tajjuk

Telegraph are saying Arsenal are considering a move for Cedric.

He's basically doing for us now what Morgan did for us at his best, box to box midfielder, pressing hard, tackling and getting forward. He is also more of goal threat than Morgan was and has the set pieces, but is physically a bit smaller in stature.

That would be bad for the lower league clubs, they share the gate receipts so like a non-league club getting an away game at like Arsenal or something can literally keep them funded for years.

Loan is ok, as long as we are not committed to it, what worries me is both Poch and Mourinho have gone for different options over him, not just for first choice but for back up as well. Aurier is awful IMO, at least defensively and he easily keeps his place ahead of KWP under two top managers and Poch even played a centre-back right back instead of him. And we have to remember where Spurs are currently as well, we are taking a 3rd choice right back from a mid table premier league team.

It's not a myth at all. Statistically he is one of the best free kick takers in PL, in terms of goals and hitting the target, he is one of the most consistent. In the PL no one has ever scored more than 4 direct free kicks in a season, the consistent players will be getting about 2-3 a season and that is what JWP does, and he does it in a team that until recently won't have been creating as many chances for free kicks round the box as the better teams. If he played for Man City or Liverpool he'd probably be scoring about 4-5 a season as he'd get far more chances. In terms of scoring from attempts and making the keeper make the save, he is right up there with the best. Also he's not really having a purple patch, hes been playing very well for over a year pretty much since Ralph came in, the whole team wasn't great at the start of the season but he was one of the better ones IMO and has raised his game now above what he did in the 2nd half of the season last year.

It's a good shout, England are not exactly blessed with midfield quality.

I don't think selling him in January would be a good idea, in the summer if he doesn't want to sign a new contract? Then probably yes, I think JWP is more valuable to us at the moment. I wouldn't be surprised though if Bayern didn't have a sell on clause on him, so we might not get as much back as we think.

Well I said around that value, they sold Tierney last summer for £25 million and I'd reckon they might lose another player like Edouard or Ajer this year anyway, plus I think over the last two seasons they are up around £20 million in player sales, so getting them to spend maybe like £15-16 million Forster and Mo is not that unrealistic, I think its wages more than transfer fees that would be the problem, their highest earners are around about £30k a week, Forster is on more than double that. Really does make you notice that we should be picking up some of these players that Celtic manage to pick up, they seem to find some real good talents. Or as others have said we could use them to makeweight in deals for someone like Ajer, though player exchange deals never seem to actually happen. Issue is even if he has done ok, its the Belgian league so not going to impress many clubs in Europes top leagues and clubs in Belguim or like Holland have no money. Best hope for getting some money out of Hoedt I reckon is a mid table Italian team go for him based on his performances for Lazio where he was quite good and rated, but wages will still be an issue, I recon we'll be paying a good chunk of his wages for the remainder of his contract even if we do manage to shift him. Its the double edged sword of the PL riches, we can attract the players with the big fees and big wages like no other smaller clubs in Europes can, but then if we want to sell the player and there are no PL takers, it makes shifting them much harder. Well we spent over £50 million last year anyway, we spend that pretty much every year and I think we can afford to do the same this year with the PL money. It's wages that is the problem, we need to shift wages out to get new players in, to remain sustainable and stick with FFP, I think when you look at out of contract players, players being wanted (Vestergaard, Hojberg) and players doing well on loan (Forster, Mo, Boufal) I think it'll be easier for the club to do deals this summer than last year. Even more so if we finish higher in the league and get in a good name for the player recruitment role who might have sway on the continent.

Or sell Vestergaard now, give Danso some actual time at centre-back for once and see if he is worth persevering and take up purchase option which IIRC is only around 10 million Euros. Which is not a massive fee for a 21 year old if he does have some talent worth developing.

