King Kante

About £4.8-£5m according to some reports. Hope we have some sort of sell on as whilst I do not expect him to become WC I do think he will become a usable PL player so a further kick back down the line would be nice.

Well he still has 3 years of £300k plus. He ca. Easily sit that out and retire. The money for him isn't the issue as he has the contract. I just can't see anyone taking his contract unless it is Saudi. However, I can't see him in Saudi. This has toxic fallout written all over it.

Tbh, I can't see him leaving England. He has always striked me as someone who has any interest leaving the country.

That win streak was at the end of the season when half the teams were on the beach. In addition, Caicedo needed to be flanked by both Gallagher and Cucu in order to not be a liability positionally and allow everyone to play straight through us. So, I am not really buying his late season form marked a turning point for him and expect him to go back to par, which is what we saw yesterday. As for Enzo, I am not really defending him, he also has to be doing a lot better. However, Enzo can move the ball better than Caicedo and Lavia is the best DM of the three. As a result, Lavia starts with Enzo because as a pair they should compliment each other better.

That also could mean feck all, as it is hardly something that sets anything in stone. Could easily be a negotiating tactic. I mean let's face it, AM have been trying to ship him for 18-24 months now, can't see how they now think he is integral because there is about £5-10m disagreement on price.

It is because Caicedo is being protected. He shouldn't be in the starting line-up with Lavia back but they want him crowbarred into the side because he cost £120m.

I don't not think much can be taken put of today's game as we and City where playing walking football for half of it. City where obviously better but there a much better side. That is that imo. As for things I took out of the game with regard to performances, this was as follows: 1) We shouldn't be playing Enzo, Romeo and Caicedo together. You can only do that if one of them is an No.8 who can score or at least a No.10 that can play in tight spaces. For me, alought Enzo wasn't great, it does need to be recognised he was the one played out of position but was still the one that actually moved it around best. For sure he got caught out at times positionally and didn't always execute the final ball, but at least he played the position he was given. Does he need to improve? Yes, was he played out of position? Yes. That is were I was with him. Romeo for me was the best of the three overall. He has the most positional consistency and he also did what he needed to do consistenly, even if that only had me classing him having a 'good' display rather than excellent. For me, he needs a full 10 games to get back up and running. After that we will need him to start taking hold of games. As for Caicedo I just don't know what people see. Sure he ran around a lot like Gallagher but apart from that it was back to the majority of last season where it was all all clumsy challenging KDB, getting caught out of position for the goal - and generally getting pulled about by City's movement - taking the easy pass and hitting it with zero zip or over hitting the ball when in the final third. I honestly do see the scrappy interceptions but I seriously just don't see the technical qualities need to play in the pivot. 2) Why Sanchez was picked to start is beyond me. I said in the preseason that just because he looks confident passing the ball, it doesn't mean he is actually any good at it. The pass to KDB was absolutely unforgivable, that he got away with it is unbelievable. As for the goal, we all know this is the sort of thing to expect with him. We literally have to pray for Jorgensen to be decent and that he gets dropped asap otherwise expect a lot of dropped points. 3) Jackson continues to be a work in progress. Frustrates the hell out of me but at least you can see a travel of direction with him. 4) The CB's were actually a lot more comfortable than I thought they would be. Hopefully they can build something other the course of the season. 5) Hope Cucu is ok. MotM for me today.

"World class at all times Caicedo" just stands by and let's him run through, then Sanchez (the 'ball playing' GK) palms it in. Honestly, can't take some of the people that analyse our players seriously.

Yeah, let PSG buy him. Win, win for everyone. VO gets his mega money, Napoli have space for Lukaku, PSG get a CF that will score in the French league and turn up when it doesn't matter in the CL and we will avoid getting an overpaid CF who has massive questions over the technical side of his game. Jackpot imo. €40-€45m is fine for Felix if his wages are sub-£100k. For me, he will be fine as a squad rotation player who may kick on a level still. In addition, it means an upgrade to Sterling/Mudryk. So it isn't a complete head scratcher like some of pur transfers.

He is a tough sell. Injury prone and on high wages. Then it is also likely we would want sizable money (£30m+.) Only team stupid enough to buy him would be Utd.

