HalfTimePost

Really poorly run club if they are going to sell us their player in order to spend a lot of money signing a player they already own

We signed Richards (27) Lescott (33)Sinclair (26) Gestede (26) Gueye (25) that season too. As well as Ayew (23) Traore (19) Amavi (21) Veretout (22) The quantity and quality was our issue. Not the mix of kids we signed.

QPR, Villa, Everton. All spent lots of money or wages or both on 'experienced', 'proven' players and wasted it all. Sure there's more to add the list, West Ham previously perhaps

Newcastle have hired from Brighton and Liverpool. AC Milan actually have an ex Villa Sporting Director on their staff. The guy who was in charge when we signed Gueye, Veretout, Amavi, Traore, Ayew and then got relegated.

Find it baffling everybody is talking about him as a backup to Mings and not Digne. For me this would be a disaster as a CB, we'd be forced into selling Mings, our only leader outfield and such an important part of the club even if he's underappreciated. Ming's needs to become a backup himself or atleast have genuine competition. Chambers has done very well so far but Chambers & Bassey are not European CBs, if he's challenging Mings next year - Mings is starter guaranteed and that's not good for the club either. So if we buy Bassey at CB, and buy a genuine starter to 'improve' on Mings we'll have lost a key part of our club that we just don't need to yet. Buy a top CB (or young upcoming star) and gradually phase Mings out but keep his influence and leadership around for now. Buy a backup LB to deputise Digne. Bassey can be that player by all means (and that's exactly what he'd be signed as). Sell Hause either way.

No thanks

Would be a nice signing but I expect if we're going to sign a CB for £30m+, they'll be younger. Not too say we will ignore experience, but I expect if we're going to go for an experienced CB (read: older) then their experience will include Premier League or International football and likely would be cheaper. Feel like it'll need to a really special player for us to spend that fee on someone pushing 30. Those that have seen more of him, Is that description Carlos? I've not seen enough of him to comment but I feel like there's a few headwinds against us making this deal

Would rule is out And I love the backhand way of suggesting United have no chance of challenging anytime soon of challenging Must be City bound

Numerous tweets here from one of the guys who called Ings early last year (I believe) he's been spotty since and there's nothing of substance here but I find it interesting so thought I'd post anyway incase anybody else does too. (I.e. don't jump on me). Says Suarez has 'said yes'. Another tweet says McGinn will be captain next year if not one of the incoming targets.

We better play him as a 6

That'll be the end of Luiz imo. A real shame. For where we are now, Bissouma is probably the right fit and I'll be really excited to have him in. But I bet we aren't far away from being a much better defensive unit anyway and next year saying 'if only we had more of a creative deep lying playmaker in one of those 8 roles' Dougie is that player imo, when he's at his best in an 8 role he can maintain possession but also find really killer passes to start attacks from deep. Having a more defensive minded 8 in Bissouma will shore us up immensely. Put Kamara & Bissouma Vs Man City and we don't concede 3 in 5 mins. But we'll really regret losing Dougie imo, Coutinho, Ramsey and Buendia should be enough to open up most teams. But on the odd day they aren't on the same wavelength and are all trying to occupy the same space, I think Dougie has a better chance of finding the killer pass than Bissouma. Maybe we can keep him and add Bissouma - but we just aren't in enough competitions to keep him happy and to sign a new deal

Suppose it makes sense Fernandinho was a shadow of his former self on the weekend so imagine he'll be sidelined more next year. He was playing CB though, so will there be enough room at DM for Rodri, Philips and Fernandinho? 5 Subs means Pep can probably rotate DM like he does attacking midfielders but will be a rotational role for Philips. A shame but I can see it happening.

I don't think it's confirmed the same Jet. He works at the airport so keeps an eye on late-notice private jets getting booked into BHX and where they're coming from. Think it's just noted the company often works with footballers and that it's coming from somewhere where a player we're linked to is based. Very much adding 2+2 together rather than it being a solid ITK

Ouch. I'm calling bitter, but not a good review nonetheless.

Really hope it means there's still a chance for Sanson here if we've asked him to help convince him, must mean there's a decent relationship there (between Villa and Sanson) behind closed doors. If it had broken down or he felt bombed out then imagine we would want to limit that discussion as much as possible (I know they could talk privately but assume we've asked him to help out)

I'm not sure 'astute' is the right word for a nearly 30yr old on £100k a week wanting a 4/5 year deal. He'd be a sensible signing for sure and he'd definitely improve us.. But there appears to be a few very well regarded CBs potentially available for a move that are younger, on the up and if we don't achieve our goals will command big fees themselves if we had to sell them on. Botman, Saliba, Lacroix, NDicka to name a couple. I'm sure a few others been touted on here too. I feel like we're better off going for one of these upcoming stars. Tarkowski would be fine for a couple of years, probably better than most of them if we're talking about hitting the ground running in August. But they'd be more astute buys imo.

No but Gerrard explicitly said '1 or 2 were close' when talking about Free Transfers when asked by a journo last week. Obviously one of those was Kamara, may be that's our lot but anticipating one more because of Gerrards quote

So. TheTrees says private flight from Madrid lands at 1.10pm today. It's like the good old days again. Tracking flights is Prime VT.

Newcastle allegedly looking at new Leftbacks. I think they may see themselves getting better than Targett already and we'll need to find somebody else for him. Hopefully not.

Trez, El Ghazi and Guilbert all return. Samatta is gone Although I'd imagine Trez and Guilbert will have suitors. Think we'll wind up loaning El Ghazi to the Eridivisie or Championship. Wonder if he and Dean still have a good relationship and he could go to Norwich?

We have Ramsey, McGinn and Sanson. Don't think we're in need of a B2B midfielder with an engine. Plus we don't play with 2 in midfield. We'll end up with Ramsey and McGinn as the 8s with Kamara as a 6 behind them protecting the defence. I think maybe we can push for McGinn to become rotational. But if you buy another high-energy 8 you end up with say Gallagher, not convinced he could play alongside Ramsey. They'd both want to do the same job. Ramsey or McGinn, alongside a more defensive minded 8, say Bissouma. Or a more deep lying playmaker, like Luiz. With Kamara would be great. Edit: Unless you mean someone like say Yaya Toure. A powerful runner who could play either role and add more physicality. Then, yeah I agree, hard to find though and can be hit-or-miss, Soumare at Leicester was supposed to be that player but it hasn't aligned for him yet. Kondogbia could actually do that role (obviously not as well as Yaya). But imagine we've lost the chance of getting him now after ruining Atletis plans to replace him.

Been released by the looks of it. A loan to Bromsgrove was probably a signal this was likely. All the best Akos. A shame to lose someone who looked so promising against Mane & Salah in the FA Cup. Hope he manages to make a career in football for himself. If not, that memory of FA Cup night is still bloody special Missed it being announced by Mark Naylor a couple days ago:

He was one we were linked to a while back and was said Gerrard was super keen on him. Looks like half of Europe want him too though