blonde poker forum

who is going where when and for how much

marhez to arsenal for £25 million?
oxlade-chamberlain and walcott to the saints for peanuts?
mane to man u
wanyama to arsenal

are the ones i am reading by the southampton facing press

KP to play for South Africa?
Danny Cipriani for Rio?
Jos Buttler to be highest paid Brit in IPL 2017?
Courtney Lawes disgraced from rugby union as its revealed he actually didn't go to a public school. Urrgh lol  ;)

Why would Mahrez want to take a step down?

Danny Ward from Liverpool to Huddersfield

Love the Arsenal rumours every year. Gets the fans all excited and they go on to buy one or two lower league French kids and their season is over before it starts again.

Tough one for Leicester as Kante and Mahrez will be in high demand. But their owners are billionaires and the team spirit is amazing so hopefully they'll all stay together. But this is football.

Carl jenkinson will be the big summer signing for arsenal when he returns from his loan

Mahrez won't be leaving yet. Will give it a year, possibly January and then we will have to cash in as he won't sign his next contract. nor should he. Barca/real/psg await, not arsenal or other English options

Kante much more likely to. Heavily in demand, manageable release clause and misses France. PSG most likely

Confirmed Watford additions

Doucoure
Penaranda
Success

And apparently there will be a new manager as well.

Arsenal and Tottenham rumoured to be leading the race for Wimbledon's Ryan Sweeney, ahead of other PL clubs such as Liverpool, West Ham and Burnley.

Inaccurate article here: http://the72.co.uk/53396/north-london-powerhouses-target-league-two-sensation/

It doesn't get us that excited - we know we are linked with all the players under the sun but never sign any. 

I'd be pretty surprised if he went to any of these teams. Foreign teams are going to have to pay way more for signings from English teams now. Barca aren't/(can't?) going to spend a fortune on a bench player, PSG have two very good wide players already as do Real, who also only seemingly want to sign superstars. The fans will riot if Mahrez is their big summer signing.

disagree, Mahrez is good enough at only 25 years old to go to one of these teams, play his fair share of games and the acquiring team gets 5+ years out of him.

ronaldo is 31, zlatan is 34 even messi is 28/suarez 29. there are vacancies coming at some of these teams in the attacking areas

we will be very reluctant to sell anyone into other PL teams. we don't need to sell anyone but of course if a player is unhappy then that's a factor, if they indeed become so

Kante is more likely to go sooner, as his contract expires sooner 

Yeh I can see a huge tussle for Kante. Nearly every "big" team needs a player like him and he's quality. Dare to guess a price he'll go for?

there aren't many Kante's around

He's 25, rarely misses a game, great character in the dressing room it is said.

i am told he has a £20m release clause, which would have seemed unrealistic when we bought him.if that if true it is the price to start at

i expect bidding will go beyond that

He's not that standard yet but Makalele (the most often used comparison as a player) played over 450 games for psg, real, chelsea

arguably he could offer more in the attacking third than makalele, but we'll see

i'd expect a similar sort of career at similar sorts of clubs

If it's a release clause surely they all just bid 20 million and then they can all talk to him.  No need to bid higher.  Just do your competitive bidding via the wage.

yes thinking about it the extra required in a competitive bidding process will go to player/agent not club.

i expect £20m and a £1 might work, as it might have done for so meone else before at £40m+£1

Lol, he's going to end up on £400k a week is that's the case.

Heard a very persuasive argument  on an analytics podcast basically saying that big clubs don't/won't need Kante. His 'off the chart' stats are tackles and recoveries/interceptions. Really useful for a team who have 40% possession & counter attack. Not as useful a skill set for the really big clubs who dominate possession and need to break down teams who stick 9/10 men behind the ball.

Would it not make business sense to sell both Mahrez and Kante this summer? Their stock is at its absolute peak right now, it won't get higher than this. Hindsight is a beautiful thing, but I bet Swansea regret not taking £30m for Michu a couple seasons back.

Both players have had an incredible season, but its exactly that, a season. There is no guarantee that they'll reproduce the levels we have seen this year. Fast forward to summer 2017, Leicester have had a decent season and finish 9th for example, and those 2 were again important but less influential squad players and don't trouble any team of the year XI's.....how does that effect their value?

Obv the reasons to keep them is not needing the money, and if the club believe another title tilt is on the cards then it would be crazy to move them on. But £50m+ for a couple of players you paid peanuts for?

naively or not, the club thinks it can press on with suitable reinforcements (which it will need playing twice a week through to xmas). top six next year, out of a CL group etc

both mahrez and kante are 25, michu was 28 when swansea were offered big money. unless something very strange happens in a year's time mahrez and kante will be worth at least as much then as they are now.

i think kante might leave though, but it won't be of the club's choosing

Ranieri is trying to get every key player to give it one season then re-assess.

whether the "band of brothers" type stuff counts for anything when a club offers more than double what a player is on even after we ramp their wages up, we will have to see

 

All depends on what the contract says.  The clauses seem a bit woolly in England whereas in Spain they are standardised buy out clauses.  (ie player has buy out clause of £20 million he can pay that to cancel his contract but of course that is always paid by the acquiring club and effectively becomes a release transfer fee)

that makes a lot of sense that line of logic.  Never really thought about certain players suiting certain teams style of play/stats make up.

Bellamy said he struggled at liverpool after going from a team that wasn't much out of their own half to always being in the opponents half/box

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11899/10271409/ilkay-gundogan-to-miss-euro-2016-after-dislocating-kneecap

Bit of a blow as a deal is almost done and dusted. How long does a dislocated kneecap keep you out for?

Quique officially leaving Watford at end of season now.  No great surprise given the disastrous recent performances and the fact he seems to have lost the fanbase.  Imagine it will look odd based on the raw season stats though!

Viktor Fischer from Ajax apparently on the verge of signing for Boro for €5m.

Heard that he is quite a talent, but suffered with some pretty major injuries over the last year or so.

Seems Jack Payne (Southend version) is off in the summer to one of a few Championship clubs. Whoever gets him will improve.

Gokhan Tore Turkish international winger close to signing for West Ham from Besiktas for £12million
Bilic managed him before
Very good technically and a grafter should be a decent signing

Looks like fucking your kneecap up equals getting a few million shaved off the price, close to done deal for under £18m with a few extras lobbed on.

Wasn't a dislocated kneecap the injury which effectively ended Jack Collison's career?

I have dislocated my knee before (when I was 16) it all depends what damage is done.

I tore my patella tendon, ACL and MCL.

The knee is never as stable as it was before the injury, the risk of it dislocating again is definitely higher than it was before the injury.

Obviously the treatment a professional athlete gets will be better than that which I got off the NHS, but it is a major injury.

Gundogan is only 25 but seems to have had a catalogue of injuries, including some serious ones. Hope we don't have an Owen Hargreaves on our hands. Looks quite the player when he's fit.

A dislocated kneecap just sounds gross and stupidly painful.

Yeah my kneecap ended up going from the front of my leg to the right hand side

Relocation was the most painful thing I have ever experienced, and I'm very injury prone!!!

Nope, it was moving to Peterborough.

I thought my seasoncard relocation at City was painful (and believe me it was ;) ) but your relocation sounds worse! The kneecap is supposed to be forward facing always, just eurgh.

Haha  ;applause;

Reports that Kante has turned down a new contract at Leicester
Not sure there is a team who would not want him,bar maybe Barce as they have Busquets

Not true. He is under contract for another two seasons and there haven't been any fresh negotiations yet. He is currently in France.There is a release clause though and such is the scarcity of players at his position that it is going to be difficult to keep him especially if he performs at the euros too. PSG is the obvious destination.

Just the repeating reports coming from France

Obviously silly season even worse now with Twitter etc

Dani Alves leaving Barce for Juve , Bellerin back to Spain seems likely

His current contract has 3 years to run

Mark Duffy a great signing for t'Blades. Expect this to be their season now Mrs Wishywashy has left the building.

How did Burton not get him? Crazy.

Can happen a lot, twice I've seen Celtic sign players who score lots of goals in Scandy leagues who struggled badly because they were 'breakaway' strikers, great at running onto a ball over a defence. Difficult to do when the defence hardly come out of their box against you though. One, Harald Brattbak went back to Rosenburg, resumed rattling in goals & battered a couple in against us in Europe :D

Bellamy had played (and shone) at Celtic, where he was pretty much camped out in the oppositions box, so it's a strange thing for him to say at Liverpool.

Re Rumours, Ibrahimovic has gone from 80/1 to 5/2 to be joining Celtic. Heart says he wants a year or 2 of what Larsson got, head says Paddy Power are great at generating publicity.....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36450106


Vardy to Arsenal?

"The Gunners' bid for the 29-year-old England international is reported to be in the region of £20m and has triggered the release clause in his contract. "

£20,000,001 then

He would want close to your entire wage budget wouldn't he on his own?

Zlatan done and dusted. Looking forward to seeing him in the PL.

I have no idea how he'll be shoehorned in their starting XI.

Nathan Redmond has interest from a few clubs with us, Stoke, leading the way supposedly. I think this would be a decent signing; young, english, good potential etc. Also with Affelay injured long term, Arnautovic perhaps on the way out this would be a good replacement.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/stoke-city-set-sign-norwich-8108448

As previously mentioned Marko Arnautovic will be on his way out after many months of stalling signing a new contract. He's come out saying he wants champions league football. Fair enough. At least if he has a good run during the euro's his fee will be jacked up.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/11/transfer-zone/2016/06/03/24252492/arnautovic-wants-champions-league-football

Agree think Redmond is a good fit for Stoke ,needs to find a bit of consistency but definitely talented

re. Arnautovic, these players love this excuse of 'wanting Champions league football' to get a move to a bigger club
Mo Diame said it at West Ham before clinching his move to Hull 😂😂

Shame a few of them don't say " I would like to earn Champions league football'

Vardy medical tomorrow.

Very interesting buy for arsenal. Probably worth the gamble for that price, even if he's closer to Jeffers than Henry.

If you were Theo Walcott, would you try to angle a move the other way?

Really not a typical Arsenal signing, and I struggle to see how Vardy would fit in? Tippy tappy in the final 3rd with him as the focal point?

Thierry Henry was a similarly pacy striker and he didn't do too badly.

i think it works in one important respect, it stretches the field

teams have to defend deeper against Vardy if he is playing on the last defender, so it gives the Arsenal midfield a lot of room within which to create stuff

it also is likely to be effective in away european games enabling them to play on the counter

in principle it gives them what walcott gives them, only fitter, a better finisher and nastier. and i think the team needs a bit of nasty

i do agree that he won't be used to waiting for the ball in patient build ups though

Are you really comparing Vardy to Henry? lol :) Henry had much more to his game.

It's the fee and his age as well, can't remember the last time Wenger shelled out a significant sum on someone who is gonna have no re-sale value. (I'm not including Cech for obvious reasons)

Will Vardy start? I can see how he'd be useful against certain opposition, but his game is geared towards fast direct football. Will his talents be somewhat wasted in a possession based team?

In before Vardy nets 30 next season :)

Think it is important to remember £20m in the summer of 2016 with the huge new TV deal isn't the same as £20m in 2014 and 2015.   It probably equates to £12-15m tbh. 

Just saying that Henry's pace made teams defend differently, and mindful of over-committing to a pressing game. Vardy's attributes could work similarly and he's also a pretty clinical finisher which is something we've been lacking.

