Davvo

This was one of the moves I was fearing. Quite apart from the fact we could really do with not losing our small group of World Class players, selling someone of low book value, with high sale value, looks entirely financial. Unlike the Carroll deal, this would make the club a lot of money. If it's to offset other big money signings, then I suppose you've got to look at the entire picture at the end of the window, if not then it would be a worrying message. Hopefully nothing in it.

f*** Off. Not you Cunny

The initial loan made a lot of sense to a board looking to sell the club, certainly much more than selling and taking an enormous hit on his book value. The accounts might be boring, but they were hugely relevant at that time. Second time around, it appears we tried to be more clever about it but got played by Milan. In indsight there, we should have tried to offload for a low fee last Summer. As for keeping him, well Im not sure any of us can claim to know whether that was really an option, in terms of his mental application, or the managers wanting to use him, or any other factors. It's just an enormous f*** up, though you're right, attacking him personally for the contract we gave him seems unfair. Even if he really is how he's been portrayed by some, that was our duty to research before signing him. All coaches are always going on about the lengthy scouting process, delving deep into all sorts of detail before signing someone.

Accounting? I know he'll still be on the wage bill, but there's a certian budget for that. The transfer fee will offset some of the los of asset? No idea really, could be to stop their players booting off about his wage, maybe some have clauses that would be affected?

I get the feeling he's looking for a 3 that are interchangeable, lots of movement, rather than a straight forward LW/CF/RW. That's not to say there wont be more one dimensional wingers/strikers in the squad, but more as options I would have thought.

You mean the one outside the circle ? I assumed he was the Aussie fitness coach.

I guess this is a question relating to Summer activity of sorts. Does anyone know if Pepe has returned to training yet ? With 4 weeks off, he'd have been due back on Monday wouldn't he ?

I think that's Plan's C & D - Cultural Diversion.

Exactly, noone seems to have a clue, there's certainly no way anyone can say with any certainty what he's on. Again though, the Italian press almost always report wages as net for some reason, which would make figures of £65-£70k in their press tally with £110k or so in ours (tax avoidance not withstanding).

He adds another page ? Perhaps his dossier was only 125 pages this time 12 months ago ?

That is a legitimate concern at this stage too. I don't suppose we've had chance to see if there is some flexibility in his thinking however, this 180 page dossier could well contain Plans B thru Z, though what he has to say tends to suggest not.

I think there's a lot of logic in this, largely that the players we would want to upgrade to may not be willing to come to us at this stage. We need to add a little quality, particularly upfront, to push for top 4, and then complete the transformation with the addition of 2/3/4 more quality players next year. We just don't have the funds to do it all in one window, especially after blowing so much gross last year. It's why I'd be happy keeping most if not all our current midfielders. I think we desperately need to make sure we have 4 or 5 serious goal threat's to choose our front 3 from.

When he originally signed it was reported by the beeb as £85k, subsequently anywhere from £90 to £100k+. The Italians are reporting figures as net. There are discrepancies all over the place, but I haven't seen one report of him being on £65-£70k per week gross.

He's got that from the Italian reports linked to on here presumably. I think the confusion arises in that the Italian reports keep referring to these figures as net.

I doubt he'd say that, but given the fight he had just won to secure control of his budget, I'd be amazed if he wasn't aware and happy with the amount we were paying him. Not that it matters particularly, becuase if you sanction a £20 million signing, then you know he's going to be earning big money.

You can stick as many players as you want on the b list apparently, though they must all be U21's at a certain date, and have played for you at least 2 years. Suso must be close to being eligible for that list, but even if he's not he'd be eligible for the main squad of 25, just as Mclaughlin is. Squad for Gomel away Jen Chang ‏@JenChang88 RE: the Europa League squad posted on UEFA: http://uefa.to/NFF5P4 - this squad list is solely for the first leg against FC Gomel This initial squad registration was presumably done at a point where it was assumed Suso would be unavailable due to recent U19 commitments ? He could have been registered in the main squad as Mclaughlin is, but possibly not on the b list, although I thought he'd been here 2 years now. What seems weird, is how Coates and Suarez are in it, but not Bellamy, given their situations are the same (ie playing tomorrow in the Olympics therefore unavailable, but potentially available for the 2nd leg). Probably something and nothing however. This isn't obviously the actual matchday travelling squad, just those registered for the fixture.

Aye, Mclaughlin looks like he might come flying past Flannagan in the pecking order . Real potential there.

I'd like to see Kelly at CB at some point, League Cup or something. In theory he has all the attributes, and it's where he played most of his youth football. Playing fullback has been good for his development, but maybe the reduced running involved at CB could help him avoid injury if nothing else.

We do, but we've also added Pacheco, Cole and Aquilani to last year's squad. If they're not needed then they need shifting first, and that might not be easy.

Yep, think this will be a stepping stone year, with one or two players retained that we'd rather not (Cole/Downing etc), to be upgraded next Summer with players who will be more likely to come for (hopefully) Champions League footie. I hope we're not aiming for a Suarez/Borini/Dempsey first choice 3. Borini & Dempsey(if bought) should be competing with Bellamy and others for one free spot alongside Suarez and another quality forward.

Agreed. As far as forwards go however, we'd need to offload one or more of Carroll/Downing/Cole (even Bellamy though I'd rather not), in order to bring more in I think.

Perhaps you should do that, and tell us what we should do with those you aren't happy to see play for us, given they've got contracts.

Bless you.

As bad as that looks in slow motion, at normal speed it's more apparent that Adam was just slow and therefore late. I prefer the slow-mo effect though, given Bale's cheating and bleating.

Yep, I think £30-40M is a not unreasonable budget, given the huge savings we've made over the last 12 months, and the commerical deals as you say. Of course, I'd also agree that quality of player is more important than transfer fee, but if we end up a little short of quality by September 1st, with a net spend of much less than £30-£40M, it will be a big disappointment. August is huge, lot's of work to do to get us in good shape. I'm not unduly worried in terms of the season opener though, it's rare for transfer business to be completed before the season starts.