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Had Rice not went off limping last night I think Zubimendi would have been a realistic option.

For dumping 125 million pounds worth of toxic waste on Manchester.

They knew Enzo was leaving and should've had a realistic last minute replacement

I remember a time when a club could sign 4-5 new players, have them click immediately, and suddenly challenge for silverware. I don't think that's really the case anymore, at least not at the top level. Don't get me wrong—I miss that and all the excitement of finally seeing the new players on the pitch for the first time. It's not even necessarily about the quality of the new players either. It's the change in itself that often disrupts the established mechanics. That's why we don't see many new teams winning anymore. Arsenal are a good example: it took them years to get to the point where they could seriously challenge City, and keeping the squad relatively stable seemed to be an obvious part of that process. Cups are different for sure, but even there you don't seem to see completely new teams coming together and immediately winning trophies the way you used to.

Oh well. So no defensive midfielder added to try and protect the questionable defence. So can Alonso achieve what Keegan couldn’t by wining the league scoring 120 goals whilst conceding 80?

Not necessarily available all of a sudden, but a lot can change, from their clubs having an average season, to us being league title contenders at that moment which would make them eager to join. Especially Scott who will be six months closer to entering in his final year of contract. Maybe even Zubimendi will be unsettled if he does not get minutes, which frankly it does not look likely with Rice, Bruno Guimaraes, Odegaard, Merino and Eze all ahead of him. The guy can't even get a start ahead of Lewis-Skelly. But I do not think Arsenal would even consider strengthening us if it looks like we are going for the title come this winter.

I'd say they 100% won't be coming in winter, but a deal can definitely be struck as early as January for any of them. We'll all have a fine outlook of how the season's going and if they're still the 100m worth missing piece of Alonso's midfield for next season.

Well this is their best window, by far, but if we dont strengthen our midfield, and inevitably end up with a Henderson and Gusto midfield when James and Lavia break down, it would be a bad end to it.

It's annoying. It really is. Especially with how weak every club is. I stand by that Wharton or a top CM would've genuinely had us challenging. Now we are seemingly content with having a midfield that completed only 20 passes against Brighton last weekend.

Brighton agree deal for Chema Andres. Should just hijack that. Very promising player, Alonso knows him from Castilla. Cheap deal. Reassess in january

This notion that Scott or Wharton will be available in January just makes me laugh.

They are banking on James at center mid. Frankly he is twice the player Kone and Camara are. And even better than Enzo Fernandez in that role. Problem is, can he stay fit for more than five matches in a row? That is a big risk. Assuming the jammy hamstrings are past him, Caicedo - James is a great midfield duo. I really think they tried for Wharton and even more for Scott. But what can anyone do when those clubs just do not want to sell?! Camara was an option, but I feel Monaco felt we are getting desperate and thought about rinsing us big time. Manu Kone? Bang average. Thrilled it did not happen. Disasi in midfield and just another one we would have looked to move as soon as next summer. My bet is we are going back for Scott or Wharton in the winter.

I don't deny we'd be probably be better off getting Camara or someone else to partner Caicedo as we can't trust Reece/Lavia playing all the time, but people keep dismissing Barco as if Enzo was such a force of nature playing at the pivot. Put Barco in there and we'll pretty much have the same Enzo we signed back in 2023 and who hasn't improved one bit for us besides his goal record playing for a deluded Maresca. Barco even has more experience in Europe than Enzo did back then, already played a bit in the PL and all that. Like I mentioned earlier in this thread, we've replaced Enzo's goals with Morgan Rogers, a far far better player for that role. We've now replaced Enzo's passing at the pivot (which isn't anything special really) with Barco, who's only 8cm shorter but puts up much more fight, has a better passing range and probably the same weaknesses, so I can't see how we've downgraded really.

Yeah the w**ky briefs confirm it.

Looks like our buisness is done. Poor end to great window. Weaker in midfield, and praying on the fitness of James and Lavia. Caicedo hopefully available every game.

From Wharton, to Scott, to Zubimendi, to Kone, to Camara, and now they've somehow talked themselves into being satisfied with a midfield that currently has Malo Gusto and a brittle Lavia on the pitch.

That makes sense with the briefing they’re doing now. I was hoping it was them trying to drive down the negotiating price but… doesn’t seem likely. I would’ve probably put your 4 on 2 but I understand. The other straw I’m grasping at is that maybe the Caicedo injury is indeed minor. If not we are playing it very risky.

Have we 100% got Camara? I read that it was dead in the water.

This is very interesting, although I am not sure if his fitness record has been taken into account. I'm interested why it was limited to the four main players linked on the Internet. I'd be interested in knowing what wider search would bring up. Zubimendi, Fabian Ruiz, Camavinga or another one that I personally like James Garner who already has prem experience

Washington & DD Fofana both gone. The death of our once great club in front of our very eyes.

We had to get Enzo out the club……. Such a feel good factor around the place we didn’t need that bad apple undermining everything. There may still be an announcement who knows but for me Enzo won’t be missed. Are we light in the pivot, yes and we have tried to buy but been unable to get our targets (so far). Enzo couldn’t play there anyway so him staying didn’t address that problem. Selling him gets rid of a problem and we get a British transfer record to boot for a bang average player imo. A top quality midfielder would have been the cherry but I really can’t knock the club for this window. Still time for a last minute announcement.

We’ve 100% got someone (Camara) but hopefully 2 (MGW) lined up already, just dotting i’s and crossing t’s. Remember when we were linked all deadline day with Smith-Rowe and then signed Palmer out the blue. How the Rogers deal happened in the space of about 2 minutes. I’ve been sceptical and critical of these lot but this window is starting to show they might not be as clueless as first suspected.

We're not out of the woods yet. Having said that we won't let Fernandez go without be able to strengthen it looks like we have done exactly that and are currently coming up short on replacements with no likely candidates. And then, if our midfield wasn't thin enough we have now moved Essugo out to Strasbourg on loan because of no other takers.