Chez

Top Championship players that the PL clubs don't think are good enough...£15m (the agreed Hackney fee was £14m, seems a good guide)

don't be daft. The Spertsyan offer was supposedly about £11m. We will have offered about £8m + add ons.

You might be right. Can't see us paying that kind of money.

My guess is Coventry dig their heals in very hard indeed. Both clubs have ambitions of promotion, so we are a sideways move, parachute payments apart.

That's one of the major drawbacks of buying 'best of the championship', which I think most on here like the idea of. The other clubs don't want to sell to a rival and the price can be very high is there are years left on a contract. Rudoni is one year into a four year contract. Cov hold most of the cards.

Stuart Armstrong was pretty good in 2023. I thought his first touch and abililty to do things at pace stood out a lot at Championship level. Adams did OK too, giving us a focal point. Not see anyone in the current squad really do that, yet. Bednarek was our best central defender. need to see more of Edwards and Quarshie to decide if we are weaker or stringer. Brooks added some flair at times. At the moment it looks like Robinson will be the one to offer that, but you'd imagine Fernandes and Dibling will be replaced - so we will have some creativity. So, all those three areas might considered weaker, but its early days, he says two days before the season starts.

Like the £27m offer for Dibling from Everton?

I agree, unless Rudoni plays from slightly deeper...the 6, 8 or 10 position conversation. We always gets posts like "I hope we have more than one target", and it seems we have made bids for both, at various points in the window.

...at last we start to get the nice part of the transfer window (with losing you best talent being the bad part)...the hope and excitement links to players like Rudoni, Spertsyan and Fellows.

Hope so...that's usually a good place to start negotiations. I suppose we could choose the Risdale method.

You might be right, and I am not too sure of the credibility of the source, but slightly left field to have us bidding if we didn't. He also seems to have decent insight about Sheffield football. The same poster said Bannan wanted to stay at Wednesday a week before he signed a new deal. he also said Ducksch to Brum back in July (that deal went through today) - perhaps that was widely know, I am not sure?. Maybe we still want to offload other CBs and want a top quality CB to replace Bednarek. It feels a stretch. I guess it matters little now He's said on Tuesday that Hamer wants out of Sheff United.

It's only been a week. Not exactly Skacel territory. They will have targets. They have been linked to Spertsyan and Fellows for example. Doesn't mean we will get them mind you.

Huijsen went to Real Madrid. Pretty easy choice. Delap went to Chelsea because at the time he thought he would be first choice and not sat behind Isak. Similarly, Ekitike to Liverpool, the best team in the country, had no striker. Trafford to City, I guess because it's his club and the number 1 is opening up there. Mbeumo and Sesko to United. Despite their failings, United are still a massive draw and perhaps players can see that with the right signings they can be a force again relatively quickly. How true that is I am not sure. Kudus to Spurs? Not sure. Isak wanting out is not going to help them sign elite players either. They will appear to be going backwards rather than forwards. Does that help bring a player like Dibling into the equation? When they signed Isak, Gordon, Hall and Livramento I thought it similar to Chelsea way back on the day, showing a real understanding of top quality young talent.

Birmingham have signed striker Marvin Ducksch from Werder Bremen for less than £2m. He scored 1 in 3 for them over last there seasons in the German top flight, and 20 goals in 29 games the season before in the german second division. Roughly 150 goals in 360 games during his career. He's 31, so at the other end of the career spectrum from Downs, but will be interesting to see how the two compare this season.

Interesting that the fee turned out to be just £6m, so, pretty much what we supposedly offered. Whether or not Sheff United turned us down (because we are a rival) or they accept the fee but he simply chose Feyenoord, we'll never know.

he has. Think it was revealed several days ago, although a story on BBC has only just posted about his official release.

alternatively, they are buying two talented players that strengthen their squad immediately and have the potential to really improve Everton over the next four or five years. Not sure they are that poor. Back end of the season ended 5 wins (Forest, Newcastle...) 7 draws (Arsenal, Liverpool...) and 3 defeats (City, Liverpool, Chelsea). I'm not fan of Everton, but I hope Dibling works out for them.

He isn't giving up on £7.5m a year. City will have to subsidise.

no shit.

Everton fan tweets something that he has absolutely no way of knowing. Saintsextra amplifies it.

Spending £20m on them because they have shined in the championship and you think they can do it in the PL is fine, but spending £20m on them to get you out of the division. Not sure about that.

I preferred Gassama to Fellows and he was available for a lot less money. Fellows' game looks pretty good. Not sure he is going to make an impact in the PL. If that is the case, you can spend £20m on him.

Personally Id be happy to spend that on Hackney, who I think could make the step up to the PL, but not sure Fellows can.

I still fancy it is one or the other, but perhaps McNeil can shuffle across to the right, Ndyai on the left, Alcaraz in the middle. Competition from Dibling, Dewsbury-Hall and Grealish. If I was an Everton fan, I'd be pretty happy with that strengthening. They got a new striker too to challenge Beto. #WishWeWereEverton

We turned down a £7m offer for Smallbone a while back from Sheffield United. I guess he's worth what someone will pay, and there aren't many championship clubs with £7m floating about.