2023 Summer transfer window - hopes, needs, expectations and rumours.

[PeterWithe]

You could imagine us talking to the agent, him telling us what Newcastles wage offer is and us thinking we’ll look elsewhere without bidding

[AV84]

I sense a bit of panic creeping in on here. I'm sure things are being worked on and we'll have a few more players in. The window closes on September 1st so there's plenty of time. In the meantime, just all chill and enjoy the sunshine.

I wouldn't say it's panic, more frustration. It appears like we've been very ambitious in our targets, which is good, but clearly we're still not an attractive proposition for players above a certain standard. I guess if there's any worry, for me anyway, it would be that we end up missing out on players like Barnes because we're wasting time trying to convince others to sign.

There's still a lot of talk about us wanting Brennan Johnson, so maybe that's why we've seemingly not moved for Barnes.

[Dave]

You could imagine us talking to the agent, him telling us what Newcastles wage offer is and us thinking we’ll look elsewhere without bidding

Presumably if we want to catch up to Newcastle (and others) then we can't be scared of offering wages in line with what they would be?

Otherwise why would a player that would improve us choose us over Newcastle at the moment?

[AV84]

You could imagine us talking to the agent, him telling us what Newcastles wage offer is and us thinking we’ll look elsewhere without bidding

I assumed this had been officially announced when someone posted it on here like it was a done deal, but apparently its not yet set in stone. Could be a case of his agent putting the price out there to encourage a bid from someone else. There was supposed to be 5 clubs interested, but for one reason or another it seems Newcastle are the only ones that actually made an offer.

[Clampy]

I don't think there is any need for frustration either. It seems we have two in and i'm sure there will be more, possibly ones who haven't been linked. It's early days.

As for Barnes, maybe we just aren't interested.

[PeterWithe]

I don’t think we, or indeed anyone else, will be matching what Newcastle are offering players.

[AV84]

I don’t think we, or indeed anyone else, will be matching what Newcastle are offering players.

You're probably correct in that but from what all the reports are saying its not a case of us not matching them, they're the only ones that made an official approach for him. So it's not a case of Barnes chosing them over us, regardless of what was offered. We didn't move for him.

[PeterWithe]

Possibly, or the agent jungle drums could have indicated Newcastle have £300k a week on the table and we’ve thought we’d save the price of the fax. Also possible.

[Drummond]

Or he has an immediate chance of Champions League football.

[AV84]

Possibly, or the agent jungle drums could have indicated Newcastle have £300k a week on the table and we’ve thought we’d save the price of the fax. Also possible.

Yep. Spurs were apparently interested but decided to prioritise someone else. West Ham were interested but have to wait for the Rice deal to go through before they can spend big. We were definitely interested but for whatever reason we haven't made a move. So lots of reasons he's probably ending up at Newcastle.

[Dante Lavelli]

IMO Barnes plays on the wrong side of the pitch based on emery’s current tactics, so I’m not that fussed if he goes to Newcastle.

If speculation can be believed we are aiming high for the Bailey upgrade. Asensio and Williams are both right sided forwards.  I imagine that is the standard we are hoping for with Brennan Johnson pencilled in if they don’t materialise.

Either way, I reckon this player will be one of the last signed as the top targets will be waiting for champions league offers.

[eamonn]

Newcastle have said a few times in recent months that they have to be careful with FFP. I don't think they need to throw more money at Barnes than us. They're in the Champions League and we're not. Suck it up and get someone else, with a smaller nose.

[Brazilian Villain]

IMO Barnes plays on the wrong side of the pitch based on emery’s current tactics, so I’m not that fussed if he goes to Newcastle.

If speculation can be believed we are aiming high for the Bailey upgrade. Asensio and Williams are both right sided forwards.  I imagine that is the standard we are hoping for with Brennan Johnson pencilled in if they don’t materialise.

Either way, I reckon this player will be one of the last signed as the top targets will be waiting for champions league offers.

I'd agree with that.

[AV84]

Newcastle have said a few times in recent months that they have to be careful with FFP. I don't think they need to throw more money at Barnes than us. They're in the Champions League and we're not. Suck it up and get someone else, with a smaller nose.

Again, just to be clear, the only reason I'm questioning the Barnes thing, is out of curiosity as to why we haven't actually made a move? By all accounts he would have been interested, and it would have suited his family better, but we haven't even approached Leicester about him.

So you've got a good quality player, that was on our list of potential targets, who was open to the idea of playing for us, but we've not even tried to sign him. Meanwhile, we're chasing bigger names who are not interested in us at all.

It's not really about Barnes himself, although I would have liked to have him here. I'm just wondering what is actually going on behind the scenes that we're not even making attempts to sign someone we were interested in signing?

We've been linked with Gnonto, Adams, and Johnson, all midfielders too, and all with less competition interested, if you believe reports. So it could be something as simple as us prioritising someone else, which is apparently what Spurs did regarding dropping their interest in Barnes too.

I'm not criticising our transfer policy or the business done so far this window, just to be clear. I'm just curious as to what the thought process is.

[SamTheMouse]

If speculation can be believed we are aiming high for the Bailey upgrade. Asensio and Williams are both right sided forwards.  I imagine that is the standard we are hoping for with Brennan Johnson pencilled in if they don’t materialise.

This is the most important signing of the summer.

As the infinitely wise Tori Amos said, it's gotta be big.