WallisFrizz

1 hour ago, Condimentalist said:

Bissouma the player would be an outstanding signing.

Based purely on his footballing ability, if we have to pay a bit more to secure him now, vs losing him to others in the summer, then we should... 

That being said, I hope Gerrard's win at all costs mentality doesn't mean we've stopped doing thprough due diligence on the personalities we are bringing in. 

Maybe this police investigation will come to nothing, but even if it does, we need to be sure we wouldn't be blowing our record transfer fee and ending up with a word removed like Mendy or Greenwood. 

Citeh and United might be able to afford to write that loss off, we sure as hell can't.

I agree with you but…
 

Villa fans today: MG is scum, poor abused woman, he must never play again.

Also Villa fans today: Sign Bissouma, whatever it takes. Hopefully that inconvenient investigation will be over soon.

I reckon this could happen and would bolster the summer budget. But not sure if doing anything that would assist Newcastles survival hopes would be short sighted.

1 minute ago, PieFacE said:

Wonder if we'll make a move for Cheick Doucouré to fill a gap until the summer. Heavily linked in the summer window. Can't be too expensive. 

I’d love us to pull one more surprise out of the bag before tomorrow but I tend to think we’re done. As much as I think we’ve done some great business this window, I find it frustrating that we are not solving that one position. I’m ok with waiting to summer to sort it but there really should be no excuses after that. 

I mean it’s the Sun so probably rubbish…

38 minutes ago, PerryBarrPet said:

Don’t be silly - you are just making my case for me. The issue has nothing to do with Bentancur, or any other player, it’s about lack of critical thinking. Many people post ‘opinions’ some are serious others charlatans so we need to apply our critical faculties otherwise we run the risk of spreading confusion. You’ll know the old saying that a broken clock is correct twice a day, well it’s easy to claim success when an opinion happens to be true.

The last time I had such a hard time on this site for believing things certain things that I had read online and in my opinion was probably true was when Jack was on his way out and nobody would have it. Got accused of bedwetting, laughing emojis, smart remarks etc

I’m not saying I am right, I don’t even care…this is a hobby, a distraction! Nobody has to agree with me. I disagree with plenty. As for spreading confusion…get a grip, if you’re that fragile, just follow the club official notifications, no confusion then. Also, maybe don’t follow threads in a fan forum with the tag ‘speculation’.

Just now, PerryBarrPet said:

I had the temerity to question why posts are accepted as probably true without any credibility checks. Amongst other things I was told to f… off. It seems that the idea that we should question before repeating a post strikes a nerve.

You’re both absolutely right of course. We’re clearly about to announce Bentancur any minute. Get your notifications on boys. Here we go!

1 minute ago, nick76 said:

 I know and he’s not even a reliable source.  It’s amazing how psychologically something so simple, that can’t be verified at this moment from a person that historically at best might be classed as not a clickbait journalist has taken the wind out of a lot of the hope on this board.

Probably because it appears entirely credible and most likely fed by the club. Managing expectations.

20 minutes ago, Loxstock92 said:

It’s just our luck that Nakamba found the form of his life in that position under Gerrard then suffered a long term injury. It’s the holy grail of positions for us.

Just now, Phil Silvers said:

I believe him.

So do I. Not pretending to be an all round ITK. Just insisting he has heard one very specific bit of info that turned out to be bang on.

17 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

King of the 50% chancers. Wrong nobody notices as he’s nobody, right and he dines out on it forever and gains instant followers. Whatever they are. 

?

Got absolutely slated by someone on here for mentioning this lads ITK tweets but he posted this 2 days ago.

He’s been adamant for most of the week it was never happening. 

3 minutes ago, Awol said:

Exactly. Coutinho’s great and everything but we didn’t actually need another No.10, we desperately need a starting DCM. Find it hard to believe we can go through yet another window without fixing it.

Yet here we are.

2 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

Sky Sports Italia reporting Spurs in for Kulusevski, we're in for Bentancur and Juve are signing Zakaria. All three expected to be completed 

Are you late or are they late or has this taken yet another turn?

1 minute ago, nick76 said:

Why has Phil McNulty become the oracle of information? I think they are all guessing positively and negatively 

That would be a mad guess completely at odds with everything else. I think he’s been fed that by Villa hours before Spurs confirm the deal.

1 minute ago, PaulMcGrath_5 said:

Whaaaat?!

So we’ve lost him to Spurs and now pretending we never wanted him anyway?!

1 minute ago, Tomaszk said:

We won't be pissed around here. If they start trying to say Spurs have bid this so you need to as well, we'll walk. And Spurs won't pay because it's Spurs so they'll miss out.

I agree with most of it but they might actually pay this time because they’re desperate to keep Conte. They don’t want to end up on a manger search again. But we’re in a good place and we won’t be had over.

2 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

The Stadium? Conte? 

Let’s not pretend they don’t have a pull. They’re still a big club.

Great minds…

Just now, HKP90 said:

How would you sell spurs, though, other than that it’s in London? That you get to play with Kane? Nah, he’s off given half a chance. That there will be investment in the playing staff? Nah. Levy. 

They seem to have been reasonably successful in spite of the way the club has been run for the last 5 years.

They are going to torpedo when Kane leaves.

Conte. Stadium. Several places above us in the table despite having a crap season. I’m not saying we have no pull, we’re on the up but let’s not pretend Spurs won’t be an attractive option.

How the hell has this escalated from 16 to 30 million in one week? Juve playing clubs off against each other. Spurs desperate to keep their fans happy. At this point, Villa should tell them to stick it.

I’ve so far seen Newcastle, Arsenal, Spurs and Everton all linked with moves for him. I suspect we’re trying to start a bidding war.

Maybe it’s happening after all.

Goal.com About tapping up in football:

Quote

Unofficial and unorthodox approaches to signing players happen more than one might think in the murky world of football deals

Basically, not illegal but against the rules. Everyone does it anyway, only rare cases get punished with a fine and these tend to be when bigger clubs have tapped up the youth at smaller clubs.

Making interest known via the media is a common form as is players sounding out interest on international duty. Agents definitely play a big role.

What are the rules against tapping up?

The Premier League states the official definition is: "Subject to Rule T.7, a contract player, either by himself or by any person on his behalf, shall not either directly or indirectly make any such approach as is referred to in Rule T.5 without having obtained the prior written consent of his club."

39 minutes ago, MWARLEY2 said:

I think its mad that our players are allegedly valued so highly. Maybe we take it for granted sometimes that despite some areas of their game that are lacking,  we have some bloody fantastic players on our books. 

McGinn - Manure - 50 mill

Cash - Ath Madrid - 40 mill

Targett - Newcastle - circa 20 mill

Luiz - Whoever it is - 35 mill

Watkins - Arsenal - circa 50 mill .. rumours earlier in the season. 

Thats approx £200 million right there and at worst £150 mill. 

A big thanks to Lange for his work . They cost £75 mill to bring in approx and thats without us even mentioning Martinez and Buendia . 

 

Lange only brought in Cash and Watkins. Targett and Luiz were Suso and McGinn was Steve Bruce.

1 minute ago, Tomaszk said:

Presume this is helpful for us.

Not sure, they get a loan fee for him and get him off the wages and create a midfield vacancy. Could firm up their interest in Bentancur. Or Lyon could go after both now they have a big wedge of cash.

Not even sure I care any more. I’d not heard of the guy a week ago.