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Rogers is being played as part of a front 3 so I don't really count him as a midfielder. Enzo F. generally played alongside Caicedo rather than as one of the wide guys like Rogers so I don't see that as a like for like replacement. Our midfield last season was hardly great and yet we have weakened it. We've let Andre Santos, Fernandes, and Essugo leave while bringing in Barco and Henderson. I think most of us imagined Barco and Henderson would likely have peripheral squad roles this season but now it looks like they could be starting regularly.

No he doesn't. He's good, but he's not that good and even if he was world class, we still wouldn't challenge for a title with what's going on behind him. Fulham and Brighton were proof that what we have is not good enough. We can go into the youth team all we like, but we won't find anybody ready to step in to the senior teams midfield. All of this is compounded by the fact that Caicedo is injured, with very little pre-season, after a season where he was already looking burnt out. Our midfield is weaker than it was last season, and it was already weak then.

Certainly the player must feel like taking his case to CAS the way he was messed around.

I think Gusto started in midfield against Brighton because Reece and Barco had played full games against Luton and Caicedo wasn't ready to start. Assuming Caicedo is still injured I suspect we will see Lavia and Reece start.

I can only see that being remotely triggered if De Zerbi is still manager at Spurs at the end of this season. Given their record with managers, that seems unlikely.

Enzo's goals are such a furphy. 10 goals and just 4 assists is pretty good for an AM, but's a very average return for a second-striker which was essentially his role under Maresca/Rosenior. Rogers playing in a similar attacking role adds the same stats but also with the additional ability to carry the ball on the dribble, which Fernandez cannot do. Cherki has been known to have some serious attitude issues when things aren't to his liking. I doubt he makes it past this season with City.

I wonder if there is a possibility to go to CAS over this.

It definitely makes sense to focus on our primary targets but I doubt it will be any easier to prise them from their respective clubs in January or next summer. Other clubs will no doubt join the battle for their signatures. For the first half of this season we need to hope that Caicedo is not seriously injured and that Lavia can stay fit. Reece is an option but not a reliable one given his injury record, and we don't yet have a date on Henderson's availability. Barco should be a decent option but it remains to be seen how he does against the bigger teams. I think it was a mistake to let Essugo go until we were sure that Camara deal was fully completed. He could have provided some more cover. If we hit a few injuries we will be back to playing the likes of Gusto in central midfield, or tapping into the academy.

He reminds of that RIP Mourinho, second greatest poster after Clown Lake

Doesn’t look like we need his goals anymore? And at a detriment to our midfield balance with him huffing and puffing around and misplacing passes. I still can’t believe City actually signed the guy.. when Real Madrid humbled him, and PSG couldn’t give a toss, it looked so bleak. City ACTUALLY being interested was precious, as there were no other takers (and never would have been). It overshadows tapping up Poundland-pep for me.

Arsenal 0-0 Chelsea

As one of his former fans, I fully agree. In fact the thing that struck me against both Fulham and Brighton is that they are incredibly similar with the same strengths and weakness. The only differences being that Acheampong is one of our own, is 5 years younger and still has a drivers' licence.

Arsenal 2 - 0 Chelsea, Gabriel 31

Rogers alone makes us a title-challenging squad. I'm not going to be a doomsayer about the squad, it is objectively the best we've had under BlueCo and more than capable of winning trophies. An unproven 22-year old from a middling French team isn't going to meaningfully move that needle, Camara looks a great prospect but he is essentially Valentin Barco in a different font. As for rotation, well God forbid we have to give a youth player from the best academy in England a few minutes in midfield here and there. We should be doing that far more often than we have done under BlueCo. It's moments like this that have allowed clubs to discover their Lewis-Skelly, Rico Lewis or Nico O'Reilly, or Trent Alexander-Arnold. I think that blaming Fernandez's transfer for the lack of action is a bit much. I have no doubt it will be the narrative encouraged by BlueCo. The transfer is the biggest financial boon we have had since selling Hazard and at the end of the day, this window was the last time the club could have ever meaninfully profited from a very mediocre transfer. However, it's pretty clear that the main targets are Scott and/or Wharton, and it actually seems unbelievably sensible to wait for them to become available next year instead of splashing cash on yet another unknown young player.

There was already bad blood, and it was all caused by them in the first place when they tapped up Maresca and derailed our season. Well the BlueCo twats allowed them to do it again, so f**k City. We should have told them to f**k off. I don't dislike Enzo so much that I would f**k up our season just to get him out of the club, that's absurd thinking. We have nothing at the club better than him, even with his limitations, and now we have lost his goals too.

We got the money back, that's all that matters

Went to bed then woke up with the worst news possible. On the club for leaving it late but f**king hell Monaco. Maybe there's a blessing somewhere in this but hopefully our midfield's legs can carry us til Jan or we loan someone

Couldn’t risk it, nor the bad blood with City. Last season it felt like we were stuck with him, due to the fee, wages, book value left etc, and most importantly.. it wasn’t even conceivable a club would take him. Maresca to City was our miracle. Missing out on Camara is a tragedy, but if you told me ‘in the trenches’ of last season and before when this thread was blowing up match day after match day (for the wrong reasons) we would somehow manage to offload him for a record fee, but… be short in midfield until January, most of us would have taken that!

It seems the PL 'deal sheet' was agreed but the contract for sale itself was yet to be concluded, so unlikely to have much grounds and in any event it would be for the principle rather than any monetary gain. Ligue Un already imposed a wage cap sanction for non-compliance, and that was on the assumption that they could still sell players to improve their financial position. Someone at Monaco better know how to grovel in Arabic or Turkish

Aye. He changed his ind about going there too late thought. Nothing can be done to resurrect the Camara deal now.

Only way we’re doing/trying to do business with them again is if they sack whoever was involved, which is looking like Thiago Scuro their CEO. Monaco are in a deficit and needed one of these sales to go through, so hopefully some heads will roll, and we can get a clean slate with the club. Otherwise, looking like Camara is a Liverpool player, despite the fact he was HERE, doing the medical, probably posed with the number 8 shirt for the official photo’s 🤦‍♂️

Monaco will now have to look to Saudi, Portugal and Turkey to try and sell players to raise the money they need.

Blew up in our face. Doesn't matter how much people wanted him gone, Enzo Fernandez is better than nobody, which is what we have been left with. City played our clowns and they played a blinder.

Let's see if reports that "everything was agreed, signed" are true. If so Eghbali has to take some sort of legal action.

Baloguns off now also?