NeilS

What's changed this year compared the the last few for us to suddenly spend anymore that £10m? I don't know so I am guessing, but we have removed a few high earners from our wage bill over the last two seasons, combined with bigger income streams coming in from tv deals this year could free us up to invest a bit in the squad. We are no longer losing £20-30m per year, so Randy hasn't got to subsidise that therefore allowing him to invest in transfer fees?

It has been announced that were are in an period of exclusivity through the press, now if this is not true then you would think the club would announce that media speculation was false on such a matter, as it could potentially put a potential buyer off enquiring about the purchase of the club. So therefore I think the club is in a period of exclusivity, as it would be foolish to let people think otherwise. Whether that period of exclusivity actually comes to anything remains to be seen, I would guess the six weeks mentioned must be coming to an end soon, so we will probably hear then if anything is happening. We just have to be patient, which is a lot trickier these days as we have all got used to having information only seconds away at the click of a button on a mouse or keyboard.

Weren't we linked to that Darder fella last year? The name sounds familiar.

I think Bacuna will mature into an pretty good wingback if given the chance. He just needs to have a solid run of a whole season with the same defence all playing together, rather than the constant changes in personel that we have seen over the last two seasons. That is the major issue with our defence in my opinion, no understanding has been built up as every few games one or two seem to be out injured. They need to work as a unit, and that only comes with extended training and game time together. We also need to add goals from all parts of our team, and Bacuna does this. For too long we have been relying on goals from 1 or 2 sources, we need our midfielders and defenders to chip in with their fair share.

Yeah, this deal looks more and more unlikely to me. I hope I am wrong, but it just feels like the interest is all one way. I guess the question is how long do we leave it until we move on to plan b?

Looks like Wijnaldum is on his way for talks, and possibly Mitrovic soon as well so it looks like they are starting to make some big name signings after all.

Maybe they think this Amavi is better and are building their squad from a position of strength? New manager, new ideas? Hopefully nothing comes of West Ham's reported interest, as we are definitly more in need vthan they are and it would be gutting to miss out to them.

Yeah I remember that well, lots of people on here were all expecting a big name striker to be bought, and nobody was believing the Harewood reports and even laughed at sha being linked with him. What a disappointment that was.

Every day we keep hearing contradictory reports, some saying that Liverpool are now ready to meet the buy out clause and some saying they will move onto Jovetivic if we don't lower our price and some reports saying Benteke will request a transfer to Liverpool to help the move happen. Who knows what is going to happen, looks like the papers don't as they are all coming up with different stories. In my opinion he should go for no less than the buy out clause, and I think the club will stick strictly to that figure. Firstly it was agreed by both parties when the contract was signed so he can have no complaints, and secondly £32m is now probably the going rate for a 1 in 2 PL goalscorer. I hear people worrying about a late activation of the clause, but I would think that we already have a list drawn up of replacements, and personally I would hope we are looking at bringing a striker in regardless of Benteke leaving this summer in preperation for him leaving next summer. Show us your money, or move along.

So are we saying that the plan is going to be a back three of Richards, Clark, Okore with wing backs of Bacuna on the right and possibly Amavi (if signed) on the other side offering width going forward?.

That Kristof fella is on the ball with his Belgian players, and if my memory is correct was one of the first to break the bad news about Benteke and his achilles injury. So I guess there is something in this link then! I can't say I know anything about the player as I have never seen him play, but going by some of your comments on here I am quite excited by this link. I guess we will have to wait and see if he wants to come here now.

Haha, Enrique has barely played for the last couple of seasons because he is always injured and Lambert is probably about 1-2 seasons from being finished in the top division. Enrique they bought for £7m in his prime and Lambert for £4m last summer and has managed 3 goals for them in 30 odd appearances. I am not sure how Liverpool/Talksport have come up with a valuation of £25.5m for the pair. Jokers!

You would have thought if his release fee was so low that teams would be lining up to activate it? This makes me think that Delph possibly wants to stay at least one more season to see how things work out. I think if we struggle again this season then he will be off next summer for certain. If we have a good year and things start to look good again under new ownership, I wouldn't be surprised to see him sign a new contract with a higher release clause inserted that is more of a true reflection of his worth.

The problem there is we would look weak, why would we back down from a release clause we have agreed with CB and his agent because the player throws a strop? It opens the door for more players to follow suit in the future. As stated by others, with the Euros coming up he can ill afford to be sitting on the sidelines and risk missing another major tournament for his country.

Haha. Why would we put a release fee in, and then not stick to it the first time our resolve has been tested. Why is it Liverpool seem more than happy to splash their cash around to all and sundry, apart from when it comes to our players when they look to get them on the cheap (see Barry), will they ever learn? Stump up the cash or jog on. Also to add, why do they always do their transfer dealing through the press, it is really disrespectful. Since a week or two before the cup final all we have heard is how Liverpool want Benteke and they are going to come in for him this summer but they don't want to pay the release fee. Well it has been over a month now and they still haven't bid anything. If I were Benteke I would be wondering if they were that serious about signing him?

I wouldn't be against Begovic as a signing, Guzan has done ok over the last few seasons but can be improved upon. Our defence is a shambles and GK is part of that unit, fingers crossed Tim is looking to tighten us up at the back as I don't think my health can take watching the current lot for much longer. However, I would be surprised if we landed Begovic as I imagine he will have his sights set higher than us at the moment?

Always comes across as very knowledgable in his punditry work, and remember him from the days of Italian Football on Channel 4. He has a good pedigree in coaching as well from his time at Chelsea, so hopefully he can do well here.

10 out of 10 for me. Most were easy, but there were a couple where I had a choice of two, but with some reasoning I picked the correct one.

I was more concerned about the previous photo, this one should be file under young lad with plenty of money on holiday has a party. The previous photo he had gone too far and could have caused himself an injury or got into trouble of some kind. This photo he is at a party with friends and has shared an expensive bottle of vodka with them. Better a decent bottle than some cheap nasty vodka that could do some damage in my opinion. The problem for Jack is he has given the press that first photo, and now he has to watch out that he doesn't gain a reputation as a footballer who drinks too much. The press are now onto him, and will be watching him closely.

I hope that this turns out to be a great signing for us, I remain cautious at the moment though as I fear that a lack of playing time over the last three years may have taken the edge off of his game and he may no longer be the player we all remember. Hopefully he will allay my fears and put in some storming performances over the coming season and help us climb up to a decent position in the league from where we can build.

Was it Kakuta that wound up our fans after a youth cup final? I seem to remember a lot of people on here spitting feathers and fuming about him a few years back.

Yeah the tv will see that one as a potential scalp for one of the new boy. The TV companies do love to show that happening on tv, and we are a team that like to oblige and give the tv companies their story. That is a tough start in my opinion, you never want to play one of the newly promoted teams early on, especially at their place, Man Utd is well Man Utd, and Palace away will be tough under Pardew.

I think that I read he was in Dubai with Gary Gardner last week, so maybe he was slumming it after blowing his cash the previous week.

Just to add, What if he gets so drunk that he injures himself quite badly? The club have a right to let him know they are not happy as they pay him a substantial amount of money to maintain his level of fitness and play football.

He is probably better off keeping a low profile, rather than throwing insults on twitter and stoking the fire further. Jack has been silly here, he needs to stop putting himself into these types of situations. He is now seen as a role model to lots of young kids, therefore he is going to get unwanted attention from the press looking to sell papers and gain clicks. He can get away with a one off at this moment in time, if it starts to become a regular occurence then I will start to think he may waste his talents.