I see Vardy as a big improvement on Walcott who's days are surely numbered at Arsenal now, although I wouldn't be that surprised if he continues to pick up his £140K per week in the reserves as he's stated that he's not keen on moving.

He is certainly going to be hard to shift wages wise.  How many more years is he under contract for Ralph?  His England career is probably over as well now you would have to imagine he won't get another England cap.

I think he has three years left, oddly enough he shares the same agent with Vardy.

Probably says it all then then Walcott going is a done deal and the agent gets two lumpy fees this summer for replacing one client directly with another.  Smart work if you can get it.

It's £30m, isn't it? Thought that's what arsenal have offered?

If they'd spent 20m on him on a 3 year deal, I'd genuinely say it's worth the gamble.

50% more than that for 140k a week on a four year deal seems over the odds for a manager who buys on analytics, given the steepness of the cliff for pacy players.

The word is that Vardy has a £20M release clause.

I agree if those are the figures.  £58m for a 29 year old jobber before last season over 4 years does look very toppy who will probably age badly towards the back end of the contract as well.  Then the indirect cost of getting Walcott off the wage bill by having to sell him at less than his true market value because no one will take his contract on will be another 'hit' to the balance sheet.

That's what I thought but:

1) Tighty quoted £29.8m on TfT this morning
2) Arsenal and release clauses don't seem to get on.

I think the nearest Wenger signing in style of play would be Anelka
Others he has signed are Eduardo,Wiltord ?more box players Gervinho? Played wider

I think teams generally defend against Arsenal quite deep anyway, let them have it up to the edge of the area kind of thing

Man city have struggled to get Aguero much space in behind because teams defend so deep and narrow against them ,luckily Sergio has more than just pace to his game

Amazes me how many managers sign players with no set plan for them, Benteke to Liverpool for example
Think Vardy will end up on the bench by xmas

Vardy will be a great signing when arse play away and against the better teams. Against Leicester at home we might wanna buy Andy Carroll for giggles

Larry David used to be erratic with punctuation, often putting spaces either side of a comma, no full stop at the end of sentences etc.

The release clause is £23m

Arsenal are paying £29.8m (i am told)

i gather the extra is the price of a quick deal, leicester playing ball and allowing them to get a net figure of the sell on clause after the fleetwood sell on has been paid

1) Probably is the figure if we win the treble for the next two years.
2) They seem to be our lasagna.

This aimed at me?
Read the forum for quite a while so pretty insulted , sorry my grammar is not up to standard

To think sometimes people wonder why the forum is dead and people complain about lurkers etc.......

1.01 it's LarryDavid mark 4 imo!

How much for? :)

I do English lessons for a carpet a session Larry if you are interested and want to learn how to write English correctly to make it less obvious for your 5th account when you sign up.  Interested?

1.01 buying,money

Believe what you like, I know you're personality flaws won't allow you to think you are wrong

your not you're!  How do you know my personality flaws if you are new to blonde?  You only been here 2 weeks?  Stop digging yourself deeper lollazza and sign up to the English lessons.

You been inside lozza at HM's pleasure since the last account?  Where you been all this time?

Not quite sure how we prove it ,sure Tightend could help ,will bet you and Chompy both £1k that. Have not posted under 'Larry David '

Happy to pay to a charity of choice or straight to bank

Hey it's buying money

Your ip address used to be a dead giveaway on the first few accounts.  Maybe you have spent the year addressing that leak.

no i can't sorry. i knew who it might be two weeks ago but IP masking prevents me doing much about it

now if we could all agree to get on and not spoil interesting threads with bickering please?

Wrong time to ask who Larry David is? Yep? Ok

Think I explained I had read forum

Tightend I can assure you that the suspicions you have are wrong
Quite happy to not post again if you don't want me to
Seems that disagreeing with certain people's views on here is license to be insulted

fine, hopefully i am wrong but unfortunately i've been made a fool of a few too many times.

Now, no one should be insulting anyone else please and that includes everyone.

Can we get back on track?

I think we are discussing Theo Walcoott on £140,000 a week.....

That's insulting.

:D

If Arb is charging a carpet for English lessons, then Tal would be on more than Walcott :D

A good comment to make against the new member before telling everyone to stop lol

there was nothing wrong with my comment, which exactly summarised the situation.

Very true! 

Watford have turned down between 15-20m for deeney. Value him at 30 at 28yo .I know he's an important player to the club, and worth more to them than others but here's evidence that the new tv deal is sending values barmy. No British top flight club needs to sell.

Prices are just ridiculous, the CB Man Utd have signed for £30mil? Was awful at the last African nations cup last year
Didn't even look like a footballer but at least he is young enough

Think Deeney would have been a good partner for Vardy ,if he stays, but as you say the price just seems too much even in the inflated market

PEA will be a bargain at 60 milly ball if Watford want for £30m for Troy! Although Deeney does have a fun Wiki page...

''Having joined Chelmsley Town, he was scouted by Walsall head of youth Mick Halsall, who only attended the game Deeney was playing in because his son was also playing and due to the game he was scheduled to attend being postponed. Deeney was playing while drunk, but scored seven goals in an 11–4 win. He was offered a trial by the then League Two club, but only attended after his Chelmsley manager got him out of bed and paid for his taxi''

From Watfords perspective selling is pointless unless he wants to go as staying up every year earns them a fortune and 20 million becomes immaterial.

How you going to replace a 10-15 goal a year man with £20m in 2016?  You can't without gambling.

Championship strikers are going for nearly £20m who have never scored in the EPL.

Which is why our teams can only shop abroad where we can get players out for reasonably sensible money, and often better quality than domestic players

Makes Martial and Rashford probably worth £100m+ combined for Man U.   Paying 'top dollar' last summer is looking good business this summer.

Not sure why the bid size and rejection is causing such Twitter meltdown to be honest.

With how high the prices are think some teams need to improve their scouting network
West Ham bought Payet,Antonio,Lanzini,Obiang,Kouyate and Ogbonna for what Man City paid for Sterling

LCFC did it as well , plenty of value still out there

Paying £20mil guarantees nothing

Or you could have spent £65m like Newcastle did on a load of Euro dross with the much hyped Graham Carr scouting system several years ago that was the envy of the EPL.   The very same scouting system sent them down last year and blew fortunes at the same time.

Villa spent a fortune on garbage as well.

So much of this scouting is just down to variance and short term results orientated chat.   If Leics sell their crown jewels this summer just because they got lucky with their scouting over the past 2 or 3 years doesn't mean it is any guide to how successful their scouting will be next season and the season after.  The sample sizes are tiny.

i've tried hard not to say it, but i have got to say it

It's Leicester Cty, not Leics. Please and thank you

same way people don't like Notts Forest instead of Nottingham Forest

;-)

and our scouting under the Steve Walsh team has been consistently excellent over six years now, has been a key competitive advantage in outperforming our "club size" in terms of league position

it has to be good, as the UK market pretty much prices out buyers these days

it is far far more than short term variance, getting lucky

hopefully we repeat that in summer recruitment this year

Ok i will use LCFC and NFFC from now on.   Does it really matter?? Not sure how saying 'Leics' which is the standard abbrev for Leicestershire can be offensive for a one club city!  I can't be arsed typing out full names for no reason.  Anyway let's move on

You have got incredibly lucky with your scouting whatever you think over the last couple of years.  Not just finding the said players alone at the prices you did (that has an element of skill involved for sure), the fact they then have to gel and operate together as a team which is almost impossible to scout for personality clashes and fits/lack of egos when they are coming from different cultures/leagues/languages etc.   That is down to luck predominately.  Don't want to piss on your bonfire Tighty as LCFC have had the season for the ages but the situation doesn't seem any different to me to NUFC a few years ago when Carr was deemed to be the greatest scout in the history of the game and 'results orientated' awarded a 250 year contract for his successful 'guessing' which now variance has kicked in was so good they ended up being relegated despite spending huge last summer on this scouting system.  Maybe the manager was a factor as well.   Who knows

I am far more inclined to agree with you on LCFC's competitive edge with their sports science edges than the scouting ones long term tbh.

thank you, its not offensive, its mildly irritating. not quite as irritating as lolapool must be though!

Leicester is a city team, Leicestershire and abbreviations are the county thats all

You forgot to mention the cryogenic chamber.

because we weren't discussing sports science

that has 100% definitely helped

just look at the days lost to injury for lcfc compared to any other premier league side in europe or not

Arsenal could perhaps put a bid in for it? (along with everything else at the club)

I spent 25 years of my life living in Leicestershire!  Grew up there, studied there and worked there!  I will cut out the lolapool as well.   Think it has had its day as well.   Stick to initials moving forward.

As far as scouting goes, surely Udinese are the long established masters of this?  They've plucked a number of players from obscurity over the last 15 years who have either had stellar big club careers or are still leading world players now.  Next superstar is hopefully Peneranda as long as Watford can keep Barca from snaffling him too soon!

Sorry Tighty but it really does seem like your a little over defensive regards Leicester City Football Club's setup and also a tad results orientated. What was the shortest price of Leicester City Football Club to be relegated just over two years ago when they were all but a lock to be relegated with that great setup or would you have still been saying the same if they had been relegated that year and not managed to bounce back so would be planning for trips to Burton, Rotherham and Newcastle next season.

PS Thanks for the guardian Euro's guide elsewhere, very good read :P

no i am not defensive. maybe a little if people say it it was a fluke/variance/lucky. there is an awful lot of this on social media from other teams fans. helps them rationalise what happened last year i suppose

last season was a perfect storm that allowed a club that might otherwise have been finishing 4th-6th to win it, i accept, can never be repeated.

However the infrastructure at the club has been developing fast to make reasonable results this year onwards perfectly replicable

even if we had gone down two years ago when all this was being put in place (we spent three years trying to get up while all the back room stuff was being put in place!) that still would have applied.

The problem with the toon* wasnt that carr is that bad a scout, its that he is a bad director of football which is what he has been allowed to become. For years since we scooped a load of bargains hes been allowed to buy whoever he wants regardless of whether they fit our playing style or have the need for a player in that position. The reason we got relegated is they put all their eggs in one basket when signing mitrovic as our only other striker is a fuckwit who doesnt understand the offside rule and completely neglected defence, for LB we began the season with two players who probably will struggle in the championship.

Theres no chance leicester city football club go down this route, the clubs too well run.

Its not really luck anyway that good scouts struggle after a great period. Now all the teams will be watching who they are talking to the same way newcastle were watched after their 5th place finish. The clubs they talk to will be worried they look like the next mugs who let the 30m player go for coppers. Clubs think they are dealing with a bigger team and know leicester will have money to spend and they get priced out of making a few deals. Its not really about finding a mahrez, vardy, kante and knowing what youve got, its about knowing if you sign a few players based on what they know enough will make the grade.





*Not offended if you call us toon and not newcastle united.

Neither come close to the irritation of the use of manure. Yes there's a joke in there somewhere, but I can't be bothered working out where.

Watford have lodged a bid for Berahino apparently (unrelated to Deeney saga).  Dunno whether he'd be interested in a sideways step but maybe considering he's been unhappy for some time.

I always think Newcastles problems were more the coaching and management of the players rather than the scouting system, think the actual squad is quite talented

The point i was making was that there are bargains out there still,but some clubs seem to just pay over the odds for the latest overhyped player and then have no specific plan on how to use them  

Benteke to Liverpool
Bony to Man City

We have apparently now bid 16m for Shane long. That is a vardy like for like type move

Twitter now saying Leicester have bid £27 million for Deeney.  Doesn't look like reliable sources though.

