King Kante

A) we don't know the wage offer and how this compares to what he would get elsewhere. B ) they've not provided him with assurance by making the deal so short. Gallagher clearly wants long term commitment here, or the biggest deal elsewhere. He is perfectly right to feel that and more importantly gone about things in the right way - I.e. the way be played last season when the club kept trying to sell him. A lot of players down tools or take the easy money straight away.

Do you actually believe that? The deal put to him is all about the club protecting his transfer value and they will continue to push him to the door. His decision is really, do I sign and allow Clearlake take a bigger fee for me, or do I run it out and take the fee Clearlake would get for me of I sign? Making out him signing the new deal would mean the club would stop trying to sell him is either incredibly naive or disingenuous. If anything, him signing a deal like that would increase thwir intensity of pushing him towards the door.

Guiu makes very good runs and seems to know as a CF that his principal job off the ball is to move in a way to find himself a yard of space between the goal posts. His movement so far reminds me of Crespo's - although I need to see more of him and in real games before I reckon it is something he can do at a suitable level. One thing he does need to improve however is his finishing. At the moment he isn't hitting the ball clean enough when getting presented with chances as he is snatching at the ball. That can be overcome. Personally, I do not see why he won't be kept as a CF3 at minimum. Jackson as CF1 and Nkunku as F9/CF2. Also good to hear people liking what they're seeing with Lavia. I said last season that once he gets fit he would show people what a proper DM looks like compared to Caicedo. The question - if he stays fit and can keep consistent - is who plays alongside him. If we need a ratter it'll be Caicedo, if it is a ball playing CM then Enzo or KDH

Well tbf, it looks like the club offered him a one year extension plus an optional year. That is piss take after the way he got his head down since he came back and the way we go around buying no marks and giving them long contracts for big fees. Do not blame him at all if he runs down his contract now. Clownlake at its finest on display in this situation.

If this is true - I don't think the source is great. Then I suspect that the length of the deal is the issue. It is essentially a equity preservation deal as it only extends him to three years, which will means 6-12 months (maybe) of no media speculation/the club actively trying to move him on, then it all starts over again. For me, people need to be a bit more realistic when it comes to footballer contracts. In the end, all of them - even for players who feel strongly for their club -- will come down to terms. From my perspective if my employer clearly never valued me, tried numerous times to try and push me to go elsewhere, then tried to get me to sign up when they thought there was something in it for them, then I would also be of the mind of 'pay me properly, with real assurances, or I will fuck you back'.

Let's see. At the start of the Summer we were apprantly happy to go with Sanchez as No.1. Within a week of the squad coming back we were in the market for a GK. I would say that indicates EM knows Sanchez isn't good enough. Another positive is the lack of Disaster seeing the pitch so far. Whilst I hate ideological managers, so far he has shown me he does seem to have some evaluation skills - if I am correct in my interpretation of what we've seen.

Praying he isn't as bad as some people have made him out to be. Not expecting Alisson levels but please be better than Sanchez and Petro.

Says more about the quality of our CB's. Even Trev 'fans' like me know his limitations, it is just his limitations aren't as bad as most of the others and his passing is underrated by most (not saying it is spectacular.) The only thing that I have taken as a real positive this pre-season is that Disaster hasn't played at all. Hopefully, this indicates Enzo has realised he is a dud from the off.

Problem is Conor's performances last season were better than all the other CM's. People were getting excited about Caicedo towards the end but that still wasn't great. As for Trev, he again may not be the world's best player but he is better than Disaster and Tosin. Way some people are carrying on with 'Trev and Conor aren't great players' are equally making out that we're signing better players to replace them when we are not.

Yeah, I actually give up if that happens.

The GK situation is tragic. I am not entirely sure what goes on in people's minds when they try to scout a GK. When Tibo left I was banging on about getting Alisson and if not him Martinez. If we had brought either of them then that would mean we would've been sorted for the past 6 years and ongoing. Instead, people/scouts got wrapped up in only wanting 'ball playing' GK's /stop gaps until their 'ball playing GK' came good (first Kepa, now Sanchez.)

Clearlake really are a company manifestation of the hipster in the bar who thinks they're the smartest person in the room.

A lot of people who have seen Tosin don't rate him that highly. It is the people that have watched YouTube clips that seem to do so. From my perspective, Trevor and Silva where better than Dasasi and Badi (Badi may improve), and a lot more reliable than Fofana who is now an unknown. Tosin I believe is also a level below Trev based on what my Fulham mate has told me (he watches every Fulham game.) Hence, people getting upset about the back line have some real justification. That is also before we get to GK where our No.1 looks like it will be Sanchez - a player who was dropped by Brighton and us last season for not being good enough.

