Chez

That figure sounded right when he was running rings around Brighton at their place, but he's done so little in the second half of the season, it now looks almost silly. That said, he clearly is very talented, so you wouldn't want to sell him cheaply knowing what he can do at his best. I am not sure why he dropped off. Partly him, partly the team?

Yep. I am guessing he's not signed a new contract because we haven't offered him what his agent has requested rather than him wanting to leave. That might have been a ridiculous sum (at the time he was flying high), who knows, but now we are in the championship we can't really offer him mega money and so getting a deal done is going to be even harder. That said, I don't think its a foregone conclusion that he departs this summer simply because the club is not going to let him go on the cheap. They do need to balance the books, but I don't think they will accept a low Spurs-like bid. Not sure what that satisfactory amount would be. Pretty high I would guess. I'm glad they put that £100m figure out there, as it's a sign they rate him very very highly indeed. So, unless a PL side make a serious offer he will be here next season.

Interesting argument, but how does spending pretty much nothing on, for example, the Brooks loan mean we had less money to spend on getting promotion? Whatever money we saved on not buying him while in the championship was then available to spend last summer. Which we did, on Fernandes and others. Loans allow you to get borderline PL players in your squad without having to buy them, which is great, but then with the flexibility at the end of the loan to send them back or try and sign them permanently. Also great. If the alternative is spending, say £15-20m on a player while in the championship, then on promotion (hopefully), you won't have that £15-20m used the previous summer in the bank to spend. In the end, promotion is what matters and if that means loaning five players in this summer, that's fine with me. Let's worry about strengthening a promoted side to deal with the PL having actually got promoted. That doesn't mean we shouldn't sign a player on a permanent this summer, but if we do, they had better players that we are confident can make the leap.

I'm with you. He was such a critical player in the promotion season and that midfielder area is a weakness. Charles may have got praise from Wednesday fans, but he didn't actually play a holding midfield role and I am not sure he knows how to. We need to protect the back four far better. The new manager needs to get players like him onside and the team working as one.

You are putting it mildly. JWP had had a pretty good season in the PL before his move and after several seasons of playing pretty damn well at that level. THB has had one season in the PL and wasn't impressive. JWP was tried and tested. If you buy THB you are buying potential.

A single cap gained almost by default isn't going to push the needle massively, but perhaps other clibs will see his potential. Plus I think the club will want keep him, so he won't be allowed to leave cheaply.

Yeah, can't see Ipswich paying what we'd want, but that would obviously be a good solution for all parties.

£30-35m sounds a lot for a defender that has not been good at the top level yet. Kilman went for £40m, but he had played well.

He was discussed on the previous page of this thread. Would be a good option. We'd probably need to offload one of Bree or Sugawara though. Is that likely?

Interesting question. Whenever I have watched him I didn't think he did enough in games. He can play a bit, but I didn't see him busting a gut or dominating an opponent. He just seemed a little too casual to me. I suspect he and Chelsea wont want him in the Championship on loan nd I wouldn't be spending £20m+ on him in the summer.

Obviously we don't know who is departing yet, so what holes need filling nd how much we have to play with, but as a guide we only spent £10m last time we went down on transfers with the THB fee deferred and some loans on top.

Only got a year left on his contract, so that limits his price a little bit. You might be right, but Villarreal seem to think that price is about right: https://www.pinkun.com/sport/norwich-city/25138159.norwich-city-villarreal-transfer-link-borja-sainz/

Fair point. But 10 in 28 is not too bad in his first season. Solanke didn't score many in his first few seasons with them. I fancy he will score a few next season if we stays free of injury. The Heijsen signing using the money was a pretty decent upgrade too. Lets see if they can find another to fill that gap.

Likewise. Pretty amazing rise by them. Madrid don't sign many players from the PL either. And you have to go back to Laurie Cunningham from West Brom in 1979 for a signing from a `small club'.

Sold Solanke for £65m, and lost Kelly on a free to Newcastle last summer, bought Evanilson for £35m and Huijsen for £12m. I think you might be right.

good point. Coventry deserve better than having him walk this summer.

he's the fella that likes championship manager, right? The entire industry is trying to emulate/catch up with Liverpool's massive spend on data analysis that seems to have been at the heart of their success, so you can bet any manager we employ will need to be fully invested in that element. I'm guessing Will Still will be.

He has always spoken well and comes across as a bit more intelligent than the average player. Neither mean he is a good manager, but it's a start. I really liked his Derby side of a few years back. Personally, I'd be pretty happy with his appointment. We need a breath of fresh air to turn this shitshow around and he might have it in him. However, he doesn't feel like a SR manager to me.

Sure, the parachute payment means our income is higher, but if you are spending it all on a disorganised rabble of overpaid, unconfident, brow-beaten players' wages, then do we truly have an advantage? Perhaps. The same applies to the transfer budget. More to spend, but if it's not spent well, then you are not adding assets you are just adding more dead weight. If it's a choice between us and Wednesday, then we are probably still the more attractive option, especially after the season Wednesday had off the field, but if they are bought out, it's a whole new ball game and they could have a decent budget themselves. Just because we managed to bounce straight back last time, it doesn't mean it's easy. Our squad on paper is certainly better than Wednesday's, but there is a massive job for the next manager to do to turn a shit show into a promotion wining side.

Seeing as he won Preston's player of the year in the championship, I would imagine he'd fancy a go at the PL perhaps with one of the promoted clubs? You'd think there would be some interest at that level. If not, would be a good option for us, as Sugawara has been fucking shit so far. Also, if you want KWP mark II, then he's your man, as he's aonther skilful full back that can get out of tight spaces/keep possession. Some clips here, all be it from 2022

Chelsea wanted £30m for him (I think that was the price agreed with Everton should they want him). Everton are not spending that. He's hardly played for them. Calvert Lewin also looks likely to depart, but these guys are too famous to not get interest from abroad. Bamford strikes me as being more likely, are perhaps exactly what we need...except the fact he's always injured.

There was a suggestion on the New manager' thread that Peterborough's Poku would be a good signing. Copying my reply to that post across to this more suitable thread: Just spent a week on holiday talking football with a Birmingham ST holder who is from Sheffield. Poku is a player the bluenoses are looking at. The talk at Birmingham is having a budget to match the parachute clubs like us and of signing players this summer good enough for the Prem (and targeting CL in five years), so they are very very ambitious. I'd suggest we should be interested in anyone they are interested, Poku being one of them. If you have not seen him, he's a very left footed right winger. He is a good dribbler, likes cutting inside and shooting. He does go outside to keep the fullback honest, but I think we all know by now that that `third' of the pitch inside the fullback is the place where most goals come from, so maybe we get someone in that can actually score goals, like he does from that position. He's not lightning quick, but he is more robust than Edozie. I'd be surprised if we hadn't scouted him, Raki-Sakyi and a few others to play on that right side, especially if we are going to offload Armstrong. As for Wednesday, Charles won their player of the season, but many saw Gassama as the better talent. He's another winger, this time right footed (with a stronger `swinger' than Poku) who seemed comfortable on either side. He scored a few last season. He's not lightening quick either, but I thought he looked a little more dynamic than Poku, maybe a bit more acceleration? Like Poku, he has tricks and a nice drop of the shoulder. After him, Valery did OK for them, suiting their system, but not sure we want to go back there.

Why Delilah?

Kill me now.

I'm more than happy to have an ambitious manager that will happily move to a bigger club. And if it happens, so much the better, as it means he has actually done well here. The same applies the players. do they want to stay at Saints long term should not be on the list of interview questions.