I've started using untied as my new personal favourite as it might be interpreted as a typo by anyone who doesn't know me or Ironside who probably spells it that way anyhow, but if you are saying that it really really irritates you David I may have to reconsider. :)

Surely it makes more sense to just pay Vardy what Arsenal are offering him and get him to stay? These are massive downgrades talent wise and fitting system/culture wise surely?  If Vardy is salary matched by Leics whatever any club offers is he 1.01 to stay?

We need a back up for him. Extra games next season, will need rotation .That is what long would be. If we can reward vardy as he wishes then yes he stays . Whether we should for a 29yo when we have ffp issues is the structural issue

Rumours going round that Boro are putting together a deal to sign Falcao on loan.


Certainly showing some intent if that is true!!

Tighty in terms of 20 squads in the premiership last year where would you honestly rank LCFC?

Of course it was the luckiest season of all time that shouldn't infuriate you or make you so defensive when people point it out.

I actually think your squad is very poor, if big injuries had came to any of your big three players I think you'd really struggle.

I think every single player who was on the bench for City, United, Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool would likely walk into your team or be very close to it.

Really hope you spend a lot of money and invest in deeper squad this year orherwise you may be in deep trouble.

Massively understates the quality through the squad. Over the last 46 games in the pl, all of last year and the last eight games of the year before we've lost 4 games and won 17 points more than any other side .That's some run of luck. The lack of injuries isn't by chance nor is the team spirit and tactical brilliance on the counter and in Italian style defending. I wouldn't swap any of our starting xi for anyone on the.bench of the sides you mention.

Intent to get relegated with a massive wage bill?

Come on these statements are just getting silly now Tighty. I can't believe you actually believe them.

Rb: Danny simpson

You're claiming you prefer him over

Debuchy
Trippier
Zabaleta
Darmian
Flanagan

Not going to even go through all the positions. I can't believe you actually think it's true.

How can the squad of someone who romped to the league have a squad described as "very poor"?  It's complete and utter nonsense.

Plenty of mediocrity on the benches of the teams you mention over the season as well.  Demichellis, Delph, Gabriel, Flamini, Arteta, Chambers, Sakho, Moreno, Benteke, Lovren, Ibe, Ings, Njie, Carroll, Mason, Lee, Lingard, Young, Jones, Mcnair would not get in Leicester's team as they were playing last season.  That's just off the top of my head before I've had a chance to look at some of the characters who sneaked onto the big teams' benches.

Did you watch Simpson much last season?  Superb defender, nothing got by him, completely underrated. I wondered why we bought him but watching him live his positioning was impeccable.. That's not to say I don't rate darmian or trippier for example but its not a position we need to spend fortunes upgrading. What we need is depth to deal with a more congested fixture list next season. And to keep players, which of course is a big challenge

I'm take Zabaleta, Darmian and Trippier.   Would prefer Simpson to Flanagan and Debuchy.  Think you're just looking at the badges on the shirt.  The reason you're not going through the other positions is because you've purposely picked the easiest one (Simpson)

 Simpson had a great season , Same as Fuchs on the other side and as a unit they defended very efficiently I think it was an amazing team effort all round where the emphasis was on teamwork each player doing their own job and helping those around them
They also played with a lack of ego which saw them through the last few months, the players may not individually be the best in the PL in their positions talent wise but none could be considered poor and Sterling may well be better technically than say Albrighton but could he or would he do as much unselfish work

Leicester had a plan and every player seemed to trust and buy in to it

In my opinion they scouted players they needed to operate in the system coached them well and the rest is history

Simpson was also newcastles right back when we finished 5th, very underrated imo. Debuchy is a liability and coward.

"Debuchy is a liability and a coward"

Not a fan then!?  :)

All Simpson is asked to do is defend. And he does it. Is he a Darmian or trippier no but it's like a moneyball concept .A round peg in a round hole that fits the system perfectly at the right price. I could go through all eleven and argue the same for their roles. This is why I wouldn't swap Any out by choice given the money it would require to do it.

Lol not at all.

I think players like


Begovic
Terry
Obi mikel
Remy
Victor Moses
Cuadrado

Gibbs
Walcott
Chamberlain
Ramsey
Elneny
Debuchy

Jones
Rojo
Janazju
Carrick
Ashley Young
Herrera
Fellani
Antonio Valencia

Markovic
Benteke
Ibe
ings
Ballotelli
Joe Gomez
Moreno

Trippier
Chadli

Zabaleta
Kolarov
Bony
Mangala
Delph

Would all really compete heavily for places

                   Begovic

Zabaleta  Terry Mangala  Kolarov


Cuadrado  Ramsey Carrick Young

           Remy     Benteke




As a goalkeeper right now I'd take Begovic.

I'd take the whole defence here.

I'd put Mahrez and Kante instead of Carrick and Young.

Would swap Vardy for any of the strikers.

If Ranieri had the choice to pick these players instead of the current ones it would be interesting to see who he would take.

I think it just shows the importance of the 3 main players in your team and why that'sno probably your clubs biggest asset but also easiest thing to emulate so the other teams surely won't be far behind in those departments.

Hes the type to get sent off when you are under the cosh or hes getting owned, bit like janmaat who we currently have.

Probably a bit harsh calling him a coward during a danny simpson discussion tho...

I can assure you that Kolarov and Bony wouldn't possess any threat whatsoever to Leicester's starting XI or even their bench.

You've changed your argument now.  You said "every single player" on those team's benches would walk into Leicester's team.  This has now changed to claiming that Aaron Ramsey is a bench player?

I can reel off about 15/20 bench players in those teams who wouldn't get a sniff.  If you want to make the argument that some players on the big 6 benches would get in Leicester's team then I'd agree with you.  If you extend that to players who play regularly (Ramsey, Fellaini, Chamberlain) then I'm sure you can make an even stronger case.  FWIW I wouldn't pick a single one of your Liverpool picks in Leicester's first XI. 

The only reason Leics got him surely in the first place was his private life causing him to fall off the rails and Leics got a better player than they should have for the money spent?   He was hungry had something to prove (Albrighton the same after being rejected by his home town club who then sink out of sight).  Tough to keep finding these types of players and fitting them into your system.   For every good one there is a J Pennant waiting for a second chance and will fuck up the chemistry.

Lol at Ramsey being a bench player, Debuchy being good and Simpson being terrible. Pleno's still playing FM2012!

True but when they are flawed you can afford a few punts as they wont have their true value/demands (sorry unless you are liverpool). With leicesters problems you could sign balotelli and he wouldnt upset the status quo, their problems in the summer were utter lol and it did no harm. I mean could it have been more ridiculous? They sack their saviour, a miracle worker, because his son and the boys treat thai birds like shit (no comment) despite ownership, vardy episode was all thats wrong with footballers, danny simpson is up for assaulting his kids mother and they walk the league. WTF distraction they gonna cause mate?

Kante is priceless if it was in doubt. Could watch pogba all day hope a prem team goes mental and buys him.

Me too :)

Juventus have signed Pjanic from Roma for £25m.....is this to play alongside Pogba or.....?

Laporte who was strongly rumoured to be a target for Pep for Man city has signed a new contract at Bilbao

Release clause locked in at £52m for the next 2 seasons....I don't think Pep will baulk at that if he really wants him. Goes up to £56m from 18/19 season.

Seems to be a bit of a trend of players signing new contracts then moving anyway,I guess so club gets full worth and player can demand even better money?

West Ham have apparently put in another bid for Lacazette of £31 million,he would seem to be just the type of player we are missing
Certainly trying to move into the next bracket will probably sign 4/5 this window

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jun/27/crystal-palace-michy-batshuayi-marseille-bid

Silly season has started in the bottom half of the EPL.    £32m for a guy with no EPL experience to a bottom half club.  INcredible scenes.

Boro apparently on the verge of signing the fantastically named defensive midfielder, Marten De Roon for 12m.

Also looking at keepers, with Bras Guzan worryingly being mentioned!

The Rumour Mill: Héctor Bellerín to Barcelona? Chelsea in for Axel Witsel? http://gu.com/p/4mqvv/stw

Palace have just exploded onto the transfer scene with a club-record bid... http://lbrk.es/3wmH301HYX6 

£32m!!

That's not just a club record bid, that's almost 3 times our record signing value.
This guy is top quality and I will still be shocked if we do sign him.

Apparently also in advanced talks with GK Mandanda from Marseille and have activated Andros Townsends release clause.
Exciting times.

Wondering if Arb still thinks we are good value to get relegated?  ;carlocitrone;

Moussa Dembele (French one, 19 yo, from Fulham) undergoing a medical in Glasgow having agreed terms with Celtic according to a few sources.

Looks a quality player.

Definitely looks like a player but would be surprised if it were a permanent move.

Not sure of his contract situation but possibly a loan?

Dembele Confirmed on a 4 year deal after Fulham contract run out.  Positive from Rodgers. 

Development fee between £250K & £1/2m - great signing.

Pulled a few of those (Joe Ledley & Adam Mathews come to mind).

Think Wanyama & Van Djik's moves might have influenced the decision. He'll get a chance to shine in Europe.

Andros Townsend's release clause to be activated by Crystal Palace - Sky sources: http://skysports.tv/IN3tFD

I missed that a former Fulham team mate (Patrick Roberts) is also at Celtic - might have been an influence.

Wasn't Roberts only on loan last season? 

18 month deal from Jan 2016.

Who's be the best bet for top Scotch Publeague scorer next season? Assuming you could get 3-1 each of two, Griffiths and Dembele?

I'd still say Griffiths, watching some highlight videos of Dembele he's good at finding the pass that sets the other striker through on goal, Griff will thrive on that.

Assuming they both get equal game time and they play as a partnership I would be with Griff an it won't even be close. 

According to the Guardian Watford have rejected a bid of £38 million for Odion Ighalo from a Chinese club.

Everton and Liverpool have put in a joint bid for St Marys stadium

Andros Townsend and Steve Mandanda to Palace both confirmed this morning.
Dwight Gayle gone to Newcastle.

All in all good business for Palace I reckon

Great signing Townsend, perfect for palace, if you change your manager ;)

Aren't palace the team that least needs a winger?  They have Bolasie and Zaha.  Sakho?  Where are they all going to fit in?

Injury there nearly got them relegated last season. townsend can play centrally aswell (although granted cant imagine pardew being that positive). Bit of an old fashioned view that you dont need cover/competition for places? Would you take the chance on what happened to them last season when their whole strategy fell apart on one injury.


Anyway if we arent miserable enough about how england played in the euros heres the sun/ giggs' take- Ryan Giggs has backed Louis van Gaal to take charge of England alongside Gareth Southgate. Fuck off much.

I get the squad depth idea, but of all the mid level Premier League teams Palace are the ones who have 2 excellent wingers.   Thought that money would have been better spent elsewhere rather than get another top level wide man as opposed to a squad player as backup.  Don't think Townsend will get as much game time than if he had gone elsewhere (unless they marginalise Bolasie).

Bolasie might go i think

know we were interested, whether anyone can get anyone out of another premier league club unless there is a release clause, we don't know yet as asking prices are so inflated

Deeney signs new 5 year contract with Watford.  Watford also sign Christian Kabasele (reserve CB in Belgium squad for £5m) and Isaac Success (£12.5m).  And reject £38 million for Ighalo.  A busy day!

