King Kante

Personally, I am not that convinced Mount is absolutely determined to leave (although I am not as sure about this as I was before January.) Things could've changed from his position - for instance he may have been testing the waters to see what kind of offers he could get (this I wouldn't begrudge him as everyone should be doing that with their employer) - and the club may be thinking it is better to keep hold of him. Especially when you look at the prices other players go for in his age bracket and how every manager he has played for has liked him a lot. The biggest stumbling block always seemed to be the length of contract. Maybe their could be some sort of deal struck where it is five years with +2 that the club can activate with a certain amount. Either way, I doubt the whole deal is being held up over 8%/£5m. Especially owing to his amortisation and only having one year left. This whole notion the club are holding out for £5m in a £55m/£60m deal seems like BS that idiots in the media/Twitter spread to get some clicks.

Rumours on the street was that he had planned to go but the gangsters he hangs around with pressed him to stay as they liked having access to Liverpool players and prime seats. Gerrard is well known for having dodgy mates, it is well known in the press if you know where to look. This is one article I remember from the time but there have been lots of others. I think his daughter is currently or recently was dating a known gangster. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-560616/Soccer-star-gangsters-Steven-Gerrard-murky-depths-Liverpools-underworld.html

I love the irony of the sponsor here.

Kepa isn't a good GK. Saying stuff like this is just nonsense. Sure he may be someone who is better with confidence, but who isn't? Additionally, if he is so reliant on his performance in the work place on what is happening at home. I really fear. I mean, who hasn't been in an adult relationship, and one member has got upset with the other over slight grievance and given them the ol' slient treatment/made them to believe they aren't good enough/fulling the needs of the other? If he is so relaint on that, marriage isn't going to save him past the honeymoon period (so let's say 6 months if they've not been together for very long.) That aside, Kepa is no way being saved from his limitations by being in a stable relationship. Just look at the stats of the guy. Even in his 'good periods' he is far too liable to being beaten by long shots to his corners and he is additionally poor in his ability to stop one on one's and deal with aerial balls if you take away his performances in La Liga were such things aren't played so much. Sure he is good at 'springing up' - so he can do multi-save in the box - but that comes with most small GK's as there isn't so much of them to have to pick up. Kepa has been a bust since the day we brought him. The fact that people think he can become a GK that even teams in the 10-15 range in the PL think they can get by with is frankly laughable.

Looks like my initial observations were right. I wasn't overly sold on him from what I actually saw but admitted it was limited. Just glad we got to move him on without too much of a hit to the bank account.

I think we'll be able to work something. People have to remember this clown left Inter the first time as he had done two years in Italy and didn't want to pay the higher tax rate. I absolutely want to get rid of him, as I even went absolutely mental when he was linked/signed in 2021. However, we shouldn't be idiotic and give him away. The guy, if pressed, I reckon will go to Saudi for the dollars if there money is there; which it most likely will be owing to the zero income tax rate.

Wow, I can't believe he signed for 8 years. If he turns out decent, we have him by the balls for all his prime years. Equally, if he is a dud, then we're going to have to hope Saudi keep wanting our surplus players.

The obligation has to match what Saudi are offering.

Utd have left the offer on the table by all accounts.

Can see TT wanting him. If he goes to the Bundesliga, he'll be a top player over there with the space he'll get and his work rate. TT also knows him and how to deploy him. If I were Mount, I would go there.

We paid £72m for Kepa and people seem to belive Onana is worth £65m. So, €75m for Costa seems reasonable when compared to that nonsense.

I think Mbappe is a massive Prima Donna; however, PSG signed that contract knowing what the kid's personality was like. That he is enforcing the terms of the contract should come as no surprise to anyone and particularly PSG - PSG deserve zero sympathy in this situation if they thought the kid just signed last Summer so that they could get a decent fee this Summer.

This should help us with the academy. We can loan then out/sell them and still controll their development, whilst they get good minutes in decent leagues. A Portugese team will be handy for South American players. That said, I don't want this to get mental and it ends up with 10+ clubs.

He will have to be ground down. His only option is either Saudi or rot here. With the money we're bringing in, I cannot see the club accepting Inter's proposal when we have another offer from Saudi. Club should just say 'rot with the reserves or go to Saudi, up to you'.

Any fee?

If we get £25m+ for him that would be decent business owing to his wages.

I didn't rate him then either and was always happy that we essentially traded him for prime Costa. However, that said, I wasn't posting here to back that up. As for moving forward, this guy just needs to go to Saudi for his own sake. No serious club in Europe is going to take him. Inter proved last season that a way past it Dzeko was still better than him in pretty much every aspect of CF play that matters. If he comes back here, he will get meme'd to hell then essentially sent to the reserve team for the rest of his contract. No way is he able to deal with any sort of low block with his limited skill set. For sure he could resurface with a mid-lower table PL club and probably bang in 15 goals a season for them. However, he would still get meme'd in the big games when he evitiably fecks up easy chances and loses the ball due to his dire first touch. He may as well go to Saudi and take the big bucks whilst scoring 25+ a season. Only delusion and absolute clowns blowing smoke up his arse makes him believe he is a top player and that he deserves to be at a top European club.

Can we use this kid next season instead of Kepa? I really cannot handle another year of watching Kepa with his t-rex arms.

Wouldn't say it was lucky per se. Ederson gets sent off if it doesn't deflect as it does. Question of course, is does he score if Ederson doesn't fly out.

Saudi coming to our rescue to KK, Ziyech and to a lesser extend Mendy. If we can get reasonable fees for those players then it has pretty much zero impact on us on the pitch (I still rate Mendy over Kepa; but recognise he isn't becoming No.1 again.) Kante, I can accept wants the insane money and his injury record means he is a massive risk. My concern is more over the targets and the sales of Kova and Mount. For me, Kova is our best CM and Mount has the danger of becoming a loss like some of our other big mistakes. As for the targets, Jackson looks like a Gamble based on two months of football and someone has got excited about some YouTube clips/social media posts. Caicedo is horribly over priced and strikes me as a player that could pull a Cucu once out of Brighton. Onana isn't worth the money and I still think he is suspect for a GK but has had his profile raised due to doing ok in Serie A - similar to Lukaku. Lavia has shown a lot of promise but looks raw still (however, I am ok with him if he is given time and isn't insanely priced.) For me, I just don't see a strategy, it all seems to be 'moving the deck chairs on the Titanic'.

Well if we keep acting like morons, you cannot blame them for treating us as such.

If sell Colwill then I will give up with following our transfers. Just won't be worth the brain damage anymore.

I told everyone at the time he was a complete utter waste of money. Most ridiculous transfer we've made and we have had a lot of those.

Agreed. It'll be a manager who can come in immediately otherwise they would've had him see out the season. Additionally, I doubt it is a manager who was available prior to the break, so that rules out Zidane, Poch and Enrique. Only two managers fit this is JN and Conte. I cannot see the club going to Conte in a million years unless the board are p*ssed off with the players. So, it has to be presumed it is JN.

The firing of TT only makes sense if the rumours of him loving blow/chasingevery 20-29 year old women that crosses his path is true. Otherwise he should've been told to see out the season. As for Don Carlo, he has always been a bit of a cup manager. For sure his record in the CL is second to none and he is the ultimate steady hand. However, if you want someone who goes head to head with Pep, you need someone who can get into his head a bit.