Chez

you're saying that its a fact that a player like Tarkowski is not being signed because Ralph doesn't want any experienced pros like him that might question his tactics?

...the price we are paying (and even that's only according to press reports, not official sources), not the price we may pay should some sort of stat or achievement be reached, none of which you have a clue about. I heard that Munich pay LFC a million if Mane wins the balon d'or a couple of times. Do you think that million should be included in the total Munich paid for Mane? If you want to continue to quote a total figure, maybe use `£46m plus add ons'.

got to say, you make a good point. He sure has been bad since the Newcastle bid/rumour. Hope he can rediscover the form that suggested we'd found a player.

Newcastle bid £40m for Salisu in January, according to press reports, so training and playing with Bednarek didn't seem to do him any harm. The next 6 months though...

Omar Richards signed for Munich from Reading, but a season later he's at Forest now. Things do change in football. Maybe Bayern are not interested now...although why he'd signed for us over Leicester I am not sure.

I'd be surprised if they signed him to be back up keeper, but who knows.

We have not spent £58.5m.

the praise Lyanco has got has far exceeded the performances imo. He doesn't do the basics well. Maybe he gets better...

Allowing players to wind down contracts is financial suicide. You don't want that extra £10m to spend on the replacement?

Didn't happen. He was dropped after the Chelsea debacle, which was on the back of four or five games when we were offered little threat. He came back two games later, played two then was dropped to the bench for last three, with Ralph seemingly having lost faith in all our strikers, rightly or wrongly.

Doesn't feel like a great fit. But i do wonder who is going to stop us conceding AND make us more creative.

They seem to add stats all the time, but yet to see things like: full back got his distances right, so attacker didn't attempt to take him on. Or. First touch was spot on, enabling player to take advantage of the space he had rather than have to take lessor option...etc.

Good post. It's not moneyball, which wasn't about acquiring young players with potential.

I don't know how much he's on, but would you give him a four year £100k a week deal today, or sell, to maximise the return to give us more to spend on a replacement? This is the type of d vision the club may be facing.

I was going to say the same thing. From Leicester, friends in Sheffield, and the links have been to Leeds (all be it regurgitated stuff from a year ago) and now Forezr. perhaps he would like to move back. I've no idea if that's the case, but usually someone says it's the reason.

He was our number 1 at the time the contract was given. Of course he is among our highest earners. Nothing we can do about that now. The here and now is Che. Two years left and seemingly departing. I suspect it's one of those situations where we either offer a new contract or sell now to maximise the return. So, if we were the decision makers, would we give him a new four year contract and pay him £100k a week? Its easy with hindsight to say contracts shouldn't have been granted, but what about this one?

Brendon Rodgers has already said Ward is his number 1 and they will look for backup. Might be smoke and mirrors, but doubt it as it would effectively be leading Ward up the garden path. Feels like Saints drumming up interest.

It was £46m, possibly. the club hasn't confirmed the pricing of any of the players that i am aware of.

How about you sell Lynanco or one of the ever increasing number of CBs and then we talk about how to upgrade him/them?

wasn't he a player we were heavily linked with before West Ham blew us out the water?

This is very important. If he wont sign a deal, wants too much money or we don't want to give him that extension, then now is the time to sell to maximise the return. That could be the bigger picture and for our financial model to work, tough decisions like this must be made that us fans don't like too much, especially when it involves strikers. If we want to spend more on talent, we need to ensure we maximise the income and avoid the Hoj type scenarios where players leave for relative buttons. It's a very tough balancing act.

I would say that the combined fees are more like £20m than £30m, but you make a good point. Until the window is complete it's difficult to make an assessment. I dare say we made bids for strikers at the start of the window, but we probably aimed high and failed. It's not easy bringing in players. Whenever we do make a signing, I actually wonder, was that too easy and why did we get him. Why didn't someone else want him. The harder to get, the better the player, perhaps? When we signed Armstrong last season I felt exactly the same. If he was shit hot, why isn't another Prem side signings him? It felt like we were the only ones in for him.

ha. I hate 5 at the back. It's fine if you have forwards and attackers that are brilliant, but with our lot, it just means one less attacker. I also think a lot of players simply don't know where to be, who they are marking, what the are doing. I can understand why we tried it. We shipped goals last season, so we needed to add bodies back there, but overall, I just don't think we play well with it. As soon as I saw we were playing it during pre season, I thought we had `given in' and weren't going to put to put the end of last season behind us. I had hoped that refreshed, we'd have a new skip in our step, possibly, and look to take teams on, again. If I don't see positivity against Leeds, then I am going to be concerned. Not sure how easy it will be for the side to switch from a defensive frame of my mind to an attacking one overnight. That's what will be asked of them. I guess the alternative is just keep attacking and risk getting slaughtered against the top sides and criticism for being too rigid. Fingers crossed we can do it, but if not then the whole preseason and tactical switch will start to be questioned. It's one game. I know. Win against Leeds and things will be rosey in the garden.

Realistically, which players are sellable and will bring in, say £20+? JWP, KWP, Salisu, Che...? If we need to sell to buy, which of those would you prefer we sell? Players like McCarthy, AA, Valery, Lyanco, Bednarek, Redmond, Theo, Diallo, Djenepo mike be preferable, but unless we get a bid, `shipping out' is just words. I guess the other option would be to stick with what we have and sell no one.

Makes sense. Is BK not better than Valery, Bednarek or Stephens?