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The BBC did. So we’ve had our pants pulled down. That’s left a bad taste and sense of disappointment to the window. So Malo Gusto is our best fit midfielder. Let Arsenal and City stew on that.

I fully agree with what you're saying. There is no good 'replacement' for Fernandez right now and like you said, it was a once-in-a-lifetime to extract maximum profit from a problematic player. It's no different to Inter Milan selling Lukaku or PSG ditching Mbappe, sometimes a toxic player is not worth even the most extraordinary of outputs and their numbers mask an overall negative impact on the team. Maybe a bit of a conspiracy of our own here but that's my take on City too. I think it's telling that, despite knowing Maresca was a fan and that Fernandez was available all summer, City didn't meaningfully move for him until all of their other targets were signed, sealed and delivered. Illiman Ndiaye was more a priority apparently! Fernandez is clearly a vanity signing, a statement to give the impression they are backing Maresca. So the bolded part is just my view that as much as Maresca may have wanted Fernandez I don't think everyone at City fully agreed or that he justified the expected price. The side effect of not rushing into deals this summer (whether that was intended or not...) is that clubs know we have money to spend. The problem for them is they already know our top targets are Scott and Wharton, both of whom will necessarily have to be cheaper next season as their contracts run down. Anderson's transfer also created a very inflated midfielder market this season, but that effect wears down over the year. I really do think that keeping our powder dry either for January or next summer is the smartest play. We shouldn't undersell how good this window was on paper. If we don't make the top 4 or win a trophy, that's not on the recruitment.

Even when it had nothing to do with them, they still want the spotlight

Who exactly is the ideal replacement for enzo or someone to fill that midfield spot? I'm not too sure about wharton and scott especially those 2 going to cost another fortune, much like anderson, they are never going to justify over 100mils pricetag. Selling enzo for profit is too good an opportunity to pass because it's highly unlikely we'll ever get another chance. I'm in the camp of putting priority in selling him for profit even if there is no immediate replacement ready. Part of that thinking is also helped by the fact we're not in europe so lesser games. Btw, what do you mean with that bolded text? City only submitted 1 bid and why must it came at the last day or last hour of the transfer window? Is it just for haggling purpose? If they're really serious in enzo then they wouldn't be risking it for the deal to fall through. So, I think maybe they're not that serious but wanted to be seen as backing their manager so they did what they did and alas for them the blueco actually accepted (much to their annoyance lol) This window is the best window under blueco and I can say that because we're not in europe. The makeshift signing like welbeck & henderson should be just for this season. Next season, I would expect major signings.

I saw that their CEO was interviewed at the Conference League draw, and he said they needed to sell at least one more player (eg Camara or Balogun) before Tuesday to comply with the wage restriction. ...oops

Karma works fast. Now Monaco will be in trouble with the financial regulations

It was (typically) dumb of BlueCo to go all-in on the unproven Camara and Roma's injury-prone Manu Kone and they deserve criticism for being naive enough to play along with Monaco after the initial rejection. Rather embarassingly they have put out PR pieces to Fabrizio Romano et al yapping about how "classy" we were at the deadline for deigning to let Enzo Fernandez go despite the last-minute issues. It makes the PR about "deadlines" all the worse too. That said I also don't know why some of our fans think that Man City have played some sort of game here; they clearly had to manage the tensions between reservations about Fernandez's quality relative to the price, and the need to be seen supporting Maresca publicly. The conspiracy that City deliberately delayed this to the last minute to some how inconvenience us is just plain weird. City weren't thinking about whether we were going to sign a replacement, and given we had nearly £200m in bonus transfer revenue after Jackson's sale, we had plenty of money to get a replacement organised if Fernandez's transfer really hinged on a replacement so that's on us. That said, we should be more appreciative of the business we have done this window. Alonso, Rogers and Lacroix make us a far better team than we were last season, even if our midfield is significant weaker.

