S-Clarke

So, in a very funny twist for our Spurs friends. They didn't get Conte. But instead they are going to appoint Paulo Fonesca, the very same guy who was sacked by Roma and replaced by Mourinho at Roma. Who Spurs sacked themselves. #managermerrygoround

I know there wasn't ever any evidence to link LD Sports with Gao, but it doesn't take a genius. I don't know what happened as Martin is a pretty switched on guy, could have been an attempt to create a cash vehicle to get money across...but it didn't work? No idea, but it will always be a very dirty bit of business we were involved in there. I refuse to believe that Gao had nothing to do with it.

This is the default go-to rumour every window these days! I wonder if we'll ever get him!

I agree, it doesn't mean anything. It didn't stop Lambert, Shaw and Lallana leaving. If his head his turned it doesn't matter what his international status is. Plus, I don't see him as the sort who is going to chase this move.

Not sure why everyone is so bothered, it's great news for us. We have 4 players at the Euro's - Adams, Armstrong. Let's be honest, they'll be lucky to still be in it after the first 2 weeks. Vestergaard - isn't a starter for Denmark Bednarek - starter for Poland. So, most of our squad is going to get the chance to build their fitness again for next season. That's all I care about really, selfish....maybe, but I don't really care about England in the same way as I do about Southampton.

I'm of your feeling as well - from a selfish pov I hope he gets the break over the summer to recharge. Although he is a bit cyborg with his fitness.

It's not like Gao is going to see that money though. If we sold JWP we'd have every penny of that to reinvest, as has been the case with all transfers. And in this day and age £40m doesn't get you anything really, we certainly wouldn't be able to replace JWP with £40m and then have enough money to improve defense/goalkeeper/number 10 etc. Would be a pointless sale really. As an owner you'd probably look at selling your captain/best player as a devaluing exercise for your asset anyway.

Nah, not for the PR chaos that would cause. And 40-45m wouldn't provide us anything really. It would need to be something close to our record received fee for him to go anywhere in my opinion. Contract length, captain, PR stuff etc. Unless there is some sort of instruction put in my Gao to let him go cheap, then only City and co would be able to afford him.

£50-60m I'd have thought

10 minutes.

Villa would only have a chance of signing JWP had we been relegated. He wouldn't leave us for a club at the level we are trying to chase. If he does leave it'll be a Liverpool, Spurs, Utd sort of move. In our benefit he's not quite at the level for those clubs. Unless we get relegated, he's probably going to be a Mark Noble type for us.

I guess i've just been blinded by the stats on this one, as Perreria had more goals etc. But i take those points on his creation numbers, forgot about those.

Even that's probably a bit too far 'east' for him.

Might be a controversial view, but in Beuendia's time in the PL I don't think he did much? The Perreria guy at West Brom had more impact at this level than Beundia did in my opinion. I haven't seen any stats, but it 'felt' like that anyway. The 35m+ price tag is insanity for someone who has only really done it in the NPC. Not sure why people aren't piling over Perreria at half the price.

Give it 6 months or so and he'll be back at Bournemouth in another emotional return. He's like a homesick puppy.

Sadly, there are people being impacted - still. It's fortunate if you are able to continue in a job, have family/friends close etc - but not everyone has that. I know people who have lost jobs and even recently a couple of friends in hospitality have lost their job because they're unable to re-open fully, due to the uncertainty over the 21st - and when the 21st doesn't happen you'll end up with more staff being let go. They can't have full attendances, so they can't make their expected profits so they can't keep all their staff. Jobs are changing to home working on a permanent basis for a lot of companies. For some people that's great, for other's it's terrible because they've lost what was their only method of social interaction if they live alone. Some people have friends who have been fear-driven and still won't even step out of their houses to cross the road whilst the government continue this one foot in one foot out approach. So I don't buy that lives aren't being impacted, they still are and in a big way. Life is not back to normal for a lot of people.

Been told no to Firpo then I guess? Perraud is a great alternative though, highly rated. Good attacking left back. Leeds baulked at the price though.

I think Semedo has done ok really, Wolves fans seem to like him. Don't think he was worth that £35m fee, but he's clearly a very good PL right back imo. If Firpo is half as capable then we're sorted.

Nice move by the club, probably the least we can do really. Hopefully he can gain a career at a lower level at some point, but it is looking tough tbh.

Standard Crook trying to sound informed but not actually saying anything.

I think it was always a pipe dream to expect anything in place for this summer. We just have to do as well as we can to scrape by this summer and try, where possible, to be very clever and creative in the market with the loose change we have

She has a point though.

Conte to Spurs is an interesting one and a huge coup in my opinion. Something that could even tempt Kane to stay.

Totally different sorts of players, but the main difference is that Kane has performed consistently over a prolonged period of time. Guaranteed 20 goals a year every singe year, international goal scorer, European goal scorer. He's on a different level to Ings if we're honest. I don't agree with the £150m valuation myself, but for a player with his record and top level exposure it's probably the going price nowadays (which makes a mockery of the so called COVID football finance crash)

If we use this opportunity to provide Salisu his first team birth and then use the funds to improve on Bednarek then it's probably a win-win. Being in a defence that conceded 68 goals isn't something to ignore, all of our defenders have glaring weaknesses.