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Fabrizio now confirming that a Qatari club are pushing for Phil and negotiations with him going well. Yet to start talks with Villa. Looks like this has got legs…..unlike our Phil

Fully agree. RB and striker/forward need to come in.

Agree. I find it concerning that he admitted he felt more comfortable having no other striker available as he was always worried about being subbed after 60 mins if not playing well/scoring (paraphrasing a bit there). We all know that he is a comfidence player but we simply cannot have a first team player NOT WANTING direct competition or else we will never improve as a squad etc. Really like Ollie but those comments are a worry, imo.

I like your optimism and wished I shared it. Since those quotes we have signed Zanoilo and, as I’ve said, I’m sure we will be looking at a forward player once Archer is confirmed and also a defender RB/CB. It is the cost of these new additions where I differ to a few others on here. I reckon a £10M-£15M permanent signing and then a loan with buy option will see us done.

Well said, Sir.

As previoulsy stated....an interesting view....just not one I share.

No offence taken at all mate. Its a very informative thread and I've read it consistently. My reason for believing we do not have the ability to spend £50M+ is precisely because of the impact it will have on us in future seasons where we would then HAVE to sell to buy. (anyway, i'll stop now as I'm defintiely OT here).

Again, a valued opinion. Just different to mine.

It was tongue in cheek! No-one apart from the club accountants etc know the actual facts. That doesn't stop us individually from applying some common sense and logic to multiple scenarios upon which one can infer a measured opinion. Thats the beauty of a forum. I firmly believe we do not have the abilty to spend huge sums on new signimngs....clearly others do..... and thats fine. It'd be so boring if we all thought the same and lived in an echo chamber. Look, I'd love us to go and spend upwards of another100M on more signings obviously but I do not think we are even in that ball park....yet. And that is the challenge we have in trying to get to achieve those huge revenue streams (CL etc) with the relaative limited budgets that we are afforded. If anyone can do it though its Unai.

I believe it is a fact, imo.

We will agree to disagree on our indivdual interpretations of FFP etc - its a very convoluted system at best! Unai wants success and wants it quickly i.e. top four finishes etc, CL football regularly. If he genuinely still had in excess of ANOTHER £50M PLUS wages to spend then why has he not spent it? I get the spending on players that will only improve us and those that Emery wants argument......but I cannot think of many managers who would rather sit on £50M instead of using to improve on what he already has. He's not going to spend £50M....because he hasn't got it to spend. Occam's razor and all that. (All of course IMO).

Apprecaite your opinion but I couldnt disagree more. We are no where near being of the ability to spend another 75M+ (incl wages) after what we have already spent. Hopefully in the future but we need to accept where we afre in regardds to our revenue streams and overall profitability as a club. Also, we cant just look at THIS season...its an ongoing process to balcnace the FFP requirements across multiple seasons.

Purely my personal thoughts mate, mixed with some reading between the lines and sprinkled with, hopefully, a smidge of common sense. A signing of that magnitude coupled with athe wages will cost in excess of £75M. Where we are as a club, we are not opertaing at those levels after the outlay we have already made this Summer - even taking into acount the sales.

Not affordable in relation to FFP, for clarity.

Remote possibilty of a loan I guess...however, Barca need the cash so cant see that unless with an obligation - again brings us back to the fact that we cant afford that yet. If anymore come in we will be looking at Moreno-type deals in regards to outlay.

The article talks about a 50M deal. There is no way we are going to spend or are ABLE to spend 50M on any player this year for the reasons i've alluded to previously.

I think the '50 Million' line tells us all we need to know! Not. A. Chance. In. Hell.

Absolutely to monetise players.....in order to make profit and offset/contribute to FFP. This is how our academy will now be run, imo. Now, whether the current sales are to balance the purchases we have made (with a bit of excess) or are to ensure that we are in a good place re FFP compliance in future windows, we will never know. I agree its all a bit chicken and egg. Personally, I do not see these sales as solely providing the cash we need for some more big signings in the next 8 days....its all part of the balancing act we, as a relatively low revenue stream club, have to achieve.

Agreed re the nice boost to FFP from the sale of the kids. However, even with this profit, it will not facilitate a large transfer fee plus the high wages that a £30-40M+ purchase would require. Our two high value signings have already been made (Pau and Diaby). I think our expectaions had been raised with speculation of us pending £150-200M etc...In hindsight we were never in that position and this has now been confirmed as wre are selling the kids to recoup monies to satisfy FFP as well as give us a bit of wiggle room for a couple more squad additions. I just can't see us buying any more players of the quality/value that we already have signed. Some fine tuning in the last few wdays to bolster our depth in defence and attack.

Irrespective of position, there is no way we are spending another £40M+ on a single player this window - FFP will not facilitate it. My best guess would be a loan forward/striker and a young RB who will be relatively cheap. (obvs if Digne goes then a low value LB as well). Probably 2 players incoming max (3 if Digne goes)

Agreed. Just frustrating when regulations were in place to prevent this in football......the old 'real life vs football' debate etc. (sorry for going a bit OT)

Mmmmm……pockets of space

In my naivety, I didn’t even realise that the player talks preceded the club agreement until a few years ago with Twitter, Romano er al. revealing this. I agree, it’s not right but, as you say, due to the lack of enforcement by the football authorities it is now the ‘norm’ and will always be so.

Yeah, I thought i'd seen his name before. Clearly not what UE is looking for......so if his move to Sevilla facilitates Acuna to us, good news.

Dont know about the financials....but from a profile perspective Sosa himself would look a good option.