CSA96

All depends who fed the story out there. Could just as easily have been the agent drumming things up and rocking the boat. Will all become clear soon enough anyway.

Yeah, very true. We spent loads last summer, spent more in January to try and dig ourselves out of a hole and we still have the Covid debt to clear. We've made a lot in transfer fees this window but the drop in revenue is also very steep.

I wondered if it was Swansea trying to smoke out more bidders. By all accounts there's more than one interested party for Piroe and there's still time to go before the window shuts. The wording of that story being 'are closing in' is interesting too, rather than it just being reported as being done and the player doing a medical. Maybe I'm totally wrong but if I was Swansea, that's what I'd be doing and trying to draw the other bidders out as soon as Leeds made a formal approach. Maybe they just really don't want to do business with us and are happy to accept £12m from Leeds instead (but it feels like they could get more...)

Swansea manager Michael Duff on Joel Piroe's future: "I don't know if they [Leeds] have tabled a bid or not," he said. "I'm the same as everyone else. Things will happen quickly at this stage of the window now, because they have to. If the board and Paul (Watson) make that decision, we'll react to it. So as far as I'm aware, it's a no at the minute. But I don't know if anything's happened or anything's happening. Obvious it's first thing on Thursday, so I've not met any of the players or anything like that yet. "There's a week left. There's one game left between now and when the window shuts. So one way or the other there's going to be clarity anyway. "It's not ideal that it's rumbling on this long, no. But I'm not in control of that part of it." "That'll be the outcome over the next week," he added. "I imagine he'll either sign a deal or he'll be sold. I don't envisage the club letting him run his contract down, because I don't think it would make economic sense. "There has been conversations with Joel. It's not a case of 'I'm not signing a contract'. There has been a dialogue between the club, his agent, and Joel. Where that's at, I don't know." "I've had conversations with him saying that I'd like him to stay. The club have been in dialogue with him. But until there's a decision made one way or the other, and it moves fast. Over the off-season and during the early parts of pre-season, it's prolonged and it takes a bit of time. "But when you get to this. He might come in this morning saying he's signed the contract, and he might come in and say he's driving up the road somewhere. “I’m the same as everyone else, I’m just waiting for those decisions to be made.”

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/swansea-city-reject-bid-nathan-27582648 Swansea City head coach Michael Duff says the club have rejected an offer for centre-back Nathan Wood. Reports emerging on Wednesday claimed Southampton had lodged an offer of around £10million for the 21-year-old, who's emerged as a key target for former Swans boss Russell Martin. While admitting Southampton's interest is genuine, suggestions of a bid were initially strongly denied by club sources. But Duff has since claimed the club have now rebuffed a concrete approach for the centre-back. "I think there's a bid, yeah," he said when asked about the speculation. "I think it got rejected. It's a sign of having good players. If no one's bidding for any of the players then we'd be useless. We think we've got some good players. "Woody's one of those. He's got loads and loads of work to do, but he's got a high ceiling in terms of his footballing ability and his attributes as well. "As an ex-centre-half I'll try to help him as much as I can, and we'll see what happens." Pressed on whether the bid was from Southampton, he added: "I know there was a bid. I've read the same Sky Sports News as you." It's not clear how much the bid was, nor is there yet any clarity on how much it will take to prise Wood away from SA1. "I don't get involved in that part of the conversation," Duff insisted. "There will be a valuation of every player. If it's met, they get sold. That's the food chain. It doesn't matter where you are in the football world."

£10m for Aribo

Scratch that potential replacement off...

To be fair, Norwich scored when they did have the ball

No, not really. Probably just exhausted from shitting half his body weight out in six days.

VG in Norway reporting that we are close to signing Johan Hove from Groningen. 22 year old CM/AM, No 8 for Groningen and Norway int'l up to U21 level.

Because the more you spend, the better the player, duh. Just ask Tall Paul and Guido Carrillo.

If Adam Armstrong was five inches taller and broader build, you mean?

Yep. Which is presumably why we’re spending more time focusing on deal structure with Everton, rather than pushing the fee one or two million higher and then having to split it with Birmingham anyway.

Sounds like Unai Emery would like another forward to compete with Watkins, but can't do it unless Archer goes on loan or a club buys him.

Potentially interesting nuance to consider - Ché Adams and Cameron Archer both have the same agency representing them. They will be more than aware of the club's stance of 'Ché can't leave unless we can get one of our preferred replacements in' - and it might give them a chance to do a second deal. Now whether Archer is on that list of preferred replacements is another thing, but you would assume from his profile that he very much fits with what Saints and Martin like.

Martin was delighted the club were able to complete the move and he is excited about the qualities Downes will add. "He's a brilliant character, he's a winner, someone who's aggressive and a brilliant athlete too,” he said. “We've got a great relationship, myself, Gilly, him and the rest of the staff, so he knows what he's coming into and that will speed him up, because he knows the work and he's done it before. “He's a real winner, a brilliant teammate and someone who's got a lot of quality on the ball, which is obviously why West Ham took him to the Premier League and I think he feels really hungry to get playing football again because he hasn't played as much as he would have liked in the last year. “So he has hunger, he has character, he has a lot of talent and he has a lot of physicality as well. “He was a massive favourite with the players, the staff and the fans at Swansea and I'm sure he'll be the same here.”

I'm only having luck when it's a Twitter URL and I am posting from desktop by copy and paste.

“It’s been a tough week, struggling with illness a little bit, but it feels good to finally be here, to get it over the line, and I’m just excited to get going,” he said. “I was hoping to be involved on the weekend. Long story short, I had a bit of dodgy food off my own back – I’m not going to blame the missus. I got food poisoning, felt like I was on my deathbed, lost a lot of weight, so it’s not ideal, but it is what it is. I’m over it now, we live and we learn, I won’t be eating raw chicken liver ever again!” “That was the best year I’ve had in my career,” Downes said of his Swansea spell. “The way we played suited me down to a tee and I just found I slotted right in. I loved coming in every day – I think that’s a big thing. “It’s a good watch, I’m sure all the fans are happy with it. It’s a great style of play – what team doesn’t want to dominate the ball like Man City? I think every team wants to be like that. “I feel like I’m an all-round type of player. I suppose I like to do a bit of everything – I like to defend, pass the ball, win the ball back, dribble with it, so a bit of everything really. “I spoke many times with the West Ham gaffer and I came to the conclusion I wanted to play week in, week out. Obviously I know West Ham have signed a lot of midfielders, so I knew that would be tough, but I think a lot of things just appealed to me here. “The ambition for the club is obviously to get promoted, to get back in the Premier League, and that enticed me a lot. You look at the squad we’ve got here, I think we’ve got a very, very good chance of that, so it’s looking good.”

Official.

Boehly needs to get his hands in his pockets if he's going to build a side that can compete with West Ham

Ché Adams is not turning down a 4yr/5yr contract on PL terms (for now, anyway) when he's 27 and has 1yr left on his current deal (which has fallen by 40% due to relegation). And nor should he be.