Raja Posted June 22, 2023 Share Posted June 22, 2023 11 hours ago, Spockydog said: He ain't going there. But if he does it will be our own fault for dithering. Nah, I don't see it that way. The city interest has been rumoured since our first bid & West Ham were very public with saying no every time we bid. There was no reason for them not to stall and get a bidding war going We can't compete with City & Chelsea in terms of the payment structures they offer. I'm pretty sanguine about this, contrary to what people say there are good midfielders everywhere and we need to look for alternatives, and I'm okay with that ( partly cause paying 100+ million for players doesn't sit right with me to begin with) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockydog Posted June 22, 2023 Share Posted June 22, 2023 Jacob Steinberg, who is close to the player, reckons he's not interested in City. Declan Rice keen to join Arsenal despite Manchester City’s plan for a rival bid Quote Declan Rice remains keen to join Arsenal despite Manchester City planning to enter the race to sign the West Ham midfielder. Arsenal’s first two bids for Rice have been rejected, leaving Mikel Arteta at risk of missing out on his top target. City have the financial wherewithal to meet West Ham’s asking price of at least £100m, and it would be hard for the 24-year-old to turn down the chance to play for Pep Guardiola. Rice spoke to Guardiola towards the end of last season and City are planning for life without Ilkay Gündogan, who has decided to join Barcelona on a free transfer. However, the treble winners are not short of options in central midfield. They are close to signing Mateo Kovacic from Chelsea and have Rodri and Kalvin Phillips to play in central midfield. Rice would be more likely to start regularly at Arsenal and his preference remains to stay in London. The England international became a father last year and is extremely close to his family. Rice also admires Arteta’s football and Arsenal should not have any problems when it comes to personal terms. Arsenal’s problem remains agreeing a fee. Their first offer was £60m plus £15m in add-ons and that was followed this week by a bid of £75m plus £15m in add-ons. West Ham were unimpressed with Arsenal’s attempt to spread the £75m payment over five years and unhappy with what they deemed a series of unrealistic add-ons. West Ham want the guaranteed portion of the fee to be paid in fewer instalments to boost their financial position. The expectation remains that Rice will join Arsenal for a fee that could top £100m once add-ons are taken into account. There were indications on Thursday night that the transfer was rumbling towards a conclusion, though suggestions Arsenal have lodged their third bid have been denied. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soylent Brown Posted June 23, 2023 Share Posted June 23, 2023 I'm sure he'd go to City if that was the only option, even if he'd prefer to stay in London. Arsenal will have to stop messing around and put a serious bid in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted June 23, 2023 Share Posted June 23, 2023 Newcastle women to be first full time team outside the top tier of women's football, that sport washing money doing some good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted June 23, 2023 Share Posted June 23, 2023 The fact Man Utd are offering nearly as much for Mount as we look to be paying for Tonali beggars belief, and the money Arsenal are paying for Havertz, why are their rivals bailing them out when they are the ones who are desperate for the moves? Mount is worth £40 million max even in a sellers market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted June 23, 2023 Share Posted June 23, 2023 (edited) Blame United's useless recruitment structure. Ten Hag wants Mount and appears to be stubborn about it as he was with Antony so we are going to overpay because United's DoF and technical directors are too weak to tell him no and pursue alternatives instead. Mount is not some rare talent either; I don't think it'd be too difficult to find a good alternative at a lower fee, not to mention wages. Nothing has actually changed at United. We continue to base our entire recruitment strategy around the judgement of one man. That worked under Ferguson but has been a disaster since his retirement. The club continues to live in the past and has been left behind as a result. Edited June 23, 2023 by Consigliere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted June 23, 2023 Share Posted June 23, 2023 27 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said: The fact Man Utd are offering nearly as much for Mount as we look to be paying for Tonali beggars belief, and the money Arsenal are paying for Havertz, why are their rivals bailing them out when they are the ones who are desperate for the moves? Mount is worth £40 million max even in a sellers market. In fairness I watched 10 minutes of Italy and France Under 21s last night and based on that I’ve concluded Tonali is shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFatCoward Posted June 23, 2023 Share Posted June 23, 2023 (edited) 41 minutes ago, ljkeane said: In fairness I watched 10 minutes of Italy and France Under 21s last night and based on that I’ve concluded Tonali is shit. Desperate to play for the lads, trying to bring his price down to secure the move. Also he's intimidated about going into a midfield with Bruno and Big Joe. Also we are due a dud. Other than Wood our recruitment has been outstanding (jury is still out on Gordon). Edited June 23, 2023 by BigFatCoward Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soylent Brown Posted June 23, 2023 Share Posted June 23, 2023 I like Mount as a player, but Chelsea's alternative is keeping him and letting him ride the bench for another season before losing him on a free, so United probably could have gotten a better deal there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sunland Lord Posted June 23, 2023 Share Posted June 23, 2023 Some say that even Tonali is overpriced by Milan. But if what I read is correct 15% of the amount will go for Brescia, and the fact they know Newcastle can overpay plays a part. Not an obscene amount for modern football standards; but if he flops it'll show to be an expensive one. What would be too high is the reported salary by Romano, 8m + 2m EU net a year would make him their most paid player, I still don't believe it's that high. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sunland Lord Posted June 23, 2023 Share Posted June 23, 2023 There it is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted June 23, 2023 Share Posted June 23, 2023 (edited) 4 hours ago, BigFatCoward said: Desperate to play for the lads, trying to bring his price down to secure the move. Also he's intimidated about going into a midfield with Bruno and Big Joe. Also we are due a dud. Other than Wood our recruitment has been outstanding (jury is still out on Gordon). Having joked about it I thought I'd actually have a look for some real information on what Tonali is like. Looking at his stats that's an interesting profile of player for Newcastle to be spending that much money on. He's very good at creativity in the final third but doesn't appear to be especially good at all the other parts of midfield play. He's young so he may well improve but he doesn't look to be a well rounded midfielder ready made to plug straight into the side. Edited June 23, 2023 by ljkeane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soylent Brown Posted June 23, 2023 Share Posted June 23, 2023 Italian players have historically had a mixed time in the PL though. Will Tonali be a Zola, or will he be an Aquilani? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Chatywin et al. Posted June 23, 2023 Share Posted June 23, 2023 5 hours ago, Soylent Brown said: I like Mount as a player, but Chelsea's alternative is keeping him and letting him ride the bench for another season before losing him on a free, so United probably could have gotten a better deal there. Mount is a confusing player to me. He can have a couple game stretch where he looks top class and then have a dozen games where you didn't recognize him doing anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sunland Lord Posted June 23, 2023 Share Posted June 23, 2023 @A Horse Named Stranger Thoughts on Marcus Thuram? Will join one of Inter/Milan it seems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted June 23, 2023 Share Posted June 23, 2023 3 hours ago, ljkeane said: Looking at his stats that's an interesting profile of player for Newcastle to be spending that much money on. He's very good at creativity in the final third but doesn't appear to be especially good at all the other parts of midfield play. Honestly that just goes to show that stats can be misleading because Tonali is a defensive midfielder, or at least a box-to-boxer, who can certainly thread a key pass but has been just as important for Milan for his hustle. In this particular instance my suspicion is that simply the nature of play in Serie A leads to less of certain kinds of involvements in certain positions; plug almost any Serie A CM in there and their tackling/interception/block stats seem underwhelming. I mean, look at what Lobotka looks like and he's pretty unquestionably a defensively sound player and one of the best midfielders in the world. The Athletic did an in-depth report on Tonali, which does point out that he isn't the holding-midfield guy to allow Bruno G too much more freedom (and to me buying someone at that kind of price suggests they're most likely committing to Guimaraes as a defensive mid as a result). He's essentially a direct replacement for Joelinton. Which is a bit harsh on Joelinton, but it's fair to say that was happening whoever came in, because if a straight-up DM were to come in all that'd do is see Guimaraes shunted into Joelinton's position anyway. The Sunland Lord 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Horse Named Stranger Posted June 23, 2023 Author Share Posted June 23, 2023 (edited) 18 minutes ago, The Sunland Lord said: @A Horse Named Stranger Thoughts on Marcus Thuram? Will join one of Inter/Milan it seems. Good signing. Works either as a InsideForward/Wide Target Man on the wing, who can dominate smaller fullbacks with his physique and he is also faster than you might expect from a player of his size (he is really fast), or as a CF. He was linked with a move to Inter before corona hit. That would've been a 40m € signing (give or take). So whoever gets him will be very happy. Edited June 23, 2023 by A Horse Named Stranger The Sunland Lord 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sunland Lord Posted June 23, 2023 Share Posted June 23, 2023 3 hours ago, A Horse Named Stranger said: Good signing. Works either as a InsideForward/Wide Target Man on the wing, who can dominate smaller fullbacks with his physique and he is also faster than you might expect from a player of his size (he is really fast), or as a CF. He was linked with a move to Inter before corona hit. That would've been a 40m € signing (give or take). So whoever gets him will be very happy. He would've been brought in 2021 if he didn't get injured. Those money were spent on the dud Correa instead. At least now he's coming a free agent so there's that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockydog Posted June 24, 2023 Share Posted June 24, 2023 (edited) Looking increasingly like all the stuff about City preparing a bid for Rice was just West Ham trying to drive the price up. No bid has been lodged, and all the West Ham ITKs are adamant that Guardiola's got no chance. Rice has been talking to Arteta for six months, who has a clear plan for him. Anyway, that'll be at least two Arsenal players who turned them down. That we know of. They probably tried tapping up Saka, too. Edited June 24, 2023 by Spockydog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AncalagonTheBlack Posted June 24, 2023 Share Posted June 24, 2023 Teng Ai Hui and Corvinus85 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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