Polarboy

Yeah you would hope that would be one advantage and that we've turned his head. It's a tough position for Leipzig to be in. They look like they're going to lose pretty much all their top players apart from Olmo and a few others. The story in the German press could just be Leipzig using a bit of gamesmanship letting it be known that they'll be tough negotiators.

Downie saying we'll look to Szoboszlai. Whether he's gotten that knowledge first hand or is just guessing based on the sustained rumours who knows. I wouldn't be surprised if we get someone other than Szoboszlai largely out of the blue like Tonali.

Mark Douglas was saying that we're working on a mystery midfielder alongside Livramento at present. Whether that's Szoboszlai or someone else is unclear. The thing about Szoboszlai is that it's likely the case you'd have to engage in a bit of gamesmenship in order to get a decent price. So it's something that could drag on until near the end of the window. I know there's a release clause running out at the end of this month but it's actually fairly irrelevant. It would only be relevant if it was under his market value like Kim Min-jae's was.

If you think about a Livramento deal, assuming the fee is around 15m that's only 3m per year of the contract if I'm understanding this FFP craic. Although his contract might end up longer than that, not that it matters as people have said FFP only takes up to five years of a contract into consideration. And I can't imagine Livramento will be on ridiculous wages either. Very good bit of business potentially.

As people have said it does seem odd that we'd put 15 to 20m of our supposedly limited budget on a back up to Trippier. I'll be more than happy if we do sign Livramento though of course. He's an extremely promising player.

According to a Brazilian journalist we're back in for that young attacking midfielder Matheus Franca. https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2023/06/26/newcastle-set-to-launch-e22-5m-bid-for-brazilian-attacker-report/

What do you think he gets up to with these?

😂 There are I'm sure many thousands of Kevin McLaughlin's in this world. It's a comforting thought.

Just read that Robinson is actually in the top 20% in Europe for his position for successful take ons and progressive carries up the pitch per 90. So while he may not consistently make the final pass before a goal, he's still heavily involved in getting the ball into an area when other players can make that pass.

Evening Standard saying we're after Robinson the LB off Fulham. It's a few days old story at this stage. If 35m is the price I wouldn't that keen, especially seeing as he's in the final year of his contract. There's surely LB's who offer more going forward for the same price. https://www.footballfancast.com/newcastle-premier-league-antonee-robinson-transfer-news-updates/

An even more extensive examination of Tonali and his numbers, for people who like that sort of thing.

Romano has supposedly said that the sell on clause percentage that Milan would get for Tonali is 10%. A sizable enough chunk, but 10% and under isn't too bad.

Interesting thread on this Hancko guy. Apparently he predominantly plays left back for Slovakia, so he's more adept there than it might at first glance appear, or indeed has merely filled in, in that position out of necessity. He certainly seems more comfortable there, and supposedly has greater attacking threat and athleticism than Burn. A more defence minded full back than a Trippier, but who can still get forward to decent affect is likely what Howe is looking for. If you factor in that we likely already have good relations with Feyenoord since doing the Minteh loan deal, and this could be a goer.

Having someone who's proven they can crack double figures on goals and assists over a number of years in the PL is decent experience in my book. And that's in a side who were predominantly extremely defensive under Hodgson. And look if his wage demands are ridiculous, and they likely will be given he's on a free and it's his last big contract, then it will be a nonstarter, but if they weren't we could do a lot worse on a free transfer. Again if Howe could bring out his full potential, and he was consistent over a season, he could be a monster.

Would you take Zaha on a free? I mistakenly thought he'd already decided to go to a Saudi side, but apparently he's yet to make a decision on where he'll play. He's 30 so obviously above the age range we've been looking at, but a bit of experience as well can't hurt. There has always been question marks about his mentality given his undoubted talent, but if Howe could work his magic he could be immense under the right circumstances. We could also sell ASM and put the money towards a third big money singing after we sign Maddison, Szoboszlai or some other attacking mid. Great bit of business 😉

I'm sure he was upset to leave his boyhood club, but he can wipe away the tears with the 115k a week. And it has to be said that, again, while I'm sure he was very conflicted, Milan and his agent were always likely to make it a smooth exit for him given his connection to the club. They aren't likely to say nah he's happy enough because he's tripling his wages, and he was upset about Maldini being pushed out anyway. And obviously it always leaves the room for him to move back to AC later in his career if he doesn't leave on bad terms, where the fans think he was happy to leave for better wages.

Seen people talking about Tonali's wages and they work out at about 115k a week, if you exclude the performance related bonus'. Given that Bruno is likely about to get a new contract worth 200k, and Trippier is on around 125k, people can't really say he just came for the money when he won't even be our top earner. Granted he's more than doubled his wages at AC, but I'm sure he could have gotten considerably higher wages elsewhere, or indeed insisted that he be our top earner.

Decent thread on Tonali.

Just reading about Chiesa's injury. He ruptured his ACL in January 2022 and made his comeback in October of the same year. They say it takes at least a season to get back into the swing of things from an ACL, so whoever does buy him could be getting him at good time where he's back to being capable of his best levels.

Well yeah, if we are actually in for him I'm sure the medical would be extensive. I could be wrong, but I think a bad ankle injury is actually more worrying for that sort of dribbler player. Someone was talking about Joe Cole recently and they were saying that a bad ankle injury can fuck up your entire career if you're constantly shifting your balance when you play.

Apparently Juve refused to extend Chiesa's 8m euro a year contract which is why it's looking like he's on the move. What you can take from that is that they perhaps don't believe he's worth that new contract, they can't afford to pay it, or a bit of both. His form has seemed to have tailed off a bit since the Euros. I think he had a fairly big knee injury. If we could get a decent price, and Howe could help bring him back to that form, then we'd have a real bargain on our hands. Juve are supposedly looking for around 50m, so if we could get that closer to 40m it would potentially be great business.