Selling Lukaku and 'missing out' on VO is actually the best thing that could happen. VO is both overrated and overpaid. That is not a player you want to buy. For sure, a loan is fine or some sort of swap where he drops his wages. If he want to keep his wages he can stay in Naples where his own club clown him on social media. Nah, this guy is a fraud. I have been saying it for years but he just repeats the same old nonsense and then says 'here we go' immediately after (within seconds) of a real horror saying. Guy is a grinder to be fair as he must be checking his socials on loop all day everyday. At best he is a social media influencer. Exactly this. Good loan. Soton are a well run club who know how to blood youngsters properly. Best spot in the PL for a player with his profile.

Well that is good, finally getting rid of some of the bloat. For me, it means we have another 15 to go: Kepa Petro Disaster Trev (personally would keep) Big Les (Loan) Humphreys Gallagher Casadei (I would loan) Carney (Loan) Anjorin Angelo Washington (Loan) Fofana Broja Lukaku

Are people still thinking this clown knows anything?

'Some one of his stature'? He had one good season in his career and has dined off that since. For sure, he is an 'ok' CF in an era limit CF options, however he isn't a player that should be able to command those types of wages. If he doesn't want to take the wage cut, stay in Naples and enjoy the money as if he comes here he is likely to quickly become a Sterling were his wages are a massive issue/disproportionate to the rest of the squad/his output.

Soton won't buy him for that. At that amount you're looking at someone like West Ham.

I wasn't being serious. However, I do believe that Disaster is absolutely awful and doesn't and shouldn't ever be anywhere near the first team.

I would throw in Disaster as well and up the amount to £40m. Fuckers have hopefully not seen Disaster play.

Not really, where I stand on her role is that if you're in that position you either have to take ultimate responsibility for the sign-off (as supposedly you're the one who has oversight of all aspects and you should have enough industry knowledge to know whatever is being signed off is correct or not) or you're there for other purposes (to act as a patsy, for good PR etc.) For me, you cannot be a Head/Director of something and then blame it on your underlings when things go pear shaped. As the day-to-day of any such role is to ensure that you're underlings do what is required and you have enough knowledge of whatever sector/industry etc, that you can tell if something is off/not right. If you can't do that, then you're there for other purposes.

I think the problem is that Granny got made out to be some sort of Power Woman/Business Leader. So, if you brought into that then she must've been the person to sign-off on deals. Otherwise she was a patsy like you're making out. The problem with looking back her role is that she either had to be the one signing off or she was simply a puppet for whoever else was.

Yeah, VO seems like a slow moving car crash to me. I think he will come in and look ok, with people thinking he will develop/just needs to settle, but just get worse over time. Under absolutely no circumstances should this guy be on more than £120k a week under our current structure if that is what the guide for Fernandez and Caicedo is.

I personally don't like it either. However, the logic is probably that if we wouldn't ever be able to attract a Palmer after his break out season and the cost involved with that (if possible) means your better off 'spraying and praying' as you might get a couple of solid players out of it as well. As for the numbers, I reckon part of the problem currently is they've not sorted the multi-club part out properly, so currently Chelsea are getting lumbered with everyone rather than just the top prospects of their 'spray and pray' approach.

Venture capitalists like Clearlake always spray and pray. It is the way they operate and will argue that the policy over the long term will pay dividends. For instance they will point to how they got Jackson, Gusto and Palmer out of it. The rest are just collateral damage.

Problem is VO looks like he may be a nothing player within a year or two as well.

I know everyone wanted City relegated to the National League and Pep thrown to the prison posse by 5pm on the day the charges dropped, however that isn't how things work and this case seeing the light means that City could be in real trouble. One thing I don't get with the view that City are going to get a slap on the wrist is the following: a) why did the PL drop 115 charges on them b) why did the PL even charge them if they are only going to bend over down the line, as they didn't need to do this. c) why have City gone as far as to counter sue the PL if a deal was in place. d) how does letting City do what they want help out the other PL clubs, who are the other ones that 'own' the PL? The reason this has taken so long is owing to legal due process. Civil cases always taken longer. Look at how long the Post Office scandal (for example) has taken to come out etc.

Yeah, I wouldn't be doing this. Napoli attempting to get VO out should be rasing alarm bells. At much as their owner is a bell end, he is typically a very good seller/judge of when to sell a player and he doesn't just go along with it unless it is a decent deal for Napoli. For me, it screams that he knows the hype train for VO is derailing and he needs to shift him asap.