S-Clarke

Odd signing for Leeds, if he's replacing an exiting Gruev or Kamara then they are a bit screwed. He was a funny addition for us, scored some big goals and had some big 'moments', but his overall contribution to our general play was awful I thought. He couldn't pass for toffee to start with.

England U21 Champs in the 2023 U21 Euros too.....won the final against Spain. Feels somewhat full circle. Cole Palmer and Antony Gordon were part of that winning team. Some of the current Spain squad were in their U21 team too.

I genuinely think our best signings will come at the back end of august, predominately loans. I think we'll make really good use of the loan market, like we did last year - but we'll need to wait until well towards the end as that's when the good loans become available. I'm sure we've put our hat in the ring on a few already, but we've just got to bide our time on those.

Atalanta are a class team, if I was a player I'd love to play for them. Us or Atalanta isn't really a hard decision to make if we're really honest. When you go after good players, good clubs will also want them - so at least we're identifying high end targets that better/bigger teams want.

I could understand us sniffing if we were still lower league, but what is the hype around Miosvki for EPL level? I'd need to see him hitting crazy 30+ goals numbers to be interested at PL level, he's middling around 15 goals at SPL level which isn't hard to do for any competent non-league striker. Adam Idah even managed 10 goals, and he was only in the SPL for 6 months. For a PL club to take an SPL player they need to be playing way, way above SPL level on a multitude of stats for their position (like O'Riley, or when we signed VVD), they need to have so much to their game. One striker up there I quite like is Kyogo for Celtic, he has a real rounded game and looks quality - he pushed 30 goals in his first season there, he's 29 years old now though.

That's almost certainly not going to happen, a top end CL level player. Nice to see links just for the romance of it though, just not realistic in the slightest.

That was so much better, there has been warranted criticism of the team up until now (albeit Switzerland was a slight improvement over what went before). It felt like we were playing with straight jackets for months, but tonight - first half in particular - we were just free, our best players were playing with their instincts which is exactly what we've been crying out for. That's the best I've ever seen Foden play for England, it was like he was let off his leach and allowed to follow his own instincts. It was such an impressive first half, the control of the midfield, the way we used the ball to stretch the game and the speed at which we moved between the lines. It was like a different side to what we saw before. Light and day. Note on that Penalty though, wtf? That should never have even been sent to review, if that was against us that ref would have been strung up on cardboard cut-outs and burnt at the stake. That level of decision, with VAR to assist, was an absolutley disgrace to the game. It's nice when it happens in your favour for sure, but that sort of ineptness can easily happen against you too. The Dutch were always going to change it though, we had too much in CM - they brought on a CM and it certainly made the game tighter, I still wouldn't say they bossed it or ever looked like they were going to score in the 2nd half, but they took the fluidity out of our players in the 10's. So Credit Koeman for that, he saw the problem and filled the hole. It looked for all that it was going to ET again, but take a moment to appreciate the 2 bits of play prior to the goal - Palmers movement and pass was absolutley sublime, and the movement Watkins made to drag their CB wide was on point. At that stage of the game, it was the perfect assist and goal combo you could get. The finish was off the scale at that late stage. I thought Kane and Trippier were still our weakest - Kane is playing like he has lead boots, must be carrying a knock. Trippier is just past it, so that sub at HT was spot on. Spain are a different level, so Sunday will be interesting. There's something weird happening though, last min goals, penalty shoot out wins, penalties given which weren't penalties etc - things like this don't usually happen for England in tournaments.

Yeah, he's been high on our list - one of our main targets supposedly, but then it went cool as they wanted £18m. Maybe they've softened? Who knows, but silly season is about to start!

It's a tough one, WHU hold all the cards here. Downes is tied to a long contract with them, had a standout season with us last year. KWP is into his final year with us, we have no bargaining power. He was a very good player at the same level as Downes last year. As much as we'd like him as part of any deal for KWP for 'free', we're not getting that - we're going to have to pay some money for him.

Downes and Sugawara coming in will severely soften the KWP leaving blow. KWP will always be one of my favourite players, gave us everything and I didn't really want him to go - but if he really wants to go and won't commit then we're doing it the right way here, losing a top player but getting stronger from it. Exactly what we did in Koemans first window.

