Pizy

Welp. Judging by Fabrizio’s latest tweet with a quote from Osimhen’s agent, Di Marzio is the one who was right, not Ornstein. The loan move was always too good to be true.

Yep. Di Marzio used to be THE transfer window authority but is super spotty these days. I will say, though, that Napoli buying Lukaku permanently with Osimhen coming the other way only on loan does sound too good to be true.

These are all good things…🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️ Enzo and Caicedo will be great for us in the long term starting this season, imo. Osimhen on a Netflix 1 year trial is smart. £30-35m for Gallagher who has a year left on his deal and wasn’t in the manager’s plans is perfectly fine.

Probably the only way we were going to sell him abroad is by lowering the asking price. Atleti or anyone else outside of the PL was going to pay £50m for Gallagher. And the PL options quickly dried up with Spuds and Villa already buying midfielders. Only £30m is bad but with a year left on his deal and to get him away from a rival domestic club is probably the best we could hope for.

Loan with buy option for Osimhen? If he actually agrees to that then it would be incredibly smart business from the club. As for Gallagher, I’m a bit surprised the fee is so low but he had to go. And it’s fantastic that he’s going abroad so we don’t have to hear about him nonstop ever time he plays well. The Mason Mount comparison is spot in in that Conor is a very solid player who you love having in your squad as an option but he’s a limited footballer. Be sad to see him walk because he loves the club but it had to happen.

I think the owners want to turn us into one of those clubs like Dortmund or Benfica or yes, Brighton who buy these young talents for low fees and mould them into £100m players. Just on a much bigger scale since we aren’t a club that’ll be forced to sell those players when and if they do blossom into superstars. It seems like scattershot madness right now when it’s in its infancy but if in a few years from now Estevão, Paez, Anselmino, etc are all starting for us the club will look like geniuses. Nobody really has patience anymore so it’s difficult now to see the big picture. As for the wages we offer, apart from the two Manchester clubs I don’t think anyone else really pays mega wages. I’d bet our highest earners under this new wages structure (about £120-150k) are comparable to what the best players at Arse, Spuds, Liverpool etc are earning. You’ll have your odd superstar like Salah on far more but I doubt Liverpool for example are offering new signings any more than we are.

I think the new wage structure was recently put in place because of players like Sterling and Koulibaly. These owners don’t want to get burned again by giving players that turn out to be huge disappointments £300k a week. Players like Enzo, Caicedo, etc were brought in and put on “reasonable” (by todays standard) wages when traditionally these mega transfer fee players would be only more than double what we have them on. If we suddenly hand Osimhen £250k per week I can imagine some of the others being annoyed. Don’t get me wrong, I’d still pay what it takes for the right player. But it’s not without risk.

So that Slonina buy looking more and more pointless than it already did, huh?

If we break this new wage structure that we’ve just put in place for Osimhen it kinda opens the floodgates for any of our current players seeking new terms. If Palmer has another amazing season and then stays to the club “I want £200k per week or I’m going to agitate for a move,” will the club be prepared to break the wage structure again?

If they’d accept something like £60m + Lukaku then of course you do it. I’m skeptical Osimhen is the guy for us but that’s a deal you do every day of the week. But if Napoli insist on something much more like £80m + Lukaku I don’t think the club goes that high and I’d say rightly so. We’ve been burned by on so many striker signings that I’m incredibly weary every time now. Just can’t help but be pessimistic.

I really, really wanted him a couple of years ago but I’m very conflicted as to whether he’s a good fit for us now. A classic, “big man” #9 in a team that’s likely to play really patient, slower football? Will he be starved of service for huge periods of time and therefor be ineffective? I suppose the best outcome in that scenario is replicating what City have with Haaland where he can go entire halves without getting more than a few touches but is still super clinical and bags loads of goals. If we’re now willing to splurge a huge fee on a striker I can’t help but feel Alvarez would be a better system fit.

Ending up getting Osimhen after all this time would be pretty funny, ngl. Especially after Fabrizio saying over and over again that we won’t go near his massive wage demands.

Obviously we should all hope for the best and give Jorgensen a chance before we shit on him. But goddamn, do we have to give everyone we sign a SEVEN year contract?! Especially a keeper. Did we not learn our lesson with Kepa when we gave him a 7 or 8 year contract? If this guy comes in and flops in his very first season the entire football world will see it because he‘ll now be on the biggest stage rather than under the radar at a smaller club like Villareal. Then how would we shift him?

I really, REALLY like the long term signings the club have made. Some of these teenaged talents look excellent. But I hope now that Anselmino is finally sealed he’s the last one for a while. We’re going to create a serious problem for ourselves where we buy so many youngsters that we totally block their pathway.

😆 Regardless, neither are the type the club should be going after. So we should be thankful that their clubs are pricing them out of us getting them. Last thing we need is yet another super raw striker player on huge wages that comes in, doesn’t look close to ready, and then we struggle for years to move them on.

They’re the same age, mate. In fact, Duran is a few months older.

Eh, from what I’ve watched on YT he looks like a very decent footballer and an absolute handful for defenders due to his huge size. He’s just raw still much like the other big #9 we were after earlier, Duran. These guys certainly look like they can eventually develop into beasts in a couple of years but we’ve already got Jackson and now Guiu who need to develop. We don’t need a 3rd striker like this.

Someone or multiple someone’s at the club must feel like this Omorodion guy is a nailed on future superstar or something if we’re still after him. That’s a ridiculous price Atleti are asking for and if we go anywhere remotely near it even I who has been more forgiving to the club will be dumbfounded. I guess working out some sort of deal where he comes the other way in a Gallagher deal makes sense in theory, but in reality is he the profile of player we need? I just don’t think so. We don’t need another developmental project. We need a plug and play guy who can hit the ground running.

And what’s exciting from our POV is that I’ve seen numerous people who follow Brazilian football say that Estevão is an even bigger talent than Endrick. Let’s hope our luck is as good as Real Madrid’s was with Vini!

Speaking of teen Brazilian stars, I saw Fabrizio tweet yesterday that Barca are ready to sell Vitor Roque ALREADY! Was he not THE hottest Brazilian talent just 1 year ago? He was being hyped up as the next R9 and a global superstar. Now they want rid?

Just looks like a low risk, high reward signing for around £20m.

From what I’ve read he actually played much of this last season. Everyone talks as if he missed 80% of the season but I don’t think that’s the case?

Tbh, I’d take a punt on Chiesa.

Feels like Jorgensen is already more or less a done deal, sadly.

I do wonder which player(s) we’re looking at for for the attack at this point. Williams and Doué were never going to happen. Summerville links completely died a while ago and he wasn’t the answer anyways. Struck out on Olise. Who else is realistic for us, I wonder?