S-Clarke

I see a few options as we head into the final few days - Steele - potentially £7mish for Brighton to want to budge, which is a lot for a player of his age. Ramsdale - An expensive loan, wouldn't be ours. We'd have to make any option realistic for us, but I think Arsenal will soften as the window comes to a close. (The player will end up forcing it). I can see a deal being agreed nearer the deadline for a straight loan with no option, then the club get Bazunu back next season (That'll be a bump down to earth). Johnstone - This one is doable for around £5m I think, not first choice at Palace. Certainly the last on my list though. Patterson (Sunderland) - Good young keeper, Sunderland want £20m though - pretty pricy for someone without PL exp. Makes the Ramsdale deal look better value. There may well be a left field shout, but it's pretty late now so I think we'll end up zooming in on the ones we've been linked with all summer. It will be one of the 4 above or none.

For one I'm glad we've done our thorough due diligence on this one, you have to ask why we didn't do the same on Ross Stewart - but maybe we've learnt. Bjlow has missed 190 games since 2018, which is a ridiculous amount - it's a shame really, because without his injuries he is a top level keeper. Given that we didn't just get this over the line I think it shows we're taking this one seriously, the GK will need to be a number 1 and play for us. As other's have said, Ramsdales options have or are running out. Arsenal are buying another keeper. He wants to play. Their demands will soften, it's probably a deadline day one and will end up being a straight loan. Thankfully we kept that 2nd loan slot open!

I think we were hoping for $$$$ this summer from him, but I reckon it'll be a last min free loan somewhere in Europe - just to get him out.

I didn't think so, but our link to Yuri Alberto suggests otherwise - he is an out and out number 9.

I'd say of all their spending, that's one area they've never really sorted. Lots of forwards, but no real number 9's apart from Lukaku and Broja - and they're both off anyway.

He defo had high potential a few years ago, he was monitored quite a lot. The Corinthians move just hasn't worked for him though, and he doesn't have a good rep out there on the back of it. Could be multiple things though as Corinthians have been a pretty poor side for a while, but he's certainly regressed over the last 18 months - which is the only reason we've got a chance I guess. It's certainly a punt.

Tino was another pre-SR - not looking good for SR!

Lyanco was done prior to SR, but still a poor pick by Matt Crocker at the time. Add Mara onto your list of expensive fails as well, he was another data driven punt.

Apart from that, they sound like good fits.

I guess we offered a packet of Walkers and a half eaten mars bar as the opening offer?

This is exactly the case, the gulf was already getting bigger but our mistakes have allowed Brighton and even Bournemouth to an extent to accelerate past us. It will take a good few years of PL football to bridge it, but there will come a time where Brighton loose their touch slightly - and 1 or two bad transfer windows for a club of their size, as we all know, can equal curtains and stunt your progress overnight. I'd say we're also still paying for the poor signings of Lemina, Carillo, Hoedt, Boufal, Elyounoussi, as well as the recent additions of Sulemana, Onuachu, ABK. Add all that up and it's £150-160m worth of player just there. We'll get back about £10-15m if we're lucky. I get the odd poor buy here and there, but we literally had to pay up Lemina, Carillo, Boufal and Hoedt just to get them out of the club. It's that sort of failiure which is unacceptable for a club like us, and we're somewhat fortunte that we are back in the PL. SR deserve credit in the investment they've put into us to soften the blow slightly of all those years. We're getting there there again slowly, but I do still question some of the decision making within SR - not so much the intention, as it's clear, but their decisions are often a bit questionable and naive.

That is showing his best bits, but also some pretty poor finishes in there. He does have ability as he was highly rated for a reason in the past, WHU tried for him a year or two ago (Although their record on signing strikers is naff to say the least) - but the last year/18 months have been tragic for him really, I see some Brazilian fans calling him the worst number 9 in the Brazilian Serie A. My feeling on this one is that we've gone on a punt based on what he was in the past, potential etc, in the hope that he can rediscover what made him spoken about a few years ago. He's a similar style to that of Jonathan Calleri if you remember him, Was at WHU for a season and flopped (and he's regarded as a better player than Alberto)

I don't think Hugo is part of the deal anymore, he is rated quite highly actually and is valued at the £15-20m mark. I think we were a bit cheeky hoping for some money and him. Couldn't agree a loan with obligation. (from what I've read). Sounds like a straight £20m for Charly.

