Blue Ram

100%, the interview is of course his idealised version, but reading it a bit critically you can absolutely see he that is the case and he is trying to now pin it on Balogun for turning it down, and minimise Camara's disappointment at staying.

It's pretty obvious they came back to us when Balogun initially fell through and they needed a big sale. I'd go so far as to say that we probably could have reasonably felt like we were doing them a favour by not demanding a lesser price given their desperation. In the end, Scuro fumbled it badly, their club is going to face serious consequences if they can't flog someone to Turkey or Saudi by the end of the week, and they have two pissed-off players. He should get the sack for it. We were naive and dumb for relying on it, as well.

And how will Monaco bail themselves out now?
Camaras agent has since come out and said he won't be moving to Turkey or Saudi, and is staying at Monaco. So will Balogun agree to go to those countries? Or Portugal?
It would be amusing, albeit never going to happen, if those 3 markets refused to deal with Monaco for how they acted with us, Everton and their two players.

If the player didn't want to come, he wouldn't have bothered to do a last minute medical

Still gutted about this tbh.
Strategy over the window has geberally been excellent. All the players not good enough, with maybe tbe exception of Fofana, Gusto, Gittens, and Neto have all moved on, most for a profit, with only 3/4 that have been loaned to to deal with at a later date.
Great start to the season on the pitch, scoring goals, entertaining games.
But this Camara situation and the midfield in general I just find infuriating.
We clearly had £100m+ to spend going into last week. Now instead of coming in strong and making Monaco an offer they couldnt refuse last week. We spent £40m on another 18 year old we wont see for 12 months at the earliest, then fail to get any player in to replace Enzo.
Honestly just screams of all the issues we have had over the last 4 years, and why players like Enzo wanted to leave in the 1st place.
An injury to Caicedo now, and the season cluld very well be derailed, which could cost Xabi Alonso his job, we have seen this before.
Just feels like 1 steps forward and 2 steps back. Lets hope for some luck with injuries, we need Caicedo to play every game, and we need Lavia, and James to be available for 75%. Then rectify this January 1st.

This is needless doomerism. It's been three games and Estevao is coming off a major overuse injury. The world does not need yet another Christian Pulisic, Ansu Fati, Jadon Sancho etc who are mentally and physically busted before the age of 24.

For the sake of the team, Alonso also has to juggle between allowing players to build momentum, getting results, and getting players match-fit and ready to peak for the mid-season.

Oh, the Radio commentator said he's just come off to a standing ovation from the fans..

Young Dastan has started ahead of Broja. Hes had one fierce shot and been involved in most things going forward.

Been starting wide right of midfield in the few minutes I've seen of him there, believe that they sold Flemming yesterday? If so might get more starts up front or at least off the front man.

He is 35yr old playing in a high energy league. His legs were already gone by the time he was playing for Roma 4years ago. Just a waste of a squad spot.

Dastan Starts ..................Burnley v Boro 8.00pm

It’s way too simplistic to chalk the frustration up to “fans being upset about not getting a player they’ve never heard of on deadline day.” That phrasing alone basically exposes the entire problem.
A player nobody knew. On deadline day.
Plenty of us, myself included, had CM and CB as the clear priorities from the start. And while the broader squad building picture is appreciated, the reality is we only solved one of the two major issues. So of course people are annoyed.
All things considered, you just hope we make the most of what we’ve got, and that missing out on Camara ends up being another “Seri moment,” where the alternative turns out far better, like when we ended up with Jorginho instead. (incoming Jorginho is sh*t comments, blah, blah blah)

At th end of the day we left it till the last minute so have nobody to blame but ourselves in that respect, Cameras name has been mentioned in the last few days so we have had ample opportunity to get this deal done, if it had fallen through as per last night for whatever reason at lest we would have still had a day or two to seek out any alternative that Alonso wanted.
Camara was a player we needed in a position that every man and his dog knows is a massive problem for us with the lack of natural depth there and the reliance on Moises.
We could have gone in early and tried to get Camara over the line - the money was there but instead we spend 40m signing a player that we ship straight out on loan to another club.
Maybe Monoco/Camara would still have not come , however at least we would have known early on.
Absolute sh1teshow as we've become so accustomed to.

Our midfield as it stands is w**k. Caicedo out for who knows how long, Enzo likely f**king off to City, old man Henderson who is injured, Lavia who is probably moments away from another injury, Barco who is untested at this level, James who isn't a midfielder and is another injury waiting to happen.
The way I see it is that we currently don't have a midfield. We have been sitting on this problem all summer when it should have been a priority.

Is the one glaring miss from an otherwise very good transfer window

If we mess this up and sign nobody, it brings our transfer window down to a 3 or 4 for me, just because it will absolutely destroy our season. Fulham and Brighton were a disaster off the ball in these first two games, our front 3 being in great form saved us big time. It's only a matter of time before we get comprehensively beaten and go on a run of poor results if we don't sort this out.

It’s such a glaring issue that it genuinely drags our entire window from a 9/10 down to a 6/10.
Lavia is walking straight back into the same cycle — looking like a future superstar for a few flashes, then breaking down and disappearing until the new year. I am not having Reece James or Malo Gusto as constants in midfield. f**k THAT.

I agree with you both. We hobble Alonso and the team if we Mess this up.
Means we either have a very good or a very bad day tomorrow.

They can take their pick from Neto and Gittens ... and be grateful !

I feel like this transfer window goes from a 9 to a 6/10 if we don't bring in a suitable CM.

Was impressed with him personally, deffo has a presence about him and constantly talking and organising during set pieces despite only having been here for 5 minutes.
Can't recall what the score was at the time but important save low just inside the post.
Solid debut even though we let 3 in.

Was impressed with him personally, deffo has a presence about him and constantly talking and organising during set pieces despite only having been here for 5 minutes.
Can't recall what the score was at the time but important save low just inside the post.
Solid debut even though we let 3 in.

It's from 1987, guests (Springsteen, etc) aside, the band was Elvis' last backing band.

RIP Dolly !

It’s a strange to say considering that he conceded 3 goals but I was pleased with him overall.