Polarboy

The Chronicle have the club quoted as saying that they believe Carroll has less mileage on the clock than most thirty-somethings, BECAUSE of his long injury lay-offs at West Ham. How exactly does that work? Bruce also said we have the real Andy Carroll back, so if you haven't already set that countdown to Carroll's next long term injury set it now Of course I wish Carroll the best, but it's typical of Bruce to tempt fate so early.

A couple more performances and results like this and I may even stop calling Bruce grannyface. Hard to make any sort of precise judgement given it's the first game and West Ham are shit, but we looked very decent, and the amount of options we have, from the bench etc, now is crazy compared to what we've had in the recent past. Oh and if Lewis can keep steadily improving he's going to be a top class player. Him and ASM on the left flank has massive potential.

According to nufcblog this Romano lad has gotten a number of transfer stories right this summer, so who knows. I didn't think Ashley would sanction a player like Wilson being signed, so I could easily be wrong again. The question is what has changed with Lille since we supposedly had a bid accepted in January iirc, and does the player even want to leave, or at least come to us if he does. It seemed as though he wasn't too hot on the idea back at the start of the year, reading between the lines. Who could blame him I suppose. He likely has it planned out that he'll move to the Premier when one of the top six bid for him. The only way I could see this as a possibility is if Ashley has literally said a season or two and then we flog you for a profit to one of the top six, which I'm sure has happened with some of our previous players. It does of course promote a mercenary culture around the club if that's the case. If by some miracle we do sign this lad Bruce is literally going to have to suck Ashley and Penfold off in public to show his gratitude, going by how thankful he was for transfers that would be seen as the bare minimum at a lot of clubs, certainly ones of our stature and relative wealth.

I think Fabrizio has been supping one too many Aperol spritz's with his lunch. Do we know if this guy is usually on the level?

Bruce is looking a bit peaky from all the excitement as well.

Through the fool proof method of watching YouTube clips I can tell you that we have a very tidy, quick, athletic, good reader of the game, great tackler and crosser, and if he wasn't already a NI international a future England international.

He played as a centre back in Belgium and back in Japan, but he played a full season bar three games as a right back in Italy, where he got a goal and three assists in 28 league games. As a 21 year old player his consistent position is still a bit up for decision, but having that versatility is no bad thing of course. He can also play in defensive midfield. He is tall for a right back, but he has the speed and footballing skills to be a very good wing back according to his stats. It depends on how Bruce lines up, but he seems like he'd be good in a 5 as one of the three CB or a right wing back, and a flat back four at either centre back or right back.

So both ASM and Fraser prefer the left flank, both are right footed and like to cut in, but Fraser is the better crosser so perhaps he could be moved to the right hand side. I presume ASM, Almiron and Fraser will be the three behind Wilson. If we could get a pacy upgrade on Manquillo in the right back position we'd be shaping up to be a very quick side in attack. This is presuming that Lewis's transfer goes through without any last minute hitches. Perhaps this rumour of us being in for Tomiyasu is true, but I highly doubt we'll be paying over 10m for another defender this window.

If you had of actually read the comment properly you wouldn't be struggling, or at least you shouldn't be. As I said Villa have been heavily linked with buying Ollie Watkins off Brentford, more heavily than Wilson, and Brentford supposedly want close to 30m for him. The reports hold weight because of how well Watkins did in the championship last year, and the fact that Dean Smith has worked with him before. Clearly if Villa are in negotiations for Watkins it has to call into doubt how serious they are about buying Wilson, unless they are going to spank 50, 60m on the both of them and pay Wilson's 75-100k a week wages. I mean they did pay 100+ on transfers at the beginning of last season, but first season back and not being in the middle of Covid is a vastly different position to be in. I think it's fair to say that a relegation side buying two 20-30m strikers in one window seems a bit implausible. Maybe they will try to buy both, but my point still holds up to scrutiny even if you can't see it. Edit. Of course it could be the case that the media reports haven't caught up to reality and Villa have given up on Watkins because Brentford are asking for too much, but both he and Wilson appear to have pretty much the same transfer fee. This talk of 20m for Wilson in the BBC report again seems suspect given word was they wanted around 30m.

Care to elaborate?

Gallas plus 5m for Ashley Cole's transfer to Chelsea is the only one I can see with a quick look.

So yesterday we were in pole position because of Bournemouth wanting Ritchie in part exchange, and now Villa are going to buy him for 20m. As much as it would be easy to suspect Ashley has purposely shat the bed because of fees, wages etc, this report from the BBC seems a bit odd. For a start 20m is about 10m short of what Bournemouth are supposedly after and seems low even for an opening bid. Surely even Penfold could get through a deal for 20m if 8-10m of the deal was Ritchie. You know it's not even the limitless cash that we missed out on from the Saudi's that annoys me most, it's having to put up with the chuckle brothers fucking about and taking an eternity to buy a player, and or let them slip away, purposely a lot of the time no doubt, to another team because of a few million quid. There's also the fact that Villa have been reported to also be in talks for Ollie Watkins who the Villa manager has worked with before. Can Villa actually afford to spend 50m on them both not even counting wages, or is this Wilson link meant to force Brentford's hand as a bit of bluff. I know I'm likely deluding myself, but I don't think anything I've said is that implausible.

