Delphinho123

And there was me hoping for a fight! Listen, I'd love for you to be right and Buendia to absolutely smash it under Emery and really kick on. I don't see it though. I'd argue that he's one of the very few players that haven't improved substantially under Emery. Konsa, Mings, Cash, Luiz, McGinn, Watkins and even Martinez look like they've kicked on, but I still see the same flaws to Buendias game that frustrate me. He's got decent technique but he's too slow and too weak to be a top player. I imagine Emery wants more pace throughout the side and his is a key position where pace is important. He isn't for me and I think we'll have failed badly in the market if he's starting for us next year. Overally, he's really disappointed me since joining. I was all aboard the hype train when we signed him.

Only 15?

No.

There’s absolutely no chance Emery won’t be looking for an upgrade on Buendia in the Summer.

Great. Someone else to pedal their lies.

Me too.

Would be an outstanding signing to play behind Watkins.

Think I heard something similar. Also heard that Boehly assumed he’d be in the CL every season??? Probably not true. Anyway, there is already a huge disconnect between the Premier League and the EFL in terms of money and the way they’re run. I can just see the Premier League with all this money and American influence distancing themselves more from the idea of ever being relegated and trying to reduce the amount of Jeopardy. Could be wrong.

Yep. I imagine he has all the big agents numbers on speed dial. It becomes a lot easier for us to convince players to join as we’re going to be at the table for negotiations

Especially with more and more American owners. I wouldn’t be surprised if we start seeing fixtures played in America and relegation from the league is dropped to only 1/2 teams.

The most exciting thing about all this is the reason he’s coming here. It’s all well and good bringing in high quality people in powerful positions, but you still need to give them the tools to succeed. This guy seems like he could pick any club in the world to go and work at and yet he’s ended up here…. Why? What has he been promised? Super exciting.

We do need to aim high though. Quality over quantity. I’d quite happily only sign 2 players this summer if they were at the level of say a Raphinha (just throwing his name out there as an example). If we bring in a quality support striker and a wide player, our starting XI will be the best it’s been in 25 years.

I can’t see Raphinha leaving them unfortunately. Great player though and would fit our system nicely.

As good as done then I’d say. He’s usually spot on and you’re right, doesn’t mess around with speculation.

Does this mean we can sign Dani Olmo, Raphinha, Fati and Gavi?

It’s clear we’re after a big name in the DOF position though regardless.

Big name. What is it the kids are saying. Villa are cooking?

£25m for Archer with a buyback of say, £40m would be a decent deal, no? I just think he may be a saleable asset which can significantly aid our FFP. I know some will disagree as well, but I actually think Archer and Iroegbunam may be better prospects.

Also, I think football is all about trophies and success. We can't turn our noses up at the idea of potentially competing and winning the conference league in the hope we perform better in the league next year if we're not in it. I get the OP's angle though.

IF we make Europe, and we were genuinely interested in Joao Felix, we should pursue that. He may still want CL, which is fine, but he'd be perfect in our set up.

Saturday becomes a must win if Brighton get anything from United. If they lose, a point wouldn't be the end of the world on Saturday - just means we absolutely must beat Spurs.

The centre back situation is an interesting one. Konsa and Mings have looked superb together under Emery, I just don't think he'd want to break that up. Then obviously you have an expensive Diego Carlos on the bench. Not sure we'll look to spend in this position in the Summer. It would take a lot of money to find a centre half better than those 3 and given we have more pressing needs, we may leave that area of the squad alone.

I think Maddison is quite good.