I don’t think transfer fees have ever been our problem it’s wages, and we will have shifted a lot over the next year.
I read we were happy to offer Dortmund the asking price for Sancho but walked away when we heard his wage demands.
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Hopefully our continued success will help us get it done. It might also be Bellingham + Gnabry on a free. Or maybe not even Bellingham, but I really hope we get him.
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Conveniently under the radar, was the fact we we sold Solanke for 20mio and then bought a similar target man for 5x the price a few seasons later! Regardless of whether he turns out well or not, this still feel bad in terms of long term recruitment
Emm Dominic couldn’t trap a bag of cement let alone score for us. He was patently not at our level and (regardless of where he ends up) was never going to make it with us and we did wonderfully well to get 20m for him.
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Some would say it great recruitment getting 20m for Solanke. 
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Ward Prowse
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Err what? It’s probably under the radar for a reason.
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Of course! That was great business getting 20mio for someone whom never had a future with us. He have came on leaps and bounds since then, and found himself a nice niche with his team. That said, it was an even better biz from Benfica getting 5 times what we sold Solanke, for what is a similar type of forward
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Solanke is a similar type forward to Nunez in the same way I was a similar type midfielder to Gerrard.
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I love Phil Collins too! But props to you for going to the extent of bashing a DJ. 
We might finally score direct from free kicks
That sounds like Charlie Adam being worth 10 mill just for his corners
I assume you don’t follow Bournemouth as much as I do.
He is a good finisher but he misses some chances, it will be interesting to see how he does in the PL but the idea that he is at Darwin’s level is silly.
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If you just said Bournemouth getting Dom for 20m was better biz than us signing Nunez for 65+20m or whatever the fuck it is then I say fair enough…he’s been the man to fire the goals to push them back up into the PL, money more than paid off right? Fair enough.
But even then, Dom has had 2.5 years at Bournemouth to prove himself, Nunez has had 2.5 weeks.
But to say as selling clubs Benfica got the better of the deal selling Nunez then us selling Dom is rubbish. We got 20m for a dead rubber striker…Benfica ok, got a lot of money but for 1 of the highest rated young strikers in world football.
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A lot of chat about the midfield. If I could bring in one player before the window ends I think I would prioritise a foreword. We have 5 top class players there, but the drop of to the reserves is greater than anywhere else on the pitch. One player to make a difference from the bench and play cup games would be very useful for the season. Someone a bit older willing to accept a reserve role? No idea who.
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If its really for the purpose of what you say, we would be better off using a youth but we can also go for a free agent just for that purpose too. There was this player Keita Balde (I know another Keita) who was quite highly regarded at Lazio but his career seem to have gone nowhere but he is now just 27 and a free agent although I don’t see much news associated with his next club? Maybe a one season deal for him to work things out, either he impress at a top club like ours and fit the purpose that you mention, to play cup games and put bodies on the bench when necessry.
Hmm probably is if you class Carvalho we’ve got 6 who can play that role, if not you have 5 starters and thats not including Elliott.
I think the problem is the state of the injury crisis even half of what it is which would be five we would be able to put out a stronger team.
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I sure do miss Minamino right about now…
I’m happy with our current attacking options - Salah, Darwin, Diaz, Jota, Firmino and Carvalho is plenty. The issue there is going to be finding the right blend. Adding another won’t really help us in finding the right blend. A couple of injuries and suspensions disrupt what we want to do right now, but that sort of stuff is a fact of life, and with six attackers (more if we go deeper to the likes of Gordon) we have enough.
I’m happy with our current defensive options too. We have backups and older and younger players, and we are well sorted. Obviously if and when someone leaves or ages out we need to address it, but things are fine.
The midfield is the part of the team that has me most worried.
If we do nothing this window it will represent a chance for Elliott and Jones to show us what they can do, and if it goes well, they could cement their spots for years to come. If it does not go well, we get too many injuries in the engine room, and we are more vulnerable than we’d like to be.
Right now it is teetering in that direction, but it’s still early days in terms of the long season ahead.
Personally I would like to see us buy a midfielder now, and another, hopefully Bellingham, next summer. But if we have scouted the market, and I know we have, and the right player isn’t available, we won’t panic.
But it does feel slightly vulnerable there to me.
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I wouldn’t mind us getting Eze, Caicedo, and Nunes instead of Bellingham. We’re gonna have to replace Milner, Keita, and Ox. Hendo is starting to slow down. That’d be midfield sorted for some time.
Might be much more cost effective than fighting Madrid for Bellingham. Plus we need quality and quantity.