Polarboy

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-12147537/Celta-Vigo-star-Gabri-Veiga-Newcastle-35m-deal.html The Mail appear to be saying that while the reports that we were close to signing Veiga are wide of the mark he could still be signed by us in the coming weeks, given we supposedly hold an interest despite not yet making a bid, which is understandable given the window hasn't even opened yet 😂 He has the same agent as Lewandowski, so if Barca want him, and more importantly can afford him given their financial troubles, we won't stand a chance obviously given he's a young Spanish kid. This of course seemingly somewhat contradicts Hope's tweet about us being used as a stalking horse, which given the timing appeared to be referencing the Veiga stuff on twitter.

Lavia off Southampton would be a better shout than McTominay. A 19 year old with ridiculous potential.

If I had to guess I'd say that Hope has seen all the Veiga stuff on twitter and that is what he is referencing. Marca who first reported the story are supposedly known to be heavily biased towards Real, so perhaps Real are using us to shake up the market for Veiga.

Maybe it's just a Twitter mirage, but there seems to be quite a bit of momentum behind this Veiga talk. Right, off to YouTube to run my expert eye over four minutes of the best things he's done over months of a season 😉👍

Seen Liverpool "strongly linked" to Thuram recently, the number 6 not the forward. We've of course been repeatedly linked to both Thuram brothers.

Seen us linked to this guy a few times. He played with Botman at Ajax and the Dutch under 21's, so it makes sense that we'd be after him. The rumour is that he's more than happy to stay at Torino for another year. So if we really like him, and that rumour is true, we could perhaps sort a plan to cover Schar for a season with a loan and go back in for him season after next. Assuming of course that he's indicated he'd be open to that.

Szoboszlai seems a more impressive athlete than Maddison and is certainly a bit more imposing physically. His stats on pressing to win possession back are also well ahead of Maddison's. Although I suppose the stats regarding pressing are from this season, so perhaps don't give a fair reflection of Maddison given he was in a struggling team. Howe also may be able to turn Maddison into a presser if that's not currently a big part of his game.

If Spuds offer him 200k+ that's us out of the bidding most likely. I think the current top earner at the club is on 120k or thereabouts. Then again it is rumoured that Bruno will crack 200k with his new contract, so I suppose if that's the case it then depends on how many players we can afford to offer those type of wages to.

If Sky Sports Germany are to be believed it's a case of one of the other between Maddison and Szoboszlai, which makes sense given that they're very similar players and would both command hefty transfer fees. If I had to guess I think Szoboszlai might end up being the one given what you imagine Maddison's wage demands will be. There were rumours a while back that Maddison would be looking for wages above our wage structure and subsequently Spuds was his most likely destination.

Apparently the guy was shouting racist abuse at Brobbey another Ajax player. If that's the case fair enough.

Hall is a very decent player. Great cross on him. We could do worse than him for LB in our team.

Almiron has definitely got the flip flops on already with shooting like that.

Fucking hell this could be bad for Chelsea 😂

Clearly the fair thing would be for the co-efficient to only apply to which seed you are for the draw as opposed to the money you receive for progress, but the world we live in is corrupt to the core. The one silver lining is that I'd be confident that we could manage top five most seasons when the extra champions league place comes in season after next. To get to Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man U, and to a lesser extent Spurs and Arsenal given they've missed CL on a fair few occasions over the last ten years, level of revenue is going to be a long slog. We're going to have to be very careful as a club so as to not become a Leicester or Everton when it comes to FFP, and be patient as fans when we're told that we can't spend what we like just because we have the richest owners. We could of course hope that the Saudi owners will employ some dark arts and learn from Man City so as to not get caught. And not necessarily to hide how much we're spending, but rather to put pressure on UEFA so as to make the co-efficient system more fair. Then again given the threat of a break away Super League that might prove impossible.

I actually think Pavard is a very interesting shout which I seen us linked to recently. I've no idea if there's anything in it, but he'd be amazing cover at right back for Trippier, and he'd probably start ahead of Schar in that right centre back position given he can play both positions. Buying players who can play two or more positions either almost or equally well means you can concentrate more on quality rather than sheer numbers for your squad.

Again the graphic isn't an endorsement of every pick. It's just an illustration of what five quality players could do to lift the quality of the squad. And in fairness to the guy who picked them both Torres and Szoboszlai can play a number of positions apart from out wide equally or in some cases better than said position.

As I explained already the graphic was just an example to illustrate the squad depth we could have, not an endorsement of all his picks. With regards to Szoboszlai though he plays on the right wing a fair bit for Leipzig. He's very versatile and moves position frequently, and people who ostensibly play on the wing don't have to play stuck to the touchline as Maddison has proven at Leicester, or indeed Gerrard proved at Liverpool. He could still get into positions from which he could dictate the play. We've of course also seen Almiron drift inside to play balls, play one two's and score absolute crackers which also gave Trippier the space to swing in crosses. Oh and yes of course Milinkovic-Savic would start ahead of Longstaff. Milinkovic-Savic has been one of the most highly regarded and sought after midfielders in Europe for about five or six years now. Longstaff has a good football brain, is a decent passer, and runs his guts out for us, but Milinkovic-Savic is on another plane of existence when it comes to technical skill.

Oh no, the ASM stan is upset 😂