I am not sure that is going to be a massive issue, we might have to subsidise a few but I reckon - I reckon Forster will take a pay cut to rejoin Celtic and they'll pay a fee, not the ridiculous £25 million quoted but we might get £8-10 for him based on performances this season. He seems to have found a home there, got his confidence back and is liked there, so I reckon he'll drop wages to join them. Elyounoussi similar, though I think he is on less wages here anyway, done well at Celtic, seems to be liked there so I reckon he might agree to go to Celtic and they might pay a small amount for him again maybe around the £8 million mark. Cedric and Yoshida are both out of contract and likely to go, that is probably £100k a week off the wages right there. Long I reckon we'll offer a new contract but on lower terms at his age and more as a squad role, seems an important figure in the dressing room. Vestergaard seems wanted and even wanted by a PL club so we should get a fee there and no need to sub wages. Boufal similar, seems wanted by clubs in Spain and Italy, he impressed on loan last year and I reckon we'll get a small transfer fee and he'll want to go to kick start his career. ------------ Between Forster, Elnoyussi, Boufal and Vestergaard I reckon we could maybe get £30 million in transfer funds, maybe more if Vestergaard goes for £15 million plus and Forster goes for £10 million. Vestergaard is obviously attracting interest from various places and has done ok enough, with a decent previous record to keep his value. The other 3 have done well on loan (Boufal last year), that has increased their reputations to make them more valuable and less the complete write offs people predicted. Those four players definitely have re-sale value and as long as we don't demand stupid fees for them I reckon we'll sell them fairly easily and recoup a decent amount of money. The loans have paid off basically. Its Carrillo and Hoedt who are the dead weights, they have been terrible for us, and then have done terrible on loan AND have high wages, I think we'll struggle to give them away for free paying half their current wages. But the others coupled with those leaving for free could raise £25-30 million in funds and crucially should clear about £400k a week off the wage bill, that would give plenty of room to sign 4-5 quality players, if you add our yearly spend of about £50 million.

I'd probably cash in. Saying we want a profit I agree is a bargaining position, he costs us £18 million, they offer us £15 million, we say £20 million, they might then say £18 million and there you go. Cover is a little worry especially with Bednerak out, but I suppose its not a giant risk with the league position as it is and Danso/Yoshida as back ups. If it allowed us to go out now and start negotiating for a target that ultimately signs ready for pre-season I'd take it to be honest. The summer is a big rebuilding job and if we need to sell people to balance fees/wages, then doing as much early business as possible is preferable. I am also presuming he might want out and isn't happy to sit on the bench, he probably wasn't expecting it (though I hope he understands it, unlike someone like Hoedt) when he signed as a regular for a good German side (who are challenging for the title this year) and being back up to a team that is almost certainly going to be in the champions league next year and only has 3 first team centre-backs currently, one of whom is 36 and injured is obviously going to be appealing to him. We are going to need a whole new back 4 in the summer anyway as Yoshida looks likely to go, as is Cedric, we need cover for Bertrand and need a new centre back anyway. That means even if we have transfer funds we need clearing people from the wages, and if Vestegaard is below now Stephens and Bednerak in the pecking order, he needs to be cleared off the books, making almost the money back we paid for him is a bonus and we might not get takers in the summer especially if it becomes more clear then that he is surplus to requirements. Still baffles me they want him though. I think also you give Danso some game time in his actual position and see if he can earn his move here, if he does decently and shows some promise then IIRC the release clause is like 10 million Euros, I think I'd probably take that option up for someone his age seeing as we'll in theory be losing Yoshida, Vestegaard and won't want Hoedt anywhere near the building with his attitude, then even if we go out and get a 'star' centre back signing, you'd want a 4th for decent squad depth and he's shown he can cover other positions as well.

I think Man City will go all out for the Cup this year, they'll want to pick up the domestic trophies again if they can, they know the league is way gone and they'll cruise easily into top 4, I mean even with the games they have lost they are 17 points clear of 5th and 11 clear of 4th, so they are going to finish 2nd or 3rd, so I think they will prioritise the cup competitions. I'd rather see us go all out for league position the higher we can finish the better IMO for the summer rebuild, if we can position ourselves around 7th or 8th, or maybe even sneak a 6th, we can attract better players and sell the club as a club on the up again and back challenging for the best of the rest next season with an exciting manager. Do that and get the clear out/signings right in the summer and we could have a very good season next year, maybe as a long shot even a Leicester like season as it looks likely that the like of Spurs, Arsenal, Man Utd and Chelsea could still easily be in transition periods and have dodgy seasons again. We have somehow been handed an opportunity here, through sheer graft and determination of Ralph and the squad to turn it around from what looked at best another squeaky relegation avoidance , coupled with the complete inconsistency of the rest of the league bar 2/3 teams, we shouldn't waste it. This club has wasted opportunities like that before, the 2003 cup final the signings were poor and we didn't build on a good position, and 15/16 where we finished 6th we didn't kick on well. The whole club picture, Crocker coming in, new signings director coming in, etc. looks better on a club that finishes 9th + than it does a team that has finished 17th and then 15th, we have people coming into a club that looks like it is rebuilding/improving not treading water.

