HalfTimePost

Not sure if sarcasm or not but Chuk isn't a defensive midfielder. If he stayed we could easily play him and whichever of Kondogbia, Kamara or even Bissouma signed.

Yeah a few of the rumour sites claim he's after £100-£120k a week which I think would be well worthwhile. Also if Atleti get Kamara on a free I think £15-18m is a steal for them. Gets Kondogbia off their books, they replace him for free and get all their money back to put into Kamaras wages and signing on fees. It's a win-win if we lose out on Kamara to them. £30m would be too high, on a 4 year deal we would be paying probably £7.5m a year in amortisation - I reckon if we just plugged that size fee or a touch more to Kamara as a signing fee it probably secures him anyway and we'd be better off.

I would love Kondogbia but this is very different to the previous rumour of a fee around €15-20m. He last moved for near £30m in 2015 when he signed for Inter at 22. They sold him for £19m in 2018 to Valencia, who sold him to Atleti in 2020 for £14m. £30m now would be an outrageous over payment imo. And whilst we would likely need to pay him more than he's earning at Atleti to sway him to join. Triple would be nuts. I believe we're interested but this report must be BS

I didn't make the table! And we literally win the league in this scenario, we can add Cash' goals in for improved GD if you like

We would be 17th. Although on the scouting point, Leicester - often hailed for their immense scouting - would be rock bottom

I believe this is just English players as it has us at 27 Goals Scored. Watkins 9, Ings 6, Ramsey 6, Konsa 2, Mings 1, Chambers 1, Hause 1, Targett 1. So Cash (3), McGinn (3) both not included

I wasn't sure where to post this and realised that these sorts of posts or tables pop up all the time and are somewhat interesting and thought I'd start a new topic for hypothetical tables, etc etc. What If... Only domestic players goals counted in the league this year?

I know McGinn has become the new scapegoat a little bit lately but Luiz is the midfielder we should be selling this summer if he won't sign a new deal. As we bought McGinn for just £3m it's also easier to gradually phase him into a bit-part player too if his performances don't improve. Luiz out for £25-35m (can't imagine we get over £30m with one year left but was only a few months ago we were turning down that amount) and buy a proper 6 and we immediately look more balanced. I think we need someone to comepte with McGinn though if we don't believe Sanson is up to it. Or more defensive 8 to replace Luiz so we have more options than McGinn, Bissouma would be ideal.

His agent isn't asking for anything. We aren't in negotiations, it's been the same since October. Carney wants out and doesn't want to sign a new deal. Edit: I do agree on Romano though. I've found it weird all year that the press have given it air time. He's basically a nobody with no starts and very few minutes. It does t surprise me he wants to leave but it does surprise me the media are even bothered.

I disagree. It's been months of banging on about him not signing. Gerrard have him minutes and he did well there's no need to have not played him for even 1 minute for months. Either as an 8 or a 10, we haven't been super since Jan. Sanson had minutes, got injured or 'unavailable' still no minutes as an 8. Traore and Trez got minutes before Afcon as 10s. There's been minutes available, he stopped getting used around the time it was last leaked in the press he wouldn't sign. Its been too long now of the same stuff coming out. Its not often I buy stuff from the press. I buy this.

I'm nervous about giving a manager a load of money to build their team and start from scratch when we have good players already. A couple, for sure. But we've all seen at Villa what happens when a manager has too much say - MoN crippled us with awful transfers on huge wages that we couldn't shift. And then made the same mistake over and over again with dwindling funds until we nearly went bust. If Purslow and Gerrard are going to minimise Langes role, then change Lange and get someone in who is on the same page as the two of them but has enough backbone to stick up for what they are trying to create with a longer term view. I just don't think we should hand the keys to Gerrard - or any one manager.

