MrBlack

Apologies, I'd forgotten that period of time when he scored 1 goal in 24 appearances... although fair enough he was 21. Still a gamble that he'd settle as it looks a lot like he didn't settle first time round

Also never played in England so as much (if not more) of a gamble for probably the same money.

Worrying about the rising to 33 point is irrelevant, that will only happen if he performs well for us, in which case, he'll have been good value in the current day and age. As for the players you mention they've either gone to Europa/champions league teams, are older and have no sell on value, or would cost an extortionate amount in wages. Maybe there are a couple we could have tempted that wouldn't have cost the earth, but when you look at who they went to you know that's a pipe dream. We're shopping at the level we can arract, paying wages that are massively limited by ffp. You have to lower your expectations for this season and probably next or you'll be disappointed. Buying the best player in the championship, who is only 24, has ALL the attributes we are missing up front is not bad business. Paying maybe a few million over the odds due to the selling club not needing to sell, and the buying club needing to buy is what happens in a free market.

Agreed. I'm convinced that the lessons of last season (missing out on maupay @ 20m) were learnt and the board and Smith have accepted that fees must be paid for whoever you want. And getting who you didn't want doesn't work. Still think it means that Smith is hanging his job on the fact that the Watkins money is worth spending, and think the board have agreed to fund it on a condition that if he doesn't deliver it's on Smith's head.

And if the market doesn't have anyone that has played at the highest level available for that money and the salaries we can afford, who do you suggest we buy? Football has moved on. Rodriguez, 22m for Everton and no doubt on 100k a week.. a 29 Yr old who spent most of last season on the treatment table, and is now in decline shows you how expensive the world is. I'd rather 28 on Watkins than 22 on Rodriguez in our situation. We cant buy players like that with no resale value or we cripple ourselves due to FFP.

If movement has happened, and we have upped our offer to unlock this move, it's is purely down to the fact that Brentford weren't budging on their demands until window closing week. Our owners may have offered 20m... and been told "no chance. If there are no other bids by the end of the window you can have him for that. Otherwise 25m now and he's yours. " Our owners have decided to shop around and see what else is available for that 20m (21m) they were willing to spend. Realised there was nothing better, and gone back Brentford and said... OK. By this time Brentford now say...sorry, price is now 28m. Owners don't want to have noone for the start of the season. Price is agreed. Jobs a gooden. Don't care if we pay 5m over the odds on the transfer price, that wont significantly hold us back. Wages are the crippler, and Wilkins shouldn't be on too much. Great news. If true. Next

When did he say that ? Agree it doesn't sound good, but then when does an ACL injury sound good. given the lack of detail about that quote it doesn't mean a great deal, absolutely no clue as to what his current situation is, other than being in Brazil. That website gives me such a f#@king headache trying to read it. Edit: found an earlier article from April where there are quotes from the physio about him starting to jog and a tentative return date of 29th June before full training (Shocking that they don't link the pieces or timelines of the news) Given they were targeting that in April, you know a setback occurred. Beyond that, its all guesswork.

I'd argue he should do that if he doesn't start. Sancho did nothing of note last game. And has played pretty poorly in all his England matches to date. If he's using this match to experiment with the team, he should be dropping Sancho and seeing how Jack fares alongside his first two names on the teamsheet

Same. Even if we aren't in for them, I'd have expected the press to say we are. Wonder if that means anything?

Agreed .8, 12, 6... rate aligns with Wes given his number of appearances. However, i feel like King offers more all round and is ready now. Wesley is a good few months away from first team football, has no guarantees he'll come back as good as he was (which many would claim was not very good at all), and is still a developing prospect. We need someone, and due to FFP we have to extract as much value from signings as possible. Maybe King is relatively cheap and offers a solution that allows us to sign an expensive right winger.

I assume most people are like me, and have no clue how he plays and has barely seen him play football. My immediate reaction was "what?! Another Bournemouth player? Is this only because we didn't get Wilson?" Looking into it, you see he's a pretty different player, and the club were probably in negotiations about them both at the same time. The Wilson one probably only got leaked when it did because of the Newcastle interest to get them to meet the price demands. Immediate reactions aside, he seems like a decent option, but only a step improvement on what we have. He doesn't carry many injury concerns (Only missed 12 games in 4 years), has pace and strength and lots of PL experience. Better than nothing and if its all we can afford due to FFP I have revised my view from no to yes.

