Chez

Sure has. Sadly he's scored his one great goal per contract already. 🙂

A new acronym for Turkish: OEMBG

That DM position has been a massive problem for us with Lavia out, Diallo shite and JWP not really working out there. Bolster the centre and possession, chances and goals will probably improve. In terms of a striker, perhaps the problem is more along the lines of we need a £30m type striker to make a difference, but £30m strikers ain't coming here/won't be allowed to leave in January (I realise that doesn't excuse the summer). I guess you could pay £30m to prise away a guy that is only really worth £15-£20m from his current club. But we did that with Carrillo. I mean the long of short of it is the club don't want to sign another Carrillo.Unless a player of the right quality is gettable, they ain't going to spend for the sake of spending. I'm an Ings man, but if it was my money and it required a £20m fee and £150k a week for the next 3.5 years I might have my worries, assuming Ings would even come back, and Villa had a replacement that would enable him to depart.

Salisu not going to Newcastle last January and missing out on £40m is a stark reminder that you need to choose carefully when you sell players, as the window of opportunity can close fast. We'll get what, £15m, maybe £20m for him in the summer? Slightly different situation here with Lavia, as the contract has another 4.5 years to run and our league position is more precarious than last year, but if we go down his value could fall. However, I don't think there is any chance he will go in this window.

Can't see JWP going anywhere now and if we sell Lavia the books will start to balance. KWP is going to need a £100k a week contract to stay here. Maybe he is worth that. Adams is another that no doubt wants paying similar sums to stay. Not sure he is worth the contract, but his value is going to fall as he gets closer to walking on a free. Very interesting summer. Just need to stay up to retain a portion of control of these potential moves.

Very well. Contract is running down, and there was talk this week of the asking fee had reduced (Sheff United turned down £15m from Bruge in summer), but Sheff United are going for promotion, so I doubt they will sell now unless its a hefty offer. Just the kind of player we need to add some power in the midfield. Can't see it happening though.

when there us no speculation about any of our players, that's the time to worry. As a business and a football club, getting `too good to turn down offers' is what we need, followed by fantastic reinvestment in players that are equally brilliant. We have been a bit low on both in recent times, hence the league position and £90m debt we now have.

Warnock said "he could either be at a top club or non league", perhaps suggesting his attitude wasn't right. Seeing as Warnock sent him out on loan, only for him to tear up the division, doesn't really endorse his management skills much if you ask me. But I guess his attitude could still be poor, even if he played well. Who knows. Can't get a game at Spurs, but they do have quite a few options.

I'm still waiting for Anthony Pulis to prove me wrong.

Loan with option to buy seems like a good approach, but that relies on Villarreal being happy to do that and why would they? The deal is totally in our favour. £18m is a lot of wedge for someone yet to set the world on fire, but he does look like he might bring some genuine pace and power to the party. Not sure how many goals he will score though especially this season.

If he turns out to be shit, don't blame me.

I seem to recall the Play off away game at Derby was sold like this, so your away regulars were in the far left seats. Not sure it matters too much where you sit at Newcastle to be honest. Everyone is bloody miles away. Personally, I'm more concerned about the travel distance/time than the seat location.

If we don't sell the initial, say 1200 or 1800 quickly, we wont get the full allocation. I suspect the second batch would require the club t pay for them all up front, and they never risk that - as they will lose money. There has to be significant early demand. I guess that relies on the ST+5aways, +4 and +3 folks to buy a lot of ticket on day 1 and 2 of sales.

Yep, only played one half. Set up their first goal with a Broja type run down the wing at 0:47.

Salisu being linked to Monaco and Marseille perhaps explains why their were rumoured to have been looking at another CB. I suspect we would be reluctant to let him go half way through the season due to the time it might take to bring his replacement up to speed, but I guess if the money was too good to turn down. I'd be surprised if either offered us silly money though, so he'll be here until the summer.

Not extending last summer said everything about his intentions and lack of desire to stay here long term. If Newcastle had come back in for him again, rather than signing Botman, I think we'd of sold to maximise our return. Shame. His form may have dipped a little, but finding god CBs (with pace, power and ball skills) is not easy.

in terms of his fitness, I'm not sure he's missed all that may games due to injury over the last 18 months. Transfemarkt has him missing 5 games last season and one this, although none are actually confirmed as due to injury (just listed as "not in squad") but perhaps were.

Because of the struggles for many Championship/oversees players to hit the ground running, for me, Ings makes the most sense. However, spending £15-20m and playing £100k+ a week is a huge commitment, so a loan would be ideal. Sounds like Villa don't want that, so it's all or nothing, possibly.

Cool. I wasn't questioning why you listed his height by the way, just wondered why you didn't think we would sign Estupinan.

Why do you say that?

I guess you could argue that the two signings are attacking signings, but you are right, a striker is still a pressing need. It looks like we have put a bid in for Moffi weeks ago and asked about loans for Jackson and Ings (without success), so the club hasn't been sat on its hands.

You don't think Jones' will ever play two up front?

Semenyo is 5'8". Surprised by that, looking at the Youtube video, but feels out of kilter from Jone's usual strikers, which tend to be pretty big powerful guys.

Thanks for the info. Do any Championship players signed (and not those coming up in their promoted side) make an immediate impact in the Prem? I'm thinking of the likes of Benrahma, Olise, Sessegnon, Bowen, Jacob Murphy, James Justin, Fabio Carvalho, Lewis-Potter and of course Che and Armstrong?

Semenyo only scored 8 goals in 31 games last season and 5 in 22 so far this. Not exactly prolific for a 23/24 year old. His strike partners Andreas Wiemann scored 22 in 46 last season and Chris Martin 12 in 44. Semenyo provided quite a few assist for both, but was the lowest scorer of their front three. I guess it's not always about quantity of goals, but whether he has the attributes to score them at the higher level. I've not seen him live, so don't know. However, if you only saw him against Fulham last season, then you would say he is pretty shit hot. Check out his two goals at 1:45 of this video. I hope our scouts didn't just see him in that game. He set up a goal against Luton last season