RafaShanks

Feckin superb. Better lyrics than the original

Add Alves and I'd be delighted with that.

Man in the know. Editor of TLW.

Get well soon Djib. Keep practicising those pens for Athens.

Alves to sign by Tuesday according to someone on TLW, who is also claiming Dave Usher knows this.

No testimonial for him then? Great servant, but not surprised. Good luck and all the best Didi.

Apologies. I'm a bit pissed at the moment and that comment was harsh. I just think we're gonna get stung on this one and will be better off looking elsewhere.

Why the feck should we offer that for a glorified right back? £7m is the max we should offer. I'd rather have Simao for £13m.

Does that mean the Geordies are a UEFA cup team?

We're Champions league team regardless of us being in the qualifiers or not. We won't get a better value striker for the money.

Where? Who? What?

The Telegraph last summer: "However, the reassurance of familiar faces in the shape of Hughes and his assistants, Mark Bowen and Eddie Niedzwiecki - all of whom had coached him successfully with Wales - was enough to secure his move on a four-year contract for an undisclosed fee. Bellamy said, somewhat gauchely, that if it were not for the circumstances, "they would have paid much more for me". There is, however, a clause in Bellamy's contract with Blackburn that would allow him to leave for £6 million should a club in the Champions League make a bid." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtm...08/ixsport.html Blackburn and Bellamy can deny this all they want.

Bellamy doesn't start with a Z.

Pre-transfer window speculation thread me thinks

Surely we must have hit the 100 page mark, with the previous thread, and we still haven't feckin signed anyone yet

Why don't you try reading between the lines? The only transfer Rafa's looked to tie up thus far is Alves, which is what all the most reliable sources have been saying. This would have happened if Sevilla would have stuck to their original asking price of £7m. There was always gonna be a clearout this summer regardless.

Didn't Rafa demand assurance for a certain amount for his transfer funds before signing his new contract? Obviously the £6-8m we would have got would effect this, but shouldn't change things that much surely? We still need two strikers.

Poor Djib. Gutted for him!!!

Parry "I WANT £10m FOR DJIB" Diouf "We're skint. Is it ok if we take him on loan?" Parry "Alright then"

A question regarding Aurelio. Anyone know why this hasn't been announced officially yet? When does his contract expire?

Doesn't the credit go to Gerry "I can't control my neck" Francis?

Didn't Lyon bid £8.5m for Baros, but he didn't wanna go there?

I personally can't see this happening, due to the cost of landing him. If Rafa thinks he's up to the task, then fair enough. I'd personally would prefer going for a safer bet like Huntelaar along with Kuyt, which will give us options galore.

Agreed he'd be a risk, but can't do any worse than Morientes. Only 22 as well.

Get with the programme, cryptic clues only