S-Clarke

This is why I've never been totally sure why so many bullets have been sent Ashley's way at Newcastle ''He doesn't spend'' ''He just wants bargain basement''. I get that they are desperate for a change and they don't like the way he runs it, but it's not fair to say he doesn't back them. If they get this guy for 25m, that'll add onto the £42m they spent on Joeleton. The £25m on Wilson, 25m on Almiron etc. They spend money, big money at that. They don't really get huge fees for players either.

Which if you read my post, is exactly what I said at the end. You go round the houses to prove points that are of no benefit what so ever. We're on here to debate football.

Sounds like this is the one we may have in for the weekend: Chelsea in talks over Premier League loan for Armando Broja after agreeing Romelu Lukaku deal - football.london

Saw that myself, can't help but feel that's a pie in the sky rumour to be honest. Liverpool will need him this year, they're a midfielder down with Gigi Wijnaldum gone.

I think the views are quite balanced really. In general terms he is a very average centre back, capable of having some decent games, backs against the wall etc. But then there are games where he simply forgets how to defend, they were quite common in the 2nd half of last season. I don't think we'll replace him, he's certainly first choice. I'm hopeful that having some pace alongside him (Salisu) will help him a bit and stop leaving him so exposed. If we had aspirations of top 6 then yeah, for sure...needs to be replaced, but for mid-table, looking towards top 10...he's fine.

I clarified my point above, I didn't put it over clearly enough before. I'm not saying we haven't identified players, I wasn't' saying we haven't planned. We can only actually move once the money is in the bank though - and sadly, that's the bit that takes the time. I'm not sure why you have such a downer - we are clearly going to add players, our recruitment has gone up a notch in the last two years without Wilson's toxic shit around the place, so let's see what they can do.

Hope this one happens. We have the replacement already here in Salisu, so it gives us a bit of leeway and we can use his fee to strengthen midfield, squad CB and see if we can stretch to GK if we get enough. We had a shocking defence last year, he was part of that, so let's get as much as we can and let him go.

We have no one at the club who is on loan, fyi.

Not quite the point I was trying to make, probably put it across badly. I'm not denying that they've been planning, they will have all sorts of options. It seems that some people expected us to be in advanced negotiations with replacements before we'd sold the players etc, that's what we can't really do. We'll have targets, we'll know what we want and who is the best fit, but we can only properly make a move once the money is in the bank. I'm sure we know what club x want for player y etc, and now we have the money it's about us getting the best possible deal on the table which works for us and them. We have to make this £20 odd mill stretch so I wouldn't want us to cave into the demands of Blackburn overnight, as that would be the budget gone.

Just out of interest, how can you seriously forward plan when you have to rely on the sale of a player in order to bring in the new player?

There were a lot of noises around Delaney, supposedly available for as little as £9m. But I don't really think he'll cover CB.

15-20m would probably do it. Fully expect him to go, which will then allow us the funds to bring in that number 6/centre back cover which Ralph has been alluding to needing.

Is the 'top club' limited to England? Wondering if we may take advantage of the dire Inter situation to snap up one of their young players. Eddie Salcedo? I swear I saw us linked with him in the past.

Do it! I'd be interested in the flash back to the days when we actually did have money!

It's a glorified friendly, always has been.

Good point. That window was certainly an exciting window for rumours, but what an absolute mess Les and Wilson made of it. They didn't help in the next summer window either when we started blowing £16m on Elyonoussi, 13 on Gunn, 22m on Vestergaard. And there was the end of the VVD 'fortune'.

It does feel like that tbh. Money is still a massive issue, even with the fee from Danny Ings transfer, as seemingly these 'top' strikers are still going to cost £20m ish. We don't seem prepared to go anywhere near those values. And to be fair, if Armstrong is out of contract next year then you can understand in that context. £22m they want, which is a bit insane. £10-15m and it would be a deal.

I remember when we hoped to sign Promes, Sessengon, Shaw, Theo after the sale of VVD. We ended up with Carrillo.

Just having a browse on the Everton forums, it's pretty much the same as this place. They are totally down on their club, some are predicting an end to their premier league status too. The mood isn't a good one. They hate rafa, they hate their starters like Gomes, Iwobi etc. They are infuriated by the amount of money they've wasted on shit and how they are now not able to buy anyone. (they're like a version of us, albeit much bigger outlays) I will say there isn't a better time to play them given the mood, and honestly a fast start by us and it could get messy in the stands.

To be fair he's got nothing around him, all he's had to aim for most of the game is Obafemi and Long. Think he's moved more into a number 6 role in the 2nd half.

Chelsea agree 115m euro deal with Inter for Lukaku. It's criminal how they just piss money around like they do. If they'd showed patience in him when they first got him they could have saved a record transfer fee to get him back.

Standard Bednarek OG.

Let's be fair, we are also paying for incredible mismanagement during the Kruger/Reed years. Financially they tied us up to some shit contracts and reinvested poorly. That's what we're paying for now.

Personally I'd now ship out Valery and buy in a proper backup left back, then we will be balanced. We are too close to Moussa as a LB with this current squad, as we are seeing this half.

Hard to judge, but they're not a bad outfit really. The Inaki Williams guy is very good though, on the radar of a lot of top clubs throughout his career.