The9

Fair point, since the thread began we've actually signed precisely no-one. Perception is a powerful thing...

Did he post it slightly more than 2 weeks ago ?

That's how I choose to interpret it as well.

I must have missed the thread where people decided it was funny to redo the JustMike joke with my username instead.

4 days ago, "Ramirez, £18m, Liverpool" http://www.caughtoffside.com/2012/08/12/liverpool-agree-18m-deal-to-sign-bologna-youngster-gaston-ramirez-according-to-reports/ Nothing new. Again, no quotes from him about Liverpool, at least one about Saints.

Smacks of every transfer ever done if you get to know about it before it happens and are just waiting for the signing.

Saw the comment about "chairman not happy with the 3 year payment" above. Could be either getting hijacked by Liverpool or some old reports which came out a few days ago from 4th Official w a few days ago being circulated. There are no quotes about signing for Liverpool from Ramirez, there are some about signing for Saints.

No posts on that since 11th, and this is "we've had an offer accepted", so you've got no chance.

Surprised they didn't have a beef with you though.

Yeah, edited since I found that out.

Ah, thanks for clarifying. Oh well, balls. How do you know he's not got an EU passport btw? He only has 9 caps, so we'll at least need to appeal the work permit application even though he's at the #2 rated nation at the moment, which is a bit crappy. As we recall from signing Guly, the FIGC take forever with the paperwork too.

Non-EU at Bologna : Henry Giminez Gaston Ramirez Diego Perez Federico Rodriguez Abero - definitely has an Italian passport : http://www.goal.com/en/news/10/italy/2012/07/19/3252744/bologna-swoop-for-nacional-defender-abero Carvalho -also has dual nationality : http://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/?action=read&id=326513 So 2 from Henry Giminez Gaston Ramirez Diego Perez Federico Rodriguez must have EU country passports. And Perez was at Monaco before he joined Bologna... EDIT : See below, seems they can SIGN 2 a season, it's not about squad composition. Oh well.

Already did this one earlier in the thread. Also, Italy have a 2 non-EU player regulation and have 5 Uruguayans so there's a good chance he's got a Spanish passport. I'm trying to find confirmation though.

Bologna currently have 5 Uruguayans and 1 Brazilian who are clearly not born in the EU, so there's a good chance at least 4 of them have EU Passports...

Sky Sports News were doing a little tactics review of the City team for Sunday at half 12... they probably don't have a clue about us. Theory is 3-5-2 Pantilimon in goal, Zabalata, Kompany, Lescott across the back Yaya Toure and De Jong sitting with Nasri in front of them Milner wide right, Kolarov wide left Tevez and Aguero up front. What could possibloy go wrong ? At least they think Hart and Balotelli are out. Banging on about wingbacks and being expansive. I do think that tactically us playing 4-3-3 would exploit the holes behind their wing backs beautifully, but whether we get the chance to do that...

Good find : Serie A is set to lose another of its budding talents after Bologna reportedly accepted a €15m bid from Southampton for Gaston Ramirez. The Uruguayan fantasista has been paired with the likes of Roma, Inter, Udinese, Juventus, Fiorentina and Liverpool over the last 12 months. However, it seems that the attacking midfielder will move to Southampton after the newly promoted side beat Tottenham for his signature. “They believe in me in every way,” the player told the Corriere dello Sport. “And above all I have said that they are going to grow. “Southampton is a newly promoted team in the English top flight, but they have the means to stand tall in a few years. And with me they are going to build. “It’s all very stimulating – even if it is a little strange.”

I suspect he'll be getting a private jet from wherever to Southampton. It's not like we don't know someone who's got one.

I've never doubted we could attract bigger name players, what I've doubted is the will to do so. Adkins likes having a certain mould of player to work with and the pretence is that we're "sustainable".

Going to try and dig re: the EU passport issue. Italian sides are allowed two non-EU players (See here - this is NOT Ramirez: http://fedenerazzurra.com/2012/08/14/no-eu-passport-for-pereira-if-signed-he-would-occupy-one-of-two-available-non-eu-spots/) , so if Bologna have more than 2 non-EU players there's something to build on. Amusingly I just googled "Gaston Ramirez Passport" and my response in this thread was the top hit.

Assuming he needs one.

Plenty wage-wise. Cisse for a start.

Nope, Man U had to sign van Persie by noon today in order to be eligible for Monday night's match.

Jeez, you have self-worth issues if you think being expected to be a bit less dull than me is a "almost a compliment". That's a huge insult. Anyone who isn't massively less dull than me is seriously lacking in charisma. Which by the way was a nickname of mine once.

Fortunately he won't want to.

I'm a tiny bit gutted that I only got to see Team GB, South Korea, Mexico and Japan now. Did watch UAE/Uruguay and Team GB/Uruguay on the box but not very closely.