Xhaka and Diarra is a different world to either Neil or Sadiki. Sadiki has potential but he’s one for the future. Even though it was only a friendly, we were all over the shop yesterday and that will be amplified multiple times in the PL.
We are trying to sign high level players as a low level club, this season. The higher the status of the player the longer the deals will take. Should we survive, or indeed look comfortable come January, these deals will get quicker. We are after players with European football as options, with good contracts and offers, and who have seen us out of the league for 8 years. We just need to be patient, to a point.
Aye. We can’t bully Leverkusen, they don’t need the money, they can dig in. Players will counts for something but it will delay as both sides want the best deal.
The player has said he only wants to come to Sunderland and has agreed a deal ... ... why on earth would we be in a rush to fling money at Leverkusen? Just because we've already spent big money doesn't mean an extra million pounds is no longer a million pounds.
Agreed. Same token they have a professional, a captain of his country, who won’t down tools and spit his dummy out, so quite rightly they want a wedge back for a player they paid £25million for. It won’t happen quickly.
Not being pushy but what are these reports ... ... I'm only interested because of how these stories ebb and flow.
To be fair, he was reported recently as saying that if an agreement couldn't be reached, he was ready to give his all to Leverkusen.
That means nothing though does it ... ... if an agreement can't be reached he has absolutely no other option but to honour his contract.
Liverpool are phenomenal at selling players. Diaz is good but not a chance he's worth that much. Allows them to have summers like the one they are having and hopefully it means Isak soon.
Him saying he only wants to come to Sunderland means nothing either, if Leverkusen dig in. They don't need to sell him. I hope it happens, but I'm nowhere near as confident as you are, clearly.
I believe he'll come to Sunderland, simple as that. (My opinion btw, not a statement of fact, for the benefit of my RTG stalkers.) People saying 'we're miles apart' is irrelevant. Is £10m close, is £1m too far away? This is part of the problem, people talk about millions of pounds as if it's confetti.