Summer Transfer Window 2017 Thread

[Dolphin Ziggler]

First topic message reminder :

The rage from La Liga is exciting.

That money argument does show you why there's no need to worry about Bale not having suitors. If Everton can throw £48m at Siggy, Liverpool can offer upwards of £70m for Nany Keita then I can't see Man United being scared of throwing £90m at Bale.

[Geordie]

Because Rafa was told there is no money you have to sell players to bring any in.

Ashley is a total muppet and sadly the club will never go anywhere with him in charge.

A few poor results and Rafa will take his chance to jump ship.

Kevin Keegan said this club will never go anywhere with Mike Ashley in charge and he is correct.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

I kinda understand Ashley on this sense - toon spent an awful lot of money last year, and that probably ate into this years money too. And now Rafa wants rid of a lot of them without giving them a chance in the PL (why he wants to sell Gayle without giving him a go is beyond me)

[Geordie]

The Gayle situation has baffled me I agree. The lad is a goalscorer...why look to sell him without even giving him a chance.

However I can only see one outcome. A few bad results, Rafa goes, we get in another muppet like Maclaren, back to the championship....dejavu.

[Beer]

Rafa's issues with Gayle aren't based on his ability or his record, it's on his dodgy hamstring that he believes is mentally troubling Gayle.

[GSC]

Is the issue money or more, you can spend 30m on a striker if you sell Gayle for 20m?

How these things are positioned to the media usually depends on the source.

[LionsV2]

Drinkwater for £35Mil hahaha.

[GSC]

Drinkwater and Kante, a title winning CM pairing. Add Bakayoko to the mix and Fabregas providing attacking intent/retention when required and I wouldn't knock that midfield.

[LivinginItaly]

Will be a good test of how good drinkwater really is. I am interested to see if he can manage to hold down a first team place or if he was just a big fish in a small pond, albeit one that managed to become premier league champions.

[Geordie]

Newcastles activity:

Players In:
Joselu Stoke City £5.0m
Florian Lejeune Eibar £8.7m
Javi Manquillo Atletico Madrid Undisclosed
Jacob Murphy Norwich City Undisclosed
Stefan O'Connor Unassigned Players Free
Josef Yarney Unassigned Players Free

Players Out:
Sammy Ameobi Unassigned Players Contract Ended
Vurnon Anita Unassigned Players Contract Ended
Yoan Gouffran Goztepe Undisclosed
Grant Hanley Norwich City Undisclosed
Siem de Jong Ajax £4m
Tim Krul Brighton and Hove Albion Loan
Daryl Murphy Nottingham Forest Undisclosed
Emmanuel Riviere Metz Undisclosed
Lubomir Satka DAC Dunajská Streda Free
Haris Vuckic FC Twente Free

Not an exhilarating period...when most said the team that wont the champsionship wasn't good enough...

[Beer]

I can't speak for John and GF, but for me, i'm with Olly and I see Ashley's point of view. We spent alot of money last year. Colback, De Jong, Lazaar, Krul etc; all the dead wood had a wage bill of £16.3m per year, which is why Ashley wanted rid of them before committing more money. What's the point in blowing your whole budget on new players, and then keeping that amount of money on the wage bill?

I think (happy to be corrected) our wage bill is/was around £75m per year, which when we were in the Champ, was around 58% of our turnover, which isn't sustainable, if you add another £15m a year on that. Something has to give.

In terms of the money, Ashley said Rafa can have everything the club generates in terms of income...

£7m for winning the Championship which includes TV money (£100,000 per match if you're the home team, £10,000 for away teams)

£40m in parachute payments.

In total we had £47m to spend. Our net spend is something around the £23m mark, but Ashley is notorious for any signing on fees being included in the budget. So it could potentially be more. The money was there, but all the potential deals required a big fee, and a big wage, which when we had £16m sat doing feck all, Ashley didn't want to commit to until we offloaded some.

The question is, whose fault is it we can't get rid of those players? Sels, Hanley, Murphy Lazaar were all Rafa signings, so he has to take a portion of the blame for them. Gayle was another who they would've shifted. He can't be blamed for the likes of Colback, Saviet, De Jong etc, but of all them, only Colback and Saviet remain. He knew who was going to stay, some of these players should've been told in April to find new clubs.

