samjp26

Shocking to see him still not called up despite other players being called up to fill slots. I don't really care about the England team but it's ridiculously unfair on Jack, especially after the way the England setup persuaded him to switch from Ireland. What was the point?!

We’ve signed Ruben Shakpoke from Norwich, 16 year old striker who scored 11 goals in one game against Watford. Seem to be poaching a lot of highly rated youth players atm.

He has a 2-year work permit now after playing for us last season and passing his exams in June. Man City never wanted to sell him, Pep rates him highly, but they couldn't obtain the visa because as you say he didn't fit the requirements. Nobody should be shocked here, it was always the plan, I think if anything it may have just been accelerated due to his level of performances - he was always going back though. It was essentially a loan move that made us a fair bit of money; Douglas proved his worth, Man City get their man back with a work permit and we stayed in the PL. Everybody won.

There is no "turn it down", he performed well and he also now has a two year working visa after passing his exam in June, which was the only thing stopping Man City from keeping him in the first place. They only sold him because he couldn't obtain a work visa there.

Lets be honest, it was always going to happen if he got a visa. He has the ability and potential to actually get into their team, wish him all the best and at least we've made a profit.

SN1

I love the way Joe Cole talks about Jack. For me, Joe Cole is one of the most technically gifted English players I ever witnessed, and Jack will be up there too when his career is done I'm sure. Great video.

Does this site still have mods?

When we had injury problems we should have used him as a striker, good finisher like you said

Nakamba restricted the comments on the photo so it only shows his, Rashica's and Samatta's comments also. This is insane level trolling if it was all a ploy to get him a move to Leipzig, pretty sure he'll be announced as our first signing.

I may be wrong but it looks like he isn't wearing the training gear like the squad are

On his way for a medical tonight

You referred to him as a kid sitting in his bedroom, which at one point was maybe true but he continued to write and eventually got a job with our local paper. IMO that, as a fellow fan, is something to be proud of rather than it being something to look down on. You'd also be surprised at the type of connections you can make as a kid in your bedroom, we're in the 21st century after all. Sorry for off topic but there isn't any need really. Hopefully we do get an update from the Mail though, who knows, maybe somebody had a conversation with the same Kosovan journalist that directly knows Rashica. Maybe even from their bedroom!

James is a good fella and is one of our own, why the random digs? Bit weird

People really need to remember that Jack does not want to leave. Yes, he'd be silly not to consider things like Champions League football, but he definitely does not want to leave. It would have been a whole different story if we got relegated, but we didn't. If we decide we don't want to sell then he isn't going to try and force a move, he's proved it before, he loves his club.

Yep, exactly. Edens definitely knows how to run a sports franchise, Giannis is an absolute star now just like Grealish.

Russke is a massive Villa fan, is close to many of our players and has no reason to make anything up. On top of that he's right, so yeah.

His most recent post has a caption along the lines of "hard times make you stronger. don't give up when times are difficult, every challenge can be solved, it doesn't mean you have failed."

£30m would be including bonuses, like you say goal based bonuses, league position based bonuses, appearance bonuses etc. often make up a big chunk of any transfer fee. I'd say £23m/£24m + bonuses, amounting to approx £30m. Still think in this market it is a very good price, watched Rashica a lot for Vitesse and he has natural ability in abundance. He is the exact type of player we need up there next to Jack, as he'll cause defenders mayhem and allow Jack to have more time and space.

I think the Rashica signing will be the type of signing that makes Jack want to stay and believe there is a brighter future

£30m including bonuses, good deal in the current market. Looking forward to seeing him!

Make of it what you will, but apparently we were trying to loan Takefusa Kubo from Real Madrid but he chose to go to Villarreal

I believe Wes would likely have got to double figures if it wasn't for his injury, he is our best striker by far (I know that doesn't mean a great deal!). For all we know he could have had a resurgence like Doug did following the break

To say he doesn't really cross isn't true at all, and if we had better finishers he would have plenty more assists. Despite his injuries and such this season, he was ranked something like 4th in the league for defenders creating goal scoring opportunities - only behind the likes of TAA, Robertson and Azpi. If there is one thing he is good at, it's creating chances, we just can't finish them.