S-Clarke

Sky Sports understands Aston Villa have made a bid for Charlton Athletic midfielder Dale Stephens What is going on at Villa??

Another CB thread then. I like him, one of the players I wanted us to sign at the start of the window.

Forgot all about Curtis Davies, one I'd highlighted right at the start on my wish list - which also included Clyne and Rodriguez, so thanks for paying attention NA.

That's the press conference sorted then. Tweet that to Sibley, saves them having to arrange a press conf.!

So now they're saying that Juve could sign Gaston Ramirez and use him as a makeweight in a possible Jovetic deal. Ah twitter. Why even tweet something like that? What club in their right mind is going to sign a player, to then sell him a day later as a make weight for the player they really want. Pompey maybe?

Agree with this.

Boliesen would fix our LB problem (that I don't think we really have). But he's injured at the mo. A very talented attacking left back. Biyik is just class. I want him. Yoshida is dead according to NA (not litterally...as in the deal is dead!) but he's a pretty decent CB. Not sure on Tuncay, he was good for Boro a few years back but absoloutley horrific for Stoke.

He'd be a snip at that price Dubai, only hear good things about him. Would be delighted if we did it. We've been sniffing around all summer, no idea why we're taking so long to make our mind up though!

He said it directly to Simon Peach, who hasn't published any article with that. He just put it on his twitter time line

So i take it we should all take a day off tomorrow, and find other stuff to do? I.e work!

Can't see that...we don't need 3 defenders! Yoshida is dead anyway according to NA. Wouldn't be surprised to see Biyik turn up, a very very highly rated CB - who is right footed, strong and pacey. And is available for a very fair fee. If we don't get him, I guarantee a big club will snap him up and he'll end up turning into one of the best CB's in europe. From what I've heard about him and who I've spoken to about him, I think we'd have a signing there to rival Ramirez.

Seek help from someone, a right wierdo.

No chance, even Bolt isn't Jonno quick.

Not 100% sure if I'm honest. He's pretty much a regular these days though, don't see a massive issue with the permit.

The latest Gazella report stated that he's played in 75% of Uruguay's games in the last 12 months, which is inc. the Olympic games.

The general story from earlier was that Panarols stake was being converted into a 30% sell on fee for any future transfer. This now seems to be the sticking point. Maybe they don't want to lose out on the money here and now, and feel Bologna should still pay up a bit? It's minor anyway, whatever the hitch is.

We've agreed an improved deal with Bologna which they are now happy with. They now get more money up front which is what they required, which has allowed them to today agree a fee with a Lazio striker. Gaston has been in Rome sorting out his visa application, and having a medical as we apparently sent our medical team to meet him there to speed the process along. The minor detail left to sort is the % Panarol get from it. They're not quite happy at the moment, but it seems to just be a minor issue. I'd say the signing is probably as imminent as it's ever been.

He doesn't though does he, as he has been spot on with every signing we've made this year. Long before we've speculated about it being a certainty. He's been loose in a few things, but he's got contacts close to Saints - that's obvious as far as I'm concerned.

Slightly different. He's coming into a totally different culture, he's actually got a slight niggle as well (I thought that was just the normal transfer injury at first, but alas it's not). Give him 2 weeks before throwing him in...!

The work permit is a formality from what I can work out. Due to his reputation in the game, his time in Italy and the fact that he has played 70% of first team games for Uruguay over the last year (inc. the Olympic games). So it should just be a formality that if required can be processed quite quickly.

He will not feature on Sunday, whatever happens. He will feature away at Arsenal though I expect.

Surprised at how far Pele dropped after leaving us. Amazingly we made a profit on him with WBA paying £1m, but they didn't keep him for long. I didn't think he was awful for us, but that penalty in the PO S/F will live long in my memory. But as a positive, his performance in the middle of the park at Elland Road will also live long in the memory. He was majestic that day.

And it will be so much easier for them to close the deal in 4 days won't it? It's impossible for another club to now steal in as far as I'm concerned. There are so many third party contractual issues in this deal that it's not something that can be easily resolved in 4 days. We've been working on this for weeks. Hence why it's in everyone's interests to sort. Bologna need the money, even more so now that they've lined up their new player. Gaston wants to move, and if this now falls through he won't get a move and everyone will be left in a mess. So that's why it will happen. Relax. I don't think it'll be done tomorrow, or Wednesday, probably late thursday going through to Deadline day.

Because it's in all parties interests for it to happen. Bologna have already moved to put the money to use by signing a new striker, who they need to get over the line ASAP. We have our guys over there today conducting a medical and he's started his visa application. The latest twist is incredibly minor as far as I'm concerned and the only reason we're getting stressed about it is because of the presence of twitter. Deals to and throw like this all the time, but it's in everyone's interests to now get this sorted ASAP.

The reason being is because up until the mid 00's, there were very little rumours on the internet. It was all sourced for press and hard copies. Now because of the nature of the world, and the introduction of twitter, facebook etc, we get to see every single detail because parties now tweet and journalists also tweet. So basically, there have probably been plenty of deals as complex as this in the past - we just never got to hear about it.