tajjuk

It is odd, I wonder if he knows he probably won't play.

We need a hard working playmaker really, basically an upgrade on on Armstrong who can drift into the middle from those wide areas and pick passes out, basically a left footed Grealish. Probably a hard and expensive player to buy. I mean if its not costing us much (sounds likely he'll basically use up the wages we wasted on Carrillo) and he hasn't lost is his pace I suppose it gives us something a bit different. The only out and out pacey forward we have is Obafemi who is still a bit rough in his overall play and Adams is still not chipping in with the goals, so Walcott gives us I suppose an experienced forward to play with (or if the worst happens) instead of Ings and also gives us different wide right option as well. Would prefer someone better but we are where we are I suppose. Hopefully the more deadwood we clear the more positive signings we can make each window. But a centre-back, right back and centre-mid, all young promising players is not a bad window overall.

Hopefully he's not first option, he's lower down the list of options. I presume this means that Boufal is pretty much gone.

Where is that in the article? I'd presume basically they are getting at a set piece specialist that doesn't offer much else, but that is wholly ignorant of what JWP does for our team and just inaccurate about Fernandes. I do find it quite hilarious the comparisons of reactions with our 9-0 and these two big clubs getting thrashed, for us it seemed to be laugh at little ol' Southampton and lets mention it for the rest of time. For a club like Man Utd there is all this anger and shouting like its an insult they should ever lose a game this badly.

Everton sign Ben Godfrey, like that, shame we don't have the funds for these sort of transfers anymore. Young and English centre-back with pace, potentially could become a very good player.

I'd say more Liverpool are a shambles defensively rather than Villa being good. It's like Liverpool feel sorry for the likes of Utd and City and want to make the title race more interesting.

I still don't see where RLC fits into our team, he's not a no.6, and he's not really a winger, he's more of a no.10 which we don't really play, I suppose he could challenge Armstrongs position as he drifts into the no.10 spot or maybe offer something different as a second striker supporting Ings?

What he does in games doesn't necessarily mean what he is capable of. I think JWP has a pretty poor pass completion rate but that is not really because he is a bad passer its because Ralph asks him to play quick direct balls forward that are often low percentage because even if you lose it they press to win it back high up the pitch. What I like about this guy is it seems he is very quick (whereas none of Hojberg, JWP or Romeu are fast) so he can recover quickly to help protect the defence more and help break on the transition, but also it seems he is good at dribbling out with the ball which will help break through the lines and start attacks, its something Ralph had at Leipzig with Keita but we've never really had a player who could do that aside maybe Lemina who was too lazy/arrogant/inconsistent.

Probably shows why he was seemingly further up the list, though why he is cheaper is baffling. We also don't really know what roles each player has been asked to play, Sangare may have been further up the pitch in a more advanced role with the other asked more to sit and protect.

Interesting that the guy on there first noticed him in a game battling well against Sangare, who he called a physical beast and seems to rate highly but said Diallo impressed.

The next N'Golo Kante, watched by Arsenal and bid for by Leicester in January, of course all could be BS.

Grujic from Liverpool was also linked today. Possible we could be getting two centre-mids in, maybe Grujic on loan with a view to buy? Or maybe he is back up to Diallo. I don't think we will sign a GK. Hoedt seems pretty much done and Carrillo seems close. Boufal and Gunn will come down to the last day I reckon. I can see Diallo and another loan from a PL club, probably one from RLC, Sessegnon and Grujic.

Yeh they sound dodgy, sound like wannabe billionaires who don't really have the cash wanting a vanity project. Lots of alarms bells round that.

Watching the youtube vids he did remind me of Kante before I saw that 'the next..' on an article about him. Seems pretty quick and despite not being huge seems to be quite strong and sturdy muscling people off the ball. Just can't really judge the standard though I mean he doesn't have a lot of first team football and half of it is French second division. According to the Evening Standard was being looked at by Arsenal and Leicester apparently bid for him in January. He at least looks like from the videos and descriptions to have the raw ingredients for a Ralph midfielder, quite a few comments on him being comfortable dribbling and bursting forward with ball which offers something JWP can't really do and Hojberg couldn't.

Grujic looks potentially good, was a stand out for Liverpool against Arsenal last night apparently, decent age, good physicality about him, two seasons of experience in the Bundesliga. Ticks a lot of boxes, but by the sounds of things looks more likely to be a loan with a view to buying than a straight up permanent transfer.

Yeh well run club that Villa, paying £11 million for a player for one season. Isn't Bale only costing about that for Spurs?

We're not in Europe or even in the League cup, why the hell would we need 3 first teamers for one position? Even most top 6 clubs use youngsters as their third choice. That is how you block the development of young players right there, having random foreign players as your back ups back.

No I'd definitely say accusing someone of saying something they haven't when you literally have written evidence to check is top level moron status. Congrats 👍

Not sure its that weird when you realise he's barely played for Leipzig, he made 1 start for them last year so I'd presume he's not progressed as many would hope and therefore we'd value him less. Also how is it a position we need? He basically plays in the same role as Redmond and Djenepo, Armstrongs role is a completely different role.

1 start last year, pass.

er Mbappe?

Billy Gilmour. Main worry with him is he is tiny and slight, he's more like a sitting playmaker type than a box to box or defensive midfielder, he'd make JWP look big I think.

You mean back us as in spend hundreds of millions to so far finish 1 point above relegation last year? Like Fulham spent well over £100 million to get relegated? Compared to Sheff Utd who have not spent anything like what Fulham or Villa spent and finished above us. Improving your squad is one thing but just throwing money at anything that moves is not exactly a way to build a team. Plus people forget its easier for promoted clubs to spend money because they have budgets and lots of players wages that are basically at championship level and then get £100 million plus thrown at them which allows them to expand their squads and signings quickly. Whereas if you look at the table above, the more established PL clubs there who will have players on PL wages like us, Burnley, Brighton, West Ham, Newcastle etc. are not spending the same level because FFP restricts how much you can increase your wage budget. Not getting the Barkley love in either, over hyped teenager who has pretty much sat on Chelsea's bench for 3 years.

Supposedly they were planning to sell Rice to fund other areas of the squad which are in need of attention, it's why there was surprise at Diangana going because they were expecting to sell Rice and it never happened so had to shift other players they didn't really want to. Never really rated Barkley myself, decent technically but seems thick as a post both on and off the pitch.

Brewster is 20, Che is 24 Swansea were mid table when he joined, he is a large part of the reason they made their play off push. Brewster has been trained/developed at one of the best clubs in the world under one of the best managers in world (who rates him), Adams came through non-league which is likely why he is a still a bit rough round the edges. Brewster has been part of probably the most successful England youth sides of all time winning the golden boot at the 2017 U17 World Cup and was voted the 3rd best player at the tournament. We paid £15 million for a guy who apart from that one good season with Brum, has a record of 45 goals in 214 games. You are going to tout Adams and dismiss Brewster, whilst ignoring a lot of inconvenient facts. All transfers are a gamble, but a very highly rated 20 year old, who has done well at Championship level and has been hugely successful at England youth levels for £20 million is certainly no more of a gamble than a 4 years older, non-league trained player who aside one season had a 1 in 5 scoring record for £15 million.