Chez

Whatever that fee was for Gray, no one paid it last summer. The question therefore is, what fee would they have been willing to pay, and thus what do they deem acceptable in terms of signing on fee and wages next summer. As a free agent he will certainly demand decent wages, but how much is is he worth? A four year contract can be a lead weight if he doesn't shine. A six month loan now, to give you a good chance to look at him, makes a lot of sense if you intend to offer him a multi-million pound contract come July. Good option off the bench at the very least. I guess it depends if the funds are there justify it.

Agree, not to mention that there are very few `wingers' that turn it on week after week, season after season. Beating men all ends up is extremely hard, yet as fans we expect wide men to do it not just every season, but every game, maybe even every single one on one. Our expectation levels can be just too high IMO. When you find a player that can do it (beat a man) you need to wrap an arm round them, build their confidence and keep them on a high for as long as possible. You have to back them, keep picking them, keep encouraging them to go at the fullback and not give up on them when they have a quite game. Easy when its Messi and Giggs, less so when you have a Redmond. Redmond is actually one of the few players in the Prem that can skip past opponents at ease. He lacks that killer speed, but when his confidence is high he is good to watch. At Brum Gray used to fly, but he is going to need an arm round him too after two seasons of sitting on the bench. I wonder also if Ralf can get the best out of Djenepo. He hasn't so far.

Significant signings these. The youth system hasn't found a star for a while. Possibly one or two here.

You're right, £300k for Ramello Mitchell wasn't it and £400k on Jeremi Rodriguez last year? Did we spend big money on Diamond Edwards the year before that too? These are serious investments. Very excited to see how they and others pan out over the next three years.

Chelsea paid Rangers an initial £500,000 for a 16 year old Billy Gilmore. That is what we are up against.

not sure we have the satellite operations like Chelsea does to be able to exploit that to its full. I might be wrong.

increasingly hard to attract the best young talent when faced with the likes of Chelsea spread their academy wings so far outside London.

he's played 18 minutes in the Prem this season. He started just three Prem games last season. I guess that means nothing more than Leicester have better options, but I just wonder if we see him in a very different light to Foxes fans. I suggested we sign him from Brum back in 2015, and I still think he is an exciting player, but for those who get frustrated by Redmond, I think he may offer similar end product. He certainly couldn't hit a barn door with a banjo against us on occasion, all be it after dribbling past numerous defenders.

New Burnley chairman Alan Pace seems to think so: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-9107001/They-big-ambitions-transforming-club-ALK-Capital-bought-Burnley.html Not sure why he choose to pick us out, or by what measure he has used to come to that conclusion. I guess its been a while since a superstar has emerged from our youth system. Not sure `destroyed' is fair. Underperformed? Failed to match the five years previous, perhaps. Any thoughts?

Gray was in the Brum youth team when Redmond was there though.

He joined Brum the season after Gray left

sure, which it great motivation for the player to wait to be out of contract - all monies go to them and none to the selling club - but in that scenario, the buying club still saves £5m - so good for them to wait too. It may also depend if Leicester have a replacement lined up that they can sign in January.

Admittedly I didn't write my post very well, but in the first part was hoping he will score lots of goals and the second part was me suggesting that if he did, we could keep him and could continue to scores goals in the higher league or we can sell him at an increased fee. Quite right, he could be shit and no one wants to buy him any more. Not sure there is a huge queue right now.

I am far from convinced by Obafemi to date, so it will be interesting how he fairs in the Championship. I really hope he can get lots of games and scores for fun. At best he can carry that form across to the Prem, at worst he adds a few million to a possible fee.

Won't most clubs (especially in this financial climate) just wait until the summer and avoid the fee? He also would probably benefit from a higher wage if there was no fee to pay. I am wondering whether there is still interest from Spurs. Leicester signed him for bobbins, which possibly makes it easier to allow someone to leave for bobbins.

I notice `my mate' Joe Aribo started the old firm game yesterday. Anyone see that game? How did he look? He seemed to struggle to get a game last season, but seems more of a fixture in the Rangers side this.

is he actually any good? I've only ever seen him come on as a sub and he hasn't really impressed. The big hair certainly catches the eye. Has the Diallo signings effectively ended any interest?

He mostly plays in midfield, although I think he started off as a left back at Forest. Was pretty good as a midfielder at Forest, hence the move to United, but not really managed to hold down a place since that move. Did United play 4 or 5 at the back yesterday?

Yeah, he looks a decent player, but if he has played for the Dutch national team he may be beyond us.

when you see him show poise and composure before smashing a ball into the top corner at Old Trafford you do wonder if you have a talent on your hands, but the displays from KWP have been excellent, so it's not surprising he is looking for game time elsewhere. Not sure he will be missed, as he hasn't done enough to win the fans over yet. I am not sure we know what we have yet. He is a little too casual for me. There is room for improvement. A loan makes a lot of sense. If we sign Williams then we'd have left and right back cover.

which is why I asked for opinions. Have you seen him play? Is he talented. You can actually pick up stuff from youtube videos. They are obviously made to make the player look good, so if you watch them with a hyper critical hat on and then spot things that don't impress you, then you know their may be a problem. As I mentioned, he's very one footed in the video. I saw him use his right peg once. There isn't a lot of shooting either. I wonder about his strength.

I have this nagging feeling that he perhaps had his best games for Leicester against us. And those games actually showed up why Leicester fas are not sold on him, because he took us apart but missed chances and made poor decisions. Hard to shift Djenepo, Walcott has been very good (so you'd imagine we'd want to sign him if the wage demands are OK) and Redmond has struggled this season, but at his best would be picked ahead of Djenepo.

Anyone seen much of Michael Olise (Reading)? His youtube video suggests he's a talent, an excellent dribbler, with some silky skills, but very very one footed. Doubt Reading will sell anyone at this point, and not sure he fits our style, but I'm interested in other opinions.

Geordies would be a good option for Williams. They are certainly looking for a left back. The Chronicle offers some left back options https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/10-jamal-lewis-alternatives-newcastle-19541403 I liked the look of Wolves' Ruben Vinagre, but I guess that ship has sailed with his season long move, although not sure he has played much at Olympiacos.

only thing I want to say is this high line defence at free kicks is an absolutely terrible idea. Pretty much every free kick the opponents get close to scoring. It is down to nothing more than luck that we have not conceded several goals already. The first couple of times it made sense and caught players offside (and the odd player still is caught offside) but increasingly the player that heads the ball is not and if analysts do their job, every side in the Prem will know we do this. Time to stop it.