Also the Willian Jose that Sociedad were demanding a ridiculous fee for, IIRC somewhere around the £35m+ mark Simply put, we should not be paying that much for a reserve striker - because that's money we should be spending on a leading CB, a rock solid DM, or a competent RB
The problem is that Baldini absolutely was that person at Roma Then he went insane the second Levy gave him access to his PayPal account
GK Watch The Standard report that West Brom have set a fee of £10m for Sam Johnstone Certainly an upgrade on Hart, who has been a real disappointment this season, although £10m to replace Gazzaniga does feel a tad steep
Has Hart been a disappointment? He did alright whenever he was used, which was about what I was expecting. Got beat by some wonder strikes, but they were more down to the defending than anything he did, in my opinion. I'd be happy to see him bumped to 3rd choice, which I expected him to be anyway, but what have I forgotten?
£10m for Johnstone would be a pretty decent deal providing he’s signed as a backup. Lloris is being linked with PSG again so if that move happens I’d expect another keeper and not just Johnstone. Vestergaard’s name ain’t going away either. Not sure on this one, we’ve done well when signing Saints players over the years but Vestergaard doesn’t strike me as the calibre of CB we’re in need of. Him AND a top CB I’d probably take but if the club is viewing him solely as the guy to solve our issues I fear that yet again our recruitment is gonna go horribly wrong. Lamela also once again got linked with a move back to Italy m the other day, think this one will happen. Contract ends in the summer of 2022, highly unlikely he’ll be given a new deal. If we can get anywhere near £10m it’s worth taking.
No brainier...in which case we should have been in for him considering our plight at the back...and having no ****ing brains in the boardroom when it comes to football. Knobhed will appease the masses with a few Championship level signings that probably come to more than 34 mill..sick of ENIC...**** off..get out. Liverpool have agreed personal terms with RB Leipzig for French defender Ibrahima Konate, 21, whose release clause from the Bundesliga club is £34m. (Fabrizio Romano on Twitter) everytime I see this guy he’s better than Upemacano
Big risk, especially for Liverpool. Missed about half of this season and most of the last one through injuries. He's only made 29 appearances in all competitions over the course of those two campaigns. He may work out very well for them, but I'm not sure how they balance the squad with their selection of injury-plagued centre-backs.
Speaking of Championship level signings, does anyone think that we should go after any of those in the relegation-bound clubs or those already down? David Brooks at Bournemouth is an obvious one, in my opinion. I expect there'll be a few after him, especially if Bournemouth don't make it. Pereira at West Brom and a number of the Fulham loanees might be worth a shot, too.
Fulham Joachim Andersen's been linked quite a bit lately Josh Onomah would fix a lot of squad issues with UEFA Sheffield United Sander Berge Jack O'Connell was linked with us last season, although Rodon probably has his role now Bournemouth David Brooks, who we should've signed back in 2018 Dominic Solanke Brentford Rico Henry Watford Will Hughes Ben Foster, just so we don't have to put up with his timewasting bullshit Reading Michael Olise, who has been linked pretty frequently since January Barnsley Daryl Dike, although Orlando might use him when he returns
I really like the look of Olise at Reading, think he's the best prospect in the Championship right now and if the club were smart we'd move for him now before his value rises or someone else gets him. A Dele type deal would be good, let him stay at Reading for another year to further develop and then join us in the summer of 2022. Brooks, Perreira, and Andersen would all be decent signings, though Brooks' injury record over the last couple seasons is a concern, missed most of last season and missed about 10+ games this. A shame Norwich came up though, I'd take Aarons and Cantwell all day long, probably Buendia too.
The thing with Konate is that he's a good CB, however he isn't the CB we need as he's an upgrade on Sanchez The CB we clearly need is an upgrade on Dier, who can hold the line and clear any threat that comes into our area, and Konate is not that CB by any stretch of the imagination If we were signing two CBs then, yes, Konate is certainly one we should look to bring in - expecially with that release clause active - but if we're looking to bring in just one CB we need a Milan Skriniar, Issa Diop, Sven Botman, Pau Torres, Jonathan Tah etc (or even a short-term deal for Jerome Boateng or Sergio Ramos) first and foremost
It's that time again... Vulture Watch Yes, that point in a season where we look at other teams' misery and think "Hmm, who can we nick off of them?" Well let's get started with... Schalke Matthew Hoppe (CF, USofAmerica, 20yo, contracted until 2023) Ozan Kabak* (CB, Turkey, 21yo, contracted until 2024 - although the whole loan to Saltypool makes this a bugger) Salif Sane (CB, Senegal, 30yo, contracted until 2022) Matija Nastasic (CB, Serbia, 28yo, contracted until 2022) Nabil Bentaleb (CM, Algeria, 26yo, out of contract at the end of the season) Rabbi Matondo (RW, England, 20yo, contracted until 2023 - and we'll ignore how Jack Clarke kept him out of the Stoke side this season) Sheffield United Sander Berge (DM, Norway, 23yo, contracted until 2024) Jack O'Connell (CB, England, 27yo, contracted until 2023) Aaron Ramsdale (GK, England, 22yo, contracted until 2024) Reading Michael Olise (AM, France yet HG, 19yo, contracted until 2023 - with an £8m release clause) Blackburn Adam Armstrong (CF, England, 24yo, contracted until 2022) Dijon ...anyway, moving on Excel Mouscron Half their first team are on loan from Lille, so that's a non-starter Literally anyone from Argentina There aren't enough hours in the day to work out who was actually relegated last season Literally anyone from Brazil Bloody hell, there's a lot of Gilbertos spread among the four teams who got relegated. Maybe it's a sign...
Berge was someone a few of us wanted 18 months or so ago. Was pretty amazed Sheffield signed him. I think looking to sign him would depend on what we do with Skipp in the summer, do we bring him back or let him have another season as Norwich, as there's no doubt they'd love him back for another year. I'd definitely take Olise, said just the other day to PNP I think he's the best prospect in the Championship at the moment, he's only 19 too by the way, not 22. Which makes it a little more appealing as he's doing bits already as a teenager. Again, as I said to PNP, a Dele type deal could work well for both us and Reading, they keep their key man for another year, we then get a more polished version of the player. The rest of those doesn't appeal to me. Bentaleb's really disappointed me how he's gone, honestly thought he was destined for a great future. Seems like a bit of a prick these days and his football hasn't done enough talking.
You get the feeling I was typing "22" by habit by that point... Of the rest of the list, Sane and Hoppe are the standouts: Sane as he's got an aerial presence which our defence simply doesn't, and could be a useful player to have the likes of Tanganga and Rodon shadow for a season, while Hoppe's got a lot of potential and would certainly offer something else going forward as a poacher who plays off a defender's shoulder so would make us less predictable As for the rest, Nastasic and O'Connell both have upsides, as both can be described as playing exactly like our current CBs but also with an understanding of what this thing called "heading" is, and both have experience in the Premier League with Nastasic having a couple of seasons at The Sheikh Mansour Team while O'Connell is at Sheffield United...or to be more accurate Sheffield United's treatment table, so a loan-to-buy would probably cover us in that case
Joined Up Transfer Watch Mediaset report that Inter are willing to sell Christian Eriksen back to us in order to fund a move for Sergej Milinkovic-Savic Now here's an idea: we sign Milinkovic-Savic, preferably by dumping Sissoko on Lazio's fascist-loving supporters