tajjuk

I've already seen several 'pundits' say basically this, basically saying he works hard, knows the league blah blah.

Lambert, Ings, Jay Rod before injury and Mane.

I think Broja is very good and likely will become a top player, but he is right, it's a purple patch of form that could end. Loads of strikers go on runs of good form, score lots of goals in a short space of time or even have world class seasons, only to then drop off again and revert back to more average form. Broja has a lot of ingredients to be a top class striker, the biggest ones are his combination of size and pace, it's what makes him hard to stop because usually big lads aren't that explosive and explosive players tend to be slighter and less good in the air. (Armstrong being an example) Armstrong has shown glimpses of what he can do but hasn't really put a run of games together of good performances, but the two goals he has scored have been excellent and it's not like he has missed hatfuls of chances or sitters. I mean to be honest the goal Broja scored against Brentford is the sort of chance that Armstrong would excel at, that sort of ball in behind using his pace breaking off from the left, he scored a few like that for Blackburn, but hasn't really had those sort of chances. We've hardly been the most creative team. Plus got to say Broja's finish wasn't excellent, it was quite close to the keeper and he got a boot on it, but there was just enough on it for it to go in. I am not sure he is the most clinical finisher either (yet). But anyway we need at least 3 good strikers in a 2 striker system, to cover injuries and form, so hopefully we can secure Broja long term or for at least another season and Armstrong comes good.

They'll be annoying whatever because they'll throw £100 - £150 million a season at signings easily, plus be in for every high profile freebie as well I reckon. We can only hope they are not too smart about it, because as we have seen with Everton even a lot of money doesn't mean you will get it right and Utd have probably spent 10 times or even 20 times more than us in the transfer market and are currently just 7 points better off than us. I'd still prefer them to go down, mainly because it would give us at least a season without them and that give us some breathing room to progress and get transfers done, because I feel like they are going to be annoying and just hang around sniffing about every transfer deal clubs like us do because their scouting/strategy is not very good, so you can bet a lot of agents out there will be notifying them of available players that might be going to other PL clubs. Like we find some wonderkid in France or Spain and then get gazumped by Newcastle, it would be less likely to happen if they were in the championship. Plus, whilst unlikely, how hilarious would it be if they failed to bounce back.

Yep, Howe has the same squad and has basically been as bad or worse. They also gave Bruce way more hate than Rafa, even though performances under Rafa were pretty much the same, they finished pretty much the same in the league and played dour defensive football but he was hailed as some sort of genius.

They'd have to accept the bid but I don't think there are any rules against them taking a reasonable time to sort it out. So if Newcastle did it at with like 4 hours left of the window then Burnley would totally get away with dragging their feet a little and it not going through in time. Wood might not be too happy with that I suppose. £25 million for Wood though is great business for the, they are not even really using him and he's been bang out of form for a while. It's just the timing in the window. As for Newcastle fans, their moaning about Ashley has been massively over entitled IMO, have we spent £40 million on a player? Have Palace, have Burnley? have Norwich, have Brentford?, Have Brighton? Plenty of clubs out there who are being run sustainably and aren't putting up big transfer fees, they are basically making out like Ashley was the worst owner ever for not throwing all his money into the club. Which is plenty of owners, who put not much in but don't really take much out, like Gao was with us, they just have some expectation they should be this massive club spending all this money. Clubs out there who have way worse owners than Ashley was, who are going bankrupt or who are losing their ground or disappearing completely (I mean they only have to look at the shitshow down the road at Sunderland as to how bad it really could have been) so their fuss about it him was completely out of proportion to his 'crime' and then to basically accept being funded by a state that murders and tortures people because they will throw money at the club is appalling. Soulless club apparently, thought it was supposed to be about the community and representing the area etc. some tyrant comes flashing their money and they all bend over backwards for him and act like they deserve it for their wrongs? What a joke of a fanbase.

I mean leaving one of the world's best coaches in Simeone, who last year guided them to the title, and still in the Champions League knockouts as well, not to mention the much better climate of Spain for the cold north and team who has won just one game all season and is in massive danger of getting relegated. I struggle to see how it will be anything but money to be honest, you also have to question his desire and work rate, especially in a World Cup year. Maybe he wasn't cutting it with Simeone, as I reckon he must be a hard taskmaster, maybe this is basically his retirement fund. Phone in for £100k a week for the next 4 years or something. Chris Wood is also a bit funny to be honest, £25 million for a 30 year old who has scored 3 goals this year. I mean I suppose he's been like a 10-12 goal a season man for Burnley so if he can get Newcastle 6 or so in the 2nd half of the season is that enough? Thing is they have the issue everyone foresaw, quality players are going to think twice about joining Newcastle now, let alone clubs agreeing to let them go in January anyway. I mean any up and coming player who's stock is high, why would you bother even if the money is good, clubs will still want you in the summer and you aren't risking getting relegated and stuck at Newcastle in the championship. So they are left with basically greedy journeyman or over the hill players who will take that last big contract.

