Polarboy

Their dad is Lilian Thuram, one of the best defenders France has ever produced, so there's something going right in their DNA.

That's his brother Marcus who's a forward, as opposed to a box to box mid.

Romano is saying that Liverpool are in for Lavia and he's on the list along with Thuram. Surely it would one of the other. Having said that Lavia and Thuram are very different players. Thuram is much more box to box and Lavia is a more traditional six. But I say one or the other because you'd assume Liverpool won't be spunking that much money on their midfield. If they do and Klopp ever complains about being poor again he should be shot. If they add either Lavia or Thuram to their midfield along with Mac Allister and Szoboszlai that would be roughly 160m, and they are reportedly after at least one defender as well.

If he could be converted into that Vardy role with his pace he could be very useful. Of course say what you will about Vardy but his instincts as a striker are of a high level. Whether Gordon has those instincts within or he can be taught in another matter entirely.

We are profligate at times, but I still think we need someone who can play wide, but is generally an attacking mid who can unlock a low block with creative through balls, one-two's etc. That's why missing out on Szoboszlai was such a kick in the bollocks. We keep hearing that Bruno will move higher up the pitch should we sign a six, but I'm not sure that's the plan. I think Tonali coming will allow one of him or Bruno to go while the other hangs back, and they'll share defensive responsibilities, but I still think we need an out and out creator. Buying a more clinical and consistent version of either Murphy or Almiron would be great, but as Howe has mentioned he wants players who can play multiple positions, and I think we need that attacking mid 10/winger.

The only stipulation that I seen was that PL teams weren't allowed to sign players from the Russian league on short term deals when the war first broke out. Some other European countries did I think. So as far as I'm aware as long as you are signing them permanently there's no issue. In fairness it would be crazy to not allow players who aren't even Russian leave a Russian team. Not that I think there should be any sanctions against Russian footballers either.

I don't know for sure, but let's say yes 😂 The Russian league is ranked sixth on the UEFA coefficient. Of course a lot of that is probably down to teams like Spartak Moscow doing well in Europe, so likely doesn't speak to how competitive the league is. It's quite a tenuous link even with the quote from the ex Spuds striker, but he sounds interesting and ideal for us in that he's a creative attacking mid but can also play wide. A pretty similar profile to Szoboszlai actually.

Roman Pavlyuchenko the ex Spuds striker is quoted as saying that us and Citeh are believed to be interested in Eduard Spertsyan a 23 year old Armenian attacking mid, who plays for Krasnodar. Pavlyuchenko advised him to choose us given he'd probably get game time right away. He has very impressive numbers, 16 goals and 14 assists last season, but obviously it is only the Russian league.

Who the fuck is Burnsie? The guy who runs Mouth of the Tyne? If that's who you mean my point was that he was quoting other journalists, who may or may not be reputable, as opposed to just making shit up himself in those tweets on the previous page..

You possibly know the kind of stuff that AH posts better than I would. It's difficult to tell who's being serious and not out here on the internet these days.

😂I hadn't realised that you were being held down Clockwork Orange style being forced to read it, so I apologise. The facts are that yes a lot of it is shite, but there are local football journalists in various countries who get wind of a move a day or two in advance of people like Ornstein, Romano, Sky Sports etc. Mouth of the Tyne is an ITK, but it's when they say they have an exclusive with no source that you can dismiss it out of hand. The two above stories could easily be incorrect, but they do have at least vaguely reputable sources that are being quoted. When people unironically post people like Sean Casey you might have a point, at least without the authoritarian ban hammer nonsense.

I know it's mouth of the Tyne, but it does quote a French football journalist, who could obviously just be the French version of an ITK, but the language difference adds a little mystery 😉

Yeah, perhaps you could read the tweet, but it was still very restricted before that. You couldn't see any of the replies iirc.

As far as I'm aware it was like that well before Musk bought it.

I do actually think we're more likely to be looking for a winger/forward as opposed to a midfielder/winger now that we've signed Tonali. Which is why links to players like Chiesa, Kudus and Chukwueze make a lot of sense. The Diaby links of course seem to have gone completely cold. I think Howe trusts both Longstaff and Willock to do a job for us along with Bruno, Tonali and Big Joe. An upgrade on Almiron and Murphy seems a much more pressing concern. Willock especially if he can continue his progression could save us a lot of money.

The Brazilian transfer window opens on Monday apparently. Seen a story saying that if we're still interested in this Franca lad that we'll likely stick a bid in then.

A new name to add to the list. Samuel Chukwueze, a Nigerian winger who plays for Villarreal. Supposedly AC Milan are leading the race but are haggling over the price of 25-30m euros. He could be a decent option on the right for us. He's supposedly ridiculously fast. Milan fans are going to be burning effigies of the club if we gazump them on this lad as well. https://www.geordiebootboys.com/transfers/newcastle-now-monitoring-amazing-25m-winger-who-is-absolutely-rapid-journalist/

And they're all naturally 8's, with Bruno and Tonali complete enough to do a very good job sitting in front of a defence. So it all just depends on whether Howe wants a specialist 6. Ideally for the versatility of your squad you'd want one, but for this window Howe may believe we have more pressing concerns.

Dortmund have pulled out of signing Alvarez off Ajax according to Romano. I know we were pretty heavily linked to him previously for that number 6 spot.