thoward18

I'd rather we be in the business of adding players who will get us into European Football than in the business of making stock investments.

Appreciate you taking that initiative and doing that for us. Much respect. Keep us updated!

You're late on this one

All they said is he hasn't been sold. That could mean, "the paperwork making the signing official has not been completed yet." I don't see how we can infer from such a statement that they do "not know of our interest."

What happened with Banega? Wasn't around when that happened. Wikipedia tells me he was set to come on loan but that it got screwed up somehow.

Is it normal to go to a Work Permit hearing for a player if a deal isn't on the verge of completion?

Exactly what I was thinking.

Why the hell are we going after center backs? I understand the long-term need but right now it's literally the last position we need to reinforce.

My guess: Everton is leaking our interest in other players in an attempt to loosen Wigan's demands.

You guys are no fun :shaking fist:

Right, it was more of a hypothetical. In no way was I suggesting a move made sense largely because no team is sane enough to offer what it would take for us to give him up this early. But just imagine some club went apeshit and threw an 80m bid. Surely we'd accept that. Just wondering what our floor would be for having to accept a deal.

What kind of bid would it take for you guys to accept a Barkley departure? Note that I'm not asking what you think he is worth; I'm asking what it would take for you to let him go. For me it would have to be in the 40s.

Multiple reports saying he is coming here. Multiple saying he is on a plane to England. Multiple saying he is training in Holland. "Silly Season" indeed.

Would love this.

I think it's also in part because Wigan knows how much Roberto likes McCarthy. And, at the risk of sounding overly simplistic, we're the only ones rumored to be in the bidding for him as far as I can tell. If he was worth the 13M-15M Pounds wouldn't other teams be rumored to be in on him in at least a casual manner? Why are we the only ones? Feels like they're more than content to keep him and are therefore playing their hand against Roberto's.

Fair points. Still doesn't feel right.

If we pay more for McCarthy than Tottenham paid for Christian Eriksen then I give up.

I think we have more immediate needs than ANOTHER defender. But what do I know...

Don't even care for Vellios but he can't be much worse than what we've had so far.

He's on loan to a team in fucking Ecuador. Something tells me he isn't EPL caliber now (was he ever)?

I can't decide if 19-year-old Barkley being arguably our most consistent player through 4 games is more an endorsement of how well Barkley has played or how mediocre the whole of the team has been.

Dude is a fucking cancer on Football Manager.

Not going to panic yet, but not a single win against three teams that likely will finish no higher than 10th and an extra time victory against a team just promoted from League One. Results have to come soon.

Distin played well. Howard and Jagielka didn't fuck anything up. Other than that, a lot of underwhelming performances.

Well that's a hell of a lot more analysis than I ever could have hoped for. Phenomenal stuff. Thanks.