Dman

That's a bit OTT.

the co-commentator here is absolutely insufferable

I'm going to give the benefit of doubt ot MF here. I suspect this was his Agent telling him he'd been given permission to travel. His agent has been working like a dog to get him a move and the best her can muster up is West Ham. Not ideal.

Is this when you say "now were cooking bro"

Nah I agree. More than capable at this level imo. Reviewing Hypo's absolute headloss at the signing, when he turns out to actually be alright will be brilliant.

Like it or not, players like Fernandes are brought to sell on in 1-2 years time at a profit. I'm relatively happy with the model, so long as the money is re-invested and we continue to find players like Fernandes, Alcaraz etc. High risk, but In that respect, its been a success for SR. I'd rather us sign and sell players like Fernandes, than sign dross like Aribo etc. who we cannot shift.

I suspect a couple of bad defeats this week have escalated the situation.

After this sell though, there is absolutely no excuse for SR to not go out and bring in a top quality attacking player. Wether that is Sargent, Fellows, that russian geezer or another. We absolutely have £20m to go out and find a match winner and someone who'll take us up.

He doesn't at all. He, Charles & Downes are all the same player essentially - obviously MF is a level above the latter 2. They want to play "the number 8" get on the ball and drive forward. We've been vunerable on the counter and that is because our CM's are all too high. For me, obviously without seeing them in the flesh, this German lad and Azaz, suit the system mucher greater than MF does.

From what I've seen / read, I think he looks pretty decent, if I'm honest.

Unsurprising, he clearly wanted out, we're not keeping a £40m player in the champ and tbh, I think he's replaceable. However, if given their start weve not got £50m, that'll be very disappointing. Good luck to the lad.

Apparently he’s had a fall out with a few player… imagine my shock. one of those is supposedly Raskin. Tidy little CM, wouldn’t mind a go if true

This is a brilliant watch. Only 3-0 but could easily be 7 or 8. Carved open like a turkey on the kitchen table. reminds me of his final days as our manager (Tottenham game). Couldn’t happen to a better bloke.

Regardless of how high QPR fans rated him, he’s not for us. How many other players from QPR would you take…? My guess is probably none.

Based on everything I’ve seen, he’s really average. Telling only QPR, a side more likely to be battling relegation than a top half finish, are after him. stick a decent sell on clause in and we’ll be laughing.

I kind of get it. Generally speaking, if you're getting someone in on loan in the championship, its because they're not good enough for the leauge above. You run the risk, as we did Downes, of getting a player who is key to the system to the point where you can't not sign them, but not good enough to step up and/or outside of that system. Downes having such a good season for us meant we probably paid 5m over what we should have.

Charles / Downes, Fernandes* Guilvaogui** Azaz Robinson Archer Is what I'd be looking at. Maybe slightly attacking, but at this level, you're not getting much better than that. * assuming he stays ** assuming he signs and we dont get another.

i don't disagree with the fact they're pretty average players, but they were experienced in this leauge (top end in the case of THB). Hindsight is wonderful, but we absolutely overpaid for them.

maybe he'll score more when played out on the wing then 😂

The difference is, this fella looks to be a genuine winger (what we need) and has attributes outside of a few goals. Pace, power etc. BBD has absolutely nothing going for him. Too slow to be a winger, doesn't appear to be a genuine number 9, appalling first touch etc.

I said it previously, but if we can find a way to get the best out of Archer, he'll be the leading scorer in the leauge this year. Still managed it with Balagon, who has a similar profile, it'd be interesting to see if he can do something simiar here. The key will be a quality number 10. I think Azaz would fit the bill nicely.

I tend to agree tbf. Whilst not polific, over the past 3 years, regular game time in Ligue 1 and bundesliga is something that not many of our other attacking players would get. So he's clearly doing something right. Wouldn't be keen if he is our star signing, but certainly looks like he could do a job for us. Getting some quality in the 10 is what we deseperatley need to not skimp out on.

I thought that of Sugawara and BBD and they were possibly one of the worst players, pound for pound, that i've seen in a saints shirt.

I reckon at the very least, we'll get 2 wingers in and a number 10. Azaz, Guilavogui, Rak-sakyi. If we go into the Skate game with a starting 11 that loosely resembles something like this, I'd be relateivly comfortable; Bazunu Mads, Stephens, THB, Manning Charles, Downes (MF will be off imo). Rak-sakyi Azaz Robinson Archer

On the face of it.. Pro's: You'd have to imagine Will Still knows him and has signed the deal off. Must see something in him. (however he went out on loan a month after WS joined the Lens as manager...) Probably relatively cheap. Cons: Seemingly everything else.