HalfTimePost

Well that was from out of nowhere. Welcome Jores.

Which is a shame as he was the one with more potential out of him and Baker, a lot of people on here were convinced 12 months ago that this was his year, the next Cahill, 'lets not make the same mistake as we did with 'Cahill' etc. It's a shame for him, I think he can come good, he had a lot of pressure this year being captain of a young, inexperienced team for periods of the season and having to lead a defence of himself, Baker and Herd during *that* spell. But some players really take to the pressure, and he hasnt. Will be a big year for him next season. Okore is really highly rated and is a good passer of the ball, which has been one reason to choose Clark over Baker, Clark is good with the ball and moving it forwards rather than hoofing it, where as Baker is strong, throws himself about and good in the air. In Okore we (hopefully) have somebody who can do both those things if he progresses well enough. Clark really needs to push himself to get into the team, which is good.

Same here, when we started this 'young and hungry' venture being seen as a club to have young talent developed at and players wanting to come here, I saw, as the 'end game' like thats what we need to be aspiring too, because if we can do that, then at some point down the line we can really build something. I did not expect players to be choosing us over clubs like Chelsea because of this so quickly though. Heres to hoping he signs and we can continue this over the next few years.

Could be a decent amount of squad depth next season for the first time in years. Guzan (Given, so far) Lowton (???) Vlaar (Okore) Baker (Clark) Cresswell? (Bennett) Westwood (???) Delph (Sylla) Weimann (Bacuna) Murphy? (***) Agbonlahor (Tonev) Benteke (Helenius) ***Tonev, Bacuna, Grealish, Carruthers in rotation Interesting to see what happens at CB, Baker deserves another go and I still think Clark can come good but Okore is probably the more talented of the three. Could shift Okore to RCB and Vlaar to LCB so that Bennett/New LB have the more experienced CB??

We once had a player like that... And I still want him back. Beat me to it. His song has written itself.

Alot of people, all seemingly at once, claiming this is a done deal... on twitter. But theres quite a few, and its beginning to convince me.

Defensa Central Cant see it the whole thing about getting out of Madrid to ensure he gets a last good contract is the exact opposite of what we are after + not sure Lambert would sign somebody who would want guaranteed first team football as it would piss Guzan off, and if Guzan still got it, piss Lopez off. Non starter for me, but thought i'd post all the same.

Lukaku wont be getting 38 games of football next year at Chelsea, Benteke has a chance to really cement himself as the first choice ahead of Lukaku next season by playing week in week out. Lukaku will be (rightly or wrongly) an impact player behind whichever megastar Mourinho signs. And even that he will be competing for with Ba and Torres. I think he'll stay. If we're lucky Lukaku's career will massively stall next season and Benteke will be scared into staying another year

So, if he signs, can he take Guzan's kicks for him?

0-4. Lets go sign Okore and Kjaer. (I jest. Poor display by Denmark, but like others have said, cant judge him (or Kjaer, who I also like) based on one bad team performance, Cornelius was their CF today, anybody know if Helenius was on the bench?)

I thought it was Euros and was thinking there is no way Lambert would spend £6.5m on one player like this unless it was Teke's replacement. Thank god its Krone.

Gone to Iceland? he's Danish

Signed him a little while back I think as I've followed him on twitter for a while now. Dont know much about him other than he comes across as a bit of a clearing in the woods on twitter.

Kit wasnt that bad. The sponsor however...

Probably replace Baker up until the 5th minute of our first game when Vlaar goes off injured. Leaving us with (right footed) Okore next to Lowton and Baker next to hopefully a new LB. Until the 7th minute when Baker gets a head injury and is replaced by Clark

Matt Lowton is 27th on that list. Nathanial Clyne is 5th. Sounds about right, I love Lowton (and I also really rate Clyne, wanted us to sign him for a couple of years before he joined Soton) but Clyne definitely seems like the quicker player. The one gripe I have with Lowton is that he isn't quite as quick as I would like a modern attacking fullback to be. (He does However he usually makes up for this with his impeccable reading of the game.)

Watched him play a bit the other week (or last week? not sure) and he was definitely based on the left

Somebody DEFINITELY stole BJ10's laptop! Yeah I was wondering if I have some how crossed into an alternate universe.

Please mean 'next transfer as this is done'. Really like Okore.

Have I missed where anybody said it was a done deal and that there would be multiple signings at once? I may have but it looks to have just chinese-whispered through the thread?

Yes he did

I really like that away kit (the white one). The home one isnt too bad either. The design that is. Cant blame Macron for the awfully huge and ugly logo of the sponsor

£12m is definitely a big signing whichever way you look at it. Especially when you consider that all of our signings so far have been in the £1-3m bracket and Benteke at £5-7m.

Cadbury could work well on a blackcurrant and white kit....

We'll probably end up with none of them. but Belhanda isn't really a winger, a CAM really but can play on the wing or deeper in midfield. For arguments sake, though, lets assume all of these bids/rumours are true. We could line up: Guzan Lowton Vlaar Okore Cresswell Westwood Sylla Popov Belhanda Tonev Benteke But yeah, you are right. Extremely unlikely we'd sign them all. Probably 1 out of the 3, using the other 2 to keep the price of the 1 we will sign down. a la bidding for Dempsey knowing full well we wouldnt get him but closing the Benteke sale. I like how Weimann and Agbonlahor are just cast out here! Nothing I've seen suggests Popov or Tonev would dislodge either. Of course not. Was just showing how the 3 could fit in together. I think Weimann would lose his place though if the formation was kept the same.