S-Clarke

He's one of their 4 CB's, Sunderland tried but Chelsea wanted to keep him within their squad.

I've said all summer, Spurs simply have no money. They can only buy players when they're offering their own in exchange. The amount they spent last year was criminal and it shows that there are right and wrong ways from spending a transfer fortune.....there's was the wrong way, for sure! They signed lots of fancy exciting foreign players, but the only one who had any success is Erikson. I think our transfers this window have the potential to have much more overall success than there's did last year.

If Shane Long was coming from Serie A, with a fancy foreign name like Shanz Longes, then after watching some youtube videos I'm sure people would be excited. It's so spot on what was said above, players we've never heard of are world beaters - we need to sign him etc, but solid signings like this are dross? We should know all about him, he's ripped us apart a few times!! As I've said, only issue is the fee. But do not dismiss him as a player, he's a decent addition and will improve us in an area where we were weak. Mid-table is where we are now, so this is what it is.

He's only on 80k a week...

Then I'm glad you're not on our scouting team. What has Wickham ever done to be this highly rated? He has been shockingly **** for Sunderland, bar a run of 6 games - big bloody deal. He didn't even do it on loan in the NPC - last season. Good player he may be, but he's not £10m, £1-2m tops as a proper backup player.

I think we'll get Long and Florin in this week, and we'll then hear the generic lines about us monitoring the market to see what is available and being 'Ready to act'. It's a damn huge gamble though if we just get 1 cb, who has just recovered from a 4 month lay off! If he gets injured, welcome to the NPC.

It would be a pretty dumb move though, if we're honest. If we hadn't sold half of our team I'd agree with you, but the issue is that we need a striker with PL experience. If we fill up the squad with players who have potential then we are ****ed, as we have no time to wait for them to adjust like we had with Jay.

Exactly...what has Wickham done to prove he is nothing but dross himself? I'd be devastated if we were about to blow £10m on Wickham, which WHU seem prepared to do...

I wish people would stop quoting the Remy fee, it's a pointless comparison. If we wanted Remy, he would cost £15-16m

It will be announced today or tomorrow, I imagine. I expect he'll be involved in the match day squad, but probably won't play.

Echo seem to believe we'll be providing cover for Clyne from within the squad, let's hope Clyne stays fit...! Sounds to me as if Long and Florin will be it for us, going by what Gordon Simpson is saying. We may keep monitoring to see if a wide player becomes available....but from what he is suggesting, Florin will be our last major signing along with long.

Gardos is signing today, so back down.

The only problem I have is the fee on this one, but generally it's a pretty smart signing. Proven and experienced at this level, he will score goals (not many, but probably close to Lamberts total). Just a tad over priced, but I guess it's not our money we're spending!

Why would anyone want Soldado? He'll go back to Spain where his game is suited. From all I saw of him last year, he is not a premier league striker and is certinly not a '1 up top' striker. He would be £15-20m, and I reckon Shane Long has more chance of scoring more than him. Chiriches would be one I'd look at, maybe Dembele - but we're already over crowded there.

Pulis wanted Cork @ Stoke, he wanted Cork in January as well, so it would not surprise me in the slightest. Not a jot.

Another one, Bojan - £3m. What have we been doing all summer?

Benteke £6m, Lukaku £15m (when he signed for Chelsea), Bony £12m. They're out there, you just need a decent scouting setup to find them. We've just had a pants pulled down to be honest, want to be positive, I really do...but spending £12m on Shane Long stinks to high heaven of a club with utterly no idea or direction.

But they can provide better value for money than Long at 12m, I'd have hoped.

If that's true, then we're swimming towards a waterfall. You simply do not sell Jack Cork after all the other exits we've had, it simply doesn't happen.

It looks as if we've flustered around all summer and are now in the desperation market.

If we end up paying anywhere near £12m at any point, then our scouts need to be sacked. Good player, decent addition - but not at that price, utter daylight robbery and a sickening waste of our 'fortune'.

Surely, Surely....we can get a much higher quality striker from Europe for £12m? Surely? What the hell do our scouts do if Shane Long @ 12m is the best they can do.

He's available for around £13-14m isn't he? (That was the fee Sunderland agreed anyway). Not sure he's that quick though.

Sign Lukaku for £25m.

To be fair, he's still under contract with us, so even though we may be offering him for free - it's safe to assume a fair few clubs want him, maybe Leeds have been one of those all along? And by including him in a deal for Byram, Leeds then get full exclusivity. Just thinking out loud. Seems too much of a coincidence to me though, 2nd bid in....Sharp now off to Leeds. hmm.