Chez

in terms of youth talent, them and Chelsea seem to grab pretty much anyone decent south of Birmingham. Seems along time ago now that Shaw chose us ahead of Chelsea. Not sure we beat them to the punch these days with all the money they throw at the youth system.

I wonder how we sell ourselves now?

Nothing has changed. Unless someone (Spurs) pays us what we value him (and not what they want to pay) for the last year of his contract, he will see out his contract. Not sure that social media post points to anything. The idea the club is conning fans is madness and do fans really make a decision on a ST purchase based on whether a star player stays or goes?

Patson Daka £23m. About half what Chelsea paid for Werner. I guess about the same we paid for Ings. I'm fascinated to see how he fairs.

fair question, but work well for us with WGS. Decent mangers can get relegated. Someone has to relegated and circumstances are often beyond the control of a manager - inheriting a shit squad and shit youth system for starters.

we have seemingly been in the same market for left backs, whether thats true, who knows, but it will be interesting to see how he and our own new left bak signing compare.

fine lines. Muller scores and who knows what happens. For me the 5 at the back doesn't work and leaves CBs not marking strikers. What do I know though.

you are probably right there, but strikes me there are a few markets this summer. Prem+billionaire/oil money, rest of Europe with billionaire money, rest of Prem, rest of Europe. There are only so many teams in the top two brackets. Because of the Prem TV deal going through, there is a sizeable gap between rest of prem and rest of Europe as, although our finances have been hit hard by COVID, the european teams have possibly been hit harder. I think a lot of european club teams are going to be desperate to sell someone this summer to balance the books. Lille won the league, will have CL money, but are selling... With only, say, 15 `rest of prem' teams, and a fair amout of talent out there, that means our money, what little we have, should actually go a long way if buying from abroad. Mbappe might go for £200m or whatever, but £15m should get you some genuine talent. Not sure we should be looking at anyone from the Prem this summer like Williams etc. as there is better value from Europe I'd of thought.

I see Patson Daka has said he is joining Leicester. Pity.

Have to say that I was very impressed with Austria last night. The whole side was very comfortable on the ball, composed and willing/able to play through the press. Quite a few young players too. Alaba and Arnatovich obviously caught the eye a lot, but players like Baumgartner just 21 looked very comfortable at that level. Grillitsch especially looked like he could really play. Technically good, decent range of passes... He is out of contract next summer, but maybe is looking at bigger clubs than us.

Boy thats a wedge in the current climate, but I guess money is no object for them. Bernado is a cracking player. Has his nose been put out of joint by lack of game time? Can see him playing for Barca or suchlike.

maybe they have/will. I'd of thought any side looking to push on, like Villa, would have at least spoken to his agent to see what level he hoped to play at this or next season.

I worry though that our scouting system is not manned to the extent that players sent out on loan can all be watched most weeks.

Not arguing with what you are saying, but I get the feeling that bridges have been burned, things perhaps said, and neither wants to work with the other. I would be amazed if he ever played for us again unless the manager left this summer, which is unlikely.

I don't understand why we would not loan some players out that just need real game time, especially keepers and CBs. OK, so its less refined, but many lower eague sides play very good passing footbalI. If it is good enough for Harry Kane...

does he dominate strikers? If not, then I don't want to see him come here. We need an athlete, that is strong, pacey and can play a bit. I fear we are settling for players that a can do a job at the level. We need players that we will struggle to keep here a year or two later

One of the biggest problems we have had in recent times is signing players that don't work out and then can't shift because we are paying them more than anyone else is willing to. We are not alone. It's a Premiership wide problem. Good then that we have managed it here, all be it we have lost a fair chunk of cash in terms of transfer fee spent vs gained. Because we have made a fair few mistakes, and are not rich in superstars, every signing this summer needs to come off. They won't, but we must improve in terms of recruitment. No better place to start than in goal.

Gunn went off

full steam ahead on the mock tudor milton end makeover then.

he ain't ever been much more than a hard worker. He helped turn our fortunes around under Koeman, when his work rate against a few of the big sides helped us grab some unexpected but much needed points, but he is and always was extremely limited. Giving him a new year was us settling and sticking to what we new rather than do the necessary scouting work to get a replacement in. We filled a shirt and no more. The Theo signing feels very similar.

chose not to come to us in January on that basis, so unless we are the only option, he ain't going to now. Maybe he would provide a good replacement for JWP should we sell him to Villa.

We are going no where , looking to survive, not much more. If Villa are looking to spend money and make a challenge for the top six, is that a sideways move?

I refuse to watch or listen to anything with Savage on it. Mute button was made for him..

He's overrated IMO. No bad, but not top class either.

with the new rules of keepers having to stay on the their line you'd think it would never be easier to net. MLT-Beattie-Sir-Ricky spoiled us.