David Kelly

Genuinely excited about this and I’ve been miserable as fuck about this transfer window for the last few weeks. Had never heard of him before the U21 Euros but he impressed massively. Like Tino and Elliot he looked way above that level. And since then I heard he was going to Bayern which didn’t surprise me at all. I did mention the other day that him and the Spanish kid in Portugal were the only two big prospects still out there. It looks like we’re paying about what it would take to sign JSL. I know he’s not got premier league experience but from what I’ve seen and hear, this kid has a much higher ceiling. Can’t imagine we’d go for JSL as well but hopefully Wissa could still be on. And then we can look forward to a very promising season. Assuming this doesn’t fall through.

Am I missing something here? How is he going to release this information after he deletes his account? I mean I'm sure there are avenues but it seems strange to remove his easiest one.

Apparently Chelsea are holding off on finalising the loan of Jackson to Bayern in case either us or Liverpool get desperate in the next few days. Seems to me like that one might have a higher chance of happening as they actually want him gone.

Just nearly threw up at the mere mention of that useless cunt. With the exception of Fumaca, who I don't even count as an actual footballer, he is without doubt the most pathetic waste of a shirt I ever witnessed playing for us.

The push by Konate was definitely outside the box but it was arguable that Barnes would have been through on goal. Definitely a yellow at least. I don't remember any other possible reds or a pen.

We'll see. I'll happily admit I'm wrong if I am but I see us signing one striker at most and as soon as we do that bid will come in from Liverpool. At that point I don't see us keeping a player who is so adamant he is desperate to leave.

And judging by his first couple of performances, Isak's value should have hit £300m by now.

If we're paying £60m for him it's because we're pretty certain Isak is going imo. Its an horrendous amount of money for a player of his standard who should be nothing more than a replacement for Wilson. This transfer window will be a massive failure if we end up with £130m for Iask and have spent half of it on a player of that standard.

I don't expect either of us have a good idea of every promising young striker in the world but given that we are talking about trying to replace one of the best strikers in the world (not like for like but with someone with that level of potential) you'd have expected that some of us could come up with some ideas. I'm not seeing any suggestions being put forward. That young German striker or the Spanish kid in Portugal would be the only remote possibilities I could think of and neither of them seem to have been seriously considered.

Yep I totally agree with this. It's like we're back to point we were at when we signed Wood (and I'm not convince JSL is any better than Wood) but the prices have doubled since we signed him. So we can't bring in a replacement for Isak because there isn't one, but we're going to end up spending most of the money we could get for him on average players (and not ones who are 20 with the promise of high potential). The Isak situation is, as Howe admitted on Friday, a no win for us.

There's plenty of positives from the first two games even without the points comparison to last seasons same matches. We played well in both games and showed a tremendous togetherness despite a really hard summer. The injuries are, of course, an issue but Ramsey looked sharp and seemed like a more attacking option for us that should help us breaking down the weaker teams. Miley looked sharp as well as did Thiaw. There's lots of positives for the season ahead but everything will depend on sorting out the striker situation one way or another.

Is there an Isak replacement we could sign?

Sorloth being linked presumably because some journalist is reading this thread.

Think that's called rush keeper isn't it? Always enjoyed playing that.

Osula had a canny tournament for Denmark in the U21's. The difference between U21 and senior football is massive, a lot of the players you're playing against aren't regular starters (in top leagues at least). Obviously there are some but I don't think you can ever take those tournaments as a signal that a player is necessarily ready for top flight first team football.

Loved that bit. Fucking hag that she is.

On the point about Howe turning Joelinton into a midfielder, I'm told that our scouts recommended him as a midfielder in the first place (or even possibly a central defender) and said he would never make it in the premier league as a striker. I even remember John Gibson in the Chronicle suggesting he should be played as a defensive midfielder before that game against Norwich ever happened. I guess my point is, Joelinton never looked like a striker and neither does Gordon. Certainly not a number 9.

Surely Wolves are inflating Larsen's price beyond that price too. What an underwhelming signing he would be. It really would be like going back to Wood.

Half of his career Wissa has played on the wing. His stats since moving to the striker role, in the premier league, are very good.

Maybe we think Strand Larsen can do similar. Trying to convince myself he would be a good signing despite the likelihood that we can't even do a deal for him.

I still think Wood did a half decent job for us. He might not have grabbed many goals but he moved us about 10 yards further up the pitch and allowed others to do better around him. Without him there's a very real chance we would have still gone down.

Apparently he's on €230k a week there. Maybe he accepts £150k on a longer contract? I mean I've not seen any rumours particularly but we certainly are desperate.

Was just reading that it would be less than €25m. Might be worth a punt for that sort of money. A few years ago he looked an absolute beast.

Would have been some deal to get money for him! Although I assume Fish is talking about last year.

The speed that the deals for Ramsdale, Thaiw and Ramsey went through gives a little bit of hope but generally I agree I don't think we end up with a striker for the first half of this season.