Xhaka would be our best signing, not sure how you would get all the new midfielders in the team though, presumably that means Dan Neil takes a backseat. Xhaka has played 99 games in two seasons for Leverkusen and almost always starts and almost always completes 90 minutes, this is for a very decent Leverkusen team (champs 23/24) also. With these young lads it's a case of them getting a chance to play in the Premiership, Xhaka is a different beast.
Yeh spot on he's almost the arbiter of truth for us now. I don't think anybody is suggesting there's no truth in us having interest in Xhaka - that's pretty clearly true. I think what us pessimists are saying is its unlikely that interest / offer will be reciprocated. That's why I'm keen to see a journo say he wants to come to us or equivalent. But until somebody shuts it down its all gravy. And Sacha had the chance to do so this morning and didn't.
Tom White was on a podcast a few weeks ago and said Downie has an impeccable source at the club and if he posts something it's essentially true. A lot of our fans have got a bit precious over him doing his job over the last few years. Not sure why they couldn't understand that other than Sunderland fans, the country didn't give a **** about who we were signing in League One. Newcastle were the story and that was his job.
Le Fée made the difference getting us out of the playoffs … … Xhaka could make the difference in keeping us up. Sometimes the fee is irrelevant.
Good signing that. So pleased we are out of that league, especially this season. Seems like the majority of the league have top 6 ambitions
Whisper it quietly but I like Keith Downie. The guy has a thankless task reporting on passionate north east clubs, neither of whom react too kindly to bad news. He didn't report on us because Sky only care about the premier league, not really his fault. I'm much more annoyed at the outlets that still aren't really reporting on us despite being a premier league club now. The Athletic for example are just following others and reporting stuff that's already been reported, then not writing any sort of story or comment on it. Theyve just become an aggregator for Sunderland, whereas other clubs get stories and opinion pieces.
b Xhaka would certainly be a fab signing for us,there's no doubt. Him,Enzo and Diarra in the middle,with Neil,Sadiki,Riggy and Aleksic there or thereabouts, would give us some envied quality.
Ya divvent understand. It's the cartel, they contrurl everything. Wa don't have journalists in wa pocket given oot oor side of tha story...
Think the club will be weighing up the long term impacts of every signing, that's what smart clubs do anyway (which we are one). Obviously Xhaka has no resell value, but if he plays a part in keeping us up I'd bet they don't particularly care. Especially when the likes of Diarra, Sadiki, Talbi (not to mention our current young players) all have huge potential to be sold for £40m+ in just a year or two. Obviously we shouldn’t just offer Xhaka every penny we have but if making him the top earner and him leaving for nothing in 2/3 years helps us collect a couple of mid table finishes then so be it.
They have to change who and what they are. Otherwise they’re a good bet for going down imo. Fairly certain that Parky doesn’t survive that transition mind.
As mentioned above by @Flash Gordon Tom White says hes got great sources for Sunderland and is by all accounts a decent bloke in his opinion. I have no issues with Downie not reporting on us when we were in League 1 and with the story that has happened with the Mags in the last few years, I get the business side of that. But what I did find pretty repulsive and at best unprofessional was him 'crying' on Sky Sports as he broke the news that Newcastle were being taken over by a state who, well we all know what they do and have done. This is a bloke whos meant to be an impartial journalist, doesnt even have any known connection with the north east and stood their crying tears of joy for all to see. It would of been unprofessional if he did it for a normal takeover but to do it over those specific new owners was frankly disgusting imo and I could never say i like the bloke. Could go on about him deleting and editing his posts to appease Newcastle fans too but the above says enough about him as a bloke. Credible source for SAFC info for sure but I will never be able to stand him.
Spot on It's about getting the balance right, we don't need 4 or 5 xhaka type signinbs (experienced players who will have little resale value) but 1 or 2 can be huge to the team and squad The club will have a limit that they'll be prepared to go to with him and we will see if that's enough
Brighton attacking midfielder Julio Enciso, who was likely to leave the club in the current transfer window, needs surgery on a knee injury. The Paraguay international had been lined up for a loan or permanent move away from the club before the window closes on 1st September. With Enciso now facing an operation and a period of recovery, it's almost certain a potential departure won't take place until January.