It has. If we are serious about bringing in both Lo Celso and Dybala, if currently rumoured bids are to be believed, that'll be circa £130m in fees plus two mega wage packages added to the roster. Even if we've somehow found a bidder for Eriksen, we're unlikely to bring in more than £60m for him. So I can't see us adding another £25m to that lump sum if Rose is staying and we can get him on a free next year anyway. My gut feeling is we'll get one of Dybala or Lo Celso, and Sessegnon, with Eriksen leaving after the window closes.
Apparently the end of interest in Coutinho was mutual: Barca and the player wanted a permanent deal, we baulked at the £25m loan fee they were asking for. Quite right. Better to sign Sessegnon on a permanent for the same fee than a player on loan who we have no guarantee of signing and who doesn't have their whole career ahead of them.
Yeah. I wouldn’t have been against taking him on loan if there was an obligation to buy and the £25m loan fee contributed towards the buy price but I’m not overly disappointed at missing out on that one. I think Sess and Lo Celso are near enough done, with rumours of Aurier returning to PSG, I think Hysaj could become a real possibility. Would be amazing if we can also pull off the big one. That’ll really get the crowd buzzing.
I hope that one of Lo Celso or Fernandes will be done, we’ll be leaving ourselves wide open if not. Dybala? Probably too much **** to go through with third party image rights etc. Probably get filed under ‘we tried’
Two of them, max. I'd love to bring in Dybala and Lo Celso as they are clearly our manager's desired signings. We need proper competition for Kane and Alli and a replacement for Eriksen so they more than tick both boxes. Wrap up Sessegnon in January for a paltry sum and give him the second half of the season to adjust. Hysaj isn't priority. Sign him and in 2 months we'll have 4 RBs on our books. Aurier ain't going anywhere. Sadly.
So here’s my thought process and why I keep saying I think three will be coming in (just in case anyone thinks I was pratting around - which I partly was): I think Sess and GLC are as close to done as possible. Outlets are saying Sess may even be done by tonight whilst it seems Betis may finally accept an offer soon enough for GLC and so seeing as we’ve supposedly verbally agreed his contract a while back, that should be one to get sorted quickly. It’s then the final one, Dybala or Bruno? Everyone’s first choice would obviously be Dybala but his image rights situation and possible wage demands (if he does ask for the same as what he did to Utd) could make it a problem. Our bid has been accepted, we’ve shown our intent and Juve want him gone but Dybala may price himself out of a move, it really is in his hands now. I’d like to think we’ve set a deadline as to how long we’ll try and convince him for, if that deadline reaches then we push for Bruno. Sess, GLC and Dybala or Sess, GLC and Bruno Would represent a fantastic window for us either way. I still also think Hysaj could be a possibility if Aurier goes but that could be a last minute job.