He is irreplaceable IMO, sure he might not be some super creative progressive passer or dribbler or particularly quick, but he's probably the best set piece taker in Europe right now, and his work rate, stamina and all round fitness is amazing. Plus his tackling, intercepting and aggressiveness have improved massively under Ralph, he's like a little terrier, he never stops. He's also filled in a right back multiple times and looked like he's played there his whole life. Plus he can take a good pen and pop up with the odd goal from open play and has a great cross on him like we saw at Swansea. Signing him on a new contract for another 5 years is the best business in years and I think maybe a blessing in disguise that basically the contract that was supposed to go to Ings went to him instead. (who still only has 4 goals this season for Villa and JWP has 5).

Isn't he a right back? We already have two very good right backs, and Valery and JWP has shown on many occasion he's pretty accomplished there as well (keeping Zaha quiet).

It's alright we'll get him back in a few years when he can't get anywhere near their first team after they have bought yet another £50 million centre-back.

Is he? He's injury prone, completely lost his confidence, doesn't have any pace, doesn't particularly like to work or press and has failed at two big clubs. He hasn't been 'terrific' for about 5 years. He is also the biggest most expensive flop in history and his transfer (which he basically forced through) has played a large part in bankrupting one of the biggest clubs in the world, (whilst his old club basically turned into one of the best sides in the world without him) something that is likely to weigh heavily on him. He was also before his move to Liverpool a flop at Inter and only decent at Espanyol on loan, hence why we were in the running for him and why he was so cheap. He wasn't exceptional at Liverpool either for the first 2-3 years, took him a while to get going. So actually in his whole career he basically has had a 3 season purple patch and those were under Klopp, a world class manager. (with some very good players around him). Even looking at his international career, he has scored 18 goals for Brazil of the years, but only one against a 'top' side, which was against Argentina, most of his goals have come against Ecuador or Bolivia or Costa Rica or Haiti etc. So his actual level across his career has not been 'terrific' at all and tends to suggest that his best spell was more 'form' than class. Now his failure at Barcelona was largely in part due to them not really knowing how to use him and playing him out of position, but then will Villa be able to fit him into that very specific position he was played at Liverpool? Bearing in mind they have already struggled to get Ings/Watkins working and have struggled to get the best out of Buendai who plays in a similar position or much off Bailey as well. All of the back of barely playing that much and just having an injury. He'll be a flop IMO, he'll maybe start well and then realise he's playing with the likes of Mings and Courtney Hause and El Ghazi, and he'll drop off, plus his teammates will get fed up carrying him as he doesn't have the work rate or the legs.

I read about this like a week or so ago and my reaction was 'oh ok, seems pretty cool to highlight the issue, hope it has an impact'. Then I moved on with my live and completely forgot about it, until this thread because I thought it has to be the most harmless, non-controversial thing ever to highlight a clear issue that surely everyone would be on the side of, right? I do honestly wonder how they get through life when their reaction to something like this is not pretty much what I said above or something similar, the people things get bothered about or worked up about or have to comment about it, it's baffling. I honestly feel someone could start a campaign to end child deaths due to cancer or something and some of you lot would still being taking some issue with it.

Man Utd would be bottom half without De Gea this season.

Bale would be giving up something like £15 million if he moved from Real in Jan. He'll go on a free in the summer and even then think there is a high chance he'll just retire.

I'd would be nice to think that and I hope it is that, but more likely IMO is that she is a very wealthy woman, she doesn't need the money out right now and thinks the right investors will progress the club and its worth in the years ahead will be a lot higher, and thus so will be her 20%. Sub £200 million for a PL club seems very cheap to me, as being pointed out that players like Grealish are going for £100 million. Of course what players are sold for and what their 'value' is is a different debate. But a PL club that owns their own stadium with a state of the art training ground and category 1 academy you'd think would be worth a lot more, I mean one seasons TV deal is worth more than half the purchase price.

And I hope that is true, I just think if someone like Pepe came knocking we'd be seriously tested, but I doubt that is going to happen.

I think we would probably sell him for around that amount if someone like City, Liverpool or Chelsea went for him. I feel he'd ask to leave if that was the case. We might push them for more but I think if he genuinely wanted to leave then it would be less than entertaining an offer from someone like Newcastle or Villa or someone middling like that.

