verlaine1979

I never really disliked him, just thought the praise here was overblown for a player who seemed to define workmanlike averageness whenever I watched him. But then I always preferred Zidane to Deschamps.

Elyounoussi will still have two years left on his contract when he returns next summer - coming out now and stating he'll never be good enough to play for us would only upset the player and depress what little transfer value he has.

His finishing is still rubbish though.

Yup, annoyingly good pass - absolutely perfectly weighted first time.

So RLC's subsidy from Chelsea would be more than we pay our top earner. That'd be quite a striking illustration of how the other half live, especially if he spends any significant amount of time in the treatment room.

Diallo, Grujic + a punt on a cheap/loan AM that none of us have heard of would be a good end to the window.

Wonder how well we'd do with Diallo/Grujic - Armstrong/JWP - Redmond/Ings as our 2-2-2? (not that I think we'll get two DMs)

Apparently they want £18m for him.

Not watching tonight, but I'd take Grujic over any of the names mentioned so far.

Probably loan fee + 100% of his wages.

Nope - based on what RH has said, we need 2, probably 3 additional players, and only getting one would undermine the team and the manager.

Eh, he did okay, but still seemed to want to win headers against Wood by leaning towards the ball rather than jumping. He's a better option than Stephens in that situation, but only just.

I'm not sure you understand what that word means. You seem to be under the misapprehension that any injection of capital would immediately make the club unsustainable. On the contrary, investment can make a business both more valuable and better able to cope with the vicissitudes of competition and other temporary fluctuations. On the other hand, if you mean 'self-sustaining', there are very few examples of closed systems that are entirely self-sustaining. Whether you're talking about businesses or organisms, over time they tend to either consume themselves, or are consumed by larger rivals.

It's four years worth of highlights (includes his debut goal if I'm not mistaken) and there's quite a bit of repetition. I'd say it actually illustrates (to someone who has watched him play week in, week out) that a) he doesn't actually take on defenders very often and b) his end product is usually a pop straight at the keeper.

They've spent between £80-110m more than they've sold over the past five seasons, and by these reports are looking to spend significantly before the end of the window. Interestingly, Transfermarkt have us with an exact net spend of zero for the window so far. Coincidence, taking the piss, or a genuine signal that the owner really won't sanction any spending that isn't matched by an equivalent sale or loan out?

Veerman sounds more like a central AM than a defensive midfielder.

My point was just that the assist was doing the basics well, not an example of great vision or understanding. As for his goal against city, it wasn't a fluke, but he'll get one chance like that in his whole career. On balance I care a lot less about the rare worldly than the decent chances he spaffs away every week by having no composure.

Happy that he got the assist yesterday, though it was a percentages cutback rather than actually aimed at Ings. Then a typical swing and a miss when presented with an opportunity to show some composure. Also got severely outpaced by a Burnley CB when he had a clear yard head start. Still not seeing anything to suggest he's anything more than a championship level player.

Spot on. We were absolute toss and nicked three points by virtue of being ever so slightly less awful. If you're watching that as a neutral, you'd say both teams are likely to be well in the mix for relegation.

I disagree - domestic success and exposure in Europe is probably more valuable than being associated with a PL relegation candidate.

Unless the player has an unusually far-sighted manager who thinks it'll be better for his long term chances to shine in a solid PSV side rather than struggle at Saints. Bit like whoever is advising all the young stars to pick Dortmund rather than sit on the bench at Chelsea or City.

Ares are a pretty huge, which makes me curious why they'd get into bed with someone as small time as DaGrosa.

He was absolutely superb at Monaco. When they knocked City out of the Champion's League a few years ago, he looked better than Fabinho.

Building a brand is expensive if you didn't already become one during football's heyday. It's not for nothing that the only two clubs attempting to join the famous old guard on the global stage are owned by countries, rather than individuals.

He seems similar to William Carvalho in stature and style of play - he looks a bit slow and ungainly from YT clips, but hard to tell if that's just a consequence of how big he is.