SKD

The thought of the dippers missing out on their 2 main transfer targets and then losing their best player makes me smile.... Mane next please

As others have said, he got a nasty injury and was out for some time (he was actually surprised to be offered a new deal and was very much expecting to be released at the end of last season). He's a good player, but very unlucky to get injured when he did. Hopefully he's done enough for us to sign him up for longer, local lad and has done well to make a come back from his injuries imo. He lacks a bit of height, but is of a very good build (2 long term injuries mean a lot of time spent in the gym!), so I think physically he'll be okay.

I know someone that will have it. Can you DM your email address or number and I'll arrange collection with them.

He's currently a pretty key part of Liverpool's squad so there is no way they would sell / he would want to come. Also, he's best mates with a certain player who wants out... it's not going to happen.

CB - Christensen & another (I like the look of Hoedt or Martins Indi, not sure on Wimmer) CDM - Carvalho (probably too expensive if we bring in 2 cb's) or Krychowiak

If JWP develops into anything close to a top player, do you honestly think he'd stay with us? Surely you'd want someone who is going to be the first name on the team sheet or likely to play every game, otherwise you'd just give it to Davis. JWP isn't the first name on the team sheet and if we sign a new CM, wouldn't get into the team.

Really? Dele Alli, Wanyama, Alderweireld, Son and Trippier to name a few.

Don't talk ****e - They didn't spend £40m on the black box, did they. In reality, the 'black box' is just a room with 3 chairs, a big screen and a computer data base (some of which is Football manager stats). In all in all, probably at a cost of a couple of grand and i'm pretty sure every top level club in world has something similar. The black box and only function as well as it's user. And currently, our user (Ross Wilson) isn't as good as it's previous user. Is it any surprise that Tottenham's transfer record since Mitchell joint them has significantly improved? Mitchell is very very good at his job and was a massive loss to us. For me, Mitchell would be a great replacement for Les as and when he retires. It'd save money on Ross Wilson's salary as well.

Irrelevant. If we don't want to sell to Liverpool, we don't have to regardless of if and how much they bid.

Who should it be for the coming season? Even in the unlikely event that he stays, VvD should be stripped of this, due to his actions. Steve Davis would be the obvious choice, but at his age, will he play week in week out? best keeping him Club / off field captain, or whatever his title is. Yoshida is in with a chance, but the same could be said about him RE game time. Personally, I'd go for Romeu - first name on the team sheet at the moment, and really led by example last year.

It looks like City and Chelsea have played their hand remarkably. Let the dippers mouth off and royally **** us off whilst unsettling the player and then coming in late with a bid slightly lower than what we would have accepted at the start of the window. I could stomach him going to either one (preferably Chelsea if we can get a part ex) as it's fairly clear the **** won't play for us again. I can't wait to see the dippers reaction when he goes elsewhere I assume our stance of not dealing with Liverpool will continue?

They then played us off the park at our place. 2 very even squads, IMO.

But all in all Puel didn't do a good job, did he. Yes we somehow crawled to 8th (For what I will give him credit, however, it could easily have been 12th had half of the league not given up in the final couple of weeks), but we got humiliated in the FA cup, get knocked out at the group stage (which contained 2 pub teams) of the EL and he managed to **** off 90% of the fan base and squad doing so. I admire your simplistic view on things, but you really need to look at other contributing factors. If we finish 12th (which as I said, could easily have been the case last year had it not been for a bit of luck) but finish on 50 points (4 more than this year) which would you say is a more successful season? Personally, for me as I'm sure others as well, the difference between finishing 8th or 12th is minimal and if it meant see more goals scored and gaining more points (which obviously means more wins and / or draws), i'd rather finish 12th. FWIW I agree with you in that our squad is bang average. In fact, I think Puel had more luck with the squad than MoPe has had so far. At least Puel had VvD, Fonte and a sh!t hot Gabbiadini (had it not been for his instant impact we'd have been in big trouble) and even then, after a couple of months under Puel, 2 become average (Fonte & Gabbiadini).

£20m is not 'big money' anymore.

Les has done an amazing job with us, but the next couple of weeks could really define his time here. If we sell VvD to Liverpool Don't effectively recruit in key areas (CM and CB) we get off to a bad start Then I could really see the majority of the crowd turn against him and the board. Something just feels different these past 2 seasons (last season and this one up and coming) and in hindsight, if Pellegrino doesn't go to plan, we'd have been better off offering Koeman the fee he wanted to stay, as we've already wasted god knows on the termination of Puel's contract. It hasn't helped that everyone in the market has moved early and we've stood still, if not gone backwards. It'd be a real shame or Les' to only be remembered for the bad years (if the above happens) and people forget the good ones, which far outweigh the bad ones. The trouble is, his hands are slightly tied. We've an owner that, rightly or wrongly, doesn't want to invest anymore of her own money in the club and he's still trying to get by on what we have. He's not been helped by our average scouting team (Ross Wilson) at current.

If ever we needed evidence to suggest that Ross Wilson isn't very good at his job, this is it.

Why do you keep mentioning where we finished last season? Puel wasn't sacked because he only finished 8th. If we finish 9th and don't get to a final, but the fans and players love Pellegrino, do you think he'll get the chop (of course you'll have a few idiots asking for him to go, in fact you'll probably be one of them, continuing to bang on about where we finished under Puel)? The board, rightly IMO, looked at the bigger picture and took fans and players consideration before making a judgement on the manager.

Which is why I would try him in a more attacking central midfield role. Personally, whilst clearly not as good, I could see him being a similar type player as Xavi (who played slightly more defensively), Scholes (who also played slightly more defensively at the end of his career) and Iniesta who were all 5'6/5'7 (you can also add Kante to that list, but he's a different kind of player, who just reads the game exceptionally) but were technically very tidy and could pick a pass that would unlock a defense (I know Clasie hasn't shown this at us, but he did at Feyenoord). He can strike a ball as well, look at his goals against WBA and Arsenal. Given the physical demands on the PL, I'd rather he played (was tried) in front of 2 solid DM's Romeu and new (i'd love us to get Carvalho, although that's unlikely). All in all, to say you want to get rid of someone because of their height (regardless of technical ability) is outdated and ludicrous. Theories like that are pretty much why the English national team are sh!te

He done a ****ing good job of ****ing half the squad off as well. Strange you just seem to ignore this.

We were in for Ings before he went to Liverpool, from what I'm told, his agent wanted to keep him up there and they offered him substantially more than we did. Strange one for us to move for him now given his Injury record, but would be a good addition if he can stay fit (IMO hes an upgrade on Shane Long). As for Barkley, I just can't see it. Everton will Demand £40m+ and I've read he wants about £125k a week. Personally I don't really rate him either, massively overrated and for that money I'd rather take Siggurdsson.

Lets be honest though, from what we've seen, he is everything you would expect from a £5m player in today's market.

No, but we have the magic PL TV deal which effectively is a money tree.

Clyne had all but signed for united until his Agent got greedy and asked them for more, at which point they pulled out (hence the change of Agent). I believe that Liverpool were the next best option for him. But yep, pretty much agree with all of the above, which is why we (and the rest of the PL) should take a stand and refuse to do business with them, whatever the price.

I'd actually like to see Clasie tried in a more advanced role (with 2 big DM's behind him), not sure if it'd work, but it's not working in a deeper role currently. Thinking Steve Davis under Poch type role.

Good riddance, not good enough and a wasted player in the squad along with 3/4 of our midfield and CB's. Those who think he's better than FF clearly never saw him play for us. This bloke really doesn't save anything.