Saint_clark

I didn't even clock that Vest is already 29, I wonder if no club comes in for him if he can be convinced to sign an extension.

Still not so sure. Only one team conceded more than us last season, but we scored more goals than 8 others and even the same amount as Everton up in 8th.

Generally when funds are limited it's a good idea to focus on where you are weakest, I too am surprised that having conceded 66 goals last season we haven't gone for a keeper and a centreback.

Very few clubs in the top leagues produce their own quality keepers. Most drop down the leagues and then work their way back up, making it back to the Prem once they have a decent chunk of experience.

At the time, possibly. Granted they were league winners but if we'd got in early enough we might have been able to swing it.

Not signing Evans was criminal, we should have been all over that. Available for less than £10million if I remember correctly.

Scratch that then, only just read the Armstrong thread and seen the interview with Mowbray. Fair enough.

A lot of reports of other teams coming in for Armstrong recently and then this transfer comes up out of nowhere. I hope I'm wrong, just all seems a little coincidental.

Anyone else get the feeling this guy is signing INSTEAD of Armstrong instead of alongside him?

I really, really hope we don't take a short term small influx of cash for him. Extend his contract, loan him out for first team football for a season and even if he doesn't progress to where we need him he has the talent to score goals lower leagues and so will be worth more after that. There is real talent and ability there, I really hope we stick with him.

I know the loan with no option to buy is a bit of a disappointment sometimes, but I think this is the last summer where we will be shackled by the terrible signings made over the last few years. After a full season with the wage bill cut right down we can look to invest more into the first team next season, with the likes of Simeu and Livramento* closer to first team action. *People need to prepare themselves for KWP potentially being cashed in on next summer...

They were at the time. We were testing the waters paying bigger fees, got burnt and so went back to paying smaller amounts. If Carillo had worked out and got us 20 goals a season for the next two years we'd have been more willing to spend £20-30million on the right player. Conversely, those £69million in combined fees mean we could have splashed on one £30-40million proven prem player if we'd had the balls, and it certainly would have worked out better for us.

We showed a willingness to spend big fees but we just fucked up with who we were signing. Hoedt, Vestergaard, carillo, Lemina cost about £70million between them, essentially all of the Van Dijk money pissed away.

In fairness Adams scored 3 goals more than Werner in the Prem last season.

Never heard of Sorloth, but Whoscored.com - a site I trust quite a bit on their analysis of players - clearly rate him.

Annoyingly you're not wrong, an upgrade on Ming's and they're a side whose quality is up there with Leicester. Strength in depth will be a real problem though.

We can't afford to go and buy any of the proven premier league strikers, the only one who might come to us is Abraham and 1. We can't afford him and 2. He's not overly proven as a regular scorer anyway. You mention Adams struggling but being in and out of the side last season he still scored just 3 less than Ings last season. If he scores 3 more this season then we only need to find 9 extra goals from a new striker and spread amongst the team to match Ings' contribution. The real issue is whether we concede less. We can concede just 10 goals less than last season and pick up an extra 10-20 points because of it.

Don't forget we've already spent circa £15million on Perraud, Simeu and Livramento.

You don't HAVE to use every sub you name in a friendly. If we ended up down to 10 men due to injury that would ruin any point of the test as well.

Fucking hell Redmond, easy pass was on for Elyounoussi to be one on one or a clear run and shot for himself but he decides to slow down and take an extra two touches so the defender can tackle him.

If Stephens accepted he can't pass the ball as well as he thinks he can and kept it simple he'd instantly be a much better player. Needs to be a no risk style centreback.

Yep been good, he reminds me of Kante (obviously nowhere near as good) in his style of play.

Literally the only reasonable and plausible explanation would be that a bunch of players are having to isolate after going for a meal together or something.

Tella and KWP getting knocks but having to stay on due to us only having a pair of boots on the bench. Brilliant.

In the one season he played for us before he was sent out on loan he made 19 appearances for a total of 1070 minutes on the pitch - the equivalent of 11 and a half games. Difficult for him to show anything without being given a proper chance.