Van De Beek would be quality, exactly the sort of player we need a good passer who makes runs into the box from midfield and scores goals. BUT I doubt he'd come to us, probably still has enough in the bank to attract some bigger clubs playing champs league and I doubt he'd be cheap, Man Utd paid £40 million for him and he is on over £100k a week I think. He'll end up going on a loan to buy to someone like Inter I reckon. Also seriously doubt we are going to sign Erikson, just too many red flags. Wouldn't be surprised if he joins a Danish club on a temporary contract to get game time and get back to playing for Denmark, he's said he wants to play in the 2022 World Cup, could see him doing that and retiring. The Man City youngsters look more likely ones, someone who's struggling to see a pathway into a top team anytime soon. Signing Broja would be great but I doubt we'd do it in Jan, seems more like a summer move. Though hopefully have more room to sign him now financially than we did before. If do make a Jan signing I reckon it's someone who wants to play more football and maybe has an eye on doing that to get into world cup squads because they basically have two half seasons to do that so might want to move now rather than in the summer.

Puel was like a budget Rafa or Budget Mourinho, good at setting up teams to be solid and difficult to beat but boring AF to watch and lacking idea on how to create and score goals. Plus without Mourinho's charisma to fire players up. We were droll that season, average in so many ways and just boring to watch. We played like Newcastle have the last few years for a safe ish 14th/15th place but got lucky with the table and finished top 10, but in reality we had a squad that should have have achieved top 10 with top 10 performances and decent football, and he got them playing considerably below that. Sacking him was the right decision as others have said the replacements were then even worse. Ankersen seems a switched on bloke with a good understanding of the game, seems to learn well from others and takes other views on board, which reflects in Semmens comments that it's not just about them coming in and doing it their way but them melding with our approach. I see the Brentford fans are playing down his role but they are bound to do that, he had a big role in shaping that club and it's success. Also seems that they have evolved and tested their approach they have now reached the point where they want to do it on their own, like first Mitjiland and then Brentford were like the test beds and now they are expanding the approach with the multi club model.

Well it's hard to nail down people's wealth, but the Serbian media seem to claim he is their first homegrown Billionaire. Whether that is true or not I don't know. He seems to own plenty of businesses, including one that supposedly makes over 1.5 billion a year (which owns the rights to PL in Serbia as well) and already has a business based in the UK from what they are saying. So Gao was a complete unknown pretty much, whereas this guy seems much more established in Europe and the UK, so the details about him are probably easier to confirm by all the Journos. ------------------------- On a side not be quite cool if one our feeder clubs was based in the Serbia or Croatia, especially with one of the owners being Serbian, those two relatively small countries population wise produce some quality players.

For me - 1. It not being leveraged is a good start. We saw with De Grossa and the Burnley takeover those are pretty common 'investors' about at the moment. 2. As others have said they seem to have a plan. 3. I actually trust quite a lot the board we already have in Semmens etc. I think they have done a good job in the circumstances and been pretty communicative, they had a lot to deal with, Gao basically investing nothing (which is not entirely his fault), the club being up for sale for a long time, some awful transfer decisions hamstringing the club from previous regime, covid etc. So when they say they were waiting for the right buyer to come along and these people are that (also many sources seemingly saying that many other potential buyers have been talked to/turned down) I trust them on that and it gives me hope. 4. Actual football people involved. 5. The main guy is supposedly a billionaire. 6. Us being the top of a pyramid of networked clubs, I can't see that being anything but a good thing for us. Extends our scouting reach into different countries, we should get players coming to us with decent experience and essentially we are just massively extending the size and reach of our academy. A simple numbers game says if you have 4 clubs across Europe all looking for talent and training local talent with the cream coming to us we should get some good players coming through.

Hopefully though we more align with what Leicester have done over the years. Sell one big player a year and use the money to invest in 3-4 good young players to add to the squad. I mean end of the day players if they improve with us and become good are still going to want to move anyway. We just want to avoid like the period around 14-15-16 losing so many good players at the same period.

Be interesting to see how quickly they get and where the feeder clubs are. The Leipzig model is pretty damn good to be honest, if we can emulate that then I'd be very happy. Leipzig are only disliked because of the way they came about in German football basically appearing from nowhere and bypassing the 50+1 rule, how the group actually runs their clubs is pretty good model.

I presume that more means the model of buying young players and improving them, rather than buying players for £40-50 million. Doesn't necessarily mean we will need to sell to buy, or hopefully not as much as we used to. Which is basically the RB Leipzig model anyway, with their feeder clubs. Which I presume is basically what they are aiming we become, but with a data driven recruitment model a la 'moneyball' and similar to Brentford.

I think there is something rotten at the core of that club, more going on behind the scenes than we see. Those are good players, but as a collective they are just poor. For their budget, transfer spending of the last 5 years to be 7th, 20 points of the leaders (ok with some games in hand but no guarantee on current form they will win those) is just appalling. Does go to show that although football is all about the money at the moment (and for the forseeable future) building a team of the right characters that blend well together is still very important. Man City might have shed loads of money but their recruitment seems to have a plan and they get top players who work as hard as anyone, whereas Utd seem to play fantasy football or FIFA as far as I can tell.