You need to have a word with your algorithm.
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Who says we haven’t? We’re spending the same time and effort on Isak as we did Lavia/Caicedo only to end up with Grav on the last day - it was never meant to be both, these things especially where we’re involved have a habit of playing out differently.
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He was someone we’d had long time interest in and moved when we did because of an indication that bayern were willing to move on from a deal that hadnt worked out for them. I think there is every chance we’d have still gone in for him at that point, especially at that price, had we been successful in the Lavia or Caicedo moves. It would have been Endo who didnt come in that situation.
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Pretty much what I said about the implosion of the Sun.
It’s garbage and it’s stalling time. It’s evidently the line they’ve tried to sell Isak but he has seen how utterly inept. Probably not helped by their response to Isak.
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Fuck this shit. We should informally tell Isak “look lad, this isn’t happening, we tried”
and go get Rodrygo and be done with it. We lost jota, sold diaz and nunez. That’s 21 PL goals among them.
Ekitike might come close to that but Salah is one year older and even though Chiesa and Rio have started well, we can’t rely on them for that level of output.
You might say “Flo will contribute” and I’m sure he will but he clearly needs some time to get used to the tempo and physicality of the PL so we don’t know when that will be.
Also, Rodrygo would primarily be down the middle and will only take some time off Ngumoha’s development time.
Right now there is a big gap between what we need and what can realistically be expected from Rio and Chiesa to deliver
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I’m not convinced Rodrygo is the player to go after even if we decide not to get Isak. He plays for a team who dominate everyone they play and returned 6 goals and 5 assists in 2000 minutes last season. His underlying numbers were worse too.
By comparison that’s basically the same G+A return that Jota had but Jota played half the minutes. It’s essentially the same season Nunez had but 800 more minutes.
Add to the fact he’s likely be to be extortiately expensive especially on wages.
There’s a reason we don’t really chase other team’s castoffs. We want the players other teams don’t want to sell, not the players they do.
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I understand the temptation to draw a line under it now, but my take is having already gone so far, we should see it through to conclusion.
The signs are getting stronger, imo, that Newcastle will reluctantly deal. I think the main stumbling block is their inability to sign players, but now that they are way down the list, after having been rejected by quite a few, they should be able to sign Larsen, and hopefully Wissa.
If we are not trying to sign two forwards, I do feel we should have a deal for another forward/winger all but lined up as an emergency option, so at the last minute possible we can close on that, should Isak not happen.
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There is some thought that his numbers should be contextualized by the fact that when he plays he often has to be the water carrier for a front line containing one or often two other players who don’t do much work. I can definitely buy that in terms of accepting arguments he is better than his stats suggest. It is a much harder sell to say that what he has demonstrated easily translates into what we’d be looking for and his cost would be a worthwhile investment.
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I’m not convinced about the price tag and also the attitude of isak himself. Hypothetically, is it allowed to insert a prevent-going-on-strike clause in case he does it to us in the future? He’ll probably would refuse to sign it…
Anyways all hypothetically. I don’t see us signing him
Trust the process. I think Hughes and Edwards (especially) deserve the benefit of the doubt. I think they’ll get Isak over the line. I think Strand-Larsen and Wissa will end up at Newcastle. I think this is just about who is going to blink first.
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Carra’s comments on this were interesting how he related it to the Torres situation he experienced. He described Torres trying to leave that summer and everyone finding the subsequent half season after it didnt happen really awkward and uncomfortable with lots of the players concluding it would have been best to let him go and being quite happy when it subsequently happened in January. That maybe puts Agger’s attitude towards him in that Chelsea game into a different context - it maybe wasnt just about one transfer request but a response to being sick of 6 months of his shit.
I found it interesting as I really didnt remember the situation in the summer being like that. I remember there being a lot of talk about him following Rafa our of the door, but in my head I dont remember there being much about him agitating for it or it being a contentious issue to keep him. Is that something I wiped from my head or did they just do a good job of keeping it under wraps?
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2624 posts and nearly every one saying pretty much the same thing…
Where do you guys find the time? Jobs, family?
2626
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Yeah I remember the transfer request happening in the winter window.
Saying that imagine giving Hodgson the 50m 
Mind you we signed Carroll so…
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Sandcastle will be hoping we go and sign another forward this window, for then that leaves Isak with no takers and nowhere to go before the September deadline.
I think Edwards and Hughes will just let this play out. If we get him for the price offered, or thereabouts, it might happen in the next few days. They want to dig their heels in, then we remain in a position to still want him in January… Similar to the Virgil situation… By doing this, we are letting the player himself know, it is them we want, no-one else.
By not baling out on the bid and recruiting someone else, we are showing our commitment to the player
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Retired
I doubt it, how would it work?
For what its worth, our situation would probably be different. With sufficient notice and a fair offer on the table we would be open to selling any player who wants to leave.
Isak would cost us a lot more than he did Newcastle, and the price we pay would probably mean we have very little chance of selling for more (or same), so if he wants to leave before his contract ends that might be an issue…but not insurmountable and given how much more he would earn here and the trophies he could win, i dont see him pushing to leave us as much as he is doing at Newcastle.
.
Im on annual leave in the garden in the sun
I spend at least 17% of my working day on TAN.
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