mitch01

Contract runs until 2026 right? Hope we are already well into negotations on an extension.

I've always loved Lallana. Be great to see him back as a squad player.

A nice easy cycle up from south London for me for this one. See you in there. COYS

Very helpful, thanks mate

Does anyone know what the prospects are for tickets for this one being available for general sale? I can see that Hull and Preston are but I guess it's different for a London game. Live in the area and was hoping to make it a long to this one and would rather not sit quietly in the (surely very friendly) home end. Cheers!

Bazunu should have saved the third goal but that was not close to being the problem today. Very bad from a lot of players. Don't understand keeping Mara around when we were signing Stewart, or playing him wide. Holgate had a very tricky start. But the main concern for me was how open we looked in midfield, despite having three very decent players in there. Lots of work to be done on the training field. Good on you to the fans who travelled up.

Yeah. Clearly a good player but are we going to play him in the same team as Che and Armstrong? Mara would have struggled for minutes anyway - harder to see where he gets game-time now. Maybe I am underestimating the need for a bigger squad with 8 more league games this year?

Even if we did manage to shift Onuachu, Djenepo, Bree and Aribo in the last few hours, I think we have too many players. Not really sure why we are signing Stewart with Che staying, Mara set to be given chances to develop and Armstrong another option at CF. Would also be a shame not to shift Bednarek in the last few hours as he is now quite a long way from the first eleven. Still, would rather too much strength in depth than too little.

Great signing. Wonder if we might see Bednarek out, Wood in today.

Shame it's only a loan - he'll be picked off by someone else in a year no doubt. Still, super player to have at this level. Reckon that means Bednarek is off. He can't have Stephens, Holgate and THB in front of him in the Championship. Not sure where it leaves ABK at all...

Not sure why it would be a loan for Harwood-Bellis. Isn't his contract up next summer? Quite keen on Stewart for a fairly modest fee. Add Zeqiri, Drameh and Wood and that would be a good end to the window.

Yeah. Reminds me a bit of Broja (Zeqiri that is).

Zeqiri looks like he would be a real handful at this level. Definitely preferable to some of the other players I have seen linked.

Re Holgate: is it not possible that he's going to be more than good enough for this level but not the kind of player we'd want to build a team around in the PL? If so, doesn't it make him a pretty tidy loan signing for where we are right now?

Yeah true. But all depends on how much of the preparatory work has been done. Quite conceivable to get 4-5 in the door if we've done the groundwork. Only time will tell I guess.

Well with all these outgoings and money coming in it will be very interesting to see if we have any other significant signings lined up in the £5m-£10m bracket. Expect we will, we must have seen this coming. Sorry to see these lads go but we have an opportunity now for a substantial rebuild.

The loan moves aren't the most exciting but they are probably good, pragmatic, low-cost moves in terms of putting points on the board this season. It gives us the chance to take some more transfer fees in to balance the books (hopefully not Sule, Tella AND Adams though) while still being in a strong position to go up, when we can recruit from a position of strength. Hope and expect we supplement these with some of the younger, more left-field players we've been linked to, as well as a few well-chosen bigger money moves (e.g. Wood). Also hope Fraser doesn't block SAA from the lineup.

Sounds quite a bit like Rhian Brewster to me.

Hansen to my Ferguson 😉

I'd really not mind missing out on Piroe if it meant seeing Ballard given more minutes. Could be that we collect fewer points in the short term but he could be a totally different and very valuable proposition by the end of the season if he translates his goalscoring to this level. Same goes for Mara, but my confidence that he'll make it here is diminishing. His cameo at Plymouth was not great. Flashy cross-field balls giving it away, shooting at keeper when we should be keeping possession. Not sure Martin would have been too happy at that.

Out of the players we were linked to earlier in the summer, this is one I was keen on. Will do a great job now and has a shot at stepping up in the PL if we made it - that's what we need to be looking for. Wonder if it means Bednarek would head off if this went through. Unlikely to want to sit on the bench behind Wood and Stephens.

When Viafara slammed that second one in... Some atmosphere that night.

I think we can be confident that Lycano and ABK both leave, meaning we need to sign 2 CBs. I wouldn't actually be shocked to see Bednarek go either. Assuming we invest in one young CB we hope can grow with us and step up to the PL (Wood, Edwards) who would probably cost ~£10m they would likely play alongside Stephens, and Jan isn't going to want to sit on the bench in the Championship. So once we have Downes and probably one more CM in, I think the attention will turn that way.

Lavia bid goes to £60m 🤣

Tend to agree.