Chez

Surprising. I wonder why not. Maybe they don't rate him much higher than what they have after all and the money United want is too much. They took the piss when it came to Lingaard. Maybe they can't be arsed messing around with United this time round.

This is it. There are not lots and lots of options. Burnley might want £20 or £30m, but he simply isn't going for that unless there are several clubs wanting him. Are there? He's not young. Burnley could of course keep him and others. They do need to pay down the loan, but they may not be on their arse. When player already has a Prem wage, it becomes a buyers market.

Possibly. My guess is we enquired/tried to bring him back again last summer, but Liverpool will have wanted too much for him. The same may apply again this summer. At £17m its a non-starter. I doubt they will get that though, especially if his wages are weighty - which is likely.

my mrs, who hates football, knows more about our likely plans in the window than anyone at talkshite. If they announce it after its done I will believe them. Beyond that...meh.

feels like that horse (rumour) is being flogged to death

that worries me also. It feels like another similar gamble that we simply should not be making. It's a position we needed to strengthen, but I worry we might actually end up being worse come the end of the summer. We shall see.

Perhaps, but in all honesty, do you think we actually will?

Yes. Ralph wanted him and gave him a new contract to be his number 1. The new (younger) keeper coming in will be as a number 2, on less wages and with the opportunity to fight for the shirt. I'd be absolutely amazed if we signed a Henderson on £100k a week. Just don't see that happening at all. Doesn't mean the number 2 can't replace McCarthy of course. If he doesn't, then we have fucked up again, as we did with Gunn

Yeah, sounds about right. Again, I struggle to see who is gonna pay £17m for him. If anyone pays that, good luck to them. Liverpool want shot. I don't see a huge queue of takers. As a lower tier Prem side, we need to act like some of the continental sides, that will take these `failed' Prem stars, but certainly won't be forking out big fees or indeed paying them the same monstrous wages.

Why would he cost £30m? He cost West Ham about that and he clearly ain't good enough for them, so who is paying the same amount for him now? Think of him as Lemina. We paid £16m, he didn't work out, and you then have to accept whatever is offered (£5m) or you end up paying that £100k a week for years with little or nothing back in return. Obviously every player has a value, but what clubs can pay £100k a week AND want him?

"There wont be a revolution" = not much will change - the books will still need to balance and we will be self-sustaining. "We will be in a better position to buy earlier in the window" = we will have the cash flow to buy first and then recoup outgoings afterwards, rather than the other way around. Other than that, it will continue to be buy low (cheap and young) sell high (at the right price/time for club and player). "no holds barred" means we will be doing everything possible, within our budget, to improve the side in any position. We wont be settling with what we (players) have got. We will look to offload and replace. We will look at every market/avenue etc. Doesn't mean it will happen, but we wont be resting on our laurels. Same as every year.

on the basis that we are in the Prem and have a £114m wage bill last year, we are one of the few clubs that can afford the wages of an unwanted Prem player. Not saying we want him and will go for him, but we 'd have as a good a chance as most. This is another one where if we want him, we should offer £0 and take on his wages. If West Ham find a buyer good luck to them.

Bale potentially staying in Madrid and playing for Getafe is the latest story.

James Tarkowski talking to Everton according to BBC's Simon Stone.

Football Insider - no idea of their credibility - said that he had taken a wage cut from his `just shy of £100k a week contract'.

I'd like to add that having been `forced' out on loan and `messed about' and `not valued' by Ralph, he no doubt had his nose put out of joint and as a result would have been dead set on departing once his contract was up - the `love' for the club having long gone. His departure is down to the manager and of course himself not wanting to stay. As with any player leaving for another Prem team, I hope he is fucking shit when we come up against them.

another player that hasn't cut it at a big club, yet they still want paying. They got him for peanuts and should not get any more than peanuts in return. Annoys me when the likes of Liverpool make a huge profit on a `failed' signing.

I struggle to get that Newcastle goal out of my head. Such a blistering strike. He has a good touch and clearly can finish, but he just didn't have much of an impact in a lot of the games last time. You just wanted him to get on the ball more, take the game by the scruff of the neck and cause problems. He just never seemed to get in between the lines. It was all really disappointing after such a great start. Are there any extenuating circumstances that we can point to?

Bravo.

hmm, I didn't read `passes to opponents a lot', so not so sure.

Fair point, and I don't see any reason why he should rejoin Saints, who are we to him these days? but if he goes to Cardiff, then it certainly wont be on the basis of a £20m outlay.

Hummel goalkeeper shirts rock.

As I said, either the new club pays it or United pays the difference.

yep 2023, with an option for another year. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47169999 He ain't walking away from a £100k a week contract, so if United want to lose him from their wage bill, that £100k a week will need to be made up somehow, either by the new club or the new club and united.

Bale was `injured' pretty much the entire season, yet missed just three games when loaned out to Spurs the year before. Perhaps some of those injuries at Real were not injuries?