If £25m or near is offered Max will go and good luck to him he appears to have a good family around him keeping him grounded and he's not on social media all the time acting like a rapper or complaining about arsehole trolls. He seems like a thoroughly decent young man and has a fantastic future at a massive club . Much like Godfrey and Buendia amazingly driven brilliant players with the right attitude. I would be astonished if he's still a Norwich player when we line up against Liverpool.
Just to recap: positions that SW/DF have identified are Striker, CB and four midfield. Assuming that we have 3 midfield recruits Gilmour, Rashica? and Lees-Melou. So to complete the set a CB and a striker. If Rashica is not considered midfield then one other in that position. It seems that Billings is deemed to be the answer? Perhaps further progress on obtaining this player depends on Aarons sale? As I see it there has been no further news on the Skipp front and Byram could be out of first team thoughts for another long spell.
Deadwood? The only contracted first team players to leave to date, as far as I'm aware, have been David Luiz (end of contract) and Guendouzi (Marseille on loan). Loanees Ceballos, Odegaard and Ryan have also gone, but were hardly deadwood. Those departures leave big gaps in the first team squad without bringing in any money other than Guendouzi's loan fee and wages saved. Spending on the 3 signings to date, White £50m (still to be completed), Tavares 8m, Lokonga 18m, already comes to £76m without any offset from player sales. The only figure I've seen quoted for Bellerin was in a report claiming that Arsenal "are holding out" for £15m, which is £15m+ short of the £30m+ Webber has said it will take to prise Aarons away from Carrow Road. More generally, IMO Kroenke's purse strings have not been as tight as commonly believed. It's only when compared to Chelsea and the two Manchester clubs that Arsenal's spending appears low. Liverpool have spent much the same as Arsenal over the past five years, but to much better effect. Rather revealingly, Arsenal's transfer spending in recent years has been only marginally below Everton's since Moshiri took over, and Moshiri can hardly be accused of keeping a tight hold on the purse strings!
https://theathletic.com/2709075/202...ight-backs-but-light-up-top/?source=twitteruk A Fulham perspective of their squad building efforts this summer. From an NCFC perspective, highlights that Silva wants another week or two to begin to understand what he's working with before sanctioning sales, and also that Fulham currently have 7 senior CBs in their squad. However, the £10m release clause Tosin Adarabioyo was thought to have has apparently expired. So that may explain why there's no movement from Norwich there. It looks like the shopping list/priorities are: A CB and a Defensive Midfielder (this could be one player covering both roles, as Amadou was intended to, or two signings). Skipp would be an additional signing if possible. Another midfield player (Could be an attacking, or box-to-box player, not really clear). a) Full Back - Especially with injuries and Aarons uncertainty, more cover is needed. Placheta and Mumba likely to be the full backs again today. This could be someone who can also operate at CB, and therefore only 1 signing to cover both positions. Seems unlikely to find a full back who offers the attacking prowess Farke likes, but can also cover CB though). b) Striker/Forward (could be someone who operates in wide areas)
Missed the 4th midfield player and a full back. DHCanary has sorted this out very clearly. A striker that’s both effective and relatively cheap will be hard to find. Why is Hugill going out on loan? He is more experienced than Idah.
More experienced than Idah, but doesn't really fit with the way we play. He may also have recognised that with Idah fit he'll be third choice, and Hugill want more than 5 minutes of football per month. Personally I think he offered something last season, he put some great shifts in as a "defensive striker" when we were closing out games, and as the team figured out how to play to his strengths, in particular Quintilla, he could be quite threatening. I don't mind having a slightly chaotic alternative in the squad, who can mix things up and create situations that the others can build on. A replacement for Hugill is going to be tricky to find. It either needs to be someone who still offers a Plan B but is content with less game time, or a Pukki-like striker who is prepared to learn the ropes, but won't be out of place if called upon due to injuries.
I would like to see us sign him as he would give us some height and steel at DM. Leeds and Palace are also linked, so probably not much of a chance for us.
Leeds and Palace both want a loan deal. We could pip them with a reasonable bid of around £5m for a permanent deal, which is what Celta Vigo want.
Despite being at numerous clubs, out of favour, subbed on late, etc, Hugill averages a goal every 255 minutes at Championship level. That's 1 in 3, or 15+ goals a season - perhaps more if you play to his strengths and give him a run of games. It's rare that you can sign a striker with those kind of numbers, on wages we'll pay, for a fairly small transfer fee (which we might still recoup a hefty chunk of). His personality around the camp is also excellent, something we know Webber considers important. We signed the quality where it was available, and he offers a great Plan B. Coming on late in games and being a weapon in both penalty boxes was a useful tactical option, and when Pukki was out he had games where he stepped up. I can see plenty of reasons why the transfer made sense, and most are still good reasons to keep him. It doesn't seem like the club are desperate to get rid of him, it'll only happen if the price is right and we can sign an appropriate replacement. As to why you'd sell him: He may want out, to play first team football. He's got 2 years on his contract, next summer after a year mostly on the periphery his transfer value will decline significantly. (30+ striker on Premier League wages). He didn't suit possession based football, but that wasn't a big issue. If we want to counterattack more next season he'll be even more poorly suited to that. He's not the heir to Pukki's throne, but someone like Josh Sargent could be. We need some kind of plan for Pukki declining. He'll be on sizeable wages for someone we only want playing 5 minutes per month.
Ahadme has always looked a bit special, but he's 20 now and this loan could be the making of him. He hit the ground running in his trialist matches at Pompey, scoring 7 goals and earning his loan deal. Fingers crossed that it goes well for him. https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/...-himself-to-seven-goals-in-pre-season-3316005
Back to rumours: The Athletic is suggesting that we try to sign Gary Cahill, though they do acknowledge that his wages may not fit Webber's policy. He's 35 now and available on a free transfer - worth a one year contract?
I think it's a big ask of Omobamidele, but I'd rather see him on the pitch than Cahill. Omobamidele appears to have all the right attributes (Physic, Hunger, Right attitude etc) to potentially be a PL quality CB, my only real concern is that 2021/22 might be a season too early for him. If his performances can match his potential then he could play a significant role in a 2022/23 season, whether we stay up or not.
