Polarboy

The advantage that Mitchell has over someone like Freedman, Spors etc, for example, is that he has strong European and UK contacts and knowledge. The aforementioned had one or the other.

Paul Mitchell said: “It’s with immense pride that I accept the responsibility of being Newcastle United’s new sporting director. “I’ve seen the recent growth and ambition of the club. This, plus the amazing fan base, made the decision to join an easy one. “I can’t wait to get started and help continue the organisation’s growth and long-term competitiveness in all areas of elite football performance.” Darren Eales, Newcastle United’s CEO, said: “We are delighted to welcome Paul to Newcastle United. He brings a successful track record and wealth of experience to the club. “His extensive and diverse experience in football leadership, cultural change and recruitment mean he is the ideal person to lead our sporting directorate. “We look forward to working with Paul and supporting him in our pursuit of long-term, sustainable success.” Share

Ironic that he looks like a Mitchell brother, but that's much preferable over the pint sized weasel that was Ashworth. He's done an impressive job at most of the clubs he's been at. He brought Son and Dele Alli to Spuds, was at Southampton when they were still bringing in players and selling them for big money when Poch was there etc.

The question is why would we supposedly still want to sell him now that the PSR shortfall has been covered. You could say so that we could reinvest in the squad, but we'd need to replace Gordon, or at least get Barnes a decent understudy. And if I'm getting this PSR shite right we don't have to worry about it for another three years, in which time we should be able to spend roughly what we've spent the previous three, but without the shortfall due to new sponsorship deals, non essential player sales etc. Although I suppose 80 to 100 million would allow us to really reshape the squad.

Is it beyond the realms of possibility that the club are feeding Edwards his lines though given the Barella stuff before we signed Sandro etc? I don't follow Edwards, but I do find it concerning if he's trying to paint this narrative. Then again he may just be trying to fill his column page having run out of crayons.

I read somewhere that Liverpool had previously enquired about Gordon, and seeing our PSR situation tried again last week. With the club being in the situation they were in they felt they at least had to listen to what was being offered, even if they weren't in favour of letting someone like Gordon go. So basically they weren't actively trying to flog Gordon, they just listened to a proposal, put a massive pricetag on him, and also enquired about Quansah.

Can't imagine a first choice international keeper would come to be third choice, so you'd think so.

Flogging Anderson could surely make that up. The amount of money players are going for these days Anderson is at least worth that.

Surely 33 million is a large portion of the debt serviced. Hopefully we can sell someone like an Elliot, Longstaff, Wilson, Almiron, even Trippier, to get the rest. Of course now that I think of it the last three are largely attracting interest from Saudi, and their transfer window doesn't open for a few weeks. Point being with Minteh sold we hopefully don't have to entertain selling Isak, Gordon or Bruno anymore. I think I did read that AC might be interested in Trippier.

Forest have said they don't need or want to sell Elanga given they've already, or are close to selling a couple players. At least according to Keith Downie.

He'd definitely be a player that would still need a substantial amount of coaching to reach his potential, a fair bit more than Gordon for example, but he definitely has the raw materials in terms of his directness and pace. It would also be nice to have a right footed right winger instead of this inverted winger shite all the time. Oh and he can actually use his weaker foot unlike Almiron. Edit. On a side note it might be good to have another Swedish player in the team besides Krafth. I presume him and Isak are mates being around the same age and in the national team.

It makes zero sense to compare a 22 year old player with a high ceiling to Almiron a 30 year old who in his best season for us, with that mental purple patch, still didn't best Elanga's 14 goal involvements last season in the PL for a poor Forest side.

I read that Matic has compared this kid to Ivanovic and Vidic, and has said that he's a shoe in for the national team if he keeps developing the way he is. High praise when you look at the careers and type of players the aforementioned had and were. We also supposedly beat Monaco, Dortmund, and a few premier league clubs to his signature. Obviously if Monaco and especially Dortmund are after a player it's a good sign.

The guardian are reporting that we've made an enquiry about Tomori off AC. A name we've heard before of course, but I think I'm right in saying that this is the first time a somewhat credible source has made mention of our interest. He's right footed, pacey, comfortable on the ball, has prem experience, still relatively young at 26, and appears to be equally comfortable playing as either a left or right sided centre back. So he'd be a very decent choice if we can get him for a price we can afford. I'd be very concerned about someone from the top six gazumping us on wages at the last minutes, but I suppose that's always a concern.