Christian Benteke agrees personal terms with Crystal Palace ahead of Liverpool departure http://dailym.ai/29jH7Xg

I think that's a great signing for Palace. Exactly the kind of player they need.

Manchester City have made a bid worth in the region of £50m for Everton defender John Stones.

anyone fancy a name here?

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CmWQJPVWEAQzanI.jpg)

Manchester United are ready to make Paul Pogba the world's first £100million player http://dailym.ai/29CuJOh

You have to laugh if this materialises. The worst bit of business in the history of football? IE letting him go for fuck all to then break the transfer record to get him back a few years later. I know there is more to it than that but that is essentially the case. I was under the impression Pogba wasn't interested in going back to Salford.

There is transfer merry-go-round just waiting to happen, just needs the first domino to fall....

Arsenal have signed 21-year-old Takuma Asano who hopefully is not the Japanese Ya-ya Sanogo.

To be fair to the lad his highlight reel from the last twelve months contains some pretty impressive stuff, reminiscent of Aguero.

Or maybe Aguero is reminiscent of Takuma Asano?

BREAKING: Chelsea complete the £33m transfer of Belgian striker Michy Batshuayi

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CmcghooWYAAJV7e.jpg)

Why does Sir Alex get no stick for what happened with Pogba.

Refusing to play him caused him to leave.

Pardon my ignorance, but who?

Have wondered that myself. Hardly seems mentioned that they're "offering 100m" for someone they let leave for free a few years ago

Batshuayi (sp) young Belgian international. Didn't get that much game time at the euros despite Lukaku being distinctly average. I think crystal palace hit his release clause earlier in the window but he told them he wanted to move somewhere good. Did ok in the French league so who knows if he'll be worth it or not. This Belgium team is essentially England 8 years or so ago. Tons of potential. Recognised as very good players but achieving essentially nothing

The general feeling is Ferguson can take no blame here. Negotiations took place but nothing happened. “From what I’ve heard a situation was cooked up and I’m not sure that we could have done anything different to how we played our cards,” says United’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward in the new United We Stand fanzine. “It was a stacked deck.”


Read more at http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/paul-pogba-fergies-biggest-mistake-26-years#64qEuooeEGTCbX83.99


Pogba was being blooded slowly, within a plan. The agent got involved and suddenly it's all discord and impatience.

 Paul Pogba said he left Manchester United because he was "disgusted" Sir Alex Ferguson picked a right-back ahead of him in midfield and revealed it caused the breakdown of his relationship with the former manager.

Having signed for Juventus when his contract at Old Trafford ran out in 2012, Pogba has been scouted by David Moyes this month but spoke critically of United in a Canal+ documentary about him called L'Incontournable and said he had no regrets about joining the Serie A champions.

Pogba, 20, never started a first-team game in England but thought he should have figured in the December 2011 clash against Blackburn, which was on Ferguson's 70th birthday.

Ferguson had omitted Wayne Rooney, Jonny Evans and Darron Gibson after a night out and, lacking three injured central defenders, played Michael Carrick in the back four and selected a new central-midfield partnership of right-back Rafael da Silva and Park Ji-sung.

And Pogba told Canal+: "It was a very, very difficult moment for me because I was in love with Manchester and I was a Mancunian.

"It was the match against Blackburn in December 2011 at Old Trafford.

"Paul Scholes had retired, Darren Fletcher was injured. There was no one left to play in midfield. And I was training and I was beginning to get better bit by bit and the coach never stopped telling me, 'You're this far'.

"And I didn't understand. This far away from what? Playing? From having some playing time? From getting on the field? Or what?

"And there was Rafael in midfield and I was disgusted. I was disgusted and I didn't get on either."

United lost 3-2 to Blackburn with Pogba remaining an unused substitute and he said that day convinced him to leave Old Trafford.

He added: "I'd lost that thing, that relation that I had with the coach. I was really disappointed, really disappointed.

Who gives a shit if Fergie is to blame, which it sounds like he is, he managed something money can't buy and it will never be replicated.

Is he to blame - Yes

Does it effect his legacy by 1% - No

Marten De Roon (12m) should be signing for Boro early this week, and Gaston Ramirez is waiting for a work permit appeal which the club are confident of winning and will be in by next Monday all things being well.

Expect us to still sign a RB, GK and striker at least, with Nugent rumoured to be on his way back to the championship.

Also think we need another RW to give adomah competition, but I'm happy with the way things are looking so far.

He also helped plunge you guys into this multiple year transition period by delaying his retirement and leaving a distinctly average, unbalanced, ageing squad as his handover to his successor. I know some united fans who think he did this on purpose to cement his legacy, and whomever was to take over after him was basically fucked from day 1.

I digress :) Kroos for £65m or Pogba for £100m? Which represents the better value? Both are one of the dominos needed to fall to spark the transfer window scramble.

Mondatoo is a member of the Toon Army.

.

If anybody fucked us over it was Aguero with that ridiculous last minute goal. SAF would have retired 12 months earlier but for that. But let's not forget that SAF left a squad which had just won the PL

Those United fans you know probably think the moon landings were faked too, do they wear tinfoil on their heads whenever they leave the house?

Yeah but that season, RVP basically won you the league. It was a shite season, we offered a pathetic defence of our title and all the other contenders were nowhere to be seen and even worse than City. That Aguero goal also kept Mancini in a job for another 12 months.

So he left a title winning squad, but ultimately a pretty average bunch of players, and you haven't had a sniff of the league since or even come remotely close. Some of those united fans include some of the ones I actually have some respect for. Ok, it's highly unlikely he sabotaged the squad to make it as difficult as possible for the next man, but it seems he was hell bent on winning the title back, did just that, then fucked off with very little regard for the state of the playing staff going forward. Looking after No1 and cementing his legacy? You tell me. There is no doubt that Moyes was completely out of his depth, but Fergie did him no favours whatsoever.

I appreciate that you have a deep well of resentment and bitterness about the years from 1968 to the arrival of the Sheikh. It was, no doubt, tough being a City fan in that era. But seriously, it's only been three seasons since we last won the league and nobody has defended it well since then.

Will it be another three seasons before we win it again? Maybe. Maybe it will be longer. But nobody can take away the memories of that magical period overseen by SAF.
Not even if Mourimho himself takes us to back to back trebles. Which clearly he won't.

Not sure what City's lack of success from the 70s onwards has to do with Fergie leaving an average (at best) squad and letting Pogba go, who could now rejoin for £100m. Obviously he can do no wrong in your eyes and I can understand that, but taking the emotion away from it, he messed up big time with him.

The state of the squad he left is subjective, and his reasons for doing so equally so, but I'm sure even we can agree that he has to take ultimate responsibility for letting Pogba slip away. I'd be amazed if he ever returns to Salford when the likes of Real Madrid and Barca are sniffing around him.

How else was SAF supposed to leave the squad? Bring in a whole new defense, half a midfield and a big name striker and then leave? So you've got to bring in a new manager who doesn't get to pick a new squad, which is supposed to be the start of a new era. It's pretty ideal to leave a team with a new manager who gets to build his squad from the ground up the way he wants it and build his own dynasty. Hiring Moyes and more to the point Ed Woodward then fannying around for an entire transfer window hasn't got a lot to do with SAF. SAF retires, you hire Mourinho (or any world class manager), give him the £300m we've spent since and David Gill in still in charge then none of this happens and SAF leaving an ageing squad is a moot point.

Of course SAF letting Pogba go has to rest on his shoulders. It is (probably) his fault he left, but because Fergie didn't trust him to start games or that he wasn't good enough. Same as 100's maybe even 1000's of young lads over the last 30 years. No one complains that he let Danny Drinkwater go. Or Chester, Diouf, Simpson, James, Brady, Shawcross, Cathcart, Campbell, Fryers, De Laet etc. Surely of the revolving door of average Prem players United seem to churn out of their academy one if going to turn out decent.

It looks like Fergie (and Charlton) had quite a lot to do with the hiring of Moyes ;) was he not the ''chosen one''?

I don't mean Fergie buying half a new team in his final transfer window. It was no secret he was towards the end of his managerial career, the general consensus from some united fans I know was that he didn't make enough progress with the squad in his final couple of years, so when he came to retire and X takes over, they are left with a title winning squad, albeit one that hadn't seen much improvement in recent seasons and containing many players past their best.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/man-uniteds-generation-game-fergies-6355307

Yeh I'll give you that one. Def Fergie's fault for the Moyes appointment, no idea what he was thinking there.

I think the drop off in form of RVP, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra was so severe as well. Fergie prob thought they had at least one more, maybe two, decent seasons in them. Losing Mike Phelan and Rene as well was prob a massive blow to the squad as a whole. I mean look at those bench/squad players. Horrific looking back but they played decent when needed under Fergie.

What you talking about? City were the dominant team in Manchester for 20 years or so if based on trophies won. Not tough in the slightest :)

We won 1 more league title than United between 1968 and 1992.
We won more cups between 1969 and 1989.

To get back from the derail - just seen on FB that apparently Mata is going to Everton for £25m. This true?

I think one media outlet was quoting £15m, which is simply absurd for a player of his quality. Not sure why Jose doesn't like him but someone is gonna get a very talented player.

He was always going somewhere. Hopefully in a Buy One Get a Second at Half Price deal with Fellaini. At least we'd get some benefit from losing Mata then.

Chelsea ponder £12m move for ITA striker Graziano Pelle as Southampton hold out for £16m http://dailym.ai/29jOuKC

De Roon confirmed for Boro last night.

Crystal Palace confirm £10m signing of James Tomkins from West Ham.  http://gu.com/p/4np7t/stw

Good signing I reckon - what do others think?

Definate upgrade on Delaney, who is probably now past his best.

Definitely an upgrade on Delany I would think.

How much do folk think the overall record spend will be smashed by this year? Some serious money getting spent

Good deal for both parties imo
Tomkins is good player and in some ways am sad to see a youth product leave but he was basically 4th choice last season behind Reid,Ogbonna and Collins in the managers eyes,although many West Ham fans wanted him to start ahead of Reid
I think the player wanted 1st team football and we have got a decent price for him,plus we have Burke and Oxford coming thru and Noidtveit and Kouyate to cover CB

Hope he does well for Palace really good professional

Will Payet still be at West Ham when the transfer window shuts?

I think so , obviously desperately hope so, word is he and his family love London and he believes West Ham have helped him reach his potential
Real Madrid offered £85 million for Pogba today so if that goes thru I doubt they will be in for Payet,plus they may turn to Hazard ahead of him

Source?

lol

Arsenal ready to pay £34 million release clause for Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/07/05/arsenal-transfer-news-gunners-join-chase-for-alexandre-lacazette/

Victor Valdes follows Boro on twitter, prompting rumour meltdown in the North East

Tottenham chase Georginio Wijnaldum but Newcastle want £25m for Holland midfielder http://dailym.ai/29pWxWD

Pretty sure release clauses are illegal in France. Poor journalism here. Also West Ham had a £32m bid rejected, doubt they wouldn't just stump up the extra 2 if this was the case.

Lyon chairman has turned down at least 3 offers from West Ham for Lacazette he is notoriously difficult to deal with the French version of Levy,keeps upping the asking price each time it is met
West Ham due to announce new signing tomorrow or Friday most likely Gokhan Tore from Besiktas a Bilic favourite on a £3mil year loan deal with permanent transfer clause of £13 mil total

Valdes due to have medical at Boro tomorrow!

