£20m for Longstaff should be a no brainer. Afds £80m+ to out transfer kitty when amortised. that's a decent upgrade.
That's the big problem, can we hold on to the likes of Bruno, Botman, Isak, Willock, Joelinton even Gordon with no European football? Think the lack of European football could be a real kick up the arse for the owners though and they may feel like they have to make a statement signing to settle our top players down and continue believing in the project. If there's no European football, incomings like Lloyd Kelly or McTomminay will not convince players to stay.
This is why finishing in european positions may be vital. Bruno I'm expecting to lose. Maybe 100m will be of more value to us than one particular player though. Joelinton I'm not sure. Even if we only finish 8th, there's still a good chance that we could finish in a european position next year without the burden of CL football and hopefully a deeper squad. I still have faith we can finish 7th though. Beating West Ham is very important, because if we do beat them it's in our hands now and we have a better schedule of fixtures. 7th place IMO would convince most of our players to stay. European football is the main attraction. We need a strong finish to the season. We've only lost to man city, arsenal, liverpool and chelsea in 2024. We were unlucky not to beat Bournemouth. We beat Villa and Forest way, which were great results.
I'll remind anyone that Spurs and Chelsea signed the likes of Palmer, Nkunku, Caicedo, Jackson, Udogie, Maddison, Van Der Ven and Porro without European football on offer. Our main issue is trying to sell the virtues of Eddie Howe, his nephew and his fist bumping, self-tanning mate as a progressive and ambitious football club. Couple that with a scouting network that "identified" Harvey Barnes and Lewis Hall as more important than upgrading (among others) Jacob Murphy and Dan Burn, it's easy to see where our problems currently lie.
You certainly can mate. If not, we've been breaking the law for years where I work. If you have a contractual period of gardening leave that is activated when the employee has made his intentions to leave clear, you are free to appoint his replacement at any point without consequence.
In other (hilarious) news, Chelsea are around £200m away from meeting PSR rules as Mason Mount was sold in a different period than Chelsea claimed. What’s really funny is that Chelsea need to get this money in by July 1st which is almost impossible and could be facing much heavier punishments than was given to Everton and Forest. Unless, of course, the PL dick about with their own rules which will lead to much more leeway for NUFC.
Good job Krafth & Lascelles extended their contract before someone snapped them up. Will need Dummett to do the same now.
Only good news if it is the lesser end of the scale he'll be back around September - probably need to work himself up to full fitness but should be back in the first 10 games of the season I'd guess. Target was on the bench last week so maybe BDB and SChar CB with Target coming in at LB when fit? Also another reminder the defence needs a massive revamp in the summer!
