Transfer thread for 2016-17 season

I very much doubt that these sackings/resignations were against Poch's will, and think it very likely that he at the very least bought in to them, and at the most was integral in their instigation. There's no way Levy would undermine Poch I don't think.

 

Reports in France say the Nkoudou deal has collapsed.

To be more specific the reports are saying that, while the initial deal that was floated was we'd pay £11m for Nkoudou while Marseilles could turn N'Jie's loan into a permanent deal for £6m, due to the fact Nkoudou wasn't training at any point during the transfer negotiations Levy gave OM a second offer: we pay £4m for Nkoudou, while the fee Marseilles would have to pay to make N'Jie's loan permanent was increased to £11m so Marseilles pulled the plug - even though, to be blunt, if the second offer is true it looks more like Levy was pretty much telling Marseilles to **** off.

Today's hack watch: because Eriksen was complimentary about Frank de Boer in an interview he gave eighteen months ago, this obviously means he'll be off to Inter.

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In other news, this is another club announcement that is not transfer news

 

Nkoudou's collapse isn't a massive problem if true, I'm happy to see Clint given another shot.

Think I read that Poch wasn't overly keen on Clint's departure anyway but just that Nkoudou for him seemed like an OK deal to do.

 

A little bit of early season 'moral thin ice skating' !!

 

No doubt there's a couple of hundred blogs linking the deal's collapse with Mitchell's departure.

To quickly add to this, when the reports of Liverpool missing out on Alli a couple of seasons ago due to the dithering of their transfer committee were doing the rounds, it was pointed out that Spurs had been monitoring Alli since the 2011-12 season.

 

Meanwhile, the poor guy languishes in London. Since Sunday, if this is correct!....


http://www.tribalfootball.com/artic...eorges-nkoudou-in-london-since-sunday-4141685

 

I read somewhere that the new management at Marseille wanted to renegotiate the deal to a significant degree so Levy decided to show them that he could be bloody stupid as well and made an offer that was indeed a '**** You' counter-offer. Maybe we'll go back or go elsewhere but I definitely want to see us sign a 'flyer' who scores goals. We don't have it as yet and the willingness to unload Clinton suggests we don't have confidence that he is it.

 

As I said a few days ago, you'd have to be a complete idiot not to see that our being linked with Boufal and Rafa Silva was more to do with OM trying to do a Marseilles with the Nkoudou deal - which mainly goes to prove that OM are, in fact, run by complete idiots.

 

I can only imagine that Njie's injury record is the factor that has caused us to look elsewhere to bring in an almost identical player. If he can keep fit for a decent length of time, there is no reason why he can't become that flying forward. Nor for that matter should we discount Son becoming that player too.

If the deal does collapse, there is no indication we'd seek bring in an alternative - although it will be extremely awkward for Njie to return to training having been frozen out for the better part of a month. Looking at our squad, I'm struggling to think of positions we still need to fill. An older, experienced player to come in as 4th choice CB or 3rd choice striker would be lovely, but not essential. An upgrade on Carroll/Mason would be lovely but unlikely to happen without breaking the bank. Perhaps an upgrade on Vorm would be nice but again - he is a quality keeper who just doesn't seem to 'cope' with playing irregularly, so the chances of actually improving on him are minimal.

Is this it then? Is our business complete?

 

The only rumours that have involved us and keepers in this window are Pau Lopez and Vorm to Celtic.
Both might be possible, but I'd like us to bring in an experienced, older keeper as back-up if both go through.

 

I hope not. I still think we're light by a couple of players unless we are very confident in the physical strength and mental resilience of Harry Winks, Shayon Harrison and Marcus Edwards. Their youth and inexperience would seem to point to cameo performances or a loan option for this season. CCV looks ready to mix it with 'the big boys' the others still look worryingly slight although Winks has definitely been in the gym. If Mauricio Pochettino thinks they are ready, then fair enough, they probably are and I will happily go with his view.

Chadli seems to be a long way from Mauricio Pochettino's thoughts and I can't see him changing that to any significant degree. That really limits our attacking width, having sold Townsend and been ready to part with Clinton.

 

N'OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Can't say I care tbh. If we're going to sign a young player then there are lots of other good options out there and I'd rather we signed a player with more than one good season under his belt. I wouldn't mind us sticking with what we have either, N'Jie hasn't looked that bad in the few games he's played.

I'm going to need to do some serious backtracking if we do still sign him

 

there's a guy at Norwich who I reckon could work out- believe his name is Alex Pritchard

 

Is that the lad that used to play for Brighton ?

 

Rafa VDV joins FC Midtjylland - so I guess we can count ourselves lucky they're in the Europa League this season...

 

Roma's final pre-season game and Fazio's debut, alongside former Goon crock Thomas Vermaelen.
The scoreline remained the same for the rest of the game too, so he got the winner and a clean sheet. Good for him.

 

Their fans are probably all going home talking about their new wonderdefender

 

He'll probably do well for them, to be honest. A slower league and defending deeper.
He didn't work out for us, but he was totally unsuited to how we play and the pace of the Premier League.

 

The Guardian are suggesting that Mitchell's departure is connected to the likely collapse of the Nkoudou transfer. Which, the club deny!

If true, it would seem to suggest that Levy's up to his old tricks again and Mitchell has had enough of it. There have already been suggestions that the two hardly speak and don't see eye to eye.

 

Think he'll be a hit in Serie A. The Prem just wasn't for him but there's no doubting he'll be a star elsewhere, aside from the fact he guaranteed at least one mistake in every match for us, he did actually look bloody solid at times. Serie A is perfect for him.