MrBlack

I think it might be more a case of them explaining to him that if he really wants to move that Bilbao will let him, but they need to make a fee from it, whether by signing a new contract with lower buy out, or going this summer. Given how much the Williams' supposedly love the club, I doubt he'd want to shaft them by leaving on a free.

Indeed. I'm not sure we're expecting Mings to play over 50 full games next season either. A rotational back 2 of Mings, Carlos, Konsa and Torres, where Konsa also spends some games at right back, gives a lot of playing time to all 4. That even assumes Carlos comes back to full fitness, something we've not seen happen yet.

It's oh so still

Good reminder. I would guess almost certainly.

They might still pay us but they aren't showing up on our website anymore...

Seems I'd missed this post in relation to the above. Will almost certainly be us linked with him in a few days. Although looks like some dodgy media outlets already have. S they also link Man City and Wolves, given the same agent posted about being there also. Seems like a Wolves kind of signing to be fair, maybe they'll use the Neves money on him.

It wouldn't be the first time...

Even that isn't bottling it. It's being an idiot and thinking you've won then gloating. The guy in the clip didn't doubt himself, he just didn't know there was someone else catching up with him and started celebrating too early. As you said, bottling it is when you doubt yourself and stop performing at the level you were at If you physically run out of energy, or actually don't have the ability anymore due to some circumstance (having your first choice players injured), then it's not really bottliing it. You might argue Jacobellis in the boarder Cross doing a trick on the last jump and not landing it, then losing as a result is bottling it. Yes, she was celebrating early, but not in such a way that it would cost her the win if she had just landed the jump ahe did. She would make that jump 99 times out of 100 with her eyes closed, but when the pressure of winning was on, she didn't carry out the task to her normal ability. Maybe she got unlucky and hit the 1/100 times she messes up, but more likely the pressure made her tense up more than she should, and then she fell over.

Brilliant . Simpson's reference, taking the piss out off Southgate and Grealish, referencing city's dodgy owners... its got a lot going for it.

Looks pretty skilful at beating a man, but not much evidence of any delivery afterwards in that montage. Scores a few goals though. Is this a link you've heard or just someone you like?

Deschamps is a dick. Would be all well and good saying that as a footballer he can just afford to do book a last minute luxury alternative now, but availability might not be there where they wanted to go. Maybe thought there was no chance of making the squad, and then expecting to be back in training by, what, 10th July? so probably didn't have much choice about booking the honeymoon for later in the break. Hopefully his wife sees the bigger picture.

That first goal was basically Dennis Bergkamp. The rest looked like a 16 year old that was twice the size of the people he was playing against so hard to judge.

They were quoting AS... but I've no idea who AS are.

We got a leak before then that was accurate though. Can't remember how long before it was. Just checked, @NurembergVillan had them on the 1st June. The fact we've not had any legit looking leaks suggests to me they're further behind than they were last season? Or maybe we've just got a tighter supply line. Maybe the badge change added an extra layer of "delay"

Who are AS and are they usually reliable? He's played under Emery so good chance he'd rate him, and he'll definitely know what type of player he is. If the negotiations over Torres are going as smooth as is being reported, maybe we're in a good position for him too.

Newcastle have already done that with their latest related-party sponsorship deals. We have to come up with genuine ways to increase it, which is a big part of why our fans are being screwed over with the season ticket price rises. Villa live, hosting shows, increased box capacity, more hospitality options, increased seating capacity. Will all help, but fundamentally we'll never close the gap on their sponsorship deals. Even if we made the CL for one season, I doubt we'd get even half what they get from whoever the **** Sela are. Edit: realising we're on the Goncalves thread.... if we can afford €68m on one player, and still get the other targets we need, I'd be fine with that. But I don't think we can. If there is genuine interest hopefully we can negotiate it down. Or there might be better value to be has elsewhere, especially using Monchi's knowledge.

That last paragraph, especially last sentence, is so depressing. I can't believe the Telegraph gave it air time. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy and helps make their fiction true. **** off

We've gone far enough off topic with this chat. Let's just agree to disagree. On topic, I kind of hope we don't benefit from it. I think I'd rather we kept Coutinho than sold to the Saudi sportswashing machine. That's very much cutting my nose off to spite my face, as they'd simply spend the money elsewhere. And hopefully they don't push the asking price of any of our targets beyond what is reasonable.

Not a chance, but they'll use him to inspire more to move. He's a player hitting his prime, that was playing in the top league in the world and could have moved almost anywhere. They've got Mendes on the payroll. They own Newcastle United who are in the champions league and, effectively, have a material investment in Chelsea. They have money to spend and a finite resource backing them up currently. They need this to work for their future. China barely wanted the money to leave the country after they saw it didn't bring them anything in return on the short term. The Saudi ambitions are astronomically higher. It's a world away from China's attempt

Players going back to where they come from (el shaarawy also fits that bracket) tells you the China effort failed.

Point still stands that this is very different from the china attempt to get in at the big table. Of those you've listed, only Arnautovic was playing in the PL for PL salaries and was 30. A few others I would qualify as past it and demonstrated this by proceeding to do nothing afterwards. Bakambu, who was of a reasonable age, is now plying his trade in Greece. If you can't see the difference between what Saudi Arabia are doing and planning, and what China have done, you've got a serious shock coming.

It's different from China signing one "Oscar". Everyone else that went there was long past their sell by date. China also largely failed in their takeover ventures of UK clubs..see Xia. It isn't good, for sure.

Looks better with more white. Explains the retro vibe, but that Southampton kit is still vile.

The Neves example shows they're paying way above market rate for whatever they deem they want. The real value of Neves was the £20-25m being offered by other clubs. The players they sign from Chelsea will go for much much more than they'd go to one of the other European clubs you mention. Most of them are skint, and those that aren't don't want Chelsea rejects that finished in the bottom half of the PL

That's hideous. It really looks like a genuine photo from the late 80s / early 90s.