tajjuk

£7 million according to Wiki.

Yeh seems a bit dramatic.

I think we wanted to keep him IIRC, but Reading signed to a new contract after his loan spell with us so presumably wanted to keep him, but I doubt anyone could have forsaw he would have become a good PL striker. He went on loan to Colchester after us in League 1, then Sheff Wed, again in League 1, then had two fairly average seasons in the Championship. It wasn't until he joined Forest and about 5 years after he left us until he really started to prove himself.

I like the fact young footballers want to play football instead of sit in the reserves on possibly bigger money and we are exploiting this. Also should be no buy back in this one, just compensation and probably a small sell on fee as part of that.

Zouma is exactly the kind of signing I wouldn't want us to make, he's an over priced player, who seemingly wants huge wages (seems to be the stumbling block with West Ham), he's 26, has over 200 PL games, been on loan at two other PL clubs, and has basically not really established himself as a good PL defender IMO, how you think he'll be worth £50 million is beyond me. £25 million and £100k plus a week, is not good value for an average and inconsistent PL defender. Better than our centre-back options? Probably, but a difference worth spending over £50 million on in wages and transfer fees? Not even close.

So not sure if someone else mentioned it, but a possible explanation for the Torino fans dislike of him is because he very heavily celebrated a victory for Bologna, who he was on loan at, AGAINST Torino. EDIT: Got that from the Total Saints Podcast who got it from someone that is apparently a Saints and Torino fan. Also sounds like Torino have been pretty shambolic on and off the pitch for the last two years, they nearly got relegated last year with a squad that should have been nowhere near relegation. The Serie A person they got on the podcast basically said he wouldn't read too much into how he or Torino have performed because of that over the last year to 18 months because of that. Lyanco has apparently been wanting out for a while because of that. Main worry for me would be that he's very confident in his own ability, which does ring some Hoedt alarm bells, but is also apparently very driven to improve and become the best, so we shall see.

How many times has that guy been linked with a big move to someone? Yet no one actually pulls the plug, he can't even get a regular start for Wolves. He's obviously got great pace and strength, but he's got no end product most of the time. As shown yesterday, burst through with his pace, gets a 1v1 against the keeper, basically hits it straight at Lloris. 6 goals and 11 assists in the last two seasons. Redmond has 6 goals and 7 assists in his last two seasons from less starts, and no one is going to pay £40 million for him. One of the most over rated players around, 'flatters to deceive' sums him up nicely I think.

He's clearly a Vestergaard replacement because he has seemingly been chosen specifically for his ball playing ability, if anything he seems (from the information we have) even more of a ball playing centre-back than Vestergaard was, all the clips of him show him playing diagonals, balls in behind or bringing the ball out of defence into midfield. It's an area that was mentioned as been important to the way we play and none of our current centre-backs are particularly adept at this. Whether he is any good at defending (and it's not a massively high bar to clear to be better than our current centre-backs or Vestergaard) is another matter and what most here (and rightly) seem worried about. The worry being that we have prioritised someone who is very good on the ball, making play etc. over someone that is very good heading the ball, tackling one v one, defensive positioning, interceptions etc. Now maybe just maybe Salisu is going to be the one to excel at that and will give us the improvement in that area that we clearly need. He seems certainly to have the all round potential to do this, whilst also having a good amount of mobility as well, something our defence lacked last year (especially so with Vestergaard in there) but that is still a bit of unknown and a bit of gamble IMO, rather than going out and spending £15-20 million (which we basically should have) on someone who should be a defensive upgrade on Bednerak/Stephens/Vestergaard, which of course there is no guarantee on, but someone like Dujleta-Car or Milenkovic look highly rated, relatively experienced internationals who could do that. Also I am not writing this guy off, he could turn out to be an excellent signing who is defensively solid and contributes offensively, just a worry that there are a few red flags, but on recent signings the scouting department seems to be getting it right so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

He's also a lot quicker than Danny Ings from what I have seen, so will get more chances just because of that, Ings's movement off the ball had to be very good because he wasn't that fast. Also Ings scored 7 in 24 for us first season, it was hardly like he was the complete player or a top PL striker. And all strikers miss chances, Ings including, but for example in the Villa v Newcastle game, Wilson miss a golden chance in the first 5 minutes and I am sure if we had bought him as a replacement for Ings people would have pleased with that. Even the best strikers miss chances.

Also probably should be pointed out that we have more depth now than we used to, so no point risking him and making the injury worse, give him time to heal up and get fully fit. He is one of those players likely to pick up more knocks because he drives at players often, so will get caught more in challenges.

