We've driven him nowhere. That's Newcastle. We've looked after ourselves. Newcastle told us he easnt for sale and we moved on. No issue here. If a SMALL CLUB MENTALITY gets the hump because a players agent was talked to to see if the player might say yes to a 120mil transfer then that'd the small clubs issue. We can grumble about real madrid and bayern but we also get on with it because you just have to.
Gossip. It's all gossip. Aka made up crap until someone really confirms it as a real sports journalist sticking their name to it.
We still have the money available for Isak if he becomes available this year. True, we need at least one CB still, but IF he becomes available this summer, then any talk of Rodrygo is over (not the end of the world), and probably Diaz gets that move to Munich even though it won't be for what we want for him. And Darwin will get a firesale price too. We seem hell bent on him for under £130m, if not we wait until next season and see if we can get him for <£100m. As has been said by others though, an awful lot of eggs are going into that one injury-prone striker's basket when we've just signed a striker, and we may as well give Darwin another season now as a backup forward/left-winger.
Word is Isak wants 300k per week and Newcastle won’t go above 200k so no new contract signing yet. Players sign long contracts and then are not happy with the money half way through the contract, not sure he will be happy next season
Clubs also sign players then half way through their contract decide they don’t want them and try force them out the club (Sancho, Rashford) so I have no sympathy for either club or player. Both are only ever acting in their best interests.
It's all greed all round. In the end the fans pay for it through the nose. Yet the same.fans then want big fees and big names.
Diaz fee set for bayern to meet. 65mil. That's for a 28 year old. We then seem to want rodrygo for the similar fee but he is 24. I am generally suspicious of players who leave real madrid. They generally dont stay because they are not good enough(odengaard) , not good enough any more (casemiro etc) or have a rank attitude. We will see where this gossip goes.
Rodrygo's case seems to be that he's been forced out by Real constantly buying forwards and attacking midfielders. Mbappe stole his first team place, Guler and Endrick are being preferred as backups and now some kid has emerged from nowhere (and is Madrid born). And that's before they've got to shoe horn their 20million midfielders into the lineup. Plus he's not HG and made it clear he doesn't want to be a bench warmer
Even Real are only allowed 11 on the pitch at once - so a further option is that a player might just want to play more. Also, it doesn't mean a player is bad just because an even better one pushes him out. I understand your wariness, just pointing out that there can be other possibilities.
Not super convinced by Rodrygo. Never really stuck out as a brilliant player but again, will trust the recruitment. He does add versatility being able to play across all 3 positions though if we do go down that route. Also being linked with Fofana at Lyon who is lot more raw an unproven but don’t know much about him other than apparently had a good breakout season this year.
Was it him or endrick thst injured konate by changing a lost cause last minute chance at 0-2 at anfield?
So having not heard of Ekitike until he was linked with us, I did a Google image search to see if I recognised the man without recognising the name. There are several pictures showing him in, shall I say, very interesting fashion choices out and about and at fashion shows and the like. I hope he's not going to go the same way as Everton's Calvert-Lewin, a big talent who seemed to put more effort into being visible off the field rather than on it. Just to add that I've got no concerns over what players choose to wear. That's their business and their personal statement. I just don't want an attention seeking show pony.
He's French. I know its no excuse to certain esteemed individuals but still. I've no clue as to his general work ethic nor his character. The club have to be sure about that stuff.
Yeah, I have my reservations over Rodrygo, but if we can get him by getting something decent for Konate, then it may be the best of a bad deal. That'll mean we need 2 CBs though - I notice Hato to Chelsea seems to be a done deal. Fair enough, we can't buy everyone, and we seem to be waiting a season to do a Madrid on Palace and get Guehi for free. But even if Ibou doesn't go this summer, we're still a CB down. I thought we had a plan when we let Quansah go?
Maybe he's sponsored by a French designer who asks him to wear their clothes out and about in the same way other players wear Adidas or Nike casually. I'm sure the club has done enough 'monitoring' to have seen enough to merit buying him. What he wears has no bearing whatsoever on how he plays. I just wasn't expecting to see what I saw as none of our players court that kind of attention.
