hypochondriac

Right but the fact it's quiet doesn't mean things aren't happening behind the scenes. I didn't hear much about Quarshie before he signed. It could be we are still working out the kinks for this Armenian or someone else that hasn't been reported on. What percentage chance do you think that we aren't working on deals behind the scenes?

Nah. He's probably being diplomatic depending on what sort of other keeper we get. If we don't get a first choice then Bazunu is the one for the season but if we do he hasn't guaranteed anything. I'd hope that what he's said about Bazunu is the same for everyone in the squad - no one has a place set in stone and has to keep performing to stay in the team.

Good post. Like I said he's very likely to go anyway so I expect it's a bit irrelevant.

OK then I agree. We might have problems but then again we might not. The only evidence we have that there might be problems is the period of bad form after Martin and some highly dubious sources on social media about his agent. I think we can trust the club on this one that they can sell high and that they will have fully assessed the possibility of problems if they keep him. I consider it overwhelmingly likely that the club is fully aware of the situation and the player's desires and they will know if this is a negotiation tactic or if we are playing hardball in order to force him to stay unless a club meets our valuation.

It's not you're just failing to understand. He will most likely leave. Him leaving doesn't confirm any wild speculation based on nothing about him not putting effort in were he to stay nor that he's agitating for a move and is considering going on strike/putting in a transfer request. If and when we get some solid evidence of any of that then that position may change. Until then you've seen a downturn in his performances since Martin left and created an entire scenario where he is spitting his dummy out and not putting in effort because he's that type of person.

Ridiculous. Him being very likely to leave doesn't prove that he's what you claim him to be.

Indeed. It's extrapolating a huge amount from a period of poor form after Martin left. There's no other evidence for any of it.

That's just speculation. We have a kid who may have some additional needs or at the very least is quite a sensitive and shy individual moving from a good man manager in Martin to a completely different style under a bit of a hard ass, playing his first season in the premier league. Maybe he showed a lack of application but there's potentially an awful lot of other explanations for his tailing off of form.

Based on what?

Being happy to go and actively trying to leave and being angry about staying are two different things. He will leave imo but if for some reason he doesn't it doesn't follow that he will simply sulk for months and not put in a shift. Plenty of examples of players who are seemingly off not going.

That he wants to go to the degree that he will effectively down tools if he stays.

He can put a formal transfer request in can't he if you're so sure that's the case.

What evidence would you require beyond the manager, owner and chief executive saying we will be making signings? Have you considered the much more likely scenario that we need to sell one or both of the big money players prior to making a big move of our own lest we be stuck with the players if for whatever reason he doesn't end up moving?

No evidence of that. That would only be true if we get to the end of the window with big sales and without any significant signings

Assume we weren't interested then. No chance he turns us down for stoke.

TBF the Downs link was reported quite a while before he signed. Maybe it's true that the Armenian bloke turned us down and we are interested in donley.

This will be easy to prove when he hands in a transfer request. Any time....

I'm not as pessimistic as that because I think you don't appreciate how there are a lot of shit teams in this league. The like of THB, Sugawara, Wellington, Edwards and likely Quarshie are far from average in this league and would get in the squads of almost every team in the league. I agree that attacking midfield is weak but central midfield is up there with the best in the division. I definitely want reinforcements in attack but I'd say our problem isn't that we don't have players capable of scoring goals, it's that beyond Fernandes we have almost no one to create the chances that lead to goals. A Tadic type or even a Schneiderlin is incredibly important for this team. We will definitely get a player or two in for those creative positions, I'm just a bit bummed out we couldn't have strengthened at least a little in those areas prior to the season starting.

Alternatively he has a great season for us and contributes significantly to us getting promoted. All moot though because he's leaving.

What was that website from years ago that you could just invent rumours for? Football transfers? Or football rumours? Something like that.

That's one of the worst articles I've ever read.

I'm hoping that Spors will go some way to sorting this. If they can do the selling side and investing money (and commercial off pitch stuff tbf that's been decent) and leave l the rest to someone else that would be ideal.

How so? That would only be the case if we then accept a lower figure. I am sure internally we are well aware of if he is going or not and will be looking to extract maximum value. Say what you like about sports republic but they are good at selling players for higher values than you might expect. 50 million for Dibling if we get that is excellent business and everyone in this league bar about three other clubs would kill to have an asset worth that amount. The likes of Oxford's entire squad is probably worth that much.

Forest, West Ham, Fulham, Porto, Galatasary, Al-Qadsiah, Juventus, Inter, Atalanta (I wonder why) and Monaco are some of those I know of who have active interest, no idea how many - if any - have bid.

Saint lambden suggested a few yesterday