Polarboy

I heard, but take it with a pinch of salt, that Tonali got a goal and two assists against Burnley. It would be great if he could hit the ground running when his ban is over, but the PL is a different kettle of fish of course. As for Thiaw 10m seems like an awfully big gap in valuation, but if he's genuinely interested in joining us that's always incredibly helpful to proceedings.

Reports from Italy that we've put a bid in for the Argentinian Nicolas Gonzalez off Fiorentina. He's a right winger and has great stats when he's on the pitch, but going by his injury record that doesn't happen all that often. Given his injury history this might be the one time I'm happy that Italian papers are usually full of shite.

Gives his answer within the first two minutes, very interesting. Basically says as long as he feels supported as the manager he will continue as our manager. He's perhaps alluding to Mandy and Mehrdad leaving and Mitchell coming in, as in he needs to see what the new landscape is, what transfers he gets, what control he has over said transfers etc.

Yeah he's definitely not going to say he isn't interested, not least for the fact that he's on record that he'd see it as an honour. Howe keeps his cards close to his chest so he'll dance around it skillfully like he does with other awkward questions, but him doing that could mean little more than not wanting to even marginally insult the position, or the FA given he's, again, on record as wanting the job at some point in his career.

Just seen Bailey the journo make a decent point, that being that if Howe decides to wait until later in his career there's no guarantee that he'd get a crop of players this good again. And that if Howe is of the opinion that he could conceivably win the next world cup with said players he has a big decision to make. A relatively obvious point, but it is something more to substantial to weigh against his love of day to day club management. I'll not crack open the Pampers just yet, but I'll admit I hadn't even thought about the implications of Howe waiting until later in his career, even if it's, again, not a revelationary point.

Given the PSR situation and how close to the wire it seemingly was I'm sure it was very tense for a while there, but Edwards like most journalists is very likely overhyping the situation for clicks. And chicken boy is almost certainly not close enough to the inner circle to get a clear read on what the situation was or is. He's, again like most journalists, using the facts that are known, e.g. the PSR situation, and creating a narrative around that which is largely guesswork.

Yeah I obviously agree with your assessment, but, and I know the internet isn't really reality, I've seen plenty turning their nose up at the mere mention of Elanga, and I'm sure there's plenty who'd rather we go for someone a bit more exciting than Thiaw such as Antonio Silva. As I said I'd be more than happy with both if it means we can spread the funds about a bit and get a decent forward as well. It would be insane to try for someone like a Bowen for example and basically blow our whole budget on one player. Bowen is a pretty extreme example, but you get what I mean. Even if we could spend what we wanted I'd still rather we largely tried to sign players just before they become internationally well known elite players.

Your man Bland who made the tweet about the players being bewildered by Mandy and Mehrdad leaving has said that a contract is agreed in principle for Thiaw. But given his other tweet I'm not sure how to take him. If these are our targets, as in Thiaw and Elanga, then I anticipate people being underwhelmed, but I honestly think they'd be very clever signings.

Elanga with 14 goal involvements was responsible for roughly 30% of Forrest's goals last season. Without Elanga they'd have been relegated. Bit of an ungrateful sort your brother in law? 😉 Plus he's 22, if Howe wants him we'll have to trust that like with Gordon, who many weren't that excited about given he hadn't exactly ripped it up for Everton, he can see a vast amount of potential.

Waugh from the Athletic is about to go on Newcastle fans tv. His big tip going by the title is that the club is still going after Elanga from Forrest. Elanga makes sense in a number of respects, but I think I'd still prefer someone like Mbuemo if we're shopping from that end of the table, given his versatility. Of course maybe Brentford are playing hardball with him because they don't want to lose both him and Toney in one window. As I've said before Elanga definitely has all the attributes to be a massive player in the PL and match someone like Olise for impact, but he probably is quite a bit more raw than Gordon was when he arrived.

Some journo called Joel Bland has pushed some nonsense about the players supposedly being "bewildered" to find out on Wednesday morning that Mandy and Mehrdad were leaving. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the players don't give a flying fuck who the owners are. Some of them may have been on friendly enough terms with them, but big picture I doubt they'll be in a state of mourning. The attempt to sensationalize everything that happens at the club by the media would be laughable if it weren't so sad and emblematic of how clickbait journalism has become.

Eddie looking like Darth Vader's personal trainer at the training ground today. All joking aside the training gear is pretty sleek.

I see Boris has been at it again. Look at the mop on the young fella.

Making a comment about a young player being able to handle pressure being a good sign isn't even remotely the same as saying a player is definitely either shit or amazing from watching one game.

It may also be the case that it was always part of the deal, especially if her shares were a gift, that she was going to have to cash out when she did leave her current position.

There's reports in Portugal, so perhaps take them with a grain of salt, that we're currently favourites for Antonio Silva. Supposedly he's had a bit of a downturn in form recently, but he's still only 20 and clearly has immense potential, so buying him for a cheaper price than perhaps normal when his stock is down could be a very smart move. Reading about him he has all the attributes to replace Schar in the long term and would add a bit more pace in our back line.

This description is why I think he'd be more than able to play with Isak on the right side of our attack as opposed to just being cover for him. Whether Eddie would be willing to tweak the team a little, or David would be willing to play second fiddle to Isak as a more orthodox winger is another story.

I think it's possibly unfair to judge a player on one game, when he's playing for Canada who are ranked 48, against the number 1 ranked team in the world. Even professional football scouts watch a player far more than once. He's been prolific in his career in France. Would he make the jump to the PL? I don't know, but that judgement will be down to Howe, Mitchell etc. who actually know what they're talking about. Of course with so many teams looking for a striker, and with David's fee seemingly being more than reasonable, it's going to be a battle to sign him if we do hold legitimate interest.

He only has a year left on his contract.

The Jonathan David stuff is based on the word of Ben Jacobs. Not sure if he's much above an ITK or not, but you do hear his name mentioned quite a bit. David could be a very interesting choice given his versatility. He's largely played as a lone striker, but has played quite a bit as second striker and an attacking mid. It might take a bit of a tactical tweek and training ground work with the player, but given his supposed tactical intelligence and defensive workrate, he could possibly take up that position on the right side of our attack. He has played out wide, albeit only a little over a handful of times. To have someone who is versatile and comfortable as a lone striker could save us a lot of money if we keep Wilson and have someone like David as cover for the 9 and right wing position. It's for that reason that I thought Mbuemo was a good shout, but David might be even better. I've also read his fee would be around 25, 30 million, so considerably cheaper than Mbuemo you'd imagine, and definitely cheaper than Bowen, again assuming if that reporting is accurate.

I'd say that's a reasonable fee given his injury record and being in the final year of his contract. Whether he's fully over doing his cruciate from a few years back would be for the medical staff to decide if we actually got that far with a transfer for him.

Sports Bild in Germany are reporting that we along with Liverpool, Villa and the top German teams are interested in Brajan Gruda, a 20 year old right winger, who according to them is one of the top emerging talents in Germany. The fee is said to be around 42 million. The only clear advantage we have over Liverpool, Bayern is that he wants plenty of minutes in the first 11. Villa, Leipzig, and perhaps Leverkusen depending on who they sell this summer, will obviously be able to offer both Europe and minutes.