Andrew

Whats the deal with him Diego? He seemed to be a star in the making a few years ago but then went to china at 25 or so? I knew he was back in Madrid but I assumed he'd taken a drop in quality and gone off for the pay check with his china trip. Is he good? is 50 million pounds actually a reasonable fee for him?

You sure?

Well no, i just hate them

Ayy look who’s come back just in time to not be back anymore.

Hed be a very good squad addition based on this season. Based on the relegation release clauses id prefer Phillips for 25 million though and not having Everton in the league would also be preferable

and that he hits Leon Bests leg and puts him out for weeks

Never have, don't lift that heavy generally, though I have started using a wrist strap recently just to give it some support cause I failed a benchpress a few weeks ago and nackered it a bit. I think lifting the weight you do its a smart move to keep your spine safe, I see plenty of lads moving less weight than you do wearing them.

We've absolutely no chance of getting Jesus, especially if Arsenal get CL in the next week or two. Schmeichel is making uncharacteristic mistakes characteristic this season, hes one his way down and we shouldn't be going for him, hes 35. If we're looking at an older keeper it surely has to be Navas.

Theoretically, discounting the Bayern players and (probably) Nkunku we have the financial clout to pursue players from any bundesliga club. We've seen rumours of Schick already but I'd be curious if @Isegrim thinks any of the others would be worth us signing

Just learning your basic few chords will honestly open up the ability to strum out absolutely loads of songs tbh, getting to that isn't so tough if that's what you're after. Worlds your oyster after that, I'd recommend getting some in person lessons to get you going and then just see how you feel about it.

The new sponsorship rules only say that any sponsorship worth more than 1 million has to be deemed appropriate to market value. They weren't able to keep the ban on owner related companies giving sponsorship but there is a check for "associated parties" whatever that actually means considering that the PL made the judgement that PIF and Saudi are separate things. As far as legal separation goes, it is quite clever. We are owned by PiF, who sponsor Golf Saudi and can sponsor them as much as they want to. Golf Saudi then sponsor our shirts for as much as possible, the money basically comes from PiF and everyone knows it, but legally it is being passed through a completely different entity so...fuck you Premier League.

Keylor Navas is going to be leaving PSG this summer, he's certainly not a long term solution but we should be all over that, hes incredible.

Sponsorship definitely incoming, Golf Saudi chief exec has been appointed as a director https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/61433365

He'd fucking love them if they weren't brown

A leaked kit concept is the same colour as saudis international kits and its somehow equated to the club saying "please dont dress like cartoon arabs" when we got bought out.

Here we gooooooo https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-10811061/Are-Saudi-Arabia-disguise-Newcastle-set-turn-green-white-season.html

Agreed, makes them look more modern. I honestly quite like the change of crest colour as well, when its for the non-home shirts anyway. Its something a lot of clubs do these days and I prefer it to changing the crest completely.

Ekitike missed most of the second half of the season through injury, I’d be a bit surprised to see us back in for him this early.

I see it more as getting a quality player in with a release clause the represents a bargain. I also can't see us being able go from 433 this season to 4231 next season, I think its a step too far, I think we'll likely see both in which case if you get Phillips in, you have a trio in Bruno, him and joelinton who can play in either of the two midfield setups, if you then add a number 10 who is able to play as a CM as well to that mix you have 4 players competing for three spots that have a lot of interchangeability regardless of which of the two systems is in play.

Perfectly imo, he takes Shelveys slot in the midfield 3.

Kalvin Phillips apparently has a 25 million release clause if Leeds go down. Should definitely be in for him at that price and you'd think we'd be in with a good shout of getting him.

You're the strong one man, I'm just a poser

Bit of googling says Andrade is generally reliable. No doubt there would be competition for him but perhaps getting in early when some other clubs are still figuring out their positions for summer might be great for us. The summers "trippier" signing, big player, sewn up early and setting the tone for the rest of the window.

He was one of my picks in the "could you manage...' thread, he'd be an excellent signing but I feel like having to pick and choose the positions we strengthen with the most money, and needing to sort out our forward line which will be expensive, we would not be looking to drop the 40 odd million he is valued at this summer on a defender.

Same tbh, trusting in our recruitment team on that front. Lingard definitely thinks he is worth more than he is and Coutinho has been bang average since March and with the way people on here carry on about ASMs defensive contributions I genuinely couldn't bear to have him in the squad.