Chez

Newcastle signed Botman for £30m, Palace signed Cheick Doucoure for £20m, while Fulham signed Joao Paljinha for a fee that was close to £20m.

Big compared to others maybe, but we have racked up £140m of losses over last three years and have a debt heading towards £100m. We have spent more than we brought in, all be it COVID-effected. As for Wolves, Fosun wrote off £126m of debt the cub owed them earlier this year.

following in Livramento's footsteps

What, Gordon? He looks a real talent to me and was in a different league to the rest of the Everton side. Electric pace on the break...

I'm struggling to see the similarities.

Shame the fee is probably pie in the sky stuff. Watford have spent £5m on a striker, so it seems unlikely they will spent more on a CB.

Simeu needs another loan at a higher level than last season.

Very comfortable and pleased with the dealings. He says they needed to bring in a lot of players and very happy with the quality of player they have managed to get. Firstly they "didn't have a choice", as they had quite a few loans last season that played a lot of games. Spence was always going to Spurs, Davis was always going back to Villa and United wouldn't deal on Garner. Zichernigel went back to Watford and was an option, but they saw better value/quality elsewhere. They also had quite a few out of contract players that couldn't get games in the Championship, so were not going to play in the Prem. They took the opportunity to bring in quality, not just bodies, They needed a new keeper as their current one called their bluff on a huge wage request. They needed keeper cover too. The Lingard signing is painted as a no brainer. £80k a week plus performance related bonuses on a free. Even if there was a big signing on fee, its still value and no risk should they go down. He needs to play for a new contract. He loves Williams and Richards signings (although the latter got injured in pre season). He was worried about CM, but they has since signed a couple of strong players. He's absolutely loving life back, although its impossible to get a ticket home or away this season. Corp hospitality and home ends will be the only way he sees them live.

To be fair, I think he might need some time to find his feet in the Prem, time that United don't have, but I think most Man U fans are not impressed at seeing him linked with a move away and would like to see him being given a chance after a very good loan spell.

I'd of thought the'd try to offload Iheanacho first, but guess it depends if anyone makes an offer.

I watched him about ten times last season, including three live games. Brother in law is a Forest nut... To be honest he's one of those players that you don't really notice unless you are looking for him. When you do, you see a confident guy that is extremely important to how Forest played. He's not flashy, just very efficient. He has a good range of passing. I'm not a huge fan. I just didn't focus enough on him to come away seeing him as something special. That doesn't mean he isn't, he just didn't grab my eye. My brother in law, who watches Saints a lot, and has a decent eye for a player likened him to Morgan. Gets it from the thrower, fullback, keeper etc, and has the touch needed in tight spaces and quality to keep it, before giving it. That's what CMs need to do.

Very Morgan-esque type player in that he keeps things ticking over, gets play started and a decent spoiler. He will go unnoticed by many in a lot of games, but his quality with the ball allows him to do things effortlessly. Personally I thought Flynn Downes was the better of the two players (and similarly priced). With the Lavia signing already made, I'd be surprised if we were in for him.

I put it less down to loss of form, and more down to a law of averages. The more he plays the more likely he is to make an error. The more under pressure, the more likely to make an error. The more he has the ball, the more likely he will make an error. An most importantly, the better the opponent, the more likely an error is punished (and thus remembered). I think he just made one or two too many errors that were punished. I always thought he was really good on the ball. Very composed and classy. A premiership level type CB. It's just that he would make a horlox of it every now and then, which severely undermined that `classy' tag. Finding `good defenders that can play' is almost impossible. With the new rules, VAR and the general pace, power and talent you have to face every week, CB has become such a tough position to play. In recent times I thought he had lost a yard and looked way too casual. He looked very rusty in the games towards the end of last season. I think he will do very well in the Championship.

got to say, I find it very hard to price up Stephens. Trying to think of a comparable transfer. Not huge sums paid by Championship sides for CBs. Villa did spent £20m on Tyrone Mings, but I think that was after they had been promoted back to the Prem rather than when in the Championship.

151 appearances for £150,000. Even if some weren't great, and we've spent a damn sight more on his wages, still a pretty good return and whoever scouted him at 17, did a decent job.

I didn't see the game, so that's good to hear. We've really lacked flair and the ability to beat a man. Since Boufal left, Redmond has been the only person that can actually nip past someone, and that tended to only gain him half a yard of space. He didn't then have the pace to take advantage of an opponent selling them self. We really need a Zaha-like player that take a man on, drive into space and open the game up.

He has been willing, but not really able. When he comes on late in games he will usually just go for it, but often when starting games he has spent more time trying to get balls under control than actually going past people. I think everyone has been so keen to see him do well and blossom into Mane II, but he's just not done it. I think we've always said that he's still young. So, maybe this will be the year that it all clicks.

bit of both, the certainly tried the skill, but got a little lucky with the outcome. On another day we'll moan about him not shooting first time, but today we can just enjoy his composure.

He's OK. He works hard, is busy and combative, which are all very important facets, but he lacks genuine pace and a top level touch and great dribbling skills required of the modern fullback. Perhaps KWP just makes him look limited because he is on the next level. You are right about him and the side doing well and despite my misgivings about him, I certainly didn't want to see him dropped as we had found a winning formula. I think he was left out after the United game. I don't recall if he had a bad game. Overall the side were very good that night. I'd of liked us to sign another left back, perhaps with ore pace and skills to provide contrast and competition. Maybe Djenepo can do a job while we wait for Livramento to return to fitness, which then allows KWP to give that cover - which he can't do if he's the only right back.

never been a lack of effort, just hasn't really done much.

really? Looked out of his depth in every single game I saw.

What was the general consensus on Djenepo? I've been keen for us to sign another left back as I don't rate Perraud all that highly and feel we need two decent players at that position instead of relying on KWP to cover both. Did he look good both in a 5 and a 4?

I made it to 1 min 38 seconds. Pace, power and dribbling skills. Bit shy on goals to date, although he scored last week.

I was very surprised Saints give him a two year contract in 2021. Looked neither good enough to be a RB or a CB. Perhaps he can do a decent job in league 2. How have the Sulphurites started this season?

only got the MOTD clips to go on, but from those tiny snippets I couldn't help but notice that Salisu's marking is woeful from a couple of crosses. Ball watches badly. Also noticed some major badge kissing from KWP after the goal. Not sure if that is a good or bad sign these days, but as last season, he looks very happy in a Saints shirt. AA looked sharp. That's all I've got.