3 hours ago, dermott said:

I think you overestimate Perez's acumen.

Yeah, quite possibly.

19 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

I think for Alonso to be a success here, we need an intelligent/adequate partner for Colwill and a midfielder capable of transitioning the ball to the attackers.

The latter is especially important. At Bayer he had Xhaka. At Real, he wanted Zubimendi because he recognized the midfield was dire in progressing the ball since Kroos left. He ultimately had Guler dropping deep and progressing, removing an attacker completely.

I do not want Palmer doing that.

Alonso got the best out of Guler, and even under Arbeloa he has excelled in that deeper, central position rather than a winger. Guler is proving to be another in the dynamic playmaking mould like Modric, and a perfect foil to Bellingham or Valverde in a more attacking position.

Barco scored from the edge of the box for Argentina yesterday. Apparently he had a good game, looks like we might have got a talent on our hands.... hopefully.

31 minutes ago, The Rising Sun said:

Barco scored from the edge of the box for Argentina yesterday. Apparently he had a good game, looks like we might have got a talent on our hands.... hopefully.

My concern is that he's two letters short of being a Newcastle player.

1 hour ago, The Rising Sun said:

Barco scored from the edge of the box for Argentina yesterday. Apparently he had a good game, looks like we might have got a talent on our hands.... hopefully.

Haven't watched Strasbourg games really so have to admit first time I've seen him albeit in what was only a comprehensive highlights first half package.

My first thought was, blimey he looks small lol to the point where for a minute I questioned whether I was watching a rerun of an episode of Michael Bentine's Potty Time - all it need was the footprints appear in the grass as he "ran" down the wing.

In all seriousness though was quite impressed with what I saw, always looking to get on the ball, seemed quick quick, not afraid to get stuck in, looked to progress the ball forward when the opportunity arose and not afraid to shoot as per the chance from which his goal came. Same height as Vitinha apparently.

Don't remember the guy previously at Brighton although don't suppose he played that many games.

12 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

I think for Alonso to be a success here, we need an intelligent/adequate partner for Colwill and a midfielder capable of transitioning the ball to the attackers.

The latter is especially important. At Bayer he had Xhaka. At Real, he wanted Zubimendi because he recognized the midfield was dire in progressing the ball since Kroos left. He ultimately had Guler dropping deep and progressing, removing an attacker completely.

I do not want Palmer doing that.

Those cost money; irony is we paid £105m for a player to be that player, but he doesn’t want to play there. Even if magically he ends up staying, I can’t see a scenario where he agrees to move back deep into midfield. Club should have nipped the situation in the bud when he & his father demanded that he be moved into an attacking role. Madrid aren’t keen, neither are City.

1 hour ago, markpitts said:

Those cost money; irony is we paid £105m for a player to be that player, but he doesn’t want to play there. Even if magically he ends up staying, I can’t see a scenario where he agrees to move back deep into midfield. Club should have nipped the situation in the bud when he & his father demanded that he be moved into an attacking role. Madrid aren’t keen, neither are City.

I think regardless of Enzo's situation, Alonso will be asking for that exact type of midfielder.

Good thing is that he has all this time to analyze the squad, bad thing is the sporting directors he's working with.

On 10/06/2026 at 23:14, Sconnie Blue said:

a midfielder capable of transitioning the ball to the attackers.

Santos, Caicedo, enzo can do this just fine.

2 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Santos, Caicedo, enzo can do this just fine.

Not at the highest level. There is a reason why your Elliott Anderson, Matheus Fernandes and Wharton are in high demand, but no one is interested in our collection of midfielders even though we have a surplus.

6 minutes ago, markpitts said:

Not at the highest level. There is a reason why your Elliott Anderson, Matheus Fernandes and Wharton are in high demand, but no one is interested in our collection of midfielders even though we have a surplus.

I am not sure this is true. It is hard to sell Enzo and Caicedo because those two are already in completely different salary bracket to the three player that you mentioned.

I think you can easily find buyer for Santos if you want to.

Edited Saturday at 07:142 days by Bob stark

59 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

I am not sure this is true. It is hard to sell Enzo and Caicedo because those two are already in completely different salary bracket to the three player that you mentioned.

I think you can easily find buyer for Santos if you want to.

