Polarboy

According to some Spanish publication we've stuck in a 30m bid for Ferran Torres off Barca. Most likely bollocks, but a versatile forward who can play across the front three is the profile we've supposedly been after for a long time. You could argue that Isak is that player, but we do need a versatile Wood replacement/more consistent alternative to Almiron, and I think both Isak and Wilson more than cover the 9 spot. Maybe Diego21 could tell us if Mundo Deportivo are reliable or not and give any other insights he might have.

I'm seeing a lot of "ITK" accounts saying that Maddison is basically done. Of course they are likely just guessing based on the update from Sky Sports the other day. Tierney and Maddison in early would be a ridiculously good start to the window.

That's 12 players mate 😉👍

Not exactly a shocking assertion from Sky Sports given Spurs aren't even in the Europa Conference, their best player is likely going, and their new manager is unproven at the top level. If Maddison was still pushing to join Spurs, seemingly only because they're in London, I wouldn't want him at the club anyway.

Is this one of the lads on here?

Barella has looked very tidy. It will be interesting to see where he ends up and whether we actually have a solid interest in him.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than attempt to speak Spanish and remove all doubt.

https://sportwitness.co.uk/newcastle-preparing-make-staggering-offer-midfielder-club-will-make-good-use-money/ L’Equipe are suggesting that we're going in with a big offer for Szoboszlai soon. It apparently affects RC Lens in that Leipzig are after one of their players as a replacement, and if we give them a big fee they'll be able to make a good offer to Lens. Hopefully L’Equipe are more in the know than Caulkin et al. Someone on twitter posted this: Newspaper Transfer Budgets v Actual Transfer Spends January 2022: £50m v £85m Summer 2022: £60m v £120m January 2023: £20m v £48m In other words...they don't have a clue!

Well I think he's less likely to talk shite if he hasn't got a clue.

I meant that players will look at the wages in the Saudi league and expect a certain level, while obviously not on that level, still at a premium level. I didn't mean that the Prince is suddenly going to run out of cash.

Caulkin is usually pretty accurate comparatively to other journos though. As for what we've done in the past there's a few things which might explain why we won't be paying over 50m for a single player this window. One reason being that we have already spent quite a bit in other windows, another being that we need to build out a squad with greater depth and numbers as opposed to concentrating on two or three players, and lastly we likely need to keep an eye on our yearly wage bill and those more premium players will obviously be asking for premium wages. My attitude is to have relatively low expectations, and then I'll be pleasantly surprised if we manage to get a Szoboslzai, Veiga, etc.

If Caulkin over at the Athletic is to be believed players like Diaby and Szoboszlai are out of our price range this window. Or rather it's probably the case that if we're to fill all the positions we need we can't blow significant chunks of our budget on one or two players. Which is why we're being linked to players from relegated clubs. I suppose if we can get Maddison for 45m instead of the 61m for Szoboszlai that would make sense. There was some debate over who would ask for more wages but perhaps Szoboszlai asked for higher wages than we anticipated. It has been reported that he and a few others have asked for really high wages. It probably doesn't help that the crown prince of Saudi is currently flashing the cash for the likes of Benzema, Kante etc. It will become much easier when the ad/CL tv revenue starts rolling in, we build a decent squad, and are able to go after just a couple of players per window, and obviously trade players at big prices compared to what we paid initially consistently.

90min having mentioned Sosa the Croatian left back as an option for us. He apparently has the same agents as Pope and a few other players at the club. He could be a great shout. He's 6'1 so could perhaps do that three man defence when we're out of possession or Trippier is bombing forward that Burn does, and he's an assist machine himself. Although having looked at his stats he'd perhaps need extra coaching from Howe to improve the defensive part of his game.

If you think 50m for Maddison is a bit much, Southampton supposedly set the starting price for Ward Prowse at 52m 😂

There could be a fair bit of competition for him which may drive up the price. Norwich will reportedly get 15% of any fee which no doubt helps jack up the price as well.

The Telegraph are reporting that Leicester still want at least 50m for Maddison despite them being relegated and him being in the final year of his contract. Even if Szoboslzai is looking for big wages surely Maddison will be looking for more. When you take that into account there probably isn't much between the deals in terms of potential outlay. The difference being that it's better to invest in a transfer fee when you have a saleable asset instead of paying massive wages. It's the difference between buying a house and paying rent.

He was acquitted.

I'm a bit sceptical of transfer stories which have a built in get out of jail free card. If we don't get him they'll be like, well your were after him but you couldn't quite manage to persuade him or match the money on offer elsewhere. It's an easy filler article for them.

It makes sense though. If you're looking to stretch your budget there is some very good players in those relegated teams, and they of course all have Premier League experience. The other Champions League teams are also more likely to buy the more fancied La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga players, while we should be able to gazump the other PL teams given what we can offer them in terms of CL football etc. Again though as I said I wouldn't be as negative as chicken nonce in that I'd expect us to sign one or two surprise marquee signings as well.

If we are shopping in the relegated bin I'd be happy enough with Maddison and Lavia for our 6 and 8/10 positions. I'm confident Howe could bring out Lavia's obvious potential. Walker Peters I'm not sure is much better than Targett, but I probably haven't watched him closely enough to make that judgement. Being able to play both full back positions is obviously a plus however. As Gemmill said though, I'd hope and expect we'd sign one or two more exciting players outside the relegated ones.