Don't think this is a good move at all. Dean came from Brentford where they (for the money spent) had perfected the Head Coach and Scouting roles. He was brought in because we wanted to work in a better funded version of the same thing and he did a good job for a number of years. I'm slightly concerned at this move to a more traditional set up as we were on the right track just with a slightly 'off' execution. Signings since Lange came in: Martinez, Cash, Watkins, Traore, Sanson, Buendia, Bailey, Ings, Chambers, Digne We can debate Traore, Sanson and Bailey. But all three have had a number of injuries since joining that they just hadn't had before we signed them, it's not like we'd missed glaring injury issues. Ings made perfect sense on paper - and we all debate how much Lange was the influence in signing him. The rest have done what was expected of them or are very new. I think our bigger challenge is actually the changing philosophies that have made Buendia, Bailey and Traore debatable as to whether they'll work with Gerrard going forward. For me - the questions lie with Purslow on footballing decisions. He's on his second DoF & second manager since joining and we have neither a squad or a style suited to our manager or players. The players don't match the manager or the DoF doesn't understand the football we are trying to go for. That's our problem. We have a huge amount of talent in our squad.

Bissouma yes. Jesus a big stretch but yes. Ndidi no way Leicester sell as they'll lose Tielemens already. Raphinha .... Lmao just no way he'd come and we couldn't afford him

Nah he didn't

Yes and got sacked because he was believed to not be doing a good enough job

The truth is people are chasing and hoping for a player that A) doesn't exist. B ) wouldn't join us if they did and C) We don't necessarily need to get to where we want. Chelsea: Lukaku (5 Goals), Werner (4), Havertz (7) Arsenal: Auba (4), Lacazette (4), Nketiah (4) City: Jesus (8) (5 of them in the last week) Liverpool: Firmino (5), Jota (15) Even Spurs: Kane (12) West Ham: Antonio (8) Wolves: Jimenez (6), Hwang (5), Silva (0). Aston Villa: Watkins (9), Ings (6). The 20-Goal-A-Season striker is virtually dead in the Premier League. Kane & Ronaldo the best examples of players that should or will be that player - but it is nowhere near a necessity to have the all-encompassing Striker in a team challenging for trophies anymore. They need to be able to work hard, drift wide (Jota the top scorer in this list notibly is the one least like a Striker), hassle players by pressing from the front, create room for and bring others into play. Watkins is just fine for where we are but, crucially, where we want to be going too. He may not always be first choice but it would be stupid to sell him.

Completely agree, this board can beat cesspit at times. The first 5 or 6 pages of the Match Thread yesterday were a joke. I genuinely believe we have more fans than anyone who just revel in being miserable

If you mean AEG (£8m), Trez (£9m), Wes (£22m), Nakamba (£10m) - then somebody already has, Suso was sacked at the end of our first season in the league. Not sure Nakamba will go though and he also signed Luiz who we turned down £35m for in Jan. If we lose money on Traore (£16m), Ings (£27m) or Sanson (£14m). Then rightly or wrongly, Dean Smith was sacked because he hasn't made the most of our signings the last year or so, including them, Bailey, Buendia etc.

Speaks volumes that this thread is largely silent for weeks at a time. We could probably do with a chant for him so he atleast understands the love we have for him. Do any keepers have chants these days?

Nervous start but some moments where he showed what he could bring to the table. His long stride makes him look quite quick. He got back pretty well - when Luiz came on he was much more composed on the ball (which Tim can learn with time) but there was a moment where he was tracking back and trying to catch a man and he just couldn't get near him and Chambers managed to cover him. I feel Tim would've been able to catch him, and it's margins like that that could make him a real success. Hopefully the composure comes and he gets more confident stepping into midfield. Ramsey marauding forwards or to Coutinho's wing left massive gaps in midfield and either through nerves or instruction Tim didn't move into them and we turned over possession and Norwich had room to compose themselves. But look, good starting debut for him, he looked promising again and hopefully he gets more minutes - although I can't see a start Vs Burnley, but hopefully a good 30 minutes cameo.

Luiz and Buendia having us much better on the ball.

Lovely by Ramsey

Think he was just delaying time, drinking in his first start and wasn't overly happy with himself from his facial expression. Don't think he was injured mate

We play Ings and Ollie on the wrong sides. Ollie's best stuff comes on the right imo