Isn’t Enzo desperate for a move because he isn’t getting paid market rate for his market price? If the media are to be believed he is on £180k/w, which if he had any suitors at his £120m fee will at a minimum pay him £250k/w.

As for Santos, we currently have 4 pure DMs in Caicedo, Lavia, Santos and Essugo. We don’t need more than 2, and need to sell 2 this summer especially with no European football. The market won’t pay a premium for destroyers, you need to have a bit more to your game.

5 hours ago, Bob stark said:

Santos, Caicedo, enzo can do this just fine.

Yeah that’s why a 35 year old Xhaka ran the show against our midfield.

Twice.

12 minutes ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Yeah that’s why a 35 year old Xhaka ran the show against our midfield.

Twice.

I don't think you will like the reason why Sunderland can do that.

Enzo!

1 hour ago, C3blue said:

Enzo!

???

22 hours ago, markpitts said:

Isn’t Enzo desperate for a move because he isn’t getting paid market rate for his market price? If the media are to be believed he is on £180k/w, which if he had any suitors at his £120m fee will at a minimum pay him £250k/w.

As for Santos, we currently have 4 pure DMs in Caicedo, Lavia, Santos and Essugo. We don’t need more than 2, and need to sell 2 this summer especially with no European football. The market won’t pay a premium for destroyers, you need to have a bit more to your game.

Lavia has not been able to stay fit for a couple of seasons now and Essugo has not yet proven himself in the first team. If we expect to make it back to the champions league for next season I would rather have an established midfield rather than bringing in a new batch of faces again next year and wait to see if they work.

29 minutes ago, Soulo said:

Lavia has not been able to stay fit for a couple of seasons now and Essugo has not yet proven himself in the first team. If we expect to make it back to the champions league for next season I would rather have an established midfield rather than bringing in a new batch of faces again next year and wait to see if they work.

It’s still 4 DMs on the books. No club in Europe has even 3 on their books. If we aim to get back to top 4, only one of them will be starting games i.e Caicedo. He started 32 games last season; without Europe and cutting down on the silly cards, could easily start 35 games. Where are the other 3 going to get mins?

I don’t even think at the highest level any of those 3 are the perfect pairing for him. For one, any pairing lacks physicality and height. If you go the Arsenal route, his parter should be a player who can cover ground, win a lot of duels and press aggressively. None of the 3 can do all 3 at once. Now if you you look beyond the PL and want to be the best in Europe like PSG, you need a midfield that is fluid, expressive and unpredictable. You want to pair him with a player that is comfortable receiving passes under pressure, turning out of tight spaces, manipulating possession and controlling the rhythm of the game. Again, we don’t have that midfielder on our books. Barco might turn out to be that in 3 years, but he needs regular game time.

On 10/06/2026 at 16:14, Sconnie Blue said:

I think for Alonso to be a success here, we need an intelligent/adequate partner for Colwill and a midfielder capable of transitioning the ball to the attackers.

The latter is especially important. At Bayer he had Xhaka. At Real, he wanted Zubimendi because he recognized the midfield was dire in progressing the ball since Kroos left. He ultimately had Guler dropping deep and progressing, removing an attacker completely.

I do not want Palmer doing that.

Andrey Santos and Lavia. Both great at receiving the ball deep and finding a progressive pass. Santos will be a success if Blue Co don’t cash it, Lavia needs a new body.

3 hours ago, GarnachoCheese said:

Andrey Santos and Lavia. Both great at receiving the ball deep and finding a progressive pass. Santos will be a success if Blue Co don’t cash it, Lavia needs a new body.

Yeah i'm done with Lavia, personally.

Santos i'm 50/50 on if I want starting week in week out.

9 hours ago, Sconnie Blue said:

Yeah i'm done with Lavia, personally.

Santos i'm 50/50 on if I want starting week in week out.

Our midfield has gone from something I was least worried about, to a position full of players I don't trust. Caicedo's form has nose dived, and with the world cup, he will have no time to rest. Lavia is done, he can't stay fit. Enzo is leaving, don't care about that one. Santos can't seem to adjust his game to a certain situation. Win, lose or draw, you're getting the exact same out of him in every game, no urgency to make something happen.