Just seen a Villa supporter say that he hopes Wilson to Newcastle is true because he doesn't want him Because Villa have some many options up front, or realistic transfer targets with premier experience or obvious quality that would suit the premier.

You hear a lot about Wilson being injury prone, but in fairness he's played 93 league games in the last three seasons which isn't too bad for a supposed crock. He's certainly a lot sturdier than wor Andy in any case. Perhaps we could get Wilson and Carroll to synchronise their fitness/injuries in terms of Carroll being fit for the 6 to 10 games Wilson is usually out for. Of course it doesn't pay off as a Newcastle fan to get too ahead of yourself. Villa might offer him 10 groaty pudding a week to blow our offer out of the water.

Gillespie, Hendrick, Holding, Fraser, Giannoulis and Wilson for 5m. If, and it's a big if obviously, Bruce and Penfold pull that off fair play to them. Obviously it stings to be shopping with a Lidl budget when we could have had enough to shop in Harrods, but that would be great business whatever way you look at it. If we offer Ritchie in part exchange and get Wilson for about 20m cash, we might even have enough left over to get the Marega lad if there's any truth in that story, or indeed any of these rumours. Don't know much about Giannoulis but have heard he's decent. Lets just hope he isn't another Krafth, at least so far, in terms of quality, but he's distinct from Krafth in that he's supposed to an attacking wing-back.

I had a look at some of his stats in more detail and in fairness when he was played as a centre forward last season he scored 12 goals and made 5 assists in 27 games, which is more than respectable even in a weak league. He'd been moved out wide for 9 games over the course of the season which I assume is pretty disruptive to your game. I think the problem is that Joelinton has been so shite in everything he does, it colours the perception of any other striker coming in who's big and strong and yet doesn't really have the classic hold up abilities of a centre forward.

Been reading a bit about this Moussa Marega lad we've been linked to putting a bid in for in the, admittedly unreliable Portuguese football press. Apparently despite his size he plays more as a secondary striker, as opposed to a centre forward and someone who can play up on their own and bring others into play. Sounds fucking familiar doesn't it Given he recently turned 29 I can't see it, but as Mark Douglas pointed out we did just give Hendrick a four year contract, albeit on a free, and he'll be 29 in January. Chances are we won't buy him and it's all rubbish, although we have been repeatedly linked to him, but who knows he could be another Ba or Cisse as opposed to a Guicarc'h or Andreas Andersson. He's certainly got impressive speed and power.

Not that I'd wish an injury on anyone, least of all one of our own players, but Gayle getting injured now might actually turn out to be a good thing. Ashley was more likely to let Bruce muddle on with it if Gayle and Carroll were both fit for the start of the season. Lets face it Gayle was going to get injured sooner rather than later in any case given his record. Maybe Bruce can cry his wee granny face out to Fatley and impress upon him how monumentally fucked we are, if we have to start the season relying on Carroll to stay fit, and or for Joelinton to suddenly start banging them in.

He just needs that pre-season with a few dips in the paddling pool and the wheelie-bins and he'll be good to go man. LETS DO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That he hasn't had a pre-season in about six of seven years is pretty fucking mad. I fear I'm so desperate for good news about the team that I might get sucked into thinking Carroll might not break down again almost immediately, after cutting his toenails etc. A fit Carroll would be a massive bonus, will it happen, yeah probably not, but again I'm that desperate at the minute. https://www.nufc.co.uk/nufc-tv/latest-videos/andy-carroll-this-is-my-first-proper-pre-season-in-years-and-i-feel-great/

No problem. Fatley can get all his zero hour contract workers on it Egyptian pyramid style whipping them through the streets collecting materials.

Well the choice is either get down in the trough and the dirt given where the majority of investment is coming, or fade into obscurity. Maybe you might get very lucky and get a John Henry who seems relatively clean for a billionaire, but more than likely you'll get Middle Eastern, Chinese, Russian etc investment. For all of the US's faults billionaires seem relatively autonomous, indeed the influence appears to go the other way a lot of the time.

There isn't a clear difference as you put it. PIF are an investment fund that act of behalf of the Prince and the Saudi state. He likely cares very little for all the details into what they are investing in as long as it enriches him and the Saudi state. Every billionaire in China is entirely beholden to Xi and his government, and indeed only get to their positions by being loyal acolytes. Why are PIF different to the billionaires in China? If there is a tangible difference it isn't clear.

Aren't Wolves and Southampton majority owned by Chinese investors? There's most likely very little difference in the type of control Xi Jinping has over business in China than the Saudi Prince has over business in Saudi. If I had to choose I'd say Xi Jinping has him beat. Muslim concentration camps, the constant murder of his citizens in general for any sort of dissent, Tibet, Taiwan, the constant attempts at expansion, the constant theft of intellectual property, their lies at the beginning of covid, the fact that he has much more global power to cause havoc etc.

I see Johnson has issued a statement through NUST that he would also like to see the Premier League make a statement on the currently failed Saudi takeover. Can only be a good thing, at least in terms of transparency, for their to be pressure from the top like this. I honestly didn't expect Johnson to get directly involved, but I suppose he needs the Saudi arms sales money to keep flowing to get you's in the UK out of the coming recession. On a side note he likely thinks it won't hurt his, admittedly meagre, popularity in the North East as well of course. Edit. Of course if the Premier don't really have a legal reason to block it, then them having to explain themselves might actually pressure them into passing it.