be a lot more costly in the long run. This is what basically all our journos are saying and it makes sense.

Why would the club tell us he definitely isn't going if he is? Also Leech said the same in a pod today, villa athletic reporter called the deal "unlikely". I'm really curious to know why you think he'll leave, no one is saying that.

We got another game going on at the same time or something? We have basically a full 11 plus subs not on the bench

In what way is it reasonable. Blackmore said the opposite and he's as tier 1 as they get