CampionSaint

If we keep Dibling, Harwood-Bellis & Ramsdale great. I we do sell we could get near £100m for all 3.

I think Celtic were probably looking for near £30m. Personally I think this is dead now. We will hopefully loan Ramsdale (as Lis has gone) and that will be about it unless we get a lot of money for Alcaraz / Bella Kothchap. They seemed to have a strategy of waiting for someone to leave (or is leaving) then replace unless it's a small amount. BBD for Che, Archer for Mara, Ronnie for Lyanco, Wood for Duleta Car. Sugawara was brought in as it seemed like KWP was leaving and was low risk because of cost and he's likely to be 1st choice RB atm.

No messing with Lesley !

This isn't a bad watch.

Personally I'm confident we'll stay up. Bournemouth minus Solanke & Brentford maybe minus Toney will both struggle imo. Forest, Ipswich & Leicester are likely to be in the mix and I have a feeling Brighton might struggle next year. With a decent keeper which I presume is inbound if Lus is on his way plus a striker and we'll be ok.

Someone who works in the Saints office is claiming we are finalising a deal for O'Reilly from Celtic for £22m plus add-ons. He appeared early on the BBD deal also so who knows 🙂

I guess you've got to add a "loan fee" in the mix so depends what that will be. I'm sure that will be at least £3m.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5657806/2024/07/25/west-ham-mazraoui-transfer-bayern-munich/ It seems like West Ham are closing in on another full back. KWP options maybe closing down and he'll be staying this season.

I thought Russ publicly committed to McCarthy being his No.1 this season.

Why ? He's only just started his pre-season after returning from the euros.

Good post. Players from other countries seem to play better for their countries than their clubs. It's the other way to round with us.

Agree to a point but I think already we're much better than during our relegation season and our recruitment seems so much better. We are losing deadwood and gaining some useful players already and there's still a fair amount if the window to go to finalise the squad. For one I'm really positive.

I agree with Miovski. Brereton Diaz for not much looks good. Callum Wilson is an interesting one and certainly better than Ings.

Jason Steele from Brighton has been one that's just come to light.

His height is quoted on some sites as being 6' 1" though Wikipedia has him 5' 11".

There's lots of mention of getting a proven premiership keeper but the only one quoted is Ramsdale who maybe out of our reach. Who realistically is there ?

I think it's interesting that Brighton wanted him to stay for another year. Clearly they thought he could still do it so surely we (who are not at Brighton's level yet) should take him on a 1 year contract.

I think one indication of how he's succeeded is how he's improved players. Jannie B, Kyle W-P, THB, Flynn, Will S & AA have all had arguably their best seasons. I notice Jo Tessem was talking about how he was using AA so much better than Ralph did and could succeed in the Prem. I think from where we were this time last year he's done a great job. Has he made mistakes. Of course. Overall he's got us playing good football and got some pride back in the team and they genuinely seem to be gelling well as a team which must be a credit to the management.

Absolutely. We have good cover in most positions but to have only 2 strikers in Che and AA would be suicidal. Mara is not ready and 46 games is a long season. I for one am really pleased that Stewart is signing. The bigger problem would have been losing Che and Stewart not being ready for a month leading just AA.

Most comments I've heard are late September.

It looks like Ross Stewart is coming in for £8m plus up to £4m add ons so I presume he is lined up to replace Che. He won't be fit for a month though ! https://therealefl.co.uk/2023/08/31/sunderland-accept-bid-for-star/ Sadly it seems to be a financial decision. They probably think that he won't sign a new contract so will go for free at the end of the season and also if RM doesn't feel he's committed then that's another factor though it's a puzzle he's been offered vice captain if that's the case. In the loan proposal they could get £3m ish fee plus lose his £52k a week salary for a year (£2.6m) then be either able to keep him or sell him for £15m plus at the end of the season if he agrees to sign a 3 year deal. I think that's the major sticking point as to whether Che still won't want to sign a 3 year deal !

All quotes from the Northern press seem to have his contract up at the end of the season hence Sunders lands quandary.

It's only a cup game so you probably wouldn't expect him to play 3 tines in 8 days.

Not sure it's completely the case in the prem. Brighton for instance have sold a load of players without spending masses and still done well. Conversely Chelsea have doent madly and done no better. Man U still struggle to get a good team together despite massive spending. Brentford, Fulham and Wolves have done well without going mad. Agree the likes of Man City and Newcastle have spent a lot but there acquisitions have by and large been successful.

I think he would work well with Downes. After Saturday I would think Charles will continue at CB for the time being.