This is a laugh for your bank holiday Monday viewing - As I said, highly rated a few years ago - but fallen by the wayside quite a bit. Not sure what we've seen in him, because Corinthians have wanted rid for a little while.

He's a bit of a comedic figure in Brazilian football, known as the striker who doesn't score - so I can absolutley understand why we'd be after him. He was highly regarded as a youngster, and we have been linked before, but his last 18 months in Brazil have been horrific and he doesn't have many fans over there. He may just need a change of scenery, but jurys out.

We can firmly put this one to bed now. We were never in the running once the fee went above £15m.

Not at all, people who have seen him play will tell you that.

Diaz and AA are wide forwards, an 8 is another central midfielder really - it's the job Smallbone does (well, supposed to do) - receives the ball from the deeper CM, turns and plays in the number 10 or the wide forwards. I do think we need better than Smallbone there if I'm honest, so swapping him for Fernandes after a few weeks may be something we do. The 10 is also a position that needs significant work - we currently have Aribo/Charly/Dibling who sort of rotate in that role. Aribo is not good enough in my opinion. Charly is off, and then Dibling whilst a quality young player, cannot take the burden of being our only creative link player - so I'd expect with Charly going that we go for a number 10 to fill that role, which I think will automatically make us look better as we will be able to link the play. We obviously need another wide/winger type as well. Those are the two deals I see us doing (outside of the GK) - a number 10 to replace Charly and a wide man to replace what we've lost in Fraser/Brooks. A number 9 whilst I still think we're desperate for it is seemingly not on the agenda - it would be another big bit of negligence, but with the right additions in the other areas we could potentially make something of the season.

I like Ramsdale as I think you get a ready made English/PL goalkeeper, knows the league, is a bit of a shithouse etc. So those were massive positives with him. Onto the negatives.....the loan fee to start with is as much as a permanent transfer, then the obligation to buy would have been in excess of what we were comfortable with (£30-40m). When you factor those finances and the long-term commitment required, and you look at his attributes and actually realise he's not amazing with the ball at his feet, you question if he's worth that level of investment longer term. Bjlow is a player not many fans will know about, but he was on course to be one of the elite goalkeepers in Europe and the Dutch number 1 before his injury problems. If we start with the negatives on this deal, it would be the injuries - major red flag as they are recurring in some instances, he's missed a lot of games in the last couple of years. But if i'm honest, the injuries are the only negative I can see with it. But on the positives, if you wanted to create the perfect modern sweeper keeper, you'd put a lot of Bijlow's attributes into the pot. We wouldn't have even been in the conversation for him had he not had any injury issues, so whist it's a negative, it's also a positive that's enabled a deal for a player who is light years ahead of what we've had in goal since peak Forster/Boruc. The structure of the deal (if true) makes sense as it protects us should he struggle again this year. One of my major asks for this summer was for the club to think about replacing Bazunu, not just filling him in with a stop gap, and this guy with his fitness issues behind him will replace him.

If any deal demonstrates the shift of transfer values, this deal probably does. 5 or 6 years ago this is a £5m player tops. Dara O'Shea has gone to Ipswich for £15m. That's the level your £15m player cap realistically gets you nowadays, the £25-30m mark is where your Mane's/Tadic's/VVD's/Waynamas now live in this day and age. If we are still stuck operating in and around that £15m cap, then we have to aim for players who are running down their contract and have injuries - that's where the value comes in.

Don't they want £60m+ for him? Doubt they'll sanction a loan deal, but these are the days the random loan opportunities popup - I'm sure we've got our feelers across loads of unexpected options.

Absolutley he is, people saying he's going to be on the bench and won't demand a starting spot aren't aware of the guys ability. If he plays 20 games and signs for us, he is our number 1 for however long he is available. Bazunu will have to make do with a bench place, which if we're honest is where he should have been for a few years now. We're actually signing a proper GK for once.

Sulemana, are you kidding me? What do some fans still see in that fraud? When has he ever created anything? Replace Sulemana with SAA and you have a point.

I think what they were referring to in that comment was our recruitment, and they were true to their word on that. We signed too many kids last time, this year we've gone for more of a balance - but we do still have some enormous holes lacking any decent quality, so still work to do.

They're different types though, I wouldn't call either Archer or BBD number 9's - they both play off or around a proper focal point to get the best out of them, wide forwards is probably the best way to describe them - they're the runners beyond the focal point. We did this before in Che and we tried to stick our heads in the sand with a player not suited to what we were doing.