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That’s ok until you get a Caicedo situation where the player very clearly wants out and there’s a daft offer on the table.…….

Yep. We’re at or approaching as high as we are going to get in the food chain now, we’re never going to have the financial muscle of the ‘big six’ or however many there are. It’s fantastic that we continue to compete at the top end on a lower end budget.

Parameters are shifting as we evolve though - we’re spending more on signings that are close to ‘ready’ than we ever did (like Joao Pedro, Pervis for example) and pretty sure this will continue (and we’ll have the money to do it). The ‘swooping’ of other clubs does appear to be an issue though...

Criminal? Really? :facepalm:

Being ITK, I can reliably inform you I’m a few places ahead of him on the spreadsheet on account of being able to prove I watch MOTD as long as we’ve won.

Maybe, maybe not. If not, Tony has a ready list of replacements lined up. All managers are temporary.

Indeed. Arguably Japan’s best player, Paraguay’s best, one of Scotland’s best, Ireland’s most exciting prospect, Argentina’s long-term no 10 (😳)………..

We’ve qualified once…..if it takes another season or two to qualify again, during which time we blood a few more exciting prospects and bank 200m from selling existing players, for me that will be a good outcome. Anyone thinking qualifying for Europe is now our level of entitlement every season...

No, apparently it’s ‘failure’ :laugh:

Well I didn’t it, was always an asset protection play……

99% ? Really ?

Exactly

Possibly, but both are on long, recently renewed contracts, so anyone buying them will be losing and arm and a leg. Sure Pep was looking at Karou yesterday thinking he’s a massive upgrade on Sockboy.

…….but that will be because there were issues with any potential targets (too expensive, didn’t want to come here, didn’t suit RdZ style, failed NDP etc). Milner was never a replacement for Ale or Moises, he was just another experienced utility pro that the club thought would be a useful...

Exactly - mental offer we couldn’t refuse.

To keep him motivated until the next window (knowing our qualification for Europe probably depended on it) and to maximise the sell-on value. Great busines.

Tell it to the players getting injured :shrug:

The buying of Joao Pedro is exactly that kind of tweak though isn’t it ? Club record signing…….. Wouldn’t expect to see that happen with more than one player in any window

Also this. It’s all part of the process……..as is the rotation which DeZ is getting slammed for in some quarters. It’s going to pay off later in the season imo. Don’t think we’ve ‘failed’ to do anything - quite happy the club don’t spunk tens of millions on players they don’t think are worth it.

Really difficult balance….think Ale Mac was always going to go, but that was compounded by the ridiculous offer for Caicedo that we couldn’t refuse for a bunch of reasons - but agree end result is our midfield was significantly weakened at least in the short term. Baleba might be the next...