Dman

Thinking about the links / leaks we've seen in recently weeks.. all to be taken with a pinch of salt of course.... Charles, Alcaraz, TP & Mara all to leave. Lesley, Carvalho, Oriley (apparently we wanted both) & Archer Lesley seems like a logical replacement for an outbound Charles. Archer seems logical to replace Mara & TP. And could play on the wing, so also the Carvalho cover. So I wouldn't be surprised if we're still in the market for a creative central midfielder. Maybe Oriley (looks unlikely), as we still lack a replacement for Stu and Alcaraz should he leave. Probably just being optimistic.

I wouldn't mind us taking a look at Mcatee. I think he's be a great addition in behind a front 2, but its all feeling a bit Sheff Utd.

a team of; New GK Stephens, THB, Bednerak Sugawara Downes Lesley KWP / Taylor Aribo / Smallbone AA BBD / Archer Looks a hell of a lot more solid, but also looks we'd struggle to score any more than 10 goals next season.

aye? 😂

It was notable when they done this shit last time that Smallbone wouldn't. Good on the lad, I wonder if the pressure of the PL will lead him to do it this time round...

At his best, he was birlliant. People on here just hate him because he was picked for England ahead of JWP... He then went on to be englands player of the tounrament which left a lot of egg on peoples face. I could see him doing really, really well at Ipswich.

Closer to half of that. He's costing us fuck all, its a mutal agreement to keep his career going and get him back into the club. He'll be on the coaching staff in the next season or 2.

Genuine question... If he is that highlighly rated, if we spend £30m on him and we go down, surely we'd easily recoup our money on him anyway...

Looks like Carvalho link was us moving on. No way Atalanta would have put in 5 bids if they were sure they'd get him.

apart from the time he 'popped up' in the box to set up the winner in the only game he played for us last season?

If he really was our no1 target we should have paid the money to get it done before a bigger club came sniffing. At our poisiton in the food chain, we need to move fast, we can't afford to play the long game... bitten on the arse over (releatively speaking) peanuts... again..

after getting 60m for Solanke, they have significantly more funds that we do. They're also (like it or not) probably more attractive and likley to stay up than we are atm.

That's got to be a concern for him... Probably pop his shoulder signing the contract. Or does he only get 'injured' when the going gets tough? Good riddance.

KWP isn't going to be the difference between us staying up or not. He's brilliant and arguably our only real PL quality player, but RB's aren't match winners. So no.

Given we're scraping the barrell in the PL, imagine how bad it'd have been if we'd stayed down... People are niave to how skint we are as a club. They'll hide behind FFP.

How much money would it cost us to survive? We've spent over £50m and we're at a par with how we finished last season. We'd need to spend another 50 just to give ourselvs a fighting chance. The irony is, we're not actually too far away. A GK (ramsdale), CM, and a decent number 9 would give us a real fighting chance. Say Ramsdale, Oreily and Nketiah, that's the best part of £60m there.

I want a lamborghini, but if I walk in the shop and offer £6k for it, I would know that I don't really have a true intention of buying it.

Surprisingly i actually tend to agree with you. I'm not massively worried about our transfer strategy, I think we've built a really, really good championship side should we face the drop this season and will be in a position to bounce back alot stronger in the process. We still have way to many high earners we need to shift and/or players who just aren't good enough. This season is going to be really painful, but I think in the long term, it'll prove to be a fairly good buisness plan (providing we invest well bounce back again next season)

I wonder if there is a world where we might be intersted in bringing back JWP on loan. He's clearly not going to get a look in at WHU and whilst I think hes limited and overrated, he would bring experience and be able to hit the ground running. For me, someone like JWP on loan with an option, would be much better value for money than O'riely at £30m.

Whilst we have him, we might as well had use him. If anything, he'll give defenders something to think about, but I really just dont know if he suits how we'll want to play. That being said, he's a big lad and can / should be able to hold the ball up well enough. Has proven in multiple (all be it lesser quatlity) leauges, so can clearly put the ball away. For the peanuts being offered, we might as well keep him and see if he can offer us anything.

We don't need him. Thanks for the efforts last season, deccent bloke and great in the dressing room, but he's not going to improve our squad.

Good player. Instant upgrade on Charles and smallbone, would be great cover for Downes or to play next to him to make us a little more solid.

Its been far from dead in the offical COT group chat. VERY interesting. That's all I can say for now, but make of that what you will.

Its also why we battle with relegation every year and will likley struggle to survive this season.

I don't dissagree. As a newly promoted side, probably not a gamble we should take - espeically after so recently being stung for half of that for a player with very limited championship experience and a dubious injury record. As an established PL side, say wolves, £25 is probably worth the risk