CSA96

Fulham are in for Iwobi now and Gray is potentially off to Saudi, so maybe they can get there...

With all due respect, what else can we do? If he’s been our manager’s ‘top target’ all summer (as reported) are we going to turn round and just tell the manager he’s not getting the striker he wants and needs to make his system work? There’ll be a risk assessment, an evaluation and a medical process before anyone is signed. The board will have also had to weigh this up and get comfortable with it before sanctioning any bids. I think Martin has earned the trust with this one - especially in such a crucial role - and if it fails, then it’ll be him who loses his job anyway. I’d sooner back him and him have no excuses than to not back the manager properly or give him a player he doesn’t actually want and then end up having to listen to how RM wasn’t backed by the board and that’s why we failed.

If this is who Martin wants, then go and get him. The medical staff would have been getting references and doing their own checks anyway before the board signed any eventual deal off. Tony Mowbray said he'd be back for selection from third week of September, in which case he'll miss the Leicester and (probably) Ipswich games and then be in the mix for Boro away on Sept 22.

Daily Record report opening offer of north of £5m for Ross Stewart rejected by Sunderland - anticipating second bid in £8m range to follow quickly. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-transfer-news/ross-stewart-sunderland-transfer-resolve-30819890

Tyler Dibling - and yes. Martin gave him some minutes in the first game or two of preseason before he went back to the U21 setup. Wow, did not realise Mitchell couldn't even get a club now. Remember when we picked him up from Birmingham City ahead of a pack of other clubs.

Real shame, he was getting on/near the bench and had a pretty low squad number for an academy lad in the mid 2010s (shirt number in the 30s, I think) Suffered the misfortune of three ACLs, I believe and had to have a load of different knee surgeries. Edit: Just seen chiknsmack's post above confirms the three ACLs, brutal.

Oh, I can

He didn't say that he'd have a stronger squad than the PL squad. He said he felt we would be in a stronger position than we were with 12 days or so of the window to go. How he qualifies that, I don't know as he wasn't pressed on it, but we will certainly have more clarity and more confirmed and committed depth rather than 'does that guy want to play for us this season?' hanging about.

That's Everton out of the running.

Everton get their striker

Led to this memorable tweet, too...

He has definitely been angling to go for a while behind the scenes. His agent was already trying to line up moves (to Bundesliga/Ligue 1) before our season had ended. She also represents Djenepo, so let's hope she's got him something in the pipeline too...

Sunderland in a bit of an injury crisis? I saw they had 10 or 11 players out for the Rotherham game and their main men going forward, Patrick Roberts and Ross Stewart, are both sidelined for this one too.

Palace seem the obvious ones currently, with Bournemouth lurking too. Wolves (if Nunes goes) and Forest (if Johnson goes to Spurs) will also have money burning a hole in their pockets. And then there's Fulham with the Mitrovic cash. He's probably not #1 option for anyone, but he will be on a few shortlists this week.

Medical with Nice in the morning - loan deal with a purchase option.

Thank fuck for that. Tell me it's permanent?

Kicks in at 1:55

God help Adam Blackmore if our strikers are Stewart and Armstrong with Stuart Armstrong in behind.

Flynniesta

Our transfer policy is not confusing. There are three main ‘buckets’ of players we are signing from. (Exc. free agents) 1. It’s pretty obvious that we’re prepared to spend £10m+ on players who we think are viable long-term (Shea Charles and seemingly Nathan Wood) because we think they will grow into starting calibre PL players over time and/or be a saleable asset with a strong profit. 2. However, we are not prepared to shell out on jobbers who might not be useful in 1yrs time, and then be stuck with them on long-term deals bloating the squad and soaking up the payroll. We will acquire these players on loan because they are handy to good at this level but past record suggests they’re not suitable PL starters and don’t warrant the long-term commitment at this point. 3. We can also acquire some rising talents that PL clubs have no interest in selling, but can be talked into loaning: ex. Downes. They’re too good for the Championship but are stuck in a backlog at their club. All of the above is perfectly sensible business and means the ownership have acknowledged the error of last season bloating the squad by just signing a mish-mash of different profiles for millions and millions each time and not moving anyone out. What they simply must get right - and this is the crux of it all - is that those who don’t want to stay and tell Martin they prefer to go are adequately replaced and that we end up with a dressing room that is both talented enough for the task at hand and also has grit and attitude to get stuck into the challenge ahead, something that has been sorely missing for too long.