Best at winning aerial duels in the PL apparently, the Athletic calls him our 'glue man', doesn't get the flashy statistics but is important to the way we play and creates chances for others with his heading, closing down, running off the ball etc. He's basically a bit like Heskey I suppose, everyone could see what he brought to the team and how he helped others perform, but then at the end of the day he is a striker and chances fall to him, he doesn't take those chances and in other games that is going to cost us. It will be interesting to see if he gets a new contract. Apparently a very well liked figure at the club and very influential off the pitch as well. Really we need to find a Shane Long type player that can take the odd chance as well.

Our next run of fixtures after Liverpool - Burnley (H) Villa (H) West Ham (a) Newcastle (h) Norwich (a) Arsenal (h) A little bit tougher in April - Watford (a) Man City (h) Everton (a) Man Utd (a) Then finish in May with - Brighton (h) Bournemouth (a) Sheff Utd (h) Only 3 games against the 'traditional' big six, one at home against the not so good Arsenal, who are poor away. And only 3 games against team currently above us as well. We are still crap at home, and there are games against teams there that we struggle to break down like Burnley or teams who are scrapping for relegation so it will be tougher than it is 'on paper' but I think I'd be disappointed if we didn't get 5 wins from that lot. 2 points a game from that lot is doable IMO if the players don't get to about 40 points and go on the beach, which could put us in contention for 6th/7th with around 56 points. Man Utd finished 6th last year with 66 points, but considering they are currently the 5th placed team and have 34 points, they would need to almost double their points tally in just 14 games to hit that and more than double the wins they have so far, which seems unlikely so the 5th/6th positions could easily be sub 60 points this year. But I think the beach thing could be a big possibility, think we'll get to about 42 points and slack off.

I was thinking about this earlier, how many clubs actually have owners putting investment in? I am not really sure. Clearly we don't, to my knowledge then Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Newcastle, Arsenal, Spurs, Watford, Burnley, Norwich don't. All those clubs seem to be running sustainably/off PL earnings essentially. I am not really sure on teams like Brighton, Wolves, and Sheff Utd. Wolves have the link with the agent so it's interesting how much money the owner is putting in. I know Brighton got money from their owner for their stadium and stuff but whether he puts money in for signings it doesn't look like it and I think Sheff Utd don't either and have an ownership dispute. Villa might, but then I wonder whether their spending is basically leveraged loans from the PL money in the future. Very clearly City, Everton and West Ham seem to, the hammers to a lesser extent than the first two. Man Utd don't but are such a financial behemoth they have lots of money to spend anyway, (Arsenal probably similar here but don't spend) and similar for Liverpool but their spending has also been sustained in part by two huge sales in the 5 yeas or so in Suarez and Coutinho which is probably approaching £200 million from just two players sold right there. Chelsea used to but Abramovich has cut back. And Leicester maybe but not so much in recent times, and they have added added revenue from the league win, champions league football and selling Mahrez and Maguire. So really our owner doesn't seem do very much different to half the premier league to be honest. I mean really in recent seasons the likes of Wolves and Leicester for example have not really spent anymore than we have, or at least not massively and have not bought players we couldn't have. Let's be honest we could have bought players like Maddison, Ndidi, Syoncu, Maguire, Troare (he was right in our £15-18 million signing range), Robertson that Liverpool picked up for just £10 million, Mahrez who Leicester got for next to nothing, etc. We just didn't identify those players, we used to like 4-5 years ago, hence Mane, Tadic, Van Dijk, Pelle etc. we just haven't recently and that is the real problem not really the owner. IIRC we spent over £50 million this year, £50 million the year before, and over £50 million the year before that, most seasons spending about £15-20 million on each player. But the cold hard issue here is that in the last 3 seasons the only signings that have established themselves as first team regulars are Ings and Bednerak, and Bednerak cost just £5 million. Every other signing (and yes it's early for Djenepo/Adams and Armstrong is making a case) has not established themselves. The first team is essentially the same team it was about 3 years ago, McCarthy, Bertrand, Cedric, Yoshida, Redmond, Ward-Prowse, Hojberg, Romeu, Long, Stephens etc. have all pretty much been in the match day squad for 3-4 years, barely any signing has made an impact. That is the real problem, it's not that we are not spending, certainly not compared to most clubs around us, its that we are spending it badly, recruitment used to be a our strength and is how we pushed to be best of the rest. Now it is Wolves and Leicesters strengths and they are where we could have been if the recruitment team had kept up its record. Aside maybe abandoning our ~ £15 million price tag (which apparently the club has recognised) it's not about spending £100s of millions because we can't, it's about making core quality upgrades on the first team squad that give good value for me. Recent signings haven't done that and its pretty much a miracle that we have had basically have the same team for 4 years and not got relegated.

