OTF

Almost worked.

Wilson has been anonymous thus far.

Nice run Joe, but still can't hit a shot

Surely all the accessorising must be irritating. It is to me.

At the same time he has been dangerous, they're using his pace to get in behind.

Looked like Miggy could have got to that with his right foot. Joe is putting his stamp on the match.

Building some momentum and continuity now.

Burn has got to be heading those across the goal, that's two now.

A few errant passes early on and still growing into playing it out. Forest look a little nervous.

Expected Burn and Schar to start and have no problem with it but on some level I was keen to see Botman in a competitive match.

"Jamaal, thanks to your exceptional leadership skills we have an exciting new role for you in an up and coming development within the club..."

Excitement and optimism heading into a season, what team is this?!

I'm still convinced we will, at least one with the possibility of two.

This. Cornet would have been a classic old Newcastle signing.

And 68 of those were under Bruce.

Hello my old friend Robin.

Wonder no more.

We're up to three quarters of a leg and half an arm.

Jesus was £45m, Richarlison £50 potentially rising to 60 with add-ons allegedly. We're already in the ball park. With our Brazilian connections I'd have prefered Jesus, though his wages would be higher. I think that where we're in a good position with Maddison in that he has a proven record in the prem but won't be on exorbitant wages.

We didn't get the play by play on that, there was little said before it was effectively confirmed is my recollection. Once it's in the 'media' brinkmanship comes heavily into play with neither party wanting to seem the weaker in the dealings, especially when they're both in the same league and more or less competing for the same places. Whether or not Maddison wants to go is probably the most crucial factor as they'll possibly see this as their best chance to see him for the maximum profit. Given I'm now an expert on amortisation his value on the books for Leicester is only 8m so on the balance sheet a sale of 50m is a huge boon. If he stays another year and refuses to re-sign they risk that differential dropping notably with the balance of power swinging further in the players balance. This past season was by far his best as far as numbers go so there's also the possibility that he has a markedly less prolific season and his value declines. As far as his value for us goes I'm not sure whether he would work that well with Wilson, possibly better with someone with explosive acceleration who can work with sharp interplay. That said in our side Wilson has scarcely had the chance to work with someone like that and now he has Bruno and potentially Maddison so perhaps I'm not giving Callum the respect he deserves assuming the clumsy crock is not injured.

Exactly. We're not going in cold, there's been some indication that he'd be interested. Furthermore Leicester and/or the player's agent wouldn't have leaked news of the bids if there was no chance of it happening - this plants thr idea in Leicester fans heads, softens the blow if he leaves and potentially nets them a little extra in the fee being offered as now if he doesn't come it reflects somewhat poorly on Newcastle. That said I think 50m is a fair valuation from what I've seen. Perhaps a percentage of the fee when we sell could entice it to go through.

That probably says it all given how focused on analysis and statistics Howe is. If he starts with Dubravka it will be through loyalty and continuity but Pope will win out in the short to mid term and be our first choice keeper. With that in mind if Dubravka can be used as a make weight to improve our tram elsewhere then I'd not have a problem with it. For his sake I'd rather him play elsewhere than sit on the bench here.

Dubravka hasn't been the same since returning from injury IMO. I'd have the level pegging only because I've obviously seen not as much from Pope. Distribution and composure will be the most important factors for who prevails. In that order.