Robin Van Persie also being heavily linked

Liverpool accept £15million afcbournemouth bid for Jordon Ibe http://bit.ly/29n1w8W

Valdes has signed.

Subotic in advanced talks with Boro according to the local rag.

Karanka appears to think he is playing football manager!

Paul Pogba favours Madrid over United but Real is going to be priced out

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/12087/10494459/paul-pogba-favours-real-madrid-over-manchester-united-but-real-fear-being-priced-out-says-guillem-balague

Paul Pogba will tell Juventus he wants to leave as Manchester United prepare £100m bid http://dailym.ai/29vK7fR

West Ham agree fee with AC Milan for Carlos Bacca negotiating wages with player

Tore deal 99% done

If he and his wife were homesick in Manchester, I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be cured in Middlesbrough ;)

http://talksport.com/football/middlesbrough-offer-former-manchester-city-forward-alvaro-negredo-premier-league-return#MvurpEIPAH1jtrYi.99

What's wrong with Boro like?!? :p

I would be very surprised/delighted if it happened.

We are in the market for a big name striker though, looking forward to who it is! It's a great time to be a boro fan, this is on a par with the Juninho era for us.

Had a load of your mob in York today, think the police have been kept busy ;)

Yeah can't see it happening personally cos he was so quick to get back to Spain from Manchester, but if a chicken parmo can't tempt him back then nothing will.

Ahhh no! They weren't misbehaving were they?

Speaking of parmo... must go and finish last nights off!!!

They were on their best behaviour..... ;)

Didn't envy being a copper in York yesterday; York vs Boro 'friendly' and York races to go with the usual stag/hen groups that frequent the city every weekend. A melting pot of fun right there!

Peres joining this week for £17m from Torino if reports are to be believed. Been compared to Maicon before Bale tore his career in half. Could be an exciting signing and should strengthen an area that needs attention.

Bruno Peres has been one of the best rb/wbs in Serie A for the last couple of years. V good buy if it goes through. He has an absolute engine on him.

Shows what we know, ballague from sky sports says boro are in advanced negotiations to sign Negredo!!

Parmo can lure anyone from anywhere.

I am getting ridiculously excited about this season. Tenner put on boro to finish top half at 12/1.

I am getting very concerned we (Hull) are yet to sign one player. Doesn't even look like we're in talks with anyone!

Is that due to ownership issues NoCardDSC?  Maybe they are taking the money and running?

Venezualan wonderkid Peneranda has joined Undinese for a season on loan.  Given that Barca/Madrid want him it looks like we may never see him in a Watford shirt despite us buying him for £9 million at Christmas.  Guess we owe Udinese a few from the last few years anyway :)

Spurs complete the signing of Netherlands striker Vincent Janssen on a four-year deal

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CnKIdZAWEAAlpzX.jpg)

From what I understand that ship has settled and nothing is happening there. 

I statement from Bruce came out yesterday evening explaining that 'we' need to be patient. http://www.hullcitytigers.com/news/article/2016-17/we-have-to-be-patient-in-quest-for-new-faces-3179880.aspx

the current team, no signings, would be a stonewall bottom six and a decent bet to yo-yo again?

or is there cause for optimism as is?

Very pleased about this. Some good - and early - business being done by Mr Levy.

Yeah - I think it would be a stonewall bottom 6 club. We would be in some serious trouble if we were to pick up 2/3 injuries, especially to the better players.

I do think however there are at least 3 teams as it stands, that are worse than hours, relatively comfortably.

4/5 signings would be excellent.

Robson-Kanu is supposedly on his way, was quite impressed with him at the Euros, but we're going to need to sign a few better players than that imo

Not sure I agree with that!  Which 3 teams are comfortably worse than Hull as their squads stand?  Burnley won your league, Boro have been bold in the transfer market, Bournemouth/Watford stayed up comfortably and have added to their squads.  WBA have good organisation and Pulis.

 

Hull should be decent odds on for me to go down.  Amazed they are even money to go down.  Even with some decent spending they will still easily be in the bottom 3 squads talent wise.

Personally think Hull, Burnley and Sunderland to go down at this early stage, even more so if Fat Sam goes to England.

Burnley appear intent on signing championship players, they will finish bottom. Hull have a few good players in the likes of Huddlestone and Dawson, but think they need serious investment as there is very little quality in depth in the squad.

Who have Burnley bought so far?  Can't remember hearing about any signings.

Burnley just going to play it sensible with the tv money again i assume?  They won't take any chances like before and probably grind themselves into relegation like last time.  Hard to see any reason why it will change again this time right?

Nothing wrong with the yo-yo strategy but I guess at some point you've got to throw a bit of money at it and try to become established.  They must be on a really good financial footing right now having been in the Premier twice in recent years and neither time spent much money?  I remember previous Watford Premier league efforts to this time around when we did the same thing and it always felt that at some point in the season the wheels would come off and you'd lose 7/8 on the bounce.  One time we came up and our only summer signing was Des Lyttle!

Sunderland won't go down with Big Sam as manager, the bloke is a genius. They might be struggling for players at the moment, but still plenty of time.

You were vul with Marlon being injured that year when Andy B was in charge.  Amazing how that injury probably ruined his career single handedly after having a big chance in the EPL.  Amazing how much luck is involved in sport at the top level that is totally out of your control.

Burnley are a mini-Arsenal in terms of financial prudence with transfers. I was looking at their financial numbers and when they were last in the PL in 14/15 their overall revenue was unsurprisingly the lowest in the league. Total turnover 78.8million and 66.6 mil of that from the TV deal. The 3 teams with the lowest revenue were all relegated in 14/15 ( abit different in 15/16).

Their gate and commercial income is ridiculously low. Although the TV deal this time will bring in c100million they still can't splash the cash too much relative to everyone else because they would be  screwed (even with parachute payments) if they end up being relegated anyway. A fine balancing act and they don't want to be a QPR. Assuming they are relegated tho they will be very strong again financialy in the Championship and the  yo-yo can continue:)

I'm sure Burnley signed Henri Lansbury from Forest, and have since been linked with played from Leeds and Derby?

Who are people's early picks go down?

They are in for that Hendrick guy who had a decent Euros and plays at Derby. A Derby supporting friend isn't best pleased about it all :)

It's difficult to look past Burnley and Hull at the moment, who will join them I'm not so sure. If the big Sam leaves that could plunge Sunderland in trouble, and they have lived a pretty charmed life in recent seasons. Watford and Bournemouth should both be ok, WBA have Pulis, Boro are splashing the cash.

Is it the year that a more established club become a surprise relegation candidate?

Think Boro could go either way.  Signings are impressive but so were QPR's under Mark Hughes.

I'm actually a bit worried about Watford.  Not that I don't rate our squad just that I'm struggling to come up the 3rd obvious relegation candidate.  And that's assuming one of Hull and Burnley don't outperform.  How about Swansea?

Watford have a nightmare first 5 games so certain to be down there at the end of first batch of games I would think.

See you are the shortest price, followed by WBA,  after the 3 promoted teams. 

5/2 is a fair price on Watford.  I like Swansea at 4-1.

Stoke might regresss this year as they massively over performed last year overall.  Shawcross and Butland staying injury free going to be very important.

Do we see Hull better or worse if Bruce does get the England job? Personally think Bruce is over-rated as a manager and expect Hull to be down there at the end of the season

Think Bruce is a positive at the current time - knows the squad inside out and which areas need to be strengthened.  If a new guy has to come in and assess everything and bring in players 1 month is a bit of a hard task imo.

Steve Bruce, Samuel Allardiche or Arsene Wenger.

Mind boggling beyond belief that anyone could go for option 1 or 2.

I think the problem is compounded by AW being contracted until next summer and hardly likely to announce his resignation a year in advance.

Personally I hope we win the league and he gets another three years. :)

Romelu Lukaku's hefty price tag scaring off Premier League suitors  http://dailym.ai/2a8mw4i

I agree - I think if he goes we'll struggle to attract a manager of much better quality. So at the minute I'm relatively happy with him. 

Posh could also field another trialist striker in Saturday’s (July 16) friendly with Championship side Norwich City at the ABAX Stadium.

“Grant also had a trialist striker training with us yesterday and he could play. He’s a well-known player who hasn’t made the most of his ability in recent seasons and is currently without a club.”

Any guesses? It's not Nile Ranger apparently.

Balotelli

Carlton Cole

Zigic?

Bendtner?

Giroud?

Michael Ricketts?

Probably Nathan Delfonso

Interesting shout.

Not Delfonso sayed Darragh on Twitter.

Who do we fancy to finish Top Championship scorer?

Gayle 8/1, McCormack 12/1, Gestede 14/1, Assombalonga 16/1, Martin 25/1

is the head of the market.

No need at all to look beyond the favourite. Sayed to a golf mate the other day I wouldn't want to lay 5-1 and would be happy backing at 6-1+.

Thing about backing a Newcastle player is you know they are never going to leave in the window if they are competing (therefore they should have scored bundles of goals).  Given how short Newcastle are for the title the top scorer market was always likely to be too big about their players and not adjust enough.  Think this has probably happened.

Is that Armstrong guy staying at Newcastle this coming season or heading back out on loan?

He plundered the goals for Coventry last year, I'm sure he could bag a few in the Championship.

Is World Cup winner Julian Draxler heading to Arsenal for £55m? Gossip: http://bbc.in/1QqNGBp

Heard Coventry were trying to get Armstrong back again. Can't believe he'll get a start in Rafa's XI just yet.

Think Newcastle are rock solid at around 2-1 and Gayle is quite capable of playing every minute of every game, especially after the rest he's had at Palace. Will score for fun in this league.

Yeah it might well be too soon for Armstrong, can imagine Rafa sticking to tried and tested to get Toon back up. I bet Coventry are desperate to land him again!

Gayle is a great purchase and possibly too good a player for the Championship. If he's utilised correctly then he'll be there or thereabouts for top scorer.

Deals for Negredo and Subotic agreed. Both fantastic transfers for us, really confident of a mid table finish this year, also got a tenner on us for top half as well!

I'm probably biased but I think Scott Hogan is very live at 25s. Brentford create plenty of chances, finishing joint top scorers in last year's Championship. He is the clear cut first choice striker and bagged 7 in just 161 mins of game time at the end of last season after returning from a pair of cruciate injuries. The downside is the injury risk but that applies to all. I'd be surprised if he doesn't get 20 if he plays 40 games.

You are not alone obviously as someone got the 40/1 and 33/1 earlier!

Hogan, Ross and Gayley were my three off the tee funnily enough. Will smash all three EW.

Big signing of the year :)

http://newarkadvertiser.co.uk/articles/sport/Julian-Joachim-signs-for-Newark-Town (http://newarkadvertiser.co.uk/articles/sport/Julian-Joachim-signs-for-Newark-Town)

The answer is Morgan Ferrier. Hope he's lost weight since Supersize Me.

[ ] well known

Kante to Chelsea for £30m. Great signing, Chelsea going to be strong again this year.

Homesick, so I guess this gets him a bit closer to France.

Chelsea concern me more than anyone this season; Conte, no Euro football, some good new additions....

Makes little sense to me. A superb player for Leicester and loved by the supporters. Of all the clubs chasing him Chelsea weren't even on my radar. No Champions League etc etc.

Maybe just didn't fancy all the extra games this year. Will be sorely missed.

