It is when it's already been established that he's missing the game due to illness It's like the articles a few years ago saying that Lamela would be sold in the next transfer window as he wasn't even getting in the squad...when Lamela was out injured, so only a complete numpty would be picking an injured player to start games or, for that matter, assume that being injured wasn't a valid reason to not get into the matchday squad
Batshittery Watch Mundo Deportivo claim that Barcelona want to sign Bryan Gil on a loan-to-buy deal Now if they suggested an interest in Tangy Nom Belly, as he's known after eating an entire deep pan pizza followed with a 2l bottle of Fanta before kickoff yesterday evening...
Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest, Blackburn and Stoke have all been in contact over a loan for Dilan Markanday Bournemouth would make the most sense, given Scott Parker worked with him in the U18s - but given they're challenging for automatic promotion, the obvious question would be the amount of match time he'd get
According to one or two Dutch media who are generally reliable, Ajax want Bergwijn if they can sell Neres. Get in! That’s hopefully one sorting their exit for 1st January. Just another 7 or 8 to go.
Football BSider says we're looking to sign both Brozovic and De Vrij in January Di Marzio says we aren't as we're looking for longterm options If we're playing CB bingo, put me down for Benoit Badashile, Maxence Lacroix and Alessio Romagnoli
Wherever he'll play the most is the best option. I doubt that would be Blackburn or Bournemouth, as they've already got strikers scoring regularly. Brereton has 16 in 20 for Blackburn and Solanke has 16 in 20 for Bournemouth. Stoke's top scorer is Brown with 5, but they also have Fletcher and Surridge for competition. Forest's is their captain Grabban, who missed the last couple of games and may be injured.
Clarke got a decent run of games at Stoke last season, if that has any bearing on anything Loaning players to teams chasing promotion has often backfired on us in recent years, for example Leicester not playing Kane (which their charming fans boo him for...), Sterling at Sunderland or Georgiou at Ipswich, just as teams battling relegation tend to not use young loanees like Roles at Stevenage. In other words, we need to find the most midtable clubs possible...
Football BSider claim Harvey White is "desperate" for a January loan to get some minutes I mean I wouldn't rule out him being more likely to play against Rennes than Ndombele...
Online news that Barcelona want Gil , offered the right price I would let him go, we're not in the position to hang onto players who " might " come good , we need players now to make a difference to the team , so from me it's a big thank you to Brian Gil and hope you do well
There’s about 15 players ahead of him I’d rather see sold. So far he hasn’t done anything massively impressive but he’s only young. Can’t we convince Barca to sign Bergwijn, Lo Celso or Ndombele instead?
No way would I get rid of Gil. Play him on the left or behind the striker and he'll do bits. Assisted Kane against Pacos and helped massively improve Spurs in the second half against Arsenal when played in his preferred areas. Chucking him on the right where he's not an inside forward like Lamela and where he's mainly had Doherty alongside him isn't going to reap any rewards, no one deserves to play alongside Doherty. He's someone who we probably won't see the best of for another year or two at least but I'm pretty confident he'll be a proper baller.
We've been linked with James Tarkowski this morning Are we sure this isn't the club's way of making sure that Tarkowski misses our league match at Turf Moor no matter what?
We're also being linked with Stuttgart striker (and absolute bastard to type) Sasa Kalajdzic Yes, that would be the same Sasa Kalajdzic who, after having an impressive 2020-21 with 16 goals in 33 games, has mad an absolute 'mare of a season where he missed the first couple of games with Covid, came on as a sub in a 4-0 loss to Monster Energy Dusseldorf, then injured his shoulder and hasn't played a second since meaning he's played a whopping 17 minutes of football all season So...loan?
Reports suggest that we have taken Southend LB Charlie Sayers on trial ...of course, anyone paying attention to the Academy Watch thread would have known that two days before these reports were posted
Exodus Watch Mike Verwiej at De Telegraaf claims that Steven Bergwijn is not in Conte's plans, going so far as to say that Conte has only spoken a couple of times since arriving Given how Verwiej is basically a Dan KP for Dutch players, that likely means there's a crumb of truth to this, even if you take into account that since Conte arrived Bergwijn has been on international duty or ill So, with that in mind, what're the chances that PSV want him back - and, if they do, would they mind Noni Madueke coming the other way as part of the deal?
Kim Min-jae Watch And I just made a wisecrack about this... According to Korean sources, Conte has spoken with him, using Sonny as a middleman - although the original story appears to have come from those ever-reliable Turkish sources