Tez500

I know very little of John Swift but it feels like if we are after him we have missed out on our first target. Similar to our pursuit of Benherama and Phillips only to end up with Trezeguet and Nakamba. Like others in the thread, my big fear is we don't have the pull or we are so focused on getting value we walk away from deals we deem too pricey. Sometimes you just have to pay a bit more, particularly when good players attract good players. Buy cheap buy twice.

“Go to London! I guarantee you'll either be mugged or not appreciated. Catch the train to London, stopping at Rejection, Disappointment, Backstabbing Central and Shattered Dreams Parkway.”

West Ham shouldn't need anymore wide attackers, they have about 50 of them. Palace maybe particularly if Zaha goes. I have a worry it could be Arsenal, rumours are they are looking to shift Lacazette and while he usually plays up it means Auba is shunted to the left wing. Rashica could be another pacey option for then. Arsenal have also been linked with Zaha so could make sense.

He also plays predominantly on the left whereas Sancho plays off the right so hopefully that proves it's just Twitter bollocks.

Rashica to Dortmund seems to be the rumour growing in Twitter. Apparently they want him to replace Sancho when he goes to United. Some United fans seem to think lending Bremen Chong will prove to be a masterstroke. Haven't seen any journalist post this mind.

If he leaves and stays in England he won't be going to a Champions League side, nor Spurs. You are then looking at the likes of Wolves etc. I don't think its beyond possibility he could be convinced to come back "home" to us, particularly if we back it up with signings at a similar level.

I just have a hunch that with all the spending there is a chance they will move Tammy on. I hope we will be first in line!

Nixon saying it's hard (for us) to sign top players even when we have top money. He also says we could spend in the region of £30m three times. Hopefully we land some of our top targets so we arent scrabbling around late in the day after our back up options have moved elsewhere!

Gareth Southgate wears leather driving gloves

Rashica comes on and scores Goal here:

From the live Match thread: 6th minute: Milot Rashica is sitting on the bench, but like the other injured players, he has no football boots on. It doesn't look like the striker will appear today. Unfortunately he is there, but possibly not going to play.

I am all for this transfer, much more than Watkins if it is one or the other. However, I cannot see why Celtic would let him go prior to the resolution of the Champions League Qualifiers. That would be middle of September, with round 2 starting on Wednesday.

Hadn't heard of McKennie until he was mentioned in this group. I then watched the following video and decided he is exactly what we need, particularly the bit about being able to pump it long to him. We don't really have a great outlet when under pressure. https://youtu.be/XdnLwxplxlw

He will have to apply for a Visa to play here. I'm wishfully thinking that it might be holding things up!

Not sure, I don't have Instagram, I found that on Twitter.

Another Instagram interaction between Rashica and Marvellous.

Your brightening up comment?

If it's the same one I've seen he claims he will have photographic proof of it at 1pm. Lad could be building up for the biggest Rick Roll of all time but inevitably I'm hooked!

Birmingham Mail says we have met the asking price, believed to be £22m. Says its a latest development. https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/milot-rashica-aston-villa-transfer-18788113

Will be disappointed but always expected his option to be activated. Always thought they would do it to sell him to someone else though, similar to the Alderweireld thing between Southampton, Spurs and Athletico.

I know right, let's just cut out the middle man. We will be after him in 12 months anyway!

Brentford have had a £10m accepted for Peterborough's Ivan Toney. Could very well be Watkin's replacement.

For the record I don't mind signing older players providing they are good enough as you say. However, is age is a key factor for two reasons: 1) It goes against our recent strategy of buying younger footballers with resale values 2) Given he is not a spring chicken anymore, if he was any decent he would have been picked up by someone else by now I have serious doubts of the quality of a 28 year old still playing his trade in Denmark. Surely by now a team from a more established league would have decided to take a punt on him. We shouldn't be buying squad players when our current attacking midfielders (Trez, El Ghazi, Jota etc.) are not good enough to hold down a starting spot.

I really hope not. 28 years old, 1 International cap, only ever played in the Danish league and hardly prolific there. There are much better and younger targets we should be pursuing. Fingers crossed its lazy journalism, following our appointment of Lange and his one good game against United. To be heavily linked to Rashica and end up with him would be heartbreaking!