At first i thought that too but on second thought he's actually moving to play CL football and as number 1 too? so maybe this deal is better for him and could very much be his idea. Had he stayed he would be playing carabao cup only.

No doubt, he was fantastic before Spurs. Then they Spursed him. I'm surprised he isn't with Big Ange at Al-Nassr already, tbh.

You have to remember the Bissouma before Tottenham and his injuries Syd. Tottenham break everyone. Look at what a fantastic job they are doing at ruining Conor Gallagher's football career. Plus, I'd certainly want Bissouma in midfield before Gusto or Henderson.

why is it so harsh review? They just failed 1 replacement to a player that's not really rated by many in here and camara for all you know could be just another bakayoko. It's pretty much just 1 game a week with the options of latvia, caicedo, barco, james, henderson to fill 2 spots in midfield.

More likely he didn't want to move to the city of Liverpool and have his burgled.

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11668/13580189/lamine-camara-monaco-pull-out-of-selling-midfielder-to-chelsea-in-lb47m-deal-after-blues-agreed-deal-for-enzo-fernandez-replacement

It's what it is. Positive net spend, cleared out a lot of deadwood, bought some key players but didn't stick the landing well enough Lacking a CB, CM, WB and CF come January

Wijnaldum was good for Newcastle and Liverpool. 2 ex Spuds in the list.... And I would rather Gusto play in midfield than sign Pogba... Marcelo Brozovic is a free agent too.... Ah yes, I remember how they loved him. Lol.

We would be pretty mad not to go for Wjinaldum and/or Brozovic. They've been on ice in Saudi for a few years and are now available on a free.

Well, I absolutely do not want to encourage @just and @PloKoon13 but ...Yves Bissouma is a free agent, although it's unclear whether he signed with Fulham Bissouma has no driving licence ala Fofana and inhaled nitrous a la Sterling. Culturally, he seems a great fit.

Bissouma (30). Wijnaldum (35). Ndombele (29). Pogba (33). Desperate I know. But once the directors learn Bissouma played for Brighton they’ll find a way to pay for a free transfer.

Barco the giant killer .. everything depends on you .. he made the Argentina squad let’s see what is he made off. But expect a lot of chopping and changing now- Monaco are turds but didn’t we do this with Chalobah any Guiu ourselves -

Who's going to tell him when he wakes in the morning?

Any free agent midfielders we could add as a short term fix outside of the window? Time to beg.

They can’t get off that light. They must be forced to bench Camara and reinstate Bakayoko in his place also.

It's possible that this one is on Camara as much as anything else then. I know we're in desperate need of warm bodies in midfield at this point, but Camara isn't a replacement for Caicedo or Essugo, he is not that kind of player. Very much in the Busquets/Jorginho/Mikel mould and is more similar to Lavia minus the injuries.

Ben Jacobs has reported Liverpool DID contact both Monaco and the player to ask them to wait and that is why the plug was pulled on the deal, maybe that is what camara also wanted.

I agree that our midfield is weaker than last season. Barco and Henderson looked like great signings when they were squad players that raised the overall floor, but we will go into this season without any of our first-choice midfielders from the last two seasons. However, I don't think that Alonso or the board should be let off so lightly by the 'squad not good enough' approach. We scarcely have a game a week for most of this season. We should be competitive for the title and comfortable for 3rd, anything else is a sideways step at best. We do have enough quality in James, Lavia and the others to maintain good performances at least until January. Only Santos is a real loss. Fernandez has no role in Alonso's system, he is unwilling to play as a deeper midfielder and insists on playing as a second striker. His role is usurped entirely by Rogers, Palmer and Estevao. I am more worried about striker. Pedro has been crucial to our system and it's unclear whether Welbeck will offer even a similar reference point for the attack. Welbeck also has a shaky injury history himself so it's likely we are going to see Rogers, Estevao or Neto as a false 9 at some part of the season because Emegha is not the answer.