benali-shorts

We could buy both. Or we feel MO’R is overpriced and have moved on (or the player has opted to go elsewhere). I’d wait until the end of the window before overly analysing. Suspect we’ll get MOR once all is said and done.

But they were a million young and hungry brushes, albeit with no experience of having worked in a top flight vacuum cleaner before.

It was surprising/worrying to hear Parsons talking about how surprised he'd been by the process of transfers. It does seem like we lack experience at Board level in that regard (omniscient Rasmus excepted, of course). It seems strange that SR haven't brought anyone in to address this. Big couple of weeks ahead for the Board.

Apparently playing (Mason Greenwood’s) Marseille in Bradford early August. Odd location.

Cameron Archer back at Villa and presumably surplus to requirements. Sure we’ve been interested before.

Gomes Rodrigues very disappointing, he looks an incredible prospect

West Ham after Wan-Bissaka, which may suggest KWP only a back-up for them if that fails?

Presumably, very late in the window we’ll bring in a Prussian centre back to help him defensively

In today's Times To the first game against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen and a ray of sun catches some England fans from Southampton high in the stands,

Nathan Wood again, Swansea certainly marketing him aggressively here...... https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cxww44px17eo Luke Williams expects Southampton to be among a group of clubs eyeing Swansea City defender Nathan Wood this summer. Saints failed with two bids worth up to £10m for Wood last August. Head coach Williams says the central defender, 22, is one of a few Swansea players attracting interest from rival clubs. “Young players playing a lot of Championship football at a decent level will always attract attention from suitors,” Williams said. “I can’t talk any more than that at the moment but it is fair to say that some players have attracted interest.” Swansea have long since accepted that Wood may leave this summer, with the England Under-21 centre-back believed to be interested in moving on. He has thrived since joining Swansea from Middlesbrough for around £400,000 in 2022, making 70 appearances and scoring one goal. Wood was brought to Wales by Russell Martin, who had also tried to sign him when in charge at MK Dons. Martin’s attempts to take Wood to Southampton last year failed, but Swansea are anticipating fresh offers during the upcoming transfer window. Southampton’s hand has been strengthened in financial terms following their promotion to the Premier League, while Swansea are in a weaker position now than they were last year because of Wood’s contract situation. Wood was signed on an initial two-year deal which was due to expire this summer, but he is under contract with the Welsh club until 2025 after they took up the option to trigger a 12-month extension in April. Williams conceded at the end of the 2023-24 season that it was “plausible” Wood would soon be sold – and his view has not changed. “He is still a Swansea player,” Williams added. “But he is certainly a player we are expecting interest in. “With the contract situation and his mentality at the moment - not in any negative way, but he is very ambitious who knows there’s a lot of attention around him – I am still in the same place [regarding a potential exit].” Williams says the fact that Martin has coached Wood before will only increase his desire to sign him for a second time. “As head coaches, you can see the quality of a player on the pitch but unless you have worked with them, it’s very difficult to get a grasp of their personality,” said Williams, who had a spell as Martin’s assistant at Swansea. “Unfortunately, Russell has worked with Nathan Wood and knows what a gem he is. “I know there has been [previous] interest, then when we played Southampton [in January] they talked about how much they liked him, which is normal. “I guess that interest hasn’t vanished, so I would expect them to be at least one of the clubs who are interested in him now.”

Good question. He seemed to fit us perfectly for the lacking attacking RH side role, and clearly is technically able. But a lot of games in which his impact was much less than it should have been. A full season loan could be ideal, but depends hugely on how we use loans elsewhere, which will no doubt take time to become clear - and doubtless DB will be looking to sort his future out (and will have suitors) early in the window.

Yes. City have made a right mess of this possession-based football over the last few seasons.

Let me save you the trouble. It isn't. It's egotistical, cliched, management-speak claptrap about how Rasmus is a footballing alchemist. Sadly, what he, Lord Rasmus, has in fact discovered is purest green.

Completely agree. It's amazing how Football chooses to ignore video refereeing / umpiring already in place in other sports. They each have defined processes to their reviews; compare and contrast to "clear and obvious" (what does that even mean??) weird and vague subjective opinions bizarrely applied in football to determine matches. Sky absolutely loves the ongoing debates about refereeing, it keeps football at the top of the media pages and enables hour upon hour of "expert pundit" debates and tribal fan talking heads to fill their channels. Var is criticised, but it's not Var, it's the incompetent lack of process in using the technology. It's incomprehensible that the refs aren't mic-ed up so that the viewing public can hear their decisions. When they release audio of var incidents, it's a total shambles; pumped up idiots making up their own processes to subjectively make decisions. US sports analyse referees' performances, grade them and pay them accordingly, all done transparently. The best officials are there for all to see, and paid accordingly. PGMOL (let's not forget they're owned by the PL...) on the other hand is a closed shop, owned by the PL and seemingly accountable to no-one. Fans shouldn't wasn't to see var binned (we all want correct decisions and don't want to see matches decided by wrong decisions); we should want to see PGMOL and its officials transparently explaining decisions and improving their processes to take subjectivity out of their decision-making, and being held accountable for their on-pitch performances. Pay the referees more, attract the best referees from around the world and measure their performance. i.e. like every other industry in the world, except football officialdom....

They'd be better off voting for PGMOL to be scrapped.

I suppose his overseeing of two abysmal managerial appointments, squandering £100m+ on ridiculous transfer fees, being relegated, his haughty air and his self-congratulating Gold Mine effect self-loving egotism haven't seen me particularly warm to him. Each to their own though.

He was also incompetent at marking Barkley from set pieces. He was the last man on each occasion who presumably was meant to track Barkley, who was their last man. Three times Barkley was free at the far post. He is ill-suited to our game, but also lacks the basic discipline (at this stage) to play at this level. It's unfathomable that we spent £10m on him. Along with Onuachu, Sulemana, Larios, Bazunu, Alcaraz, Charles (the last 4 may eventually come good, but haven't demonstrated that they will to date) it's close to a £100m sh!tshow of a transfer strategy given none of them are in our first team. TheGoldMineEffect my arse.

Alan McLoughlin and Prutton join the list of disappointing ones. Who was the next most expensive one after Proton? Delgado?

Both shit keepers

I just want a coach who gets the best out of our players, by playing the system which best suits their abilities. The idea of some sort of Championship possession-based ideology Manager is madness and completely unrealistic for players at this level. Andersen Wilcox and. Martin need to stop gazing at themselves in the mirror and get their heads out of their arses.

Very worrying that Martin personally identified him as a key signing in the summer. He’s technically inept.

He has the agility of a dead prostitute.

That one’s on Che. Unbelievably poor CF play for the three chances.

Presumably games missed through injury are omitted from the % appearances trigger for additional payments, which is, of course, convenient for Juve to keep his loan cost down...