Whilst yesterday was disappointing, the noise coming out of the club is that we did try. Perez did NOT want to stay in England, he wanted to go to Depor. We offered the better terms. We weren't prepared to offer Origi a guaranteed starting place, which Liverpool wanted, and they rebuffed us for Ings. We wanted Cairney for Gayle, Fulham said no. We wanted Targett for the entire season, Saints said 6 months. Some things can't be helped. Am I happy? No, but i don't think promises have been broken. I think we're still paying for the mistakes of previous managers, McClaren, Pardew, and unfortunately for Rafa, he knew all this when he took the job. He wanted a project, this is it. If he doesn't like it, if he wants a blank chequebook, then leave.

There are frustrations here. When you look at what Clement has achieved at Swansea with his contacts, does Rafa not have contacts at Real where we could get a couple of fringe players to bolster the squad? Sometimes it's not what you know, but who you know.

[Crimey]

Think West Brom did well but looking at the signings, I do wonder if they're now planning for post Pulis.

I think all the signings are definite Pulis signings bar Oliver Burke, but even then Pulis has a history of signing exciting young wingers and then never using them, so not that out of the ordinary. 

Grzegorz Krychowiak is a fancy player from a top club but he's absolutely in the mould of a player that Pulis will love. His real talents are defensively and he's not good enough on the ball for a top club, hence his struggles at PSG and lack of interest from any top sides. 

Gareth Barry is just the replacement for Darren Fletcher. Jay Rodriguez isn't a Rondon player, but he's not particularly atypical for a Pulis side, he's a similar player to Jonathan Walters for example. Kieran Gibbs doesn't stand out as not a Pulis player other than the fact that he'll be a full back playing full back, rather than a centre back. Then Oliver Burke.

[Geordie]

I can't speak for John and GF, but for me, i'm with Olly and I see Ashley's point of view.

Fair play, You do make a good argument Beer....

[Beer]

Cheers, GF.

I think years of frustration and disappointment have made me realise that Ashley runs us like a business, and we have to accept that. And whilst it isn't always smiles and laughter, it's not actually a bad way to run the club.

Yes, it would be nice to be Man City, Utd, Chelsea and have millions to spend... but at the same time we could be Blackburn.

[GSC]

I think both sides are at fault to an extent. Reality in football is it's very difficult to run a business and be successful side by side in both endeavours.

But Rafas looking to engineer an exit in my mind. He brought in a lot of these players and wants shot a year after receiving incredible financial backing for a 2nd tier side.

[Beer]

To an extent, you're right, and i think now more than ever it's going to be difficult to do that, now the over-inflated transfer fees have ballooned.

If he is; and i'm not convinced you're wrong, it would speak volumes. If he wanted overnight success, he went to the wrong club. He wanted, and still has a massive oppourtunity to create a legacy here. But, it will take time. He's had one season in the Championship. He needs to survive in the Prem, then build. If he doesn't see a penny of what should be £100m+ in TV revenue, then yes, walk. Nobody would blame him

[Dolphin Ziggler]

There'll be suitors for him soon, Rodney and Del Boy would love Rafa

[GSC]

To be honest, that's what I imagine will happen.

Just need the Sullivan's to pay him out of Newcastle.

[Crimey]

Suspect Crystal Palace will also be interested with De Boer under serious pressure.

Rafa was too pragmatic and built a side to win the Championship, thinking short-term and then has been unable to make significant progress to turn the Championship side into a Premier League side. However, if Benitez has confidence in his managerial abilities he should be able to stay up with the side. Worse sides have stayed up because of good management.

[Dolphin Ziggler]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/sep/01/rafael-benitez-job-offers-newcastle-mike-ashley-west-ham

Benitez will hate Sullivan, he makes Ashley look saintly

[Hero]

UEFA announce they're investigating PSGs transfers in regards to FFP.

[GSC]

Hands up everyone who believes this isn't a token move.

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