Looks a total bargain at that price given the fees being thrown about this summer.

Makes more sense to join a team who is going to be competitive at the top for the foreseeable future than stay at Leicester surely? Don't think it matters that much for teams who are going to be out of it for 1 year max.

Leicester are going to be competitive. People don't get it yet. Still we got 10m over the release clause, turned 25m in a year and won the league. We go again.

Competing for the League and CL?

No English club is going to be competing for the CL. Bar a, bayern, real, atletico and psg are light years ahead. Competitive for champions league places, yes. Sporting index have our season points total 25 points lower than last season .It's a complete joke how underrated we are again, far better side than being priced to get 56 points

I just don't see it, I'm sorry, but you can't run that far over EV again and Kante was important.

Musa looks impressive and fast though, I'd imagine teams will somehow wake up and work out that with him and Vardy they must sit deep as it's going to be even more over the top than last year.

Defence will stay solid, I'd imagine 8th best case, 12th Likely.

But you'll always have that 1 year!

PSG didn't look light years ahead of us last season in the quarters.

http://www.sportingindex.com/spread-betting/football/domestic-premier-league/group_a.cb7d795c-c691-45dd-b8a2-0b6364afe443/premier-league-points-2016-17

Looks like we will be getting odds against West Ham v Leicester in a season long match bet. Stoke's points look too low again.  Couldn't imagine selling at 44 and expecting to make a profit.  Looks pretty risk free to me buying at 45.5.

Two ageing night-club bouncers are hardly likely to have back to back career seasons imho.

Especially with the legs that covered them gone.

I know but they're talking about Leicester, not Arsenal.

fred got a cracking bet on Leics going down at 33/1 though that's the main thing.  

I would love the bet David3103 mentioned the other day at evens on the big 6 all finishing above Leics.  That looks a cracking bet.

Hopefully we've not lost any of our DM legs while i wasn't paying attention.

Meanwhile I can only imagine tomorrow's back pages: Conte signs Kante for ****s.

Chelsea top four next season? A tough call me thinks but we'll see. Of course all those who were writing Leicester off every month last season are already starting now. Hilarious

You're not writing Leicester off for the title? Or top 4?

Don't really see why you should tbh. Their stats for the last 18 months are there for all to see. Yes it will be tough, very tough, but current form suggests to write them off just because "it's Leicester" is a bit harsh. After all you don't win the Prem by ten clear points without something about you, do you?

They've just sold their best player and the teams around them have improved a lot, both players and managers. Not writing them off just because they're Leicester, just don't think they've got one of the best squads in the league.

Plus two of the key 'big 6' have no european commitments next year and Leics now do so there is that huge double whammy.  On top of the most key player leaving (more might follow) plus Morgan and Huth can't possibly improve next year (even if they stood still they would regress because of their ages).  Morgan at the back end of next season must be the worst 'top half' starting centre half by a mile surely?

Bet365 have 3/1 Leicester bottom half finish which looks plenty big enough to smash into imo.  Not looking forward to Tighty being asked to back it on TFT (he has an out because fred can't get on at 365).

Sky are happy to lay 4/11 for the top half finish for any ISA punters out there who can get on and just nick 2% risk free tax free.

Can you explain that site for us simpletons please?

That has boro in the bottom 3, with the signings we are about to make (all done barring medicals and work permits) I fully expect us to be ahead of Burnley, Hull, Sunderland, Bournemouth, Watford, West Brom, and around Stoke and Palace.

You will be able to make a lot of money then if your predictions are right as Mboro are the clear 3rd fav in the lowest points total estimated for next season.   That link is simply a prediction of how many points each team will get next season.  You can buy or sell each teams quote at the respective prices.

http://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/relegation

Much simpler terms you are clear 3rd favs to be relegated in the fixed odds world (which is totally linked to the spread betting prices)

So I would buy or sell?

Think with the signings we have/are about to make, we should be looking about 12th-14th place realistically.

Valdes, Subotic, Negredo, de Roon, Ramirez are all players that would get into the first team of most of the clubs I mentioned above, along with some cracking young talent too, I think we are being massively underrated, or the markets will shift a lot once the signings are confirmed.

Newcastle spent £85m last summer just to temper your bullishness for a minute!  These markets can obviously be wrong.  They had Villa in for the same point totals as Leicester this time last year just for comparison.

Aye I realise that :) I just think we are buying quality at the minute, and doing better business than the teams around us.

We will have a tough defence, and are doing some good strengthening going forward too, and I honestly don't think that the rest of the teams have that much in them.

As I proved last season, I definitely suffer from rampant optimism when it comes to Boro.

I have no clue how to do these bets though, so will probably just stick to simple, less scary stuff!

http://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/to-stay-up

The easiest way and most simple way (and profitable way) is to simply smash into Mboro at 8/13 to stay up they are shorter than 4/7 to stay up on betfair.    Going to actually post this on tft now as a decent bet!  Cheers for making me look!

Boro probably are a buy at the price imo but Sporting are well aware of transfer activity so confirmation of the signings mentioned will change little.  Already in the price.

Deserving champions and the best team in the league, there for everyone to see last season.

As has been said before, it was a perfect storm; the previous champions Chelsea sinking like a stone, others not stepping up like City/Arsenal, the lack of injuries, no Euro football, early exits in both cups etc etc

Seems inevitable with more games you'll pick up more injuries, simply can't breeze through the season again with no significant injuries. Key player about to depart. Significant improvement from the main title contenders, both in players and management. Playing weekend - midweek - weekend will take its toll on the squad.

Do I think Leicester will win or come close to the title again this season? No.
Do I think they will still have a decent season? Yes.
Should you dine out on last season for as long as possible? Absolutely!

Eddie Howe could be Sam Allardyce's No 2 for England as the FA move for Bournemouth boss http://dailym.ai/2a0rpgD

Didn't know where to post this, but thought it would be of a bit of interest...

St Pauli's new kit manufacturer sponsored a bit of a refurb at the Millerntor, with the players' tunnel getting a complete revamp:

(http://mediadb.kicker.de/news/1000/1020/1100/4000/slideshow/856067/image_slshow_einzel_0_0.jpg)

Imagine going down that to AC/DC's Hells Bells booming out (that's what St Pauli run out too). A bit more intimidating than a 'This is Anfield' sign...  ;)

Watford sign Colombia defender Juan Camilo Zuniga on season-long loan from Napoli http://dailym.ai/29WjMtu

Rod - Probably ruins the impact when you get to the end of the tunnel and see St Pauli in those skin tight skimpy Under Armour shirts though!?

I quite like them, the black one with the shadow totenkopf particularly.

Like the look of ayoze perez myself if he stops

Newcastle want £27million for Tottenham and Everton target Georginio Wijnaldum http://dailym.ai/29MiRJF

Must be worrying times for Hull fans.  A few weeks before the big kickoff and their state of play is:

- Manager being courted by England
- Odubajo out for 6 months
- 14 fit senior outfield players
- Just taken 35 year old Odemwingie on trial.

Meanwhile it's not looking much better at Burnley.  They failed to get Hendrick and Stephens and have now settled on Gudmundsson and Pope from relegated Championship team Charlton as their first signings of the summer.

This is not to say being frugal isn't a good strategy, but this pair haven't thrown anything at it so far!  4 weeks to go though I suppose.

Are there still worries over the owners health at Hull dung?

Wonder if that is holding things up? Him and Bruce are very close and if either go or can't do the job anymore could be a mess a while longer?

Pope in as a back up presumably?  Quite like the winger but hardly going to set the league alight agreed

Looks like negredo is coming in on a season long loan.

Makes sense really not sure he is quite sharp enough to score 15 plus for boro but not going to get many/any better strikers in on loan

We have a Hull forumite so who will know better than me - I think he said the ownership issue was resolved now.  I only have an outsiders view but it looks pretty chaotic especially if Bruce gets the England job - new man would have a couple of weeks maximum to assess a depleted squad and add to it.

Guess Burnley are going for their usual approach, yep I'm sure Pope will be backup unless they lose Heaton to someone else which would be a disaster for them.

I can't work out whether to be really impressed by Boro's activity or whether it reminds me of that Mark Hughes summer at QPR!

Watford continue to reshape their squad to 3-5-2 by being close to bringing in full back Brice Dja Djedje from Marseille for £4million and centre back Nicolas Lombaerts from Zenit for £6 million.  Anyone seen anything of the Marseille chap?  Never heard of him, but that might just be my French League ignorance.

Watford are going to have some tough decisions on who to ship out - this would bring the overseas over 21 players to about 24 by my calculations.  There are 3/4 easy choices to get rid of (Belkalem, one of the back up keepers, Paredes, Pudil) but it gets much harder after that.  The like of Vydra, Amrabat, Guedioura, Nyom, Suarez and even Abdi/Prodl must be all at risk.

Strikers will have a very good season to score that many in our system, our number 9 is there to hold the ball up and bring others into play and generally be a nuisance.

I think Karanka/kenyon/Orta are doing a very good job on selling the future plans we have to the players coming in.

Karanka's name willpower a long way in Spain I would think.

I don't see us doing a QPR, that spent a lot more money on wages than we are, and I think the lads we are signing are of a higher pedigree than the ones they did purely from memory.

Gibson is a shrews businessman and a fan, he won't do anything to put us in the mire financially.

Negredo is not on buttons!

Agree with dung I am not overly impressed with the signings so far tbh. All good players but not convinced by karanka yet tbh

Isn't Negredo going to be on 100k per week?  I suppose it's only a 1 year deal though.  Presumably Valdes is on a packet as well?

The QPR signings looked good on paper that summer to be honest - Julio Caesar, Junior Hoilett, Fabio, Park, Green, Granero. (although the mind boggles why Hughes went for two keepers on over £50k per week!)

I think we have a limit of 60K a week wages wise, I would think we won't go far over that. The Negredo deal was complicated for a year loan, so no clue how much we will end up selling out for the year, just got to trust Gibson with it I suppose.

I like the fact we have done our business early (just waiting for Subotic to get his work permit) so they will have chance to settle in and get used to each other.

I think we should finish about 12th looking at squads so far.

Better hope Negredo can keep it in his pants....

We're sniffing around Mahrez now apparently (sorry Tighty).

Him or Sane, can't imagine we'll land both.

Got a feeling both Kante and Mahrez will flop this season.

Both perfectly suited to the Leicester system and playing games they weren't expected to win.

Different business playing for a "big" club where you are 1/5 to win games and teams sit back against you.

Next you'll be saying Leicester fluked it last season....

I do agree to an extent, though can see them both having good, if not great, seasons again. Kante is an interesting one, can't imagine he'll have much sweeping up to do in the average Chelsea game, but a player with that engine and ability would be very useful in most XIs. Where does it leave Matic? Salford?

Sounds like the worst job in football* is going to Big Sam.

* Except for the salary. Guess a 4 year deal as England manager would set most people up for life. Hard to think of any other reason to accept such a poisoned chalice of a job. Not too many England Manager's survive the role with their reputation intact.   

Neven Subotic’s shock move to Middlesbrough breaks down after defender fails a medical.

Ladbrokes ‏@Ladbrokes

BREAKING: We've suspended betting on Paul Pogba signing for Man Utd

Yeah, it's a shame, would have been a great signing, but iys what medicals are for.

I'm sure we will move on to the next signing!

