HarvSFC

Stephens is weirdly dependable for a fourth choice centre-back. Much better than Yoshida/Gardos were and can cover other positions too. The lapses in concentration and guarantee of at least one mistake per game is the reason he's not further up the pecking order. Would be a loss to the overall squad, as don't think we're getting better backup at CB.

Any idea why we released Ben White? I believe Van Dijk to be the only player we've sold for £50m, or above, unless I'm missing someone obvious.

Alright, Alex Crook.

I don’t think Alfie Jones was let go because he didn’t fit a style. He’s 23 now and was behind Bednarek, Vestergaard, Stephens and Salisu in the pecking order.

Part of me wonders why Christie is valued at just over £1m, even if he is in the final year of his contract, but then again we signed Steven Davis for less than £1m from the SPL and the rest is history. Then I wonder why a 26 year old only has 20 caps for Scotland, but then Stuart Armstrong only has 27 caps at 29 and he's one of our most consistent performers. 🤷‍♂️

Indeed, US owners seem to have a trend of being disliked and unsuccessful over here. Glazers and Kroenke the two standouts, while FSG aren't too popular at Liverpool despite the Champions League and Premier League titles. Hicks and Gillett before them were also seen as woeful. Lerner at Aston Villa and Short at Sunderland brought nothing but relegation for the two clubs, while I don't know too much about Swansea's owners, but they were soon relegated after their takeover and are now having to sell any asset they have despite the parachute payments. Eisner down the road also, helping maintain their status as a Mickey Mouse club, keeping them in the third tier.

If a club matches Spurs’ valuation of Kane (that’s a big if) he’s going to be off in a flash. Everything so far this summer will have convinced him that he’s better off elsewhere.

Liebherr bought the club for £13m, probably spent less than £10m in transfer fees on obtaining the best players of League One/the Championship in Lambert, Hammond, Fonte, Barnard, Puncheon, Cork and Sharp. (Plus others, and obviously our last paid for manager in Adkins). He did of course need to invest in a new training ground, which we now have and didn't have the Premier League money incoming. There wasn't a guarantee of the consecutive promotions, he did have to take a risk, but our club at the moment is valued at £200m and probably needs a further £60m put into the playing squad to remain competitive. You can see why a billionaire was tempted to buy us then, and why they may not be so much now when there could be better value around.

Meslier's got the Leeds number one spot locked down, at least with Norwich, you could say they are looking for Krul's successor. They're just rehashing a story: https://www.footballinsider247.com/door-opens-for-leeds-united-to-sign-gunn-from-southampton/

Kayne McLaggon

Norwich being the better option, who are also skint and were shiter than shite last time they were in our league and just sold their best player?

He fell behind Joe Hart in Tottenham’s goalkeeper pecking order, not sure he’s the answer to our goalkeeper problems. Would be much of the same as Forster and McCarthy, but with different limitations and another wage packet.

His best game for us was his debut against Chelsea, and I thought we had a good talent between the sticks for once. However, like the other two, he regressed and yeah, never recovered from the 9-0. I always thought that it was fortunate he was the league goalkeeper and not the cup goalkeeper when we played Portsmouth, as I think he would have conceded one of the early chances they had. He also looked dodgy at Stoke last season - 6:01 and 7:41 for two highlights in the match below. Hasn't worked for him here and will be interesting to see how he gets on competing with Krul, who is a favourite as well at Norwich.

Sheldon's Athletic article, which was summarised said we wanted to sign one permanently and the other was likely to be a loan, so wouldn't be surprised if it's Brandon Williams for the third window. Stagnating at United after four league appearances last season.

Meslier at Leeds (21), Sanchez at Brighton (23) and Henderson (24) are the three notable young goalkeepers off the top of my head. Think most others are 27+.

At the time, and probably still is, Lemina was our most technically gifted footballer. However, he's more interested in the fame and fortune that comes with being a footballer, instead of doing it on the pitch himself. There's a reason we shipped him out, there's a reason he's had two bang average loans at Galatasary and a relegated Fulham side and there's a reason Man United/Arsenal didn't pick him up when he was trying to whore himself out with his own highlights reel #TonicLikeLeminade. We almost got relegated in his first season here, and we certainly could not afford to carry him in the team when he's not on it now, so I don't think he's the answer, nor would he make a difference to our position in the Premier League. I get that he's an exciting highlights player, who looks good on the ball, but the bad memories far outweigh the good.

Has Crook ever commented on a player, who isn't linked to us in the public domain? Seems he just tags on afterwards, saying, oh yeah, he's a target by the way. Instead of breaking names to us.

Given there's still some question marks over Ralph, there's the exact same over Howe... and more. He can't organise a defence, his Bournemouth side played the exact same way every week too, never deviating despite it being obvious they were going the wrong way, his side would start the season well, but also always dropped off massively. The failing to settle up north is the line used for his Burnley tenure, but we don't know if that is just on of those "mutual agreement" lines to save face. They lost five of their first 10 fixtures in 2012-13 before he was gone, picking up three wins. Dyche got them promoted the next season. Finally, Howe performed a lot worse than Ralph did in the Premier League (he actually got relegated) with a far bigger budget and greater resources. I personally am glad the story's from Football Insider.

Whenever a discussion goes to whether a goalkeeper's good with their feet, I think of this:

We were linked with him back in 2019: https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport/17680480.afc-bournemouth-battle-southampton-goalkeeper-bartlomiej-dragowski-claims-report/

Will Ferry and Jake Vokins the previous two winners before Jankewitz. JWP 2013, Hesketh 2014.

KWP’s got more chance of a call-up.

Good to see Lingard in the starting eleven tonight. Can get a proper run out before the Euros starts.

Looks as though the new Brexit rules are a bit flimsy: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/57332311

JWP's league season numbers: 8 goals and 7 assists in 38 appearances. Those listed as midfielders in the England squad: Mount: 6 goals and 6 assists in 36 appearances Henderson: 1 goal and 1 assist in 21 appearances (9 as a CB) Bellingham: 1 goal and 3 assists in 29 appearances Phillips: 1 goal and 2 assists in 29 appearances Rice: 2 goals and 1 assist in 32 appearances JWP outperformed all in goals and assists quite considerably over the season, barring Mount.