I saw journalists at the chronicle saying they hope Man City aren't successful in overturning the rule that prevents clubs from basically paying themselves whatever they want from related company sponsorship, because it would "ruin" the game or something. Newsflash, the game has long gone in terms of money ruining it. The top six have done everything in their power to pull up the ladder permanently behind them, and the only realistic way another team has to compete is to be taken over by very rich owners. So Citeh have my best wishes in that respect, and I do think something will change in terms of PSR, because what's happening now with Chelsea selling hotels, teams selling each other youth players at inflated prices etc, is so transparently absurd it's unsustainable.

I was looking at DCL's injury record and it seems like he may have just had a tough recovery from the broken toe that kept him out for ages. Players usually do get niggling injuries when coming back from such long lay offs, so hopefully that's all it is and he's not going to have a career like Wilson's in terms of injury. One season obviously isn't enough data to say he's going to be fine going forward, but he was fit for the vast majority of last season. As for his goalscoring record it's unsurprising that his confidence and subsequently his goal scoring record would be down at a club like Everton. I'd back Howe to get him back to approaching a 1 in 2 striker which he managed at Everton a few seasons back.

The mail are saying that Everton value him at 35 million, and that they won't be forced into selling him on the cheap. In reality though given Everton's financial predicament and DCL's contract situation, there's surely plenty of leverage on our side to get him for less than his valuation.

I'm sceptical as well in terms of him being a replacement for Wilson, I said as much a week or two ago when we were linked again, but if he's actually going to be signed there's no point being ultra negative before he's even played a game for us. Those two bad seasons could be a sign of things to come, or it might be a significant blip of an otherwise average career in terms of getting injured. Wilson unfortunately can be written off at this stage of his career injury wise. And last season six games is relatively little to miss, and he was unfortunate getting a broken cheekbone and being Ill for the other games. I'd be more worried if he was like Wilson last season and seasons before where it's his knees, hamstrings etc over and over again. Albeit Wilson was unfortunate with the pec injury which is the type of injury that rarely happens.

I'm aware. That's why I said five out of seven seasons he's largely been available.

If anyone can get DCL back to the sort of form that saw his value go up to 60, 70 million it's Howe. I think it's still borderline as to whether DCL will be a permacrock for the rest of his career, but obviously that ship has sailed for Wilson at his age. For five out of the last seven seasons DCL has largely been fit and available to play. Given our financial situation DCL might be the best we can get for how much we want to spend.

In fairness to DCL he only missed six games last season in the PL, with a few being for a broken cheekbone, and the others for illness. 32 games is a lot more than Wilson has managed in a long time. The two seasons previous were poor for him injury wise, but as back up to Isak there'll be a lot less pressure on him physically. Last year of his contract and still 27, he could be a bit of a bargain, as has already been said, if Howe et al can negotiate a fair price. Edit. Looked at Wilson's stats and he has been available for roughly the same amount of games for a couple of seasons previous to last season, but he was being managed by Howe in terms of minutes where as DCL was starting most games last season. Obviously keeping Wilson as well would be ideal, but that seems unlikely in terms of FFP.

He's agreed to go to Bayern according to Ornstein as well. At least that's what I've read indirectly of the Athletic. Apparently even Chelsea couldn't afford the wages he was after.

I think we've read the same i article 😂

The i are saying that Madueke off Chelsea might be an option for our right wing if they manage to land Olise ahead of us. Can't say I'd be a fan of helping them fill the bank back up after getting a player we were after, and he's not exactly an exciting name. In fairness to him though he is still very young at 22, and he looked like the only player who was half bothered at times last season for Chelsea. If he is seen as a serious option then Eddie and the rest of the recruitment team obviously see something in him.

Yeah weren't Chelsea close to signing him last season? Seems like Fred Flintstone and co have that one sewed up unfortunately. Again it's not impossible to get players to choose us over the London clubs, but when the player is already settled there it does seem a bit of an uphill task. Plus whatever way you look at the shambles they've been in recent times, Chelsea were ridiculously successful when a lot of these players were growing up. So they are still seen as a prestigious club to join.