Chez

I never understood why this got so much criticism. Why would you offer more than you have to? What was I missing?

I agree, it sounds like bollocks, however there is now a reason for bidding above the release clause. The amount may be indisputable, but the seller may be able to dictate the payment terms. This is what happened at Forest with Marinakis demanding most (if not all) the Gibbs-White transfer fee up front rather than in instalments over a period of years. We may be offered more but spread over multiple years. I still agree with you though. Sounds bollocks.

Are the players they have signed all pretty good then? Asking for a fantasy football friend. Diarra, Adingra, Le Fee, Talbi, Sadiki, Xakha, Mukiele, Alderete, Roefs, Mandava, Guiu... Stach, Okafor, Bijol, Perri, Longstaff, Gudmundsson, Bornauw, Calvert-Lewin, Nmecha Ramsdale, THB, Downes, Archer, Fernandes, BBD, Sugawara, Wood, Edwards, Fraser, Taylor, Lallana, Cornet, Ugochuckwu...

I don't believe the owner gives two hoots about the size of the buying club. Size of the fee will be what matters.

Chemical production continues to be the backdrop of his footballing world.

How many logins does MLG have? 😉 So the price was comparable then to the Dibling move. Excellent. Helps with the comparison. Any insight as to how Spurs fans felt about the Bale signing?

I only mentioned peanuts because fans often feel happier with a big money signing. Forget the peanuts part. How did Spurs fans feel when they signed a Bale from us? I seem to recall the two Spurs fans I know felt pretty good but mostly because I'd been telling them all season that he's absolutely fucking mustard.

I've been flogging him on here for a while. I thought he looked decent in his City youth highlights. I did wonder if he was a little casual in terms of possession and position. I honestly don't know how he did for Luton in the PL as I never watched them. Anyone got an opinion? I thought I read that he did OK at Marseille, but they didn't look to sign him, which might be a concern. Does he have one year left of his contract?

The time to get him was three years ago. I'm guessing we went ABK and Caleta-Car.

Not sure anyone is convinced yet that Downs/Stewart can fire us to promotion, and I am sure we'd all happily take Sir Ricky Mark II if he were available, but we don't sign Downs and then a month later sign another centre forward. Downs is the guy the club thinks can do it this year and maybe beyond. I would be very surprised if we sign another striker. We have Downs/Stewart/Archer/Armstrong...and BBD. You may not like any of them, but they are here and we are not adding another body. Three depart this weekend and maybe the club considers it.

The valuations are completely different. We see a rare talent that could possibly play at the highest level, West Ham simply see a decent PL player. Moving from £30m to £32m is a statement from West Ham. They are going nowhere near £50m (and they might be right to not do so).

I wonder what they thought of Bale when they got him from us for peanuts?

Not sure we have any nuwaubianists in the squad either. I think Dwight York invented it, so you'd think there would be more footballers that practice it. My guess is we have loads of pastafarianists. Who doesn't think a flying spaghetti monster is key to life?

He is. The inaccuracy undermines the credibility of the story a bit, but Nantes have bought and sold 30 players this summer, so could well be true - a total revamp of the squad, with plenty of foreign signings. The mistake appeared in a L'equipe item that appeared 9 days ago linking him with Nantes.

He might not be PL quality, but he's two footed, sees a pass and has scored some nice goals.

They've got the offer already written out. Just cross Eze's name off and replace with Dibling. Job's a good'un.

Possibly the drop in division would make him more viable/useful? Having a guy to come on near the end of games to offer fresh legs and a degree of control would be handy. Of course, if his legs have gone then there is no point.

I don't. Fernandes isn't a defensive midfielder. Not sure Charles is to be hinest. Whenever I watched him for Wednesday he didn't seem to play a holding role. I wouldn't imagine Romeu intends to come back to England.

we'd get a defensive and attacking midfielder rather than two that haven't really filled either position.

he can be signed by a club after the window closes I presume?

Plenty of posters have questioned whether the club has put all its eggs into one basket, spent too long on one player, not moved on or set deadlines etc. but if the reports are accurate, it obvious that we have bid for Spertsyan, tried Rudoni and then moved onto Azaz. No reason the former two are not still options, but enquiries or even bids for multiple players seem to have been made. We may still end up with none of them, but moving on to fourth, fifth or sixth choices might not be preferable.

the transfer window is good fun. You don't have to watch Sky Sports News.

the counter offer story sounded bogus to me.

Of course they are going to come back in for him. You don't bid £37m and call it a day. I have little doubt they will end up paying the £45m+£5m. He's mustard and Everton know it. Everyone know's it. But not everyone is ideally placed to buy a potential star at the price we want.

When I watched us early season last, I thought we looked a bit disjoined, but the quality of players like JWP stood out. When he left, the quality went down, but the side eventually started to play as a side. This time around I feel exactly the same. Our pattern of play is a little bit all over the place, but the likes of Fernandes and Charles have that extra quality. When Fernandes and Dibling leave, we need to get it together in terms of tactics and patterns of play.