egg

Depends how committed these lads will be. Personally I'd prefer a committed Roberts to a sulking Sully, an onboard Wood to a CBA ABK, and to see Aribo, Djenepo, McCarthy & Onuachu anywhere but here and off our wage bill.

It's a great bit of business, and I can only assume it was delayed while he negotiated his extension and chunk of cash for signing it. It's a proper win/win for us, City, and the lad.

I'm still fascinated by people being fascinated by how much we spend. Who gives a monkeys - it's all about having a decent squad to have a crack at promotion, and then not being stuck with inadequate players when we're back to the land of milk, honey and weekly defeats.

I'll slowly walk away from this subject!!

Hmmmm...I forgot Lee Molyneux. He was a shocker though, and barely qualified as a footballer.

Absolutely - no player goes from a PL reserve to a championship reserve. Throughout the window I've said that KWP or Tino will stay, but instinct says that he'll go today. Weirdly I think Man Utd will take him.

I think you're in a minority here. We got good money for Tino and JWP. I'm not interested in rumours of what we apparently wanted, or what people on here think he's worth. The ABK departure is bloody obvious. Ditto Che. We won't let his contract run down to give him away next year, nobody will pay us what we want in the way that we want to be paid, he won't commit to a new deal and stay here playing, and why on earth would we sign him up to potentially be stuck with him when we're in the PL?

ABK I'd imagine....loan him out and sell next summer, and loan in THB who we buy next summer. Good business, especially as we're not committed to buying THB if we don't go up, and still have ABK at our disposal.

Indeed. We've done the absolute opposite. I think he refers to ABK who's now looking like being loaned rather than being loaned with an obligation.

If Wood signs, I reckon so.

Thanks, I missed that. That ought to have made the lad a few quid.

He's out of contract next summer...unless he's signed an extension prior to the loan?

Nah, can't agree with any of that. His injury record would make a sale difficult, and there's no humiliation or blame for other clubs only wanting to take him on loan. Now that THB is over the line, he'll be loaned somewhere before tea time.

Nice! Love the nod to City with ' frequent sender' stamped on the envelope 😂

I think the Dortmund deal was initially a sale but dressed up as a loan with obligation, and that the "loan fee" was a big one as in reality it was the first tranche of the transfer fee. It looks like that's collapsed for some reason so we're now looking for a conventional loan, with a loan fee to match. Nothing humiliating about it at all, just a shift from a sale to a loan.

His loan seems to have been lined up even with us trying to find a home for Mara, so I doubt that it's conditional on incomings. Reading would be a good move for him.

That'd be a good move for him.

If we get Bellis and Wood then I wouldn't be surprised to see Bednarek go (I take it for granted that ABK is going). Bednarek is part of the past, and I don't think is part of our future.

Agreed. I think he'd do well at a mid ish league 1 club, preferably one who play possession football.

I agree with that in the main, but the lad won't learn his trade on the bench. He needs minutes. If we won't give them to him, he needs a spell on loan to develop himself in men's football. He'll learn nothing more playing u21 matches.

Yep, bloody brilliant isn't it. There's been a massive reset behind the scenes too. The whole club has been shaken up from top to bottom. Long overdue.

Where? What's your statement based on?

Me too. Had a good day?!

Not sure what's the bigger gamble...a crocked bloke who's decent when fit, or someone from the Belgium league who's shit when he's fit. On balance, I reckon we'll take a punt on him.

Interesting take on it. So, if for example, we've paid half the Onuachu fee, and they want him back at half price, then they essentially want him back for free! They'd then want the fee for Paintsil, so not actually a swap at all. On the rest if it, like you, I'm not overly concerned by Tella leaving.