S-Clarke

Not gone quiet on Stephens, he's having a medical at Bournemouth tomorrow morn.

Blackmore seemed fairly certain, he's spoken to people PSV side who have confirmed to him that he's bought into our project and wants to sign for us. We've met the demands PSV have set, but he reiterated that they're waiting on PSV to give the official go ahead. Adam wouldn't have come out with that if he hadn't been told by very connected people. I'm getting a couple of Quincy Promes vibes though, not going to lie. I haven't watched any youtube comps yet because I don't want to set up for disappointment!

Is Gakpo usually PSV's captain? If not, it seems strange that he was given it tonight. A farewell job? One of their own at the end of the day, came through their 'pathway'.

The bonus with signing young players (in the main) is that this will be their first, or at most 2nd pro contract, so they're not going to be on mega mega money. I imagine our wage bill is going to be lower than it has been for many years. Coady Gapko will make a dent in the wage bill, but we'd have the space to do that.

Once_Bitterne

Just found out why he's dropped down the pecking order at Rennes - had a bad injury which kept him out for a good chunk of last season, but the season prior to that he was their £15m signing, a regular (over 30 apps) and one of the highest rated young CB's in Europe. Surprised we've managed to get him on loan though.

Not sure if this has been covered, but I've just read about an interesting angle to Romeu's move and the two City kids coming in. Girona are owned by the City group of clubs, but they couldn't afford to pay a high fee for Romeu (in the millions). So as a sweetener it seems as if City have thrown in a couple of their young kids as a deal softener, given they are part of the 'group'. I doubt they'll be free, but it'll probably knock down the fee's slightly.

They're pushing for Celvin Stengs from Nice and I think have signed (or all but signed) El-Ghazi from Villa on loan.

No, PSV's replacement would have to be done today as their window closes. But we're still free to sign from them up until tomorrow @ 11pm.

I can't keep up! I read about this guy a few weeks ago weirdly, Leicester were looking at him to replace Fofana but went for another guy in france (Belgium guy I think). There are genuine comparisons between this guy and William Saliba. I'd be surprised if we get a loan, he's highly regarded.

Game of brinkmanship, keep it going for as long as they can in the hope that a club gets desperate at the 11th hour and blows us out of the water. We clearly seem like the main players in this right now, we'll know a bit more certainty this evening I think

I think it would have been odd signing another right back, we obviously pin a lot on Tino returning and being the superstar we know he is. This young kid won't be first team, but you'd 'hope' we've already got our succession plan in place for either evolving Perraud or replacing KWP. It's similar to what Brighton did with Cacideo - sold Bissouma, but they already had his replacement in the building.

I get stuck into work for a few hours, and all this happens ffs?? We are really leaning on Shields quite heavily, he will know all about those two kids. AMN is a no brainer and is more of the profile of player we'd look for, Garner wasn't ever quite that type in my opinion. We are going to be a seriously athletic side.

They're already owned by Man City aren't they? Part of their mega-group of clubs afaik.

I wasn't blaming Hugues for that at all. You just proclaimed that Hughes kept us up, just as Ralph has. But they're totally different situations. We've never really been in a relegation battle under Ralph, we were under Hugues.

I'd have liked Kalajdizic 'in addition' to a Gapko type, as he looks like a power house (and adds more height to our spine). But maybe we're focusing on more athleticism and pace across the 3 rather than just tall types. I'd say AMN fits the profile of a midfielder we'd want rather than Garner, we'll see what happens with that.

The difference between Hughes and Ralph is that Ralph has never really been in a relegation battle. Sure, we've been in relegation form and have circled at some point, but we've always had runs of form which means we have been always on the edge of any discussion. With Hugues, that was a proper relegation battle. We were deep in it. We had to go to Swansea and win otherwise we were gone. We've never been in that situation under Ralph.

Wolves have confirmed the signing of Sasa Kalajwhatsit. £18m I think I saw the fee as. Be interested to see how he does, could be a very good signing. Everton about to announce Garner as well by all accounts. £15m. A lot has been made of Forest signing loads of players, having to replace loan players etc, so why didn't they go back and get Garner as he was absolutely critical for them last season. That doesn't help alter the feeling that their approach is incredibly scattergun.

We'll miss Lavia in this one, as their Portuguese midfield will probably be too much for Diallo and JWP alone (this is why we will need a replacement for Oriol). Wolves fan's aren't keen on Lage though, which came as a surprise to me. A bit of an increasing tone that they want him out, they've had enough of him. They don't score many goals but that's born out through style and pragmatism rather than a lack of quality, in my opinion. If we keep it tight then we can break on them and move their CB's around.

So it doesn't get lost in all the other transfer threads, it looks like Oriol has/is about to leave us after 7 years. This transfer has left a bit of a mark on me as I'm a big fan of Oriol. A professional, gave us steel when we needed it. He was originally brought in under Koeman as a squad addition to build us out a bit, over time he developed and under Ralph he made that CM slot his own and he has been amongst the best DM's in this league. Why is he leaving though given all that? He seems to be physically struggling with the intensity we need to play at. It was so noticeable in the second half of last season that he was struggling to get around the pitch as freely as he used to be able to and that made it difficult for us to compete in the middle as we rely on that mobility. I'd have liked to have kept Oriol around in the squad as he'd still be an important player for us - but if he wants to go back home to finish his career with security and a longer contract then no one can begrudge him that. He's given us his all and I wish him all the best, thank you Ori!

Exactly, FFP is equally pointless. It's masked as financial fair play, but actually it's a sly ploy to create an elite group that cannot be touched. It's not a super league, but they'll create leagues within their own leagues as others won't be able to compete. As you say, that's what we've already seen in France as a fine example. When you get Everton and Barca doing what they're doing, after being in breach of so many FFP rules, you start to realise that it's only their to service an elite group. Part of me thinks a super league could be a good thing in the sense of letting all these 'elite' morons piss off and play with each other, but that would equally harm the likes of us as revenue/TV money would collapse.

Not sure he was injured, he was just blowing out of his arse. Hasn't had any pre-season at all really.

Can't remember it being mentioned, seems to have gone under the radar. Another first team staff member brought in other the summer - Neil Simms, new first team head physio. Brought him in from Forest in July.