CSA96

Being announced at 2pm

What would Plymouth be looking for in return for Laurent Tolaj? 24 years old, 6ft, can hold the ball up and run in behind, got 21 goals in L1 last season. Feels like the sort of profile worth looking at

True, but he has none of those things if he isn't on the pitch. Availability is the best ability, or whatever it is they say. I would've been pretty nervous about trying to get through a 46-game season with just Ross and Larin. Soon as Ross went down (which he would've at some point) Larin would've been getting absolutely flogged

That's a shame, but I am not too gutted Ross has gone. He's a good Champ striker on his day but there's just too many ?s with him. I wouldn't want to be trying to get through an entire 46-game season with him and Larin praying for no injuries...

We also got the sell-on clause in there, which means that eventually what we sold for will be approx £50m

Back in football as the new Auxerre boss, finished 15th in Ligue 1 last season

SSN's correspondent for Newcastle is backing it up

Would seem odd to play a German third division side a week or so before the season, that's typically when we - and other similar clubs - ramp up and test ourselves against top division sides from abroad

Transfer window isn't open and Newcastle contract doesn't expire until June 30, so presumably nothing with Wolves is anything more than a pre-agreement until July 1, when he would actually be under a binding contract

Not sure where else to put this but... Wolves sacking Rob Edwards:

He's said he's taking a break from football and isn't taking another job this season

More quotes from Solak today speaking to Alfie House in the Echo re: the club's financial situation and why he's feeling positive about the outlook Summarising the figures he disclosed in the interview below, as I know they pop up in discussions from time to time and it might be handy to reference them -- 2025/26 season, just gone: £45m repaid in bank loans, £57m paid in transfer fee instalments Current status going into next season... BANK LOANS (Covid loan taken under Gao) June 2025 - balance: £90m owed in bank loans June 2026 - balance: £45m owed in bank loans TRANSFERS June 2025 - balance: £99m owed in transfer fee instalments June 2026 - balance: £42m owed in transfer fee instalments -- He also called out that the club hasn't been budgeting operational costs with the parachute payment money, so the final payment of £40m for the 2026/27 season will be directed to the Covid loan The impact of that would bring the bank loan balance to £5m which he anticipates clearing in a year's time, making the club debt-free at that point Other talking points from the latest quotes: - Solak is not concerned on transfer payments, as instalments are commonplace and our receivables outweigh our payables - He called out that the wage bill is still far beyond a normal Championship wage bill, this is a legacy situation where our former PL players received a % pay cut upon relegation, but that pay cut is never going to reduce them all the way to 'normal' Championship salaries, otherwise why would a player sign the agreement - If the club is in the Championship still for 27/28 then Solak will still expect a top four finish and the budget given to the sporting director and manager will match that and still be better the vast majority of the league (minus the parachute clubs) - He has never seen a penny of the parachute payment funds as they've always gone to servicing the debt directly - Said that the Covid loan (interest rate approx 9.2% which was £7.2m per year against the value in year 1) and the almost £250m outlay on players in the two seasons where we got relegated have been the biggest obstacles since he took control of the club at the start of 2022 - 'We have some business developments that will come in next year, and we want to further develop the whole commercial side of the business' - Said he has personally been leading those bigger projects since he took the chairmanship a year ago

Got my refund over a week ago and had a phone call yesterday from the ticket office to process the return of the booking fee

It remains a work of art

Too young for the Stuart Taylor announcement?

It's been said before but since people are still going on about it for some reason... AC Milan want Rangnick to come in as a director, not as the coach. Pochettino, Glasner and whichever other coaches have nothing to do with the possibility of Rangnick going in as a director at Milan and hiring Spors to work with him and oversee the football dept

Part of me is surprised he’d drop to L1 when his last job in England had him getting promoted to the PL and the other part of me thinks it makes some sense It should be straightforward enough to get Leicester promoted and that will mean he gets a 12 month run up to playing in the Championship again, during which team he’ll have been able to teach his style of play etc against lower calibre opponents with much less in terms of resources. Leicester is one of the biggest/best non-PL clubs in terms of stature and infrastructure, even while they’re down in L1

He also got injured while working for us, then had a bunch of connected injuries, which players often lay at their rehab. We've rushed/pushed him too much a couple of times too It's just business. He is nearly 30 and this is gonna be his last 'big' contract, he needs to get it right and he needs to get some security for himself too

Šolak: I think the Daniel signing is a statement. I hope that in the next couple of days that we will have more that will show that very early in the window, actually even before the window opens I think, that we are showing that we mean serious business.

Could we sell him to United and get Wilcox to loan him back to us for a year?

Solak says he has authorised the signing of a top player who can be creative and help Finn Azaz, as right now all of our creative reliance in midfield is on Azaz and if he's having a quiet game we don't have anyone else. Having another player like that will help, we can play the two together and/or rotate them Otherwise, he says that business this summer will be based on signing direct replacements for any players who leave. Happy with squad size and team showed last season what they are capable of, so doesn't feel it needs a huge overhaul like in previous years