It would probably depend on his attitude, but if they're desperate to offload him, then we might be able to get him cheap or on loan. That would free up our resources for other positions and wouldn't cost us any squad places. He's totally out of the picture at Schalke and presumably there's a good reason for that. Picking him up on loan with an option to buy could be good for both clubs.
Bentaleb is the best CM we've produced in yonks. Better than Livermore, Mason, Carroll and Winks. Often said I felt he was destined for the top. Problem was and still is his attitude. He's not played a minute for Schalke this season due to a falling out with people at the club. I'd take him back though, because we are severely depleted of quality at CM and based on talent alone be the second best CM at the club after Tanguy and could probably form a decent partnership with him. However it ain't happening.
Book now while Chelsky remain in the PL top 4 (lest they fail away and Deirdre books the cave for the rest of the season) .
Re the Dybala saga, the truth is we'll never know. The most likely explanation is that at the point of the PL window closing, we were still very much expecting Eriksen and Toby to depart and recoup circa £70m as a result - thus easily financing the Dybala deal. Who's to say the money was there regardless of the fact that we will now recoup sweet FA for them? And I saw the sudden and totally unexpected move to turn the Lo Celso deal into a loan as a last-minute security blanket to cover our arses in the event that expected sales did not go ahead and we were left with a Dybala sized hole in our balance sheet. Negotiating a loan with Betis meant that circa £30m chunk of that could be shifted onto next year's accounts. As for our 'cheque book manager', I wrote shortly after Poch got the sack that the only comfort - literally the only positive - I saw in the whole ordeal was that bringing Maureen in was a sure sign that we were prepared to spend mega bucks and wanted a specialist in short-term success to spend it. But so far our lack of activity, combined with almost everything said manager has said regarding transfers, has left me dreading the worst. As DH and so many others have said, the next 2 windows are make or break for ENIC. I just don't think they realise it.
That’s also my hope (bringing Jose in means spending big) but as you say, it just doesn’t seem likely based on everything we’re hearing. On Dybala though, in fairness to the club on that one it was taken out of our hands as Juve pulled the plug. All that was left were image rights and presumably agent fees but as Juve felt they couldn’t get an adequate replacement in time, they decided not to sell. **** for us but I won’t blame Levy and co on that one. Now if for instance we talk about Grealish... different story. Royal **** up of epic proportions, probably bigger than they or even I realised (and I knew it was one!) because with our CM situation right now we are literally crying out for a player like him. Unless Skipp gets a very surprising start, we’re facing Pool with Winks and Dier... let that sink in.
One thing that is worth reminding people of: last summer the club brought in Pini Zahavi for the express purpose of getting the major deals done, specifically Ndombele and Lo Celso - although in the case of the former, the fact that Zahavi is Ndombele's agent obviously played a part in thrashing out the deal in an uncharacteristically timely manner That does indicate that Levy has recognised that the club's culture needs to change in regards to transfers, and it has born results as Ndombele clearly looks a cut above Sissoko (at least until Deschamps bullshat us about him being fit for a couple of France games, which only exacerbated an existing knock) and the clause that lets us sign Lo Celso for a discount this month is a work of brilliance even if it has to be said the Lo Celso saga dragged on for an age That's certainly an improvement on Levy's repeated attempts to implement a DoF system while showing a complete misunderstanding of how the DoF system works and, more damning, a refusal to pull the plug when the DoF was going rogue
Bringing in Jose if there is no money to makes even less sense than before. Even at his best he needed 3-4 big signings to turn his teams into winners.
What’s baffling is why would he come if he knows he can’t spend? I know he’s on a nice wedge but I believe it’s more about winning for him though...his trophy haul backs that. so that makes me think...has he been promised funds? Will Levy fulfill his promises? It’s on record that he has broken promises in the past
The best manager Levy has ever had (or is likely to) told him 18 months ago that the time had come to spend and bolster the squad for the future, he kept telling him that right until he was sacked. What makes you think the new manager will be listened to any better?
Do you have a 'reliable' source for this information - because as if often the case when things are reported in football there are lots different stories, because whilst this maybe correct there was also lots of 'anecdotal evidence' that in the windows that we signed nobody Poch was offered players by Levy but wasn't convinced that they were an upgrade on what we all already had. We know that Poch was fiercely loyal to those who had served him well, and maybe this loyalty is what did for him in the end. Information and misinformation I guess it depends whether you are pro or anti Levy (or neither in your case) which version of events you give more credence to.
1..Only Poch saying many, many times that the need to push on was now. 2.. That may be the problem, Poch wanted players (certain players to fit his team) and Levy said "you can have this one, he's cheaper". Klopp has made a statement many times and Ole has said something similar, why would i want a player that doesn't fit the team, it makes no sense".
Spanish outlet El Desmarque have claimed that the agent of Barcelona right-back Nelson Semedo has already ‘approved’ a move to Tottenham Hotspur – but the clubs are apart in their valuation of the defender. Source: The Boot Room 12 mill apart apparently
There is no doubt that there were players identified that we couldn't sign for any number of reasons, and that may or may not be down to Levy, equally not signing anyone definitely down to Poch,allowed the team to get older and stale together. New blood even if they were only initially amongst the 'reserve' group may have made us stronger in the long run, but we will never know.
if he’s good enough @humanbeingincroydon to confirm then he improves us and that’s worth more than the 6mill or so Levy will barter the **** out of
Definitely. Poch became too attached that by the time he called for a “painful rebuild” it was too late. Over half of our XI are no longer up too it and Poch’s sentiment is a huge part to blame, along with Levy for allowing this to happen (plus ****ing up the Grealish deal, which looks a bigger mistake with each passing month).
There have been a few deals which left me scratching my head...the Grealish one you've mentioned. Remember when we 'signed' Moussa Dembele (the other one) from Fulham, but then the deal collapsed as we wanted him straight away but they wanted him on loan until the end of the season. For the sake of £5m and a dash of pride, we missed out on a striker who has gone on to average a goal every other game wherever he's played. Five million. And then refusing to pay £30m for Sessegnon 2 summers ago (we offered £22m) but then panicking this summer and giving them £30m plus Onomah for a player with 12 months left on his contract. Sometimes, we're so clever we're actually astoundingly stupid.