That piece reads as if its a few different articles thrown together at haste...as if BBC are expecting his debut tonight and couldn't fully formulate a flowing piece but had a lot of content and out him they wanted out there ready to say we told you so when he plays a blinder tonight. Doubt they'll have got an inside track but love a conspiracy theory...Maybe Jack is starting? That aside, the range of quotes from a various teammates and coaches proves the quality player he is, and that he'll continue to develop. Nice article to have in this day and age.

Ask Delphino, he started it

Would prefer a 20-25m gamble on Watkins than a 40m gamble on Edouard. I said many pages ago that I think the gap in quality between Scotland and the Premier League is so vastly different that I question how quick he would make the step up. 40m is too much in our position for such a gamble. Regardless, at this stage so close to the start of the season, I'd welcome either. And that's in addition to King (assuming we're in for him), whose experience in the PL could help either of them settle more quickly

So many posts, so little content. King is meh for me. PL player, more experienced than what we have, and reportedly fast which we are definitely missing. However, his record isn't great. Also, being part of a team that got relegated and wasn't good enough for the league isn't filling me with confidence. Given how many of their team have already made it back to the PL it does make me wonder which one of their players it was that caused their terrible performances. Hope he is the King that the Bournemouth fans seem to think he is, and not the King I know nothing about but assume is rubbish.

Is there any proof spurs are even in for him? I just assumed it was Brentford playing the media card and leaking a fake story with no quotes to get us to up our bid? For that matter, is there any actual proof we're in for him ?

Well that is also true. He wont demand a transfer, even in my nightmare scenario. But may encourage a bid to come in that otherwise might not have. Fingers crossed its a fear that turns out to be wasted energy

Definitely, although no further signings, a poor start to the season and I wouldn't blame him for leaving at the end of the window. I'm sure he's been sold a vision, I just hope that whatever they sold him is close to the truth we're currently experiencing. If he's been told that signings will arrive late in the window we should hold on to him, as I'm convinced our owners won't let us end the window without at least a further 2 first team signings

Gareth Barry playing in the soccer aid match, looking faster than he ever did in the PL. Guess it goes to show that even "slow" plays aren't actually slow in normal terms.

I agree, but that doesn't make it right (in my opinion). Football would be much better if players didn't dive. I accept that referees miss too many cynical fouls which helps contribute to the need to dive though. Edit: bringing this back on topic, I'm of the view that Grealish goes down easy, but invariably when a cynical foul has been committed that would otherwise go unpunished. Can't recall a recent blatant dive by him but know there has been the odd one. Just a nature of the game he's been brought up on and been a part of.

Guess the sarcasm didn't come across.

Watching Brentord Wycombe. Toney looking really quite bad. Canos looking very handy however, should save ourselves 20-30m on Benrahma and just buy his replacement in Canos. Brentford obsessions aside, I'm not at all upset about missing out on Wilson, and looks like there are some perfectly legitimate reasons why we shouldn't feel bad if he picked Newcastle over us (assuming he even did). Back to brentford...Watkins to spurs could have been leaked by them to get us to up our offer. No quotes or confirmation any of it actually happened so could well be the case.

Lovely summary. Although, being honest, those points in your last paragraph aren't far off describing the things about football that piss me off, but I still can't stand Southgate being England manager.

Assuming my speculation that it was a matter of who blinks first in this transfer window (given the unknowns brought about by covid-19), it seems its going to have to be the buying clubs that do the blinking. Selling clubs will now presumably want more as there's less time for them to get replacements, and so the market is going to be as over priced as it ever was. Cash coming in isn't enough with a week to go. Maybe our delayed match against man city (what a farce that is with Sterling and Foden playing for England) gives us a bit of an extended grace period, but still not leaving signings any time to settle. Hoping for 2 more this week in the positions we need, and that they hit the ground running. Concern level: moderate