Saint Matty 76

Hopefully Lyanco going early opens us up to bring somebody in more suited for RM’s game sooner rather than later. Especially seeing as we’ll likely lose 3 more so it’d be nice to get ahead of that. Bednarek, Stephens, NEW and Simeu be enough for the season? Or perhaps another?

I'd have guessed that's about Holgate, but he was also the first one to break Manning iirc.

I'm pretty sure he'll be a key player for us this year based on what RM has already said. I also don't think he'd be too bad for this role, there was a time not too long ago that some fans wanted us to try him as a DM (strangely, of course) due to his ability to progress the ball. I'd be very surprised if our starting back 4 wasn't Livramento - Bednarek - Stephens - Manning for Sheff Weds. Even if there hasn't been any movement on KWP/Perraud/ABK/Salisu at this point, I'd imagine he'd want to start getting reps in for the likely first choice pairings. My somewhat negative guess at the whole thing (with no further additions and the assumption that a few sales go through relatively soon), would be - Bauznu Livramento - Bednarek - Stephens - Manning Charles Smallbone - Alcaraz Tella - Mara - AA Have absolutely no idea what to think about Sulemana's chances of staying, but I'd love him to still be involved.

All incredibly accurate. He tried it yesterday and we were incredibly ineffective, until an actual attacking midfielder (Charly) came on and we immediately looked 10x better.

Always wanted him to work out due to the passion he showed which so many others lacked, but my god is he a mediocre footballer and a disaster waiting to happen at all times. Would've done well to get a few million for him and Orsic from Turkey. Hopefully it's not over there...

I’d give Mara a bit longer, and don’t mind Arma around as a squad player, but also wouldn’t care if we got rid of all 4 as well.

We have 4 £10m+ strikers in the club as it is. I doubt he’d be allowed to bring another in until Adams/Onuachu are both gone.

Hard to believe he's just 16. By far the best cameos I've seen from any of the youth lot for a few years.

Don't think he's looked impressive whatsoever personally

Amo-Ameyaw definitely looks the most impressive player from the youth team.

Please for the love of god keep hold of this guy.

Doubt you'll see many pens miss the target by that much.

hahahahahahhahaha

Never a penalty that.

Definitely. Lyanco in particular is the absolute opposite of what this system needs.

Alcaraz and Sulemana make us look infinitely better picking the ball up in those spaces, so I'm hoping for a bit of a better second half in terms of chances created. Pretty drab so far.

Be interesting to see how we do playing possession football against a deep opponent who have taken the lead. Chance creation in those situations was a real nightmare last year.

Haven't missed Bazunu, that's for sure.

Adam Armstrong in central midfield isn't something I expected to ever see.

Doyle in for Djenepo due to illness. Wonder if that means we'd go 4231 or remain at a 442 with Doyle out left?

Be interesting to see Smallbone in a midfield two. Looked to play in attacking midfield quite a bit for Stoke but that’ll hopefully be occupied for Alcaraz for the most part.

100%. Everyone knew he was talented and would likely succeed in a different league but that doesn’t rewrite the history of what he did here. 3 goals in 44 games in 16/17.

With Tella it has to be get a highly inflated fee or simply hold onto him. Given Liverpool's current situation with midfielders, it'd be madness to bend to their demands anytime soon on Lavia as well. Things would change if he actively starts looking to force the move, but we haven't had any indications of that yet. Partey to Saudi rumours are heating up also, so that could lead to Arsenal joining the race again as well. Absolutely no idea what happens with KWP/ABK/Salisu, as I'd imagine they're likely to be the three pushing for an exit more than most, but I'd be disappointed with less than £20m for ABK as a 21 year old German international with 3 years left on his contract.

I don't disagree. However given the situations, I don't see how Lavia at £50m or Tella/ABK at £20m+ constitute as daft money by any means. It's only mid-July, if the board are happy to see if we can get favourable deals rather than dropping the prices to suit immediately, it's nothing short of a good thing. It'd be nice to know who is going to be in the squad for RM as soon as possible, but the backbone shown with these high valuations may also lead us to keeping a few players we otherwise would't. If we can't see the difference between the Pulisic situation at Chelsea and the Ward-Prowse one here then truly what is the point?

Are we now complaining about the fact that we're happy to put high valuations on our players to either fend people off or get a good deal?