If that's true he needs to give his head a wobble, we are one of the relegation favourites and at this moment in time he's looking at a major part of the season on the bench
Hopefully. We'll need to get obvious value from him somewhere though. Either that or we stay up despite him. I love the 'we're not intending to go back down' chat for sure, but with the way we are building the squad it will be absolutely essential - as the alternative won't bear thinking about.
Seems very simple, we pay the money we get the player. Leverkusen happy to keep but also happy to sell as long as its on their terms.
£17.5m is a good fee for Xhaka like, I'll be surprised if we don't pay it for a player of his quality. You need to make short-term signings like this in the PL, you don't need resale value for everyone
I'm with you, mind. If he's asking £50k, give him £40k. That's fine for a PL squad player. And we really need some midfielders who we'll have a shot at keeping hold of in case the worst happens.
They keep bemoaning PSR (and the 'cartel' (ffs) by proxy) as the source of all their woes but there's a lot there to suggest that it's actually cashflow that's an issue. I struggle to reconcile how that can be with their owners but there's something amiss.
He was horrific on the day, genuinely awful. Thankfully RLB had the balls to hook him and the rest is history.
I wouldn't be so sure. They've already tried to bomb him out once. With at least three centre halves rated ahead of him, plus more arriving this summer, it wouldn't be a massive shock to me if they tried to get rid of him again. Also worth noting that Noni Madueke started two CWC games and is a far more established England player.
I’m sceptical of that but if I’m Speakman, I’m asking the agent who exactly is going to pay him that elsewhere?
We’ll see. He’s another who I think would have far better options than us anyway. Good player like, improved a lot over the last couple of years
No time for sentiment, I don't think he is good enough for the top level. I wouldn't be surprised if he was sold.
Giving our club captain and the only midfielder we're likely to keep £40k seems reasonable in my view. That'll drop to below £20k if we get relegated, which is perfectly reasonable. Wouldn't surprise me if Ballard is already on around £40k with his promotion rise. If we stay up for a couple of seasons, £40k will be reserve player money.
