Dan

Luke Edwards has done a column piece on Howe and PIF digging in to keep him. Expect him to sign for us within 24 hours.

Thank fck. Was really worried there for a minute. Free run now.

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Three no 9s in one window? Would be crazy but that hasn't stopped Chelsea in the past.

They love a diminutive no.10 up at the Gallowgate, Harvey.

What strikers have Chelsea got? Delap, Joao Pedro, Jackson?

Remember when Newcastle thought they would be lining up with Ekitike and Isak next season?

Maybe Rio is a wildcard. Be surprised though. Crikey.

Wonder whether that line from Joyce last night is significant about Ekitike being versatile enough to play from left. Presume we'd need to ship out Diaz and Nunez. Ekitike, Isak, Salah and Gakpo as our out and out forwards leaves us very light.

This is mad. It has to be us, right? Can't imagine we'd let him go elsewhere. Would be a pretty big fck up if we did.

And if he is injured then we've probably done the right thing with Ekitike.

Chelsea is my concern

Keep Diaz and Konate. Sign Isak and Guehi. Imagine that.

A big fat fck off to Real Madrid would be most welcome.

It'll be Gordon if Diaz goes, I reckon.

Similar narrative to Virgil and Mo. Hopefully the same outcome.

We all want Isak as well as Ekitike.

I'm not saying hes not really good. I dont think he's irreplaceable though. Who isn't fully committed to the club whichever way we want to dress it up. The only reason I'd err on the side of keeping him now is because it would be too much churn given all the other stuff going on. There's every chance he has a wobble next season though, crowd gets on his back, the narrative starts and it effects us on the pitch. Oh, and he might get injured.

I think you overrate him a bit. When he's on it he's imperious. Was inconsistent last year. I'm going off the eye test not any stats. He'll be expensive to replace though and letting him go for free will fck us on that.

Pictures of him training on his own today. They fly out to Singapore on Thursday. If he's not on that plane then he's surely off.

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I'm hopeful the value represents how much our replacement will cost and we've got that lined up and ready to go.