duke313

Like we did with Kamara?

It speaks volumes that LB is the first area of the team UE has went to improve. Digne while not a terrible signing, has not improved us much.

Found this quote from Lange from Feb 2020, when he was at FC Copenhagen a few months before joining us. “The partnership between myself, the manager and the scouts is crucial. We take time at the start of the process to establish exactly what we are looking for. Then we can set the parameters with the data. It is only after that stage that it becomes about live scouting.“ To me it reads, the coach identifies an area of the team that needs strengthening. They then consult with Lange and the scouts to look at the data. From that they create a shortlist and scout the players.

So far I’d rate him 6 or 6.5 out of 10. Not bad, but not amazing either

Lange has made some good signings for us in his first season when he was appointed, Cash, Martinez and Watkins have all progressed and increased in value. And like every Sporting Director, some signings haven't been great like Traore and Sanson. I still think the jury is out on Buendia, Ings and Bailey, but so far, they have not pushed us on as they were meant to after selling Grealish. Since Gerrard came in the signings have been average, Carlos and Kamara are so far excellent additions, but Digne and Donck have been average, Coutinho and Olsen poor and Augustinsson loan have been poor also. Also don't forget we had practically signed Sarr, but Lange was overruled by Stevie Me. Let's hope with Emery's guidance, we see some improvement in recruitment; more Martinez, Mings and Kamara. Less Traore, Sanson and Olsen.

I don't think Digne will be going anywhere, and I doubt at 29 on £160k a week he'll be in much of a hurry like Targett to leave. He hasn't been amazing but hasn't been terrible either, i've no issue with him staying and fighting for his place. We had a scenario after signing Digne and Targett leaving when Digne got injured, and we had no left back. So, I wouldn't be in a rush to ship him out, we need quality cover.

I think Newcastle progressing has also changed the recruitment process. We stopped buying players with high potential and more players for here and now as to not be left behind.

He's definitely played there for a us a few times before. Hed be staying back and would need a winger in front of him, so don't think it would be an issue as a stop gap, not a permanent thing of course,

Buendia has played on the left under Emery. I'd prefer Buendia switched to the right in all honesty and Ramsey on left.

Ramsey surely comes back in?

Yeah, barring a complete collapse they will finish at least in the Europa spots. Top 4 might be just out of reach, I don't think they can sustain this form all season.

I think he would fall under the category of what Emery said about the forwards "players that have a different characteristic than what we currently have", or something along those lines. We are really lacking in an aerial threat from our forwards. He would offer us an alternative to Watkins or Ings at a reasonable price point.

He’s 6 ft 2. Would give us some much needed height up front.

Would anyone be interested in Füllkrug? He’s 29 so perfect age for us, and not too expensive going by that tweet. He left pled decent for Germany in WC.

I'd give him to the end of the season, and if he doesn't show some consistent form then we move him on.

It's mad saying that when we are technically not even halfway through season yet, and only 6 points off 7th. But I think if we did qualify for Europe this season, it would do more harm than good in the long run. We don't have the squad to play in both, and even with new players coming in, I think we would struggle to compete in both the league and Europe next season. I've seen it before when teams qualify for Europe when they aren't ready. Their overall form suffers as they don't have the squad depth like the big 6.

What’s the deadline for him being available on Friday? Can’t see Emery playing him even if he is registered in time. He’ll want a few training sessions with him first.

Are these not just rumours? I remember talking about selling McGinn to Man Utd for £50m. Will wait and see if a bid comes in, but i'm not convinced there will be one.

I think that's a reasonable amount over the next two windows. We need to recruit less weak-minded players, hopefully Emery has this in mind.

Hopefully now we have a manager who can get the rebuild right.

Probably not that many, but Emery was not happy with the attitude of some of the players on Sunday, I think a few will have sealed their fate.

He would have been a Valencia youth player when Emery was managing them. Maybe that will convince him to come here.

I think we've been terrible on the selling side, Grelaish and Chuk aside, we've lost money on everyone else we've sold. I think we've made some poor signings even before Gerrard. We've spunked the Grelaish money away on Bailey, Buendia and Ings, who have all been underwhelming

I suspect you are right, unless we get crazy bids for some of them. We have nothing really to play for anymore, unless we go on a good run and are close to a European spot. The remainder of the season will be sued by Emery to decide who he's keeping.

I don't really follow La Liga closely, so I hadn't really seen much of him. But reports are that he's quite decent, but then I thought that of Digne when we signed him.