Hopefully this is another wake up call, to me they looked like a team that was on a good run, that was 2-0 up and though they could cruise it 2nd half against a team that looked a bit tired and was a in poor form, but you can't switch off in the PL, especially against teams like Wolves or they will punish you and they did. Textbook complacency IMO, especially as the 2-0 flattered us a bit, and is a dangerous scoreline. Ralph seemed to say as much after the game, saying the defending was sloppy and players had lost concentration. Need to see a better performance against Palace for the whole 90 mins.

Crocker was joining supposed to be joining 'early 2020' and it's the 17th of Jan, so I don't think there is much issue he's not here yet.

They would cost a lot I reckon unless there is a relegation release clause in there, which I doubt. Plus Aarons is wanted by Spurs.

The board should be looking to give the guy a new contract IMO, tie him down for some more years.

^ AC Milan are pretty poor at the moment, down in mid table in Serie A, problems off the field, so not the European super club they once were, mid table Serie A is probably lower than mid table PL. Also apparently Milan are looking at Boufal - https://sempremilan.com/pellegatti-milan-eye-cut-price-deal-for-e19m-southampton-forward-if-spurs-target-leaves I doubt we would need a replacement for Bertrand until the summer, even then I doubt if he'll move, he seems pretty settled but certainly could see the club cashing in on a 30 year old with 1 year left on his deal, but it would be madness now. We might get a loan or two in but really can't see much happening now in Jan, we'd have a to have a massive drop in form to get relegated I think, and I can't see us signing anyone in Jan that would significantly improve the team. So I think it's better to hold all the funds we can, hopefully cruise into mid table and then have a big summer with all the contracts running out, people on loan, deadwood to clear etc. and find 3-4 quality players that fit Ralph's system and improve the team, do that and the team retains this sort of form and next season could be special.

Well those two papers for a start, but wouldn't this actually be just a twisting of the facts to suit a narrative? Leeds need a striker, make a bid for Adams on loan with that future fee, board talks to Ralph about whether he is in his plans, Ralph says yes, board goes back to Leeds and says no. 'Ready to accept' literally could just be because they instantly didn't say no, they instead spoke to the manager about the player and his future at the club, and those rags take it as the board accepting the offer. None of which would mean the board accepted the offer without his say so or that they were going over his head or that he had to talk them round as they are trying to present that. As far as I understood it Ralph was part of transfer decisions so would naturally be part of this process and discussions.

As I said before business in January is generally unreliable, statistically a lot of them fail and best teams get 1-2 extra points out of spending around £35-40 million. Also important to note it's taken the players a year pretty much to really grasp and fully embrace Ralph's style of play and what he wants them to do. A Jan signing doesn't have that time, no full pre-season, no time to get the system, style etc. The only really sensible signing is someone we were going to get anyway, as a in a long term target that might be available now without increased finances. It wouldn't surprise me if we don't sign anyone.

Yeh it would, Greenwood is a good prospect but nothing more than that, until recently he barely had more than a couple of senior goals. Vardy is retired and Rashford doesn't work as a no.9 and that would leave Ings as clearly the most suitable replacement for Kane right now, but its probably not going to happen. I suspect Southgate will play Rashford through the middle and have Sancho and Sterling either side.

Would probably take a draw, they are a good team, counter attack well and have lots of threat out wide. Bertrand will really have to be on his game because Troare is really developing into something quite scary, he's built like a rugby player with the speed of top sprinter, but he's added end product now. Jota on the other side is also a real threat. Also the 3 in a row thing just doesn't seem to happen for us and we are still one of the worst teams in the league at home. Hopefully the extra game in midweek will drain them and we'll have the more energy and nick it at the end. They also concede a lot, they have conceded the first goal multiple times this year apparently.

Walker-Peters and Bryan not filling me with confidence at all, that sounds like a Championship fullback pairing right there. As back ups, maybe, but first choice is worrying. Also people saying KWP was rated by Poch, well he played the first 3 games of the season and then didn't play again, Poch even played Foyth at right back, who is a centre-back rather than KWP, which is very worrying. A player that can't dislodge the error prone Aurier is a worry IMO. Neither Poch OR Mourinho seem to want to play him.