I personally have no problem with waiting for our top target. We did it last year with Isak. My issue is what we are not doing. We did well last summer by signing other players whilst waiting for that one. We even covered ourselves by getting Ekitike if the Isak deal didn’t get done. We seem to be crippled by Dumfries and Diomande going elsewhere.
Well do we think there is literally only one player available? And do we want that player at the expense (time and money) of potentially multiple other signings that could make a difference in other positions
Maybe we do. Maybe we should. Maybe not. It depends on what pursuing it costs us
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Iraolas style night help but you can’t magically make players who don’t have the ability to pass through the lines pass through the lines. That’s my worry with wirtz. Are we going to have the players to get the best out of him behind him?
But yes Nyoni is a step in the right direction there. Wants to play it forward and quickly.
I think having wirtz is a bit of a different prospect for Iraola and I’m quite curious how he is going to play through him. It’s not a player Bournemouth had or many teams. I think it’s key to our attacking success
Well yes and no because last year we had already brought in Wirtz Frimpong and kerkez. Getting Isak didn’t stop us getting what we wanted elshewer.e If we had brought in three players now for CB full back and Cm, I think the wait for Barcola would be more tolerable
If we wait all summer and focus on Barcola and get him but nobody else, it’s a bit different
One was the most sought after young winger in the world with three of the biggest clubs in football looking to sign him. The other isn’t even a nailed on starter for his club, is reportedly open to leaving and isn’t looking to sign a new deal with just two years left on his contract.
Now, personally I agree with you, Barcola has more experience and has shown he can perform at the highest level. But even PSG looked at him and thought it’d be worth spending £100m on Diomande and another £50m on Akilouche.
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But you have to wonder though..
We knew Salah was leaving nearly 6 months ago
We knew Bradley had a long term injury
We knew we would be short on senior centerbacks when we declined to renew Ibou
We knew Gomez was not reliable wrt fitness
And yet here we are with weeks to the end of the transfer window…
I can’t shake the increasing feeling that the people who run our football operations are perhaps too clever for their won good. like Daniel Levy…
Not to talk of Michael Edwards resigning before the transfer season was done…
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The story in The Athletic about the Diomande transfer is quite interesting.
I would not be surprised if in the end we pay for Barcola roughly what Madrid paid for Diomande…If not more..
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That’s what I said.
You did. God knows who I was responding too 
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My only hopes on the defensive front are that we showed an interest in Dumfries early in the window and so obviously felt additional resource was needed at RB.
And last summer the Guehi rumours didn’t really start until August time, even though we knew we needed a CB to come in. And, those links to Guehi continued even after we signed Leoni. Clearly, even if it was only opportunistic because we thought we could get Guehi on the cheap, the club felt it could carry another CB along with Virg, Konate, Gomez and Leoni.
I don’t think the club are blind to these needs but are instead trying to address the Salah shaped hole first and then cut their cloth elsewhere accordingly.
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Vini Jr has agreed a new contract with Madrid which may mean a late bit of competition from Arsenal. Need to move this along now.
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Ive said all along he ends up at Arsenal.
Weve taken too long
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Liverpool have been speaking to Barcola since at least last summer, according to L’quipe he has apparently agreed terms and everyone involved thinks a deal should get done. Arsenal have been ignoring him whilst publicly doing their best to get Vinicius a better deal with Madrid. Something would have to go spectacularly wrong for him to change his mind now.
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But then why go for Diomande at all if we had agree since last summer?
Unless we were like oh wow this new Diomande kid is good, let us go for him instead.
But then if we did, you could see that annoying Barcola and affecting his desire to join.
I don’t think it’s that unusual for us to have a shortlist of names in mind when it comes to recruitment, and probably regularly speak to the representatives of the players on those lists.
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Maybe, but it seems odd we would go for Diomande first.
I´d be surprised if we were speaking to Diomande last summer.
We probably weren’t, but given the season he had, being at a smaller club (and therefore in theory more gettable) and favoured position maybe he then jumped up the list.
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Well if we do speak to players regularly i´d imagine we´d have been speaking to him and his club during the season too.
It really confuses me why you keep implying things are mutually exclusive and immutable.
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So, still no news then?
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