Just seen this from BBC: Newcastle are keen to sign Manchester United left-back Luke Shaw, 22, but do not want to pay the £20m fee the Red Devils want. (Sun) https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/5037664/newcastle-manchester-united-luke-shaw-20m/ Obviously a slow news day. On other pages: Big brown animal seen taking a dump in a forested area.
You can imagine what we are getting quoted for strikers then. According to Rafa he was quoted £40m for a striker the other day, although it's anyone's guess who for. Perhaps it was that Cenk Tosan who nobody has ever heard of.
There'd been a few reports already over a loan deal with Mourinho then allegedly saying loan was not an option and he'd cost £20m. I can imagine we've earmarked around £2m for a new left back, so a bit of haggling to be done.
We won't be getting Shaw. We won't be getting anyone!!! Personally I'm waiting for Benitez to walk when we sell Lascelles and replace him with an empty packet of crisps.
You don't know how bad my jokes can get. An Indian man has been arrested for punching his wife in the face. Chinnda Goodunoroppa denies the charge...
Have you been living under a rock? Are you forgetting all the oil cash we're about to get? Chippy offered a cast-iron, mustard-yellow guarantee the deal will be done by the end of Nov.
NEWCASTLE WANT TO SIGN A PLAYER BUT DON'T WANT TO PAY FOR HIM. Yeah, there's gonna be a lot of these.
Sorry for a minute I forgot myself and suspected Chippy to be a chino-wearing ex-mackem liar! Slapped my self and realised I'd have to be crazy for all that to be true.....
I think loan deals for the likes of Shaw is the best we can hope for. Reality will be some no mark spaniards in the mould of Joselu for 4m-5m. I'm not sure I'd trust Rafa with money. Joselu, Yedlin, Manquillo, Lejeune (jury out), Diame, Hanley, Hayden, Lazaar, Sels. Clark (who has done ok), Murphy/Gayle (who did a job), Atsu is ok. Merino is top class, Ritchie was a good signing. Murphy undecided. Yeah I have to be honest I think his strike rate is **** for all its tempered by working with a **** budget.
Now do the same assessment taking into account the money available to be spent. You can hardly say his buying record is poor if he is buying a “good” £5M player for £5M but who isn’t as good as a £20M player who we couldn’t afford. Also take into account some players were bought for a particular purpose namely promotion from the Fizzy Pop League which was achieved.