Thinking of surrounding the ref? Think again. The new rules to shake up English football http://bbc.in/29T2f30

Looking forward to Jose and his reactions to this season's "campaign" against him and his new team.

Dortmund and the players agent now denying he has failed it and saying that uts not even finished yet!

Negredo to boro confirmed

Think it's a blessing in disguise if you don't sign him. He just hasn't played enough minutes due to doing his cruciate and then he's been plagued by back injuries. Never good for a centre-back (they jump a lot obv). I worry for Boro, seem to be signing reputations not talent.

Completely agree. Smacks of QPR to me. They had a decent enough squad last year, feel like a few sensible additions from England or abroad - in the mild of de roon - would have seen them survive comfortably. Now they seem content in signing some ageing/injury prone, notoriously flakey, inflated egos into an already combustible situation (Karanka throwing his toys out of the pram last season springs to mind). Got disaster written all over it.

Judging by the Boro forum you'd be hard pressed to find a Boro fan who thinks they will finish lower than 14th.  They are insanely optimistic on average.

You say flakey old names, I say 2 of them who could well have something to prove

Other than that, we have signed a 28 year old right back who has played in the champions league, a back up CB, Ramirez who we know we'll and is perfect for our system (we are playing him in his proper position) a young winger who was considered a better talent than Erickson in the Ajax team and a Lad who was the best defensive midfielder in Italy last season and is being heavily tipped for a call up to the Holland squad.

Subotic is a quality centre half, who has had a few injuries, it hasn't happened, so we will move on.

Negredo will fit our system, he is a big strong Lad who holds the ball up and brings others into the game, AMD can chip in with a few goals.

Valdes we will have to wait and see.

I am one of those fans who sees us doing well, I think we have a better team than the ones of Sunderland, hull, burnley, west Brom, Bournemouth, and possibly palace and watford.

We will be solid defensively, more so than all those teams I mentioned and with our midfield and attacking auditions, we will do OK.

I would rather be us than Burnley who are signing league 1 players, or hull who are signing no one.

I think you will stay up easily tbh and 8/13 you stay up is a cracking price tbh if i could bet it on credit and not have to tie the cash up for 9 months.

L'équipe reporting €120m agreed for Pogba.

The constant stream of cash for Man U in the ante post market would suggest this was a done deal weeks ago effectively.

All parties have been eager to do business for weeks, certainly. It's getting the deal actually done that is the hard part.

No way this was a done deal weeks ago albeit many are ages in advance. More a case of United being the last man standing as Raiola plays the clubs like a fiiddle and the other big clubs pull out as he ratchets the price up.

Whatever, I just wish they'd do the deal.

United inflating transfer fees again :)

But can understand you wanting it done.
 

Liverpool accept £13m Joe Allen bid from Stoke

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/liverpool-accept-13m-bid-stoke-11643253

This, apart from the credit bit.

A squad of players that should, all being well, survive and maybe push towards a top half/12 finish.

Wondering who is going to be heading out the door the other way.  Assume Crouch and Adams will be on top of the list amongst others.

Good purchase for Stoke imo.

Don't let him shave the beard off though , he has been so impressive since growing it.

#Joeallensmagicbeard

Negredo gonna start for Boro? Just looking ahead for a cheapish 3rd forward for fantasy football.....

He will, but Karanka likes to rotate the front man, Rhodes and Nugent rotated a lot last season.

How do you guys line up? Ever play 2 up front or is it 4-5-1 that seems to be the norm these days? Or something else?!

Cheers.

4-2-3-1 always has been.

2 defensive Mids allow the fullbacks to push on, the striker is there to close down defenders and bring the 3 attacking Mids into play.

Ramirez could be a good pick for fantasy, our team will run through him.

Please take Balloteli as well ;D

Ffs, Chelsea, Arsenhole and Spurs sniffing around Leo de Silva Lopes. This kid is gonna be the nuts.

Steve Bruce resigns at hull

Sunderland bound? 

Not sure that would be popular with their fans?  Where do Hull go from here? 

Down by Christmas hopefully if you have managed to get the evens at Coral!

Bruce and Sam best mates.  Must have been discussed i would imagine behind closed doors.  Sam put in a good word for his old mate at Sunderland to replace him after he wins the England gig from him.

Is a terrible decision for sunderland, he is very unpopular and could never succeed there as the moment they had any problem hes labelled the closet geordie. Got to be better to bring in someone who the fans will give a bit of time especially as sunderland will be under the cosh most of the season. Hope he lasts til next season, even their most moronic managers have run golden in derbies, his biggest achievement at sunderland was a home equaliser. He was ruining them after 18 months last time, only a dodgy deal could have brought this about?

http://www.oddschecker.com/football/football-specials/sunderland/next-permanent-manager?selectionName=steve-bruce

It's not a done deal son!!  Moyes still a monster fav to get the gig.

It's quite likely his strained relationship with the Hull board has tipped over the edge this week. Not like they've been out spending millions, is it?

Might be nothing more to it than that.

thats it

its reported he wanted a big splurge in july to upgrade the squad

been difficult to do. so much money around not only in the PL but the top half of the championship, wages they can't match etc.

don't think Sunderland is on the radar, they want Moyes

Moyes confirmed at Sunderland.  Upgrade on Sam?  What do people think?

good appointment, different to sam style wise obviously

has a £40m transfer budget, worked wonders at Everton on a tight budget. no one had a chance as the appointment after SAF after that in his next job

I think it is a decent upgrade tbh.

Looks the perfect signing for them, only problem is alladyces squads tend to struggle when he leaves , as they are only effective playing in his style. Think hes a very good manager, he needs patience to build a squad and sunderland need to sign up to his strategy. If he flops they wont know when to sack him, as they dont play newcastle this season.

Mahrez to Arsenal for €50m, per Eurosport (hence the currency)

sigh

he was leaving, he was staying, he was signing a new contract, now he's leaving again. bit of a saga really, just crack on either way please

interesting to see if he plays at celtic this afternoon. i couldn't see him in the "training at celtic park" images yesterday

That report from eurosport was extremely vaigue from what I saw.

its difficult to know these days with multiple agents involved, think Mahrez has 3, who all have vested interests in getting a cut of any deal

the story goes that after Vardy almost went to arsenal and got his new deal at £110,000 a week Mahrez was a bit put out that his new contact offer was £85,000 a week (hearsay, who knows the truth of it)

after all, player of the year, younger than vardy etc etc you'd think something comparable would have been tactically sensible

since then we've had this all played out in the press and rumours here and there.

good thing for us is

a) there is no release clause so we can get whatever we think max value is because
b) he's under contract to 2019

hope he stays but obviously off at some stage whether this summer, january or next summer....

Kolo Toure, Scott Sinclair & Patrick Bamford to Celtic today. Toure currently undergoing his medical.

Happy With Toure, young fairly inexperienced defence so Toure will hopefully be a good leader for them.

Anyone know much about Bamford? Was at Palace last year, & did well at Boro the year before?

Hope you enjoy today Tighty, sadly I'm missing it.

Kolo does a nice line of 2nd-hand cars on the side too ;)

That's whooshed me, but google explained it :D

Where are you hearing that from Rod? I'd heard Bamford to Villa and Sinclair to Celtic.

Haven't heard Bamford confirmed - so could be a misread by the HB.

Amazing Cov have let Vincelot go for £80k. Must be a candidate for buy of the summer by Bradford.

2am reply?

You got a note allowing you to stay up late, or are you just back from a Luton flounce?

Luton dreams shattered by Rookie. Two outered on the river. So so sick.

Full on flounce, I trust?

Of course. Was crushing it hard till the nine ball on the river. Tipped the table over and left.

:D

That's £42m which is only £6m more than Southampton got for Mane. If he goes for that little someone at Leicester needs sacking asap.

Clearly all the prices are just nuts this Summer and I wouldnt think Pogba is close to being the worst value but I just don't see how Man U come to the conclusion he's worth 100m ? If I was a Man U fan I'd hope it didn't go thru. For instance Mahrez and Lacazette for cheaper than Pogba, what ? People don't think it's close solely between Mahrez vs Pogba ? I'd snap take Mahrez at the prices and don't see how it's close.

If a team needs a CMF they usually don't spend their transfer budget on 2 forwards because they are better value.

If Popga leaves for £100m, it really highlights what a snip Gundogan was. Not at Pogba's level, granted, but a very talented midfielder with a well rounded game and his best years just on the horizon.

As good as Pogba is, its hard not to agree with Scholes; £100m players should really only be Messi, Ronaldo and maybe Bale.

Lol why? Good luck buying those players for any amount of money. Imagine going to Barca saying we'll give you 100m for Messi, they'd laugh you out of the door.

Scholes said it ;) or words to that effect. For that money, you should be looking at the absolute best that you can buy in football, and whilst Pogba is an excellent player, he isn't a Messi, or Bale or Ronaldo.

He might well become it, time will tell.

shirt sales
resale value
age
experience

pogba > mahrez


also if i was a united fan id rather spend the money than leave it in Glazers pockets. Who knows maybe Adidas chipped in for the price too.

But for that money you couldn't come close to buying any of the worlds best though so it's a redundant point. You can't buy any of the worlds best because they play for teams who don't need to/want to/have to sell, are at very wealthy teams already and would be selling to direct rivals. Esp if you're a club with a lot of money, esp if you're a club with a lot of money that has just been given another £100m. I'm not saying Pogba is worth £100m because it's not something you can quantify that easily. All you can say is:
1. The player is one of the best players in the world in his position.
2. The club trying to buy him are very wealthy (and everyone knows they are bad at transfers)
3.The club buying him are in desperate need of a player in the position he plays.
4. The club selling him do not need to sell or want to sell.
5. The player is young and has a lot of potential.
6. The player is very marketable

You'd always assume that a player going for the world record fee would be the best (top 5 at least) players in the world. But that isn't the case anymore. The best players in the world are already at massive clubs in competitive leagues. Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar, Suarez, Griezmann, Muller, Neuer, Iniesta, Modric, Kroos you could say are all "better" than Pogba. But they are never going to be sold. Pogba just happens to be the best available player that a team would sell. If he was at Madrid or Barca there is 0% chance United could sign him (or anyone else for that matter). Just so happens he plays for a club who's stadium is worth less than him and they can replace with someone worse and it won't affect them that much because they play in a 1 team league (and they can use the surplus for match fixing).

Like a team that just finished 8th have spent £36m on Mane! Serial bottler and the reason the best player of all time has retired has just been sold for £79m! United spent £50m last year on someone no one had ever heard of! Don't know why every expects the transfer prices to remain even close to what they were with the influx of money every Prem team has just got.

Shirt sales seem pretty covered with Zlatan no ? I don't really think Pogba has that image like Ronaldo, Messi, Ibra etc.

Resale value and age seem pretty comparable with just a two year age gap. Mahrez has only produced for one season but then Pogba has only been playing in a Juve said that has walked the league every year.

I think Pogba>>>>>Mahrez seems fair but not to the extent of even close to double the price and double the wages.

I guess its a case of where do you draw the line? The ginger one said he isn't worthy of a world record fee, and I agree, but also get that you can't just pick up Messi or Bale whenever you want.

The concept of value in football has mostly gone out the window at the very top level. Pogba would be a bargain at £50m? Value at £75m? Overpriced at £100m? Is Messi a bargain for £100m? I really don't know anymore!