Easier said than done with moving the players. I don't see many people wanting to knock the door down to get the players we don't rate.

I am happy for PSG to take the risk on Osimhen if his wages and fee are to be believed.

Law states: Chelsea are unlikely to target a high-profile No.1, such as Mike Maignan, but are instead in the market for a goalkeeper who can develop and may start the season on the substitutes’ bench before being given the chance to compete with Sanchez. That does not sound like a 100% starter coming in.

It is because the recruiting team have a hard on for Sanchez. When I first saw the headline that we are looking for a GK, my first thought was; 'thank God, maybe the manager can see Sanchez is not starting material'. However, I then found out that some crackhead at the club only wants a back-up for him and will be looking to release the better GK in Petro. Madness.

That was because Foden is the anointed Golden Boy at City.

I hope this gets sorted and is delt with quickly. Enzo was moronic to post such a thing and should face the consequences, with these likely being a FIFA ban and a club fine. After that, he needs to apologise for the insensitivity of the post to the squad. After that, the squad can make comments about what their thoughts are as piping up on social media to either support or defend Enzo is just adding to the noise further.

Would make sense. Additionally, there are a ton of players we need to sell. Personally, apart from GK, I want to see sales before any incomings elsewhere.

Yeah, but of those 67 games, he has only played the equivalent of 45 games at 4090 minutes. On top of that he has 10 assists, so that is 20 goals and 10 assists in 45 games. His CL stats read - 17 games, 736 mins (equivalent of 8 games), 8 goals, 4 assists. On top of that he is firmly playing second fiddle to Häland and drops into midfield a lot and has shown he is technical and tenacious enough to play and be trusted by Pep - which is a feat in itself - see what he did to Kalvin Phillips after a big money transfer. I don't see anyone as good as Alverez on the market that is potentially gettable. David for instance is pony but has nice numbers because he plays in France - hence why no one is picking him up for £20-£30m.

Remember the forums and socials last season clowning Gordon like he was a cross between Jimmy Savill and Worzal Gummidge. Funny that he is now seen as a top player. For me, he is one of the bigger misses we have made since Clearlake have come in. Think he would've helped massively last season with his desire, running and height. Barca have gone past the bake sales and now need to enter the Meth industry like Walter Water if they're going to afford anyone half decent these days. Barca lacking class? Who would've thought it? Not selling Trev is probably the best thing that could happen. Selling him for £25m imo is boarderline insane considering he is better than Tosin, Disaster and Badi. As for Broja, I suspect he will move to Italy late in the window on a low fee or maybe back to Soton on a loan. We don't have a strong hand with him. Silva is the player we should go all in on. However, with the amount of CB's we have I cannot see us buying a another for serious money even if we sell two. Mamar is actually my No.1 realistic target. GK is probably also my No.1 area of need as well as I am not accepting Sanchez is suddenly going to become a decent shot stopper or he and Petro are going to start becoming ball playing GK's with a bit of training.

As for signings we still have a lot of players that we want sorting first. We have the following categories of players that we need to resolve: Players to be sold at all cost: Lukaku, Kepa, Sarr, Broja Players who may or may not be wanted by the manager: Sanchez, Petro, Disaster, Badi, Trevor, Conner, Guiu, Mudryk, Chilwell, Carney, Casadei, Sterling (could be in the above category owing to his wagea) Noni (I would personally keep), Kellyman, Veiga. Players that need loans Washington, Les, Alfie, Angelo, Fofana Fitness levels of: Nkunku, Lavia, W.Fofana, James. There are still so many questions and too many players already in the club before we can start thinking about more signings - especially as said signings will likely be more teenagers with no experience but thrown into the squad anyway.

Tbh, if Gallagher has any grain of financial sense he will either wait for Chelsea to give him the offer he wants or see out his contract, get that £30m-£50m put in his bank account instead, with a very nice contract to boot.

If those are the options I rather buy no-one and roll with Jackson again and go False 9 with either Palmer or Nkunku when he needs a break or is injured. In fact I would also just throw in Guiu or Washington instead of buying one of those two. Osimhen is the lethal busted flush combination of overrated and vastly overpriced. Duran is limted and everyone should be worried about why Villa - an upward team - would seemingly be happy to sell this apprant 'very good CF' for a reasonable fee - it screams that he either isn't very good or he is an absolute nightmare to deal with - maybe both.