I kind of get your point, but I am still worried that he is a defender, who will need to do some defending and doesn't appear on available evidence that great at it. But who knows, very difficult to judge, maybe he'll turn out to be a steal. I mean Lovren came off the back of a similar awful season IIRC with Lyon, hadn't he had like 4 or 5 reds or something and their fans hated him. This guy might just slip into the league and suit it down to the ground. Plus it is a good point about his ball playing ability, especially if we use a back 3 a bit more, one of those centre-backs is going to need to step out more and be involved more in build up play, and none of our current ones are great at that. And I do have a soft spot for Harry Maguire, just because I like his little bursts out of defence, partly because it looks so odd a great big lump like that ghosting past people but also because it causes problem, a centre-back breaking the lines like that can disturb defensive set ups. Its how Sheff Utd were so successful the first season they came up with their over lapping centre-backs. From the youtube this guy reminded me of that, looks like he can do similar.

No, it went through Salisu's legs, but no deflection. Now you could say he was unsighted a bit because of that but it was scuffed and he'll have received pass backs with more venom than that, it's a clear keeper error IMO. Its basically a scuffed shot down the middle of the goal from about 10 yards, straight at him, and it went through. ------- OGS now moaning like Klopp, I am sure we will see some generous decisions now going the big clubs way because of it, I am sure Tuchel will probably join in next week. Campbell and Keane didn't think it was a foul, I don't think most people playing Sunday league or similar would think that was a foul, he used his body but he won the ball fairly IMO. Souness said it was a foul but then went on a rant about big clubs needing to have to deal with different challenges and littler teams getting physical with them, otherwise the appeal of the whole league will go, which I kind of got the point, but then odd he thought it was a foul. But as I said I bet some more decisions start going their way and bet some of the other big club managers pipe up.

Suggested this last week, I think Perraud and KWP/Tino give us enough threat down the wings, whereas when we did it before Bertrand basically just didn’t get forward enough. Plus we don’t need all the inconsistent no 10s, play Armstrong behind the strikers and let JWP get forward more. Then 3 average centre backs is better than two!

Still struggling to see how that scuff goes through the keeper like that, I’ve seen juniors at Cricket stop ball straight at the better than that.

He's basically Stuart Armstrong Mk2. probably similar age, experience and likely cost, similar position as well though I think he's a bit more of a playmaker

I think it'll be a loss, probably by 2 or 3, Man Utd are just too good sadly. It's just like a different league really, what over £100 million spent on two players, on top of a squad that probably cost over £500 million. Did our likely first 11 even cost as much as Sancho? Can't be much more.

IF the Christie rumour is true then it seems we are basically stretching the remaining cash across 3 players I reckon, presuming we are trying to get Christie for a low fee, like say £5 million to get ahead of other people trying to send him on a free in Jan, then a tribunal fee for the Everton left back and the £6 or so million for Lyanco

Some sort of weird young English thing making him over rated? No idea really, whenever I have seen him he looks nothing special and seemed to often parry stuff back into play. Very busy keepers for shit teams (aside ours) seem to traditionally get a bit over rated I think, like Marshall for Cardiff did a few years back, just because so much comes their way they will make a lot of saves. Smith-Rowe and Odegaard not really the same sort of player, I'd reckon they'd actually play well together, Odegaard is like a very pure playmaker, drifts around, links the midfield to the attack, plays lots of through balls. Basically Ozil Mk2. Smith-Rowe is more busy, taking people on, playing one-twos bursting into the box, shooting etc. Like the difference between say a Tadic and Stuart Armstrong.

Our signings have been better in recent times, the scouting department seems to be more switched on, but I'd have say there are a few more red flags about this guy than usual. I mean I think Perraud and Armstrong are going to turn out to be really good signings, but they came with a lot of positives, good records in their leagues, highly rated, their clubs pushing for decent fees, seemingly integral to their teams etc. This guy, is cheap, hasn't been a very regular starter, seems hated by their fans, questions over his attitude etc. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, but there seems to be more doubt about this guy than some of the other signings. Will say though Lovren came from similar circumstances and he did well.

Pretty much every Cricket team in the world has the potential for that happening, just seems to be part of Cricket collapses like that. I've certainly played in a few in my time from both sides, it's just weird, bowlers get a on roll and every batter comes out looking like they are holding toothpicks.

How many rapid centre-backs are there in the league? Plus pace is extremely difficult to tell from just one clip like that, just giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Yeh he did but to be fair to him Leao is quick and he was a sub with fresh legs.

Third comment down 'Looks like something from a PE teachers lost property box' 😄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izgp4DDDyFI Looking at the highlights he gave away the pen, and whilst I wouldn't say he looked amazing, the other 6 goals seemed largely down to his teammates not marking or tracking runners. Plus just some very good finishing/movement from Milan. I don't know the circumstances but they looked they just gave up a bit, was very easy for Milan at the end.

Yeh was going to point out the same, so there is always the chance he might just be a bit of a twit and that is why the Torino fans don't like him or he's wanted to leave or something.