Summer transfer, gossip, speculation and the usual butter ollocks thread

[ozzjim]

Luiz was brilliant in front of the defence at the end of the season.

[mr underhill]

Benrahma missing for Brentford...

[Matt C]

Still think we’ll sign a couple more and take advantage of FFP being relaxed.

[paul_e]

I think we need another centre midfielder. I like hourihane, he seems to wear the shirt with pride and has a good free kick on him. Saying that I don’t think he should be regularly starting, which I think he might be unless grealish moves into the middle, which is too attacking for me and may expose us. If grealish stays on the left, the midfield 3 are Luiz, McGinn and Hourihane or nakamba, think nakambas a trier, but bit of a headless chicken.

So with attacking options of grealish, Watkins, Traore, with Davis, Trez and el Ghazi supporting, I think a cm should be a priority.

Agree with this. Really need an upgrade on Nakamba. I see Luiz playing more as a number 8. Box to box, and offers a lot going forward so you don’t want him to sit in front of defence.

Luiz will be the deep playmaker, setting the tempo of our play and starting attacks, he needs someone next to him so McGinn/Grealish making up the 3 can get forward and hit the box without a huge amount of defensive responsibility. 2 more defensive players means the fullbacks can get forward more as well, which is clearly what we want them to do.

That doesn't mean a player who is only there to win possession though, it needs to be some who does that but can still play and make things happen himself.

[ozzjim]

I reckon there will be 2 more, another forward and a midfielder, can't see us signing a defender unless Engels is sold and we need centre back cover. I do wonder if we can get the forward done, we will look around for a couple of loan deals from top sides that have left players out in the first few games. Barkley maybe on loan wouldn't surprise me.

[AllanW]

Would happily spend another £40m on Grujic and Brewster from the Scousers. Keep the eventual window bill under £100m by selling Nyland, Kalinic, Hogan, Jota, Lansbury and Engels. 6 in, 6 out, FFP safe and 25-man squad declared with Ramsey an undeclared addition.

That would be an awesome window.

[darren woolley]

I hope we bring in a couple more signings before the end of the transfer window.

[Baldy]

A fully fit and firing John McGinn will make up for the midfield frailties we suffered for the best part of last season.

He only got booked 3 times last season. I expect at least 15 bookings this season. 

[Steve67]

McGinn will hopefully kick on this season but was largely poor last season, could be a fantastic player for us.  Nakamba just doesn't look good enough, no better than the Djemba twins.  If we bring in a decent midfielder to assist Luiz, who improved greatly, but is still not physical enough, I think we will be a much better side and certainly harder to beat. I was hoping we would have gone in for Dacoure but not to be.

[VinnieChase84]

We are looking to bring in another 2 minimum

[ozzjim]

I am not a fan, but Billing or Lerma from Bournmouth maybe. Both dirty bastards but would give us more of a physical presence in the middle.

[UK Redsox]

I'm not in the Alkmaar squad...

Are you not heading to Nijmegen?

Barge to Waregem, ordinary to Enschede, hydrofoil to Malmo
And the last bus to your heart

[Steve67]

No King in the Bormuff squad, no Buendia in the Norwich squad, No Benrahma in the Brentford squad and apparently Eduoard was an unused sub for Celtic today and they used all five subs.  No Rashica in the Bremen squad either.  Which one of this little lot is Villa bound? 

[enigma]

Posted this in another thread but looks like more big signings aren't likely (though not out of the question)

"while manager Dean Smith remains on the look-out for reinforcements the deal for Traore is likely to represent the end of the major deals in this window unless an unforeseen opportunity presents itself."

[exigo]

That quote is from Phil McNulty, of the BBC. And as thousands of fans have pointed out to him all day on twitter, Deano said the exact opposite yesterday in front of all the cameras and microphones. Including the BBC's.