Polarboy

More natural talent maybe, but I don't see how you can say he's a better player if you also admit Barnes is far more consistent. A better play contributes to the team consistently over a season.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/66249506 BBC are also reporting that the Barnes deal is close, and will likely be finalised in the next few days.

I see LTA has been to the local station.

She's the spit of him when you see her face at the end 😂 A very healthy lady, if you know what I mean, by the end of her training, but the face would perturb me to say the least given her resemblance to Big Joe.

This Saudi club is also owned by PIF. No way we're giving essentially ourselves a shite deal, that's not even market value for him were we to sell him to a European team. It might end up being less than 40m, but they'll likely hand us 30m+ cash with no instalments. Edit. On a side note, if ASM does decide to go to Saudi at his age then that tells you exactly what you need to know about his mentality, and whether he's up for the next step of our journey as a club. Of course given he'll also be helping us tremendously, as it seems we need the cash for other signings, it might be a bit harsh to say that, and it's not like I could tell you for definite that I wouldn't take the money myself, but largely only players with elite mentalities win elite competitions.

I mean it's up to the player what they want to do, but I was just pointing out that there's some cons as well as pros to the Saudi move, for a player who's not at or near the end of their career in Europe.

What language is this stream in? 😂

That last link was shite. The only stable ones I can find are in Spanish Watch Sports News Headlines and Updates| F1livestream.top

David Dickenson is on the commentary team. I'm going to assume he's not the DD that I'm thinking of. Edit. It's actually the ref not the commentator.

dd10 Rangers vs Newcastle United – GAME AVENUE

If Gordon is going to nail down that RW spot and Barnes will take the LW, then I still think we need a versatile forward. Someone like Pedro, who we of course were supposedly close to signing and who's ended up at Brighton. Someone who can play attacking mid, 10, and up front on their own, should we be unlucky enough to lose Wilson and Isak to injury at the same time. Gordon could arguably be our third striker given his efforts in the U21 tournament and previously for Everton, but it would be nice to have another option that's a bit more physically suited to the role.

The thing about going to Saudi is that yes you'll be on ridiculous wages compared to what you could command in Europe, but if you're 26 like ASM and perhaps plan to come back after your contract, are teams going to be clambering to buy you after playing at that level for three or four years.

The question is, is it looking like ASM will be sold because he'll be surplus to requirements, is our budget really actually that tight, or is it a bit of both. I suppose it's possible that we have enough to sign players for the other two or three positions needed, but we needed to trade ASM in order to also bring in Barnes.

Rumours are that Ashworth has personally been scouting this guy. A possible hidden gem to get around FFP.

How does a spaniel play? 5/10 for banter on the evidence of that, and that's me being generous.

The Evening Standard are reporting that Chalobah has an agreement with Chelsea that he can leave for the right offer. Poch has about six players who can play centre half and only wants four. At this stage I just wants us to buy him for the banter on here more than anything 😂

Unless Diaby is their first choice and Hope got his wires crossed. On the other hand that would be some double signing. A front three of Watkins, Diaby and Johnson would be tasty.

Lets be honest, we would have been ecstatic if we'd signed Diaby. Him going to Villa doesn't automatically make him shite, if he does end up there. If he was one of our main targets this window like Tonali then I think we would have got him, but Howe and Ashworth clearly have other plans for whatever budget it is that we have. Villa might be a bland, beige club, but Emery is a very well renowned and respected coach, who's reputation for improving players is a draw.

I was reading that it's more to do with wages than transfer fees. Apparently you used to be able to have wages that accounted for up to 90% of your profit, but it's been taken down to, or will be taken down to in the near future, to 70%. It's of course another attempt to pull up the ladder behind the "top six".

Buying Barnes, should it be confirmed, surely all but guarantees that ASM is on his way. There's been rumours that ASM would be sold for the right price for a year at least.

Looks like Brennan Johnson is off to Villa, at least according to Craig Hope. Could be a very decent signing for them.

Barnes in, ASM out, and Chiesa, or someone like him, in would be very nice. We could also shake it all about and do the hokey cokey. But it might be the case that Howe thinks Barnes and Gordon are sufficient in terms of first choice wingers.