goodrobotusses

Yeah I agree. We have quite a lot of religious players and probably some non-religious ones who're quite conservative nonetheless. As long as they're not hateful or espousing violence and the like, their views are their own business, regardless of how much I might personally disagree.

Honestly comes across a bit, “(Youse lot are sinners but) Jesus loves you.”

Marca/pinch of salt etc:

This is what I meant about him being a physical freak. He looks crazily strong for a teenager.

Reliable or not, if he's in the squad, he'll be at least fourth choice. VvD, Konate and Guehi should dominate the majority of minutes at CB, so I don't see where Leoni gets minutes if Gomez is still here. Don't get me wrong, if an offer comes in for Gomez, I think we'd sell, and then Leoni coming in this summer makes more sense, even if I'd worry about his development stalling. But if Joe stays, we're not going to freeze him out for a kid. Even if Slot chose to do that, don't think it would sit well with others in the squad. He's our longest-serving player and well-liked, not least by VvD. On a separate note, no 4th/5th-choice CB is getting 20-25 sub appearances. If there's an injury or we're closing a game out, the first defensive sub would be whoever isn't playing out of Konate or Guehi. Outside of an injury crisis, the 4th/5th-choice CB is basically only getting cup games and CL dead rubbers.

VvD, Konate, Guehi and Gomez all more senior than him. Gomez might be injury-prone but we’re not gonna freeze him out when he is fit.

That’s what I’d assume also. Be a mad decision on the player’s part to come now and be 5th choice.

If Leoni is going to be part of the squad, one of Konate or Gomez must surely be going, otherwise it’d be a waste of time bringing the Italian lad in now.

YouTube compilations aren't great indicators of how good a player is at the best of times, and compilations of defenders are even more useless, but I will say that Leoni kid looks like a physical freak for an 18-year-old. The clips are basically just loads of him outmuscling lads.

This is what I think should happen if we sign both him and Guehi. He won't develop playing U23 games and getting a run-out in the Carabao. Either leave him at Parma for the season or loan him somewhere he's guaranteed to play. VvD and Guehi are generally pretty reliable, fitness-wise, and Konate increasingly so. After that you still have Gomez, too, who should still be good for at least some games.

This is what I reckon happens if Ibou doesn't sign, yeah. Stays as an option but Guehi takes his spot in a WC year.

Eze is good but he's also an older, not-as-good version of Wirtz. Signing him would make no sense.

It would have been but it seems behind the scenes NUFC is just Eddie Howe’s lad and the tea lady, which is why they’ve been flailing so badly.

Agreed. Best case scenario is to sign him and Guehi but leave Leoni at Parma for a year, so he can get his games. We go into this season with VvD, Konate, Guehi and Gomez. Leoni would then be arriving with more experience and having had more time to prepare for a move to England (knowing how badly Italians travel). Next summer you then have clarity on the Konate situation, while VvD and I think Gomez would have a year left on their deals, with the latter maybe getting sold if there are any suitors.

This is my worry. Wharton would come in as a replacement for Mac Allister if Madrid followed up on their interest next summer. The fact they held off on Stiller and probably won't get Rodri worries me. Different sorts of player. Wharton would help with the whole "replacing TAA in the aggregate" thing. At the moment, we only have VvD who can switch play and launch counters from deep. Wharton would offer that.

Grav has generally been very good since switching to No6, but there were games last season in which Mac was subbed off and Grav stayed on, and we still lost all control of the game. Not a criticism of Gravenberch, just don't think it's a facet of his game.

Didn't get to see the game but don't think we ever have control of games whenever Mac Allister isn't playing. Our other midfielders are very talented, but Mac Allister is the most important to the team by far.

Proper weirdo, that lad. Even if those other clubs were interested next summer, we’d probably still be favourites. We just saw off Bayern for the jewel of German football, Barca can’t afford to pay their bar tab, PSG I’ll give you as a potential threat but they don’t exactly need him and would he want to leave the PL for Ligue 1? And Madrid? After years spent working on getting Mbappe in on a free, they’re going to f*** him off to spend 100m+ on Isak? When we sign Isak I hope someone AIs Arne Slot’s head onto that video of Luke Edwards dancing and sends it to Edwards every hour.

Nunez's big moments are part of the reason I found him so frustrating. I lost count of the number of false dawns I had with him. He'd have some big moment and I'd think, "Maybe now he'll kick on." But it never happened. He's obviously a big-hearted lad, but he was also a lummox and a disastrous signing for the money he cost and how much he unbalanced the team as Klopp tried to make the signing work. I'll remember Newcastle, Brentford etc, but it's hard to erase all the fluffed chances, offsides and the sight of Klopp looking tetchy as Thiago stood in his place giving Nunez instructions on the sideline.

“Wor lock”, surely

Yeah think that would be the idea. Not sure how much Slot might fancy juggling the development of two projects (Ngumoha being the other) in attacking areas while being expected the challenge for trophies and give enough minutes to 3-4 senior attackers, mind. With Rio it’s easy for now, he’s 16, but Dibling or even Fofana would need minutes to keep developing. Perfect replacement for Elliott then! Sort of thing you’d expect someone to come up with while stoned, but assume that wasn’t the case with it being Saudi and all.

Dibling has a lot of impressive raw attributes but no idea if at some point it develops into productivity. Could become a top-class player but could just as easily become the English Adama Traore.

This is what I was wondering.

He and Martin Samuel should get together and compare notes.