I don't hate Sissoko. I thought he was a terrible buy at the time and he did little to change my mind. The whole transfer was completely out of the norm for the way that the club normally does business. There was very little sense in bringing him in. I don't think that Pochettino's used him correctly and he could probably do a job elsewhere, but he's a waste of time for us. I don't blame him for that, though. There's not a lot that he could do about it. I'm still pissed about his dive against us, though! I agree with you about Barkley and think that it's got the potential to be a very good move. He needs to quicken his game up a little, but there have been some good signs when he's linked up with our players for England duty. If we can get him at a decent price and he gets his head down, then he could be very, very useful.
No hate towards Barkley - just overpriced and at the supposed level of investment being demanded, we need rather more quarantees about what they can bring to an already strong group of players. And as I mentioned above, while being 23 going on 24 doesn't mean you can't make it to the top, 5 years of PL-level exposure should provide a decent picture of future success: and in that score he is still a 'maybe'. £15m, even maybe £20m would be of interest, but not at the ridiculous figures quoted for a guy with no CL experience playing in a role we are well covered for already. But he may be a gem just waiting for an MP polish. Who the feck knows??
For the right money (no more than £30m for me), I think Barkley would be a smart signing. At 23 he's still easily far from his best footballing years and despite a few faltered seasons, he actually enjoyed a very decent season for Everton last year and has shown glimpses of his potential in other years. So take a potentially improving Barkley, add some English internationals along with a relatively young squad, multiply it by an excellent manager (and staff) known for getting the best from young English talent and it could equal a pretty good situation.
This is clearly Levy's plan. Walker gets benched for the first half of the season, then we bring him back on loan in January.
Yeah, could be a safe bet having a third choice after Tripps and KWP for the final run-in, good shout, PNP!
Unsurprisingly, stories have appeared regarding interest in Ross Barkley from United, Chelsea, Arsenal and pretty much anyone with more money than us. Now there's a surprise! I'm sure that Everton would rather sell to anyone rather than us. They see us as a rival and we see Barkley as worth £15m. How long can it be before The Express and The Star link him with moneybags Everton?
Apparently David Pleat was interviewed by a South American sports radio station and said that we've ended our interest in Juan Foyth.
I'm starting to think PSG are determined to **** us over this window: first they gazumped Dani Alves that meant City were extra-determined to sign Walker, now they're sniffing around Juan Foyth looking to gazump him too. It has to be said Estudientes have been doing a Marseilles in the past week or so. Both clubs needed money quick, Marseilles to meet Ligue 1's FFP while Estudientes are flat broke, but it's the stalling tactics that really made it obvious: Estudientes were umming and ahhing about our reported bid of £5.4m up front with £2.6m in add-ons (while PSG's reported bid is £8m up front), but it's when they demanded we loan him back for six months after finalising the deal where it was obvious they were taking the piss in the hope someone else would come in.
Apparently, the deal suggested by them was heavy on money up-front whilst the player was to be loaned back for 6 months and to have a hefty sell-on clause. On TalkSPORT today Tim Vickery said he's a minimum of 2 years away from first team football and may lack the pace needed to play a high line in the PL. All in all, maybe not one for us at this point. Still, onwards......
Ross Barkley has had groin surgery and will be out for four weeks. That is going to make things even less clear. Everton's price is going to have to fall even further and a lot of interest may evaporate. Will ours? It probably should. No pre-season at all, let alone with Mauricio Pochettino, makes him next to useless to us next season.
Well in a way it does play into our hands as there is now zero point in signing him before deadline day anyway. So we can just sit patiently as his value decreases. If another club swoops in for him, we've missed out on a firmly non-essential purchase. And if not, we get him on the cheap. Win-win.
Even as poor as Sissoko was last season, he was quoted saying that not having a preseason was the main reason for his lack of form. - and it's a fair comment. (Even if the real reason was that he was lazy or has a bad attitude) If Barkley really is out for 4 weeks, then needs to get back to fitness, and then needs to learn poch's way of football, it's not going to solve any squad issues we have anytime soon, let alone strengthen us. If Levy gets him on the cheap on deadline day despite these reasons, I'll be completely baffled. However, if he's purchased some other players in the mean time to address the needs of the squad, then it could be a clever bit of business going forward. Without the other signings, it will be nothing short of bizarre.
Breaking news : The Spanish Infanta's eyes are not more blue than the famous blue stone of Galveston.
