MrBlack

I agree, i just meant in terms of not being included in the squad for Europe.

Buendia was 33m + up to 5m add ons I believe. With the amount he's played and qualifying for Europe I expect we'll have hit most of them. So I'm taking 38m as the target. And on that basis, I think we'll spend over 40m on our new second striker/right forward and break the record.

The likes of Emi Martinez, Bouba Kamara, Pau Torres, and Diego Carlos are huge names. These are players that have won things, that the whole footballing world knows, that are an indicator to the prospective targets we are a serious option. Whilst we don't have Champions League football yet, we do have champions league footballers. We also have a manager that is revered by a whole host of players, and I'm certain we can thank that angle for signing Pau Torres. Any target that is serious about the football, and not just the money, will be an option for us. I think a bigger surprise than Pau is on the cards.

Ahhh, that kinda screws my logic... although also doesn't. We still don't lose a spot by keeping him around, but we gain a spot we can't use because we don't have anyone else good enough that sits in the club train category. Wonder if there's enough incentive to keep him rather than loan out in that case. And guess it will also be impacted by what happens with Duran.

Ideally want to get this over the line today I guess... If we sign subject to medical, can we factor him in to the current FFP cycle, instead of the one that starts tomorrow?

I think we'll be signing a few more and hitting our limit of 21 (anything+4 association trained players). I see (in this order) the following players as the ones that are likely to lose their spot from @BOF's list as we sign more: Iroegbunam, Chambers, Olsen, Traore, Duran (if loaned), Dendoncker. One of them will have to make way for Tielemans already. We'll want as many as possible named to give us coverage for if we want to go far in local cups and get drawn against some lower quality opposition early on in the conference league. For this reason, I am certain Archer will be kept around and named to get us closer to the max of 25 we can have. With only J Ramsey and Archer really being good enough to be worth naming, I think we'll end up with a squad of 23. 24 only if we keep Sinisalo around. This is why it's important we keep bringing through our own players if we have ambitions of playing in Europe every season. Both for the FFP reasons, and the ability to name a full sized squad.

Sadly I think we'd be lucky to sell them for 15m, let alone 30m. But even then, its a price worth accepting for them given the salary savings it releases. Really important to sell as many of these as possible (or loan them out at full salary).

Would he need to go in "for" dendoncker...couldn't he just go in on top? Or am I missing something about us hitting a limit on availabe non AP players.

They're all nice... helped massively by a single colour, letter only sponsor. **** BK8

This is a LB for the future. Also, Moreno got injured and we've no idea what state he'll be in for season start. Digne also old and not exactly an Emery LB. We work quietly. And we've been linked with a host of attackers (Torres, Goncalves, Williams, Kang-In, Abraham), they all seem to be falling through but chances are we were only active in a couple of them anyway. Quiet working applies also to any potential right back we're looking at.

Yes. Referees more generous in awarding free kicks too. Edit: for balance, he's good enough so it won't matter.

Definitely think a couple of forwards and a more reliable backup goalkeeper are the priority. Not sure we need another RB/DM. Torres can play DM, Konsa can play RB. Unless Carlos is genuinely perma-crocked, I think we've got the cover we neeed for those positions. Obviously, if Carlos is never coming back then we need another one.

Theory on our slow selling.... We're very comfortable for FFP position to the end of June 2023 (I.e. today!) Thanks to Grealish sale still factoring. We want to make any future sales after the end of June so they factor in as many of the future years possible when Grealish money doesn't help us. So we may see a lot of movement outwards from Saturday. Similarly, with signings, most clubs we are trying to buy from are probably in a similar boat with looking to make money for next years calcs. Conversely, the poorer teams trying to buy our castoffs (esepcially like Luton) probably have no wiggle room left for this year and need the new year to kick in before they can sign. All in all. Today should be a big day of last minute moves of players with clubs trying to maximise their FFP position for this year's calcs, and tomorrow could also be the same with clubs having waited till the cutover to complete. I think we'll see our sales starting from tomorrow

Yeah there's degrees of bad... but he's bad. He's also old enough to know what he's doing when he's forcibly having sex with a girl that doesn't want it. The law let him get away with it, he wasn't found innocent though. The fact he hasn't owned up to it either tells me he is irredeemable. Agree to disagree on that though, and yes, for another thread. Thankfully, I don't think Emery would go anywhere near him. We got a good core of players all seemingly good characters. I am sure the next few signings we make will keep that vibe going.

I'll create a Dybala thread.... get your Barney warmed up

I'd be alright with us signing Zaha on a free. I'm guessing we have preferred options that will cost actual money but if he's the fallback option it's not a bad thing. Be interesting to see where he ends up really.

For needing to ask the question... maybe I think you got the answer though .

He wants to play for Emery again so no dramas, let them try.

Fair enough. I checked and either the teams don't play in the same competition (man city group), or they're doing similar rejigs to us.... Brighton and Union Saint-Gilloise Toulouse and AC Milan The rules don't say anything about acceptable ownership levels, just that an individual must not have control or undue influence over two clubs in the same contest. I'd have thought that stepping down as directors would have been enough. We were already a minority stakeholder so why they dropped it further I'm not sure. But its funny how rigorously they clamp down on this...and how freely they let City get away with everything for so long that their statute of limitations runs out before they charge them.

I have, but I don't see what that has to do with other teams not being asked to do the same? There's other examples of shared ownership at percentages higher than ours and clubs playing in the same tournament,

I think that's our preferred starting line up at the moment. Be interesting to see how it evolves before the season starts. Torres, Mings and Konsa going to get plenty of game time. Carlos too if he's fit.

Thuram (K or M)...

Spectacular work that man. Welcome Pau. If it wasn't the Emery pull it must have been the chance to be part of the exist defence ever.

Similarly unfeasible. But then we got Kamara so I'm ruling nothing out. Unlikely yes, impossible... never.

Ramsey getting brought off after 60 minutes to conserve him for the next game is a better prize than MOTM... although Noni also came off at the same time having assisted and scored nothing. Business end of the tournament starts now and Ramsey and Archer will be key if they want to win it.