We have many more windows for all this shit to look forward to.... :)

It's such a moving target now in terms of what is value.  I was randomly watching the film of the 1982 world cup with a hangover yesterday and Sean Connery was chuntering away about wonderkid Maradona having been signed for an outrageous £5 million by Barca!  I reckon we are at the peak now though - think Sky have really overstretched themselves with this current deal and won't match the offer next time around if they manage to get rid of the threat of BT Sport (or at least put them back in their box).

Just a case of ignoring what they're paying for players, and hoping the ones they do buy, help you win ;D

Pretty much this.

A lot of City fans on forums are flapping over Stones at £50m or Sane at £45m. Do I think either are worth those figures? Not really. Do I care? Not really :)

It would be nice if we could pluck out another Kompany for £6m, but realistically that's unlikely to happen. I think Gundogan is a potential snip for £21m, but anyone else we buy before the window shuts won't be a snip.

That's exactly it. United need to get back winning things (CL qualification absolute min), they need Pogba to do it and they need him now.

I remember thinking that when they first started and not signing up to sky for the first couple of years thinking they were sure to go busto.

Here I am now a fifteen year loyal customer.

He is probably the best that actually is for sale.  You can't buy something that isn't for sale.  People forget that.  Markets don't.  punters have big money to spend so there will be a bidding war for the best commodities 'for sale'.  Certain commodities are not for sale (ie Messi, Ronaldo, Bale otherwise bids would have been made for them)

Watford shuffling the pack again - Abdi and Berghuis rumoured to be shipped out to Sheff Wed and Feyenoord.  Sofiane Boufal and Martins Indi being targeted as incoming.  Not sure I fancy spending £15 million on Boufal when he is still injured for a couple of months mind but might be the only way we can get him with bigger clubs interested.  If these two happen think that will be the end of our transfer business then it is just a question of who to cut from the 25.

Abdi to sheff wed close it seems.  Great signing for them.  If they loved Fessi wait till Abdi is also pulling the strings.  Think Watford making a mistake here.

Stoke completed a couple of deals today.  Anyone know anything about the young winger from Egypt?

Mido says he's the best young player he's seen.

I am not going to check whether he was still at Spurs when we signed Bale. I can't do it to myself.

Played for the team Martin Jol manages I think.

Mido!!!  It must be a flip whether he is heavier than me by now surely!

Got more chance of a bookie pricing a seventh tier football match up than that one! :D

They're looking good for a promotion bet depending on odds (9/2)

I was looking at them a few days ago thinking 18/1 was ok for the league 1/4 the odds for 3 places.  I think prices are skewed by Newcastle. 

How do we set a benchmark for the value of a player these days?

Sadio Mane = £34MM
N'golo Kante = £30MM
Georginio Wijnaldum = £25MM

Paul Pogba = more than those three, plus Joe Allen?

I take the point but part of it is marketability of the player, image rights etc, shirt sales .Also bear in mind that the true value of a kante is not reflected in his price as there was an escape clause. Open market auction he goes for more

About a Joe Allen more?

As I understand it Pogba's agent will be getting at least a Joe Allen for his trouble too. That can't be right, can't be to football's benefit. Even Tikay won't be able to defend it.

I remember when for a while they used to call £500K "A Curle" after his perceivedly inflated transfer to the blue side of Manchester.

Things appear to have moved on apace when an agent makes £20M out of one deal.

This Higuain transfer is nuts. He's 29 in December! Think this may also be highly detrimental to Arsenal's striker search. Napoli need a goal scorer now and have some proper wedge to throw around.

I was thinking about that agent fee figure today. Imo, capping the amount paid to agents per deal to £500k should be the first move the powers that be make when they get together for their annual conventions. The fee ultimately filters down to the fans who go to games or are forced to pay for Sky/BT Sport. For example, Brighton today released an email stating that a previously free to enter family bar would now be members only and cost £250pp for membership, including for kids. Only added benefit? A 'complimentary' program for each game.

Serious question.  How does my kid go about becoming an agent.  Is it as simple as you need to be mates with a youth mega star and then get referrals after that?

entourage!

I've watched a few 'secret agents' videos on the web and it looks like you only need a couch.

and a camera

I've seen a few 'Fake Agent' videos... can confirm they had a desk, too.

Some drive a taxi too ;)

;D

Regards kante, does the clause make a difference? If clubs want to bid despite Chelsea triggering it, then Surely they would get preference?

I suppose it depends on the specific terms and conditions  of the release clause. No doubt Tighty knows more but IIRC there were restrictive conditions in the contract meaning only certain clubs could trigger it. As for the auction element it would again depend on the terms of the clause. Typically the fee is fixed and if several clubs interested it is the player's choice.

Not Kante specific but this is some backgorund:

http://www.danielgeey.com/buy-out-release-clauses-in-football-the-basics/

Man City and Everton are in talks about a possible £50m deal for John Stones. http://bbc.in/2ahdxQE

Yeah, when we got Delph his release clause was specific for a Champions League involved buyer. Everton couldn't have got him for 8mil but we could :)

Everton have been linked with Ben Gibson from Boro in the last year of so if Stones leaves. Hope not.

Also linked with Lewis Dunk, will cost 10M + sell on though.

Sane booked into a Manchester hotel for this weekend according to a City forum. Announcement expected tomorrow. This has gone on quite a while so would be nice to wrap it up one way or another.

''The saga of Leroy Sané is finally over. He's heading to Manchester City!

 Sané came back from vacation on Monday and had talks with the direction of Schalke 04 on Tuesday and Wednesday concerning his future. His agent and him confirmed (again) his desire to join Manchester City in the Premier League.

 Manchester City and Schalke 04 completed the agreement on Thursday.

 The cost of the transfer is fixed on a basic fee of about €37M euros that will be paid in several installments. The balance flows through low-risk bonus agreements (Top 5 in EPL, CL).

 His contract is still unclear but expecting to be over 4-years with a salary over €6M per year.

 The presentation of Leroy Sane from Royal Blue to Sky Blue is imminent''

Sakho signing for west brom means Berahino is being allowed to go. Stoke are favourites to sign him with crystal palace also very interested. Expected price tag around £20m.

Looks as though Gianfranco Zola is on his way to Hull, I wouldn't mind that at all. Certainly better than a lot of those that are in the pipeline; Pearson, Steve McClaren and Giggs...

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Coxt51-XEAAxENu.jpg)

It really is an absolute shambles up there atm Tighty, Mo Diame heading to Newcastle which will be completed within the next day or two. No manager. No fit players.

Something needs to happen within the next few days, desperately.

If we sell sissoko for anything near the 35m mentioned and get Diame for 4.5m ( which is what I believe his release clause is ) then it might just be the best bit of business all window

Ashley Williams to Everton for £8m.....Stones to City?

Substitute HC for Blackpool and we've seen it all before. Very sad for true fans

Lots of rumours about Mahrez to Arsenal including in the Algerian press.

Having said that there are rumours about virtually everyone to Arsenal in our media.

Former £1.1m strike Tyrone Barnett signs for AFC Wimbledon.

Lol @ £1.1m. Not often Darragh gets it that wrong.

Comedy from Wimbledon. Letting one lump go, and bringing in a completely useless, lazy lump instead.

Tyrone?

Tyrone was in Guy Ritchie's "Snatch", my fave character. Might be the same bloke.

course I am

Bugger, I was hoping he'd be a decent signing!

Cracking stuff :)

Wimbledon's Ryan Sweeney to Stoke City for £250k according to Sky Sports. Big money for a young lad with little game time, but he is a superb prospect so I hope there are some good clauses in the deal.

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11792/10524049/sky-sources-jason-cummings-subject-of-1m-bid-from-peterborough

Yes please!

Scott Sinclair done deal to Celtic.  Could be decent if he retains previous ability. 

Anyone have any thoughs on this? 

Sure he'll do fine. 27 though so he's probably at peak output.  That move to Man City ruined his chance of being a superstar many years ago.  (See Andrew Johnson and likely Patrick Roberts).

Swansea have absolutely coined it in with Ayew, 20 milly after getting him on a free just 12 months ago.

Ps whilst I'm here and I know there is a Watford fan or 2 on here, this new guy Success, will he start? Up front or more out wide? Record transfer so would assume he hasn't been bought to warm the bench but with Deeney and Igahlo I'm struggling to see where he could fit in, unless you bundle all 3 up top :) Fanatsy team is getting tinkered to fuck and need to settle on an XI.....

Amazed t'Blades have let Che Adams go.

Mazzari will play either 3-5-2 or 4-3-3 depending on circumstance.  Initially Success will not play when 3-5-2 but he has bags of potential so who knows as season progresses.

Ashley Williams due at Finch Farm later today to sign for Everton.

Premier League teams, before Williams, have now spent £747m in this transfer window

Man C have spent £206m alone

three weeks of the transfer window to go

That figure doesn't sound correct....

Stones......50 ish
Sane......37
Gundogan.....21
Jesus......27
Zinchenko.....2
Moreno....5?
Nolito.......13

I don't make that anywhere near £206m

Edit.....thanks Dung, think might take a punt on him.

my mistake i added stones to the figure i had (£160m+£47m), but it already included him

£162.35m

http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/manchester-city/transfers/verein/281

The various add ons we'll have to pay will probably take it well above £200m eventually ;)

Anyone know what Barnsley make from this transfer?

Must be due a decent windfall.

They've made 7million from it apparently - huge!

Barnsley will be over the moon after John Stones' £50m move to Manchester City http://dailym.ai/2aIuHtb

Watford get Roberto Pereryra from Juventus on a 5 year deal for £13 million.  Great signing as long as he settles and will provide the link between midfield and attack.  Hope he doesn't do an Iturbe at Bournemouth last season and just vanish from sight.

We are also close to getting Kaboul from Sunderland.  I wasn't sure about this one when I heard about it but Sunderland fans seem hacked off so that must be a good sign.

Rumours about Balotelli to Wolves have seen him backed into 2/1 to make the move.

Tottenham have bid in region of £15m to sign Wilfried Zaha, according to his agent. Zaha keen, CL football etc. CPFC want to keep him

Zaha the least poch player ever surely

Can't get my head around it, horsey.

All I can say is £15m for a young English player who can walk in a straight line and pass 10 yards is flick-it-in money these days.

Nacer Chadli's move to WBA means 11 of the 20 PL clubs have now broken their transfer record this window.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CrCMTuDW8AE6zhR.jpg)

Callum Chambers signs for Boro on loan for the year for reasons I can't see. He won't be displacing Ayala or Gibson any time soon.

Adama Traore on his way up for a medical from Villa. I know nothing about him other than he is apparently quick. Adomah going the other way.

Rumour has it we are also in for another attacking midfielder, and will be solid to break our transfer record.

Rhodes could be on his way too if we can get a replacement signed.

GK NKoudou – Verified account ‏@gknkoudou

🙈🙈🙈

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CrIf2r0WAAE9R42.jpg)

1:03 pm - 30 Aug 2016

Delofeou from Everton is apparently the Lad we are looking to break our record (12.5m)  for. Now that's someone I would love to see here

Say what you like about Daniel Levy, he keeps the yellow tie brigade in work two nights a year.

(https://metrouk2.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/sissoko.png?w=480&h=303&crop=1)

http://metro.co.uk/2016/08/31/new-tottenham-hotspur-signing-moussa-sissoko-has-always-wanted-to-move-to-arsenal-6102980/

Yep. Relegation confirmed with two games to go and one of the most tepid Premier League campaigns I can ever rememeber. Embarrassing season.