Polarboy

That's the thing about a player like Wood. The ability to win balls high up the pitch consistently can go unnoticed and or be underappreciated. Even if he's not scoring consistently as long as he's leading the line well he's making a big contribution.

Newcastle hope to pip Premier League rivals to the signing of £50 million-rated Yves Bissouma | Daily Mail Online Bissouma is exactly the type of player I was hoping we'd be going for. He also has the added bonus of having experience in the league. Of course the fact that he has a sexual assault allegation hanging over him isn't ideal to say the least. But innocent until proven guilty, and you would assume whatever he's been accused of it's not in the same league as a Mendy, who fucking is mind, otherwise he would have been suspended straight away. Whether we'll pay the 50m for him I have no idea, but could you imagine if we spunk 100m on Bissouma and Nunez alone late in the window 😍 I'm probably just dreaming of course.

Looking at the table with us winning, and Everton, Brentford, Watford, and obviously Leeds losing, I don't think it's as simple as three from four going down anymore, especially if we get a result at Everton.

As aul turnip said it was nice to see the lads not have a nervous breakdown as soon as we went 1 up. Get four or five more players in, some warm weather training on the Yemeni border, and we could be pretty well set up for the rest of the season.

Yeah fuck knows, hopefully they've got some sort of inside track. One thing's for sure is that we can always do with another competent goalscorer. The entire spine needs surgery of course though. There's little point in being top heavy without the ability to control the midfield, or keep the ball out of our own net. I'm a bit worried that we haven't seen more talk of a box to box defensive mid, but hopefully that area will be sorted before the window closes.

NUFC line up Diego Carlos & Jesse Lingard alternatives should moves for both fail - Reports | NUFC blog – Newcastle United blog – NUFC Fixtures, News and Forum. The Marseille centre back Duje Caleta-Car, and Dele Alli are supposedly our alternatives to Carlos and Lingard should both those moves fall through. Alli at his best is a better player than Lingard, or at the very least is equal in quality when both are on song. The question is will Alli ever get back to that sort of form. I haven't seen the Spurs doc when Mourinho was there, but iirc there's been question marks over his attitude, or at least the mental side of his game. Of course you could also ask if Lingard would even get close to reproducing the sort of form he showed for West Ham were we to get him.

Translation: These players are shit lads, but we have to make them believe that we wouldn't tip them all in the bin and sign a whole new squad if we could.

But there's also the fact that the vast majority of deals get done late in the window, especially any loan deals. I'll forgo wearing my white capri pants if it's the last day of the window, and we still only have Wood and Trippier in through the door.

Transfer News: Newcastle United agree personal terms with Duvan Zapata (thehardtackle.com) It's very debatable how trustworthy some of these Italian publications are, but supposedly we've agreed personal terms with Zapata. We just have to agree a fee with us having reportedly offered 30 euro and Atalanta wanting 40. Zapata, Carlos, Bakker, Lingard, and a decent defensive mid and it will have been a very useful window. I seen a story about Boubacar Kamara pop up again today, so he could perhaps be the defensive mid we go for again, if indeed we get one. All very wishful thinking perhaps.

Yeah it makes sense given Kounde is injured, AFCON, and the break, but it still seems a big risk to take for the sake of one game. I mean we're talking about tens of millions of pounds. Then again I suppose they might be comfortable waiting until the summer to sell were Carlos to pick up an injury.

Sky reporting that Sevilla want to keep Carlos for their game against Celta Vigo at the weekend, and then they will negotiate his sale before the window shuts. It seems pretty odd, given that he could easily get injured in that match.

I take your point that we have other more important areas we could strengthen with the loan slots we have, but it depends on who we can get on permanents obviously. It may be the case that we get most of what we're after on permanents, I know it sounds like wishful thinking at the minute. As for Leno specifically, personally I think he edges Dubravka in terms of quality when both are compared over their careers in the premier. At the very least Leno would add depth to that position that Darlow currently isn't. But again I take your point that we would need to have addressed other areas first.

Most deals tend to happen towards the end of the window.

Apparently Arsenal are looking to bring in a keeper from the MLS. So perhaps the rumours about Leno going out on loan and us being interested are true. I'd definitely take Leno given how poor Dubravka has been.

“An extra €10m and they will be happy” - Belief Newcastle ‘will definitely pay’ amount required to sign striker - Sport Witness Some German journo reckons we'll definitely pay the going rate for Plea and get him. Knowing very little about either Plea or Zapata I can say unequivocally that Zapata is clearly the superior player, and I'll be raging if we don't get him. Joking aside Zapata's scoring record is more consistent and generally more impressive than Plea's, who's goals have dried up a bit in the last season or two. All that aside I'm deadly serious when I state that I'm sure Plea would be a vast improvement over Gayle.

Optimistic has become the new getting one over the line unfortunately. Although in fairness we should remember that there's still 11 days left in the window, and a lot of stuff gets done in the final few days.

The Mail are reporting that it's Spurs who are the London based team after Carlos. The only things we have going for us is likely the fact that we can offer more wages, and are more advanced in discussions with Sevilla and the player. As bad as Spuds have been they can still boast Conte as manager, and have the advantage of being based in London which a lot of players see as attractive.

Reports in Italy that Atalanta are lining up an Austrian striker as presumably a Zapata replacement. So hopefully if that's true it's looking like Atalanta are getting their house in order so they can sell Zapata to us.

Almiron's agent is the Comical Ali of the football agent world.

Could Carlos really be all that mistake prone given they have the best defence in the Spanish league. They've only conceded 14 goals in 21 games. If Carlos is dropping a bollock so often surely it would be worse. I know some have posted some stats, so perhaps I'm wrong, but maybe his propensity to make mistakes is being played up a bit. I seen Giueme Ballbag say that he's great in aerial duels, and when you see the state of Lascelles trying to defend crosses into the box, I'd take the odd mistake for a vast improvement over that. Getting the right centre back partner for him will be key, if we ever get him, as is the case with most centre back partnerships, you get two players who make up for any deficiencies in each others game.

Sky Sports are now reporting that we're close to agreeing a fee for Carlos.

Carlos has taken to social media to dismiss the comments attributed to him about having plenty of time left at Sevilla. Or at least he's questioned the interpretation of what he said. He attached a facepalm, laughing and mouth zipped emoji's to a quotation of said comments. Probably not his fault, but he's going to need to come in and be the love child of Beckenbauer and prime Stam given how annoying the chase for his signature has been.

Agreed on Lingard playing in that midfield three if we sign him. He's disciplined enough to play that position and still make attacking runs forward. Edit. Of course we're in far bigger need of a good box to box, defensive mid.