Back to the Slovakia formation, Guehi back in for Konza - back to a back 4, with Trippier left, Walker right. Saka right wing, Foden left wing. Basically, all wrong.

From everything I've read on Sugawara, he is very highly rated. Regular International for Japan, played European football last year. Inter Milan's first choice to replace Denzil Dumfries should he move (but he hasn't yet, so they've waited too long). Youtube video for him for those who haven't seen him - He's like a Japanese version of KWP really in where he plays, how he plays, the threat he provides etc. I can't help but feel that the club have pulled off an absolute masterstroke with this.

He must get complete freedom on the bench tbf. The 'leak' today, which is pretty much nailed to happen I think, is that Shaw misses out again and Trippier once again plays left back.

Enjoyed that one, great game. Spain fully deserved though, they have been the best team by a country mile in this tournament. Fully deserved finalists, wonderful team to watch. They have a bit of everything.

What equates to Premier League standard to you? Was pretty regular for Brighton last season and was pretty solid I'd say. We're not going to be able to find a better GK, at his price (£5m quoted), with PL experience.

What a fecking goal that was, amazing. No stopping that. This has been a great game so far, Spain have been miles better.

Love Maya, feels a bit harsh to speak about him in the defectors thread! I think he's still working for us unofficially! - I'm 99% sure he will be having a huge impact on Sugawara joining us.

He was also a pretty regular scorer for Albania, and did rack up the numbers in Vitesse before - he was rated very highly over there. What made him really good was his power and pace running with the ball, the biggest question mark I have now is that severe ACL injury he had. You never recover the same explosive pace as you had before an injury that severe, it just doesn't happen - so straight away, a really good portion of what made his game so effective has been nullified quite a bit. He's probably a decent-ish PL striker, will get you a few goals if played regular, but he's not what he was and never will be again. It's a shame as his potential was huge in my opinion, he had that unique combination of pace, height and power which made him pretty formidable.

Could be a clever move. Maybe forfit some of the fee with KWP, maybe 10-15m for him ensuring it inc. Downes. and £10-15m spend for Suguwara. Potentially gain 2 players and some $$ left over change.

Don't forget Mara!...hmm ST situation is mega urgent for sure, I hope we're not putting our eggs in the Stewart investment. I quite like Gift Orban, now at Lyon. Think he only joined in Jan, but didn't do much - I'd put in a loan offer, see what they say. Briel Embolo - is he out of our reach? Had a decentish Euros, but hasn't played for ages for Monaco. Again, I'd approach with a loan and see what they say. French clubs will be falling over themselves for money.

He had a really strong start to the season, looked like he was going to rip it up. Got a bit of an injury and it set him back (out for 2-3 months), wasn't the same player in the 2nd half of the season at all - partly probably because of the injury, and also because teams may have figured out how to counter him. I'd put his output for Hull on par with Frasers output for us, so if we get Ryan in then we're pretty much level pegging on that front. edit: just noticed you were talking about Delap, not Pihilogene. Somewhat same applies though, he got a long injury middle part of the season and was out for some time.

He certainly would be a good signing, if we get £20m for KWP and buy him for 10-15m then we'd have pulled off a mega deal. I do still think we need to replace Bree though, so another backup is rqd either way. (unless we're looking at a CB to cover there)

Their owners are minted for sure, but as we see with this PSR rubbish these days, it doesn't matter how much your owners are worth - it's about revenue in relation to your outgoings, they just have the extra headroom at the moment as they've been lower league for 2 decades, so haven't spent big. Good strategy really, spend big now and establish themselves, increase revenue further and just top the side up in the forthcoming windows.

Not minted per say, just not handcuffed like the rest with FFP. They've just had a huge increase income and haven't spent a great deal in previous years due to their league status, so they can realistically spend all of that new PL income and not be slapped.

Yeah he's a good CB, he's like Lyanco but with actual footballing ability. He backs up the 'pashon' with the technique. There is good value to be had shopping in the South American markets if we're still fixated on that £10-15m bracket. Charly for me is proof in that.