Chez

It really is the plan. Fantasy is a good word. I just can't see who is going to sign him. If we had not given him a contract, I wonder where he would have ended up? Everyone in the Prem seems set. Forest maybe looking for a keeper, but I don't see McCarthy going anywhere. Ralph made his choice, McCarthy has the contract and that's that.

If the philosophy is buy young and relatively cheap (we will know come the end of the window) and then use those signings to `slowly' replace the older more experienced players that are sold on/released, that perhaps makes sense given our budget and status in this league, but as you say, the issue is if the older/experienced guys aren't great. The young players don't have time to develop and our reliance on them can be too great. Doesn't mean it can't work. Several teams with almost all young players have done well. But those young players need to be bloody brilliant.

In which case, that's us out. But who has got £30m going spare and sees him as a good signing? I don't think they have a cat in hells chance of getting what they paid for him.

Hart played a full season on loan at Bum before playing for City, so wasn't quite overnight, but still made the jump without any issues.

he isn't, but he's shitter than West Ham hoped he would be, so he should go for less than they paid not more, right?

We paid £20m for Carrillo. We moved on for £0. If West Ham don't rate him and want to move him on, why do they get all their money back and more?

thanks for that. You really have added something there to this discussion.

Thanks. I was merely asking for your opinion. Let me try again. Do you not think retaining Cabellero is pretty much a sure thing, thus rather than signing two keepers, we will probably just bring in one. And if we do, do you think it is likely that its a relatively young keeper? I am not trying to trick you or win points, just have a discussion. If you don't care to join it, that's fine.

Do you not think Cabellero is pretty much a `sure thing', thus we sign one `new' younger keeper, like Bazanu or suchlike, to give us balance in terms of ages and career progression? McCarthy Bazanu Cabellero

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.