Chez

those two clubs have been linked with him for two years too. Might well just be regurgitated links. Who knows.

I'm gonna have to go back to his youtube video. I seem to recall when we discussed him two years ago he was a monster. Not super quick, but a proper powerful defender. From what I have read he hasn't performed well over the last two years, which is a concern, but not seen him so don't know how accurate that is.

A number 10 is no longer an attacker? I'm getting old.

you said, and I quote: "we have failed to bring an attacker in". Mara is a new attacker that we have brought in, ergo you must have have forgotten about him. Some on here said Broja was a waste of space at the end of last season. So with him gone and Mara in, are we weaker than we were at the end of last season? I'm a huge fan of Broja, so would agree with you, that we are weaker than last season `as a whole', but its early days and Mara may be a revelation as we progress.

In terms of bodies, Aribo was also added too to play in the attacking third. However I get your point and the fact we have bid for Gakpo says we were trying for another attacker. We may not have a huge number of options, but at least the likes of Che and Armstrong are doing OK at the moment. Ten weeks until the next window opens. Hopefully their form gets even better not worse.

They bought Mara. It's amazing how quickly that is forgotten. He might not be the £40m striker, but he is an attacker. Sure we thought another would come in, and he still might, but the club has invested in the forward line. Not sure what you mean by acceptable. Acceptable to who, you?

Thats a very good point. And why would they put a £34m sale at risk by playing him? Are they selling Sangere to Chelsea now which is why they don't need the money? Very strange.

from his post match comments, it didn't sound like it.

No easy to have two or three £30m deals just ready to rock and roll. Not sure how accurate this is but the media pointed to us starting at Broja, then Delap, then Ramos, then Gakpo, so we haven't put our eggs in one basket, we've gone for several options, but not managed to pin any one down yet. It happens. You only have to look at the difficulty United have had in recent years to get the right player in to know how hard it must be for clubs like us.

Exactly. We have a certain budget and have bid accordingly. Unlike teams like Chelsea and United, we can't keep upping the bid until we get out man. There is a limit. If that doesn't coincide with the valuation of the selling club you have to admit defeat and try again. Some Prem clubs are getting absolutely rinced in these deals, which is fine is you have a gazzilionare bankrolling you.

Don't agree with this, When you make a bid of £21.4m, you are seriously invested. I have no idea what the revised bid was, but the fact Adam Blackmore reported that a fee had been agreed suggest we were 100% invested in this transfer. OK, so it may not (have) work(ed) out, but these are serious figures for a club of our size. The idea we did it half hearted is just bullshit.

no idea what a FC or a SC is, or the difference between the two, but I'll take your word for it.

The £34m figure is what PSV have bandied about as what they want. Whether we have gone from £21.4 to £34m I'm not so sure. PSV will paint the best picture possible to appease their fans. I'd of thought we'd increase to £25m max, plus maybe some add ons. Who knows these days.

Is Mara not a striker then?

Tremendous tune and would be brilliant on the terraces, but I get the feeling it might gave passed our fans by.

Its the wingers that are in vogue these days.

we should have (and possibly tried to) signed him from Rochdale way back when. Not gonna fit our profile of quality before experience.

if they buy his team mate, PSV won't need to sell Gakpo to us to make the money they need.

feels like that, and if the two clubs were miles apart, then it would make sense, but the press noise is a fee has been agreed. Weird.

I am pretty sure we will continue to go back to the City/Chelsea well, however, if we have a good season with these nippers, you have to wonder if every owner/director is going to instruct their club to do the same. Dortmund kind of set the precedent wiht Sancho, but we are the Prem version right now.

boy did we need some players that cover the ground in midfield and get their foot in. We also needed more power at CB and have got that. Got to say that I preferred Issa Kaboré to Larios, but the left back position perhaps needs more attention than the right.

Yep. The attackers don't come cheap, so a smart move. Helps us reshape the squad as much as possible...which we sure needed to do. If AMN settles and does well then it will be a great choice.

I don't believe anyone else is on for him. I reckon a deal has already been agreed and its just dependant on them getting the replacement in, which they are close to doing.

I'd guess they have to activate that option around January time in order to give the player the opportunity to talk to clubs abroad (which you can do in January I think) in advance of any departure in the summer. Possibly they can wait to activate it right up until the last day in June next year...

Hope so. His legs seem to too small to me, like Jack Wiltshire.