corkleedsmot wrote:"Spanish media now intimating that Barcelona are 'cooling' their interest in Raphinha.
AS claims Barca bid was wholly dependent on Ousmane Dembele leaving.
That's in conjuction with Mundo Deportivo, who now reports France winger has decided, after all, that he plans to stay."
So if that is a possible he is not leaving for Barca that leaves Man City/Liverpool/Chelski and those in red to start bidding for him then.
Or he could even stay at Leeds
If you have good players other clubs will always be after them, its basically down to Leeds to either say no or ask a silly price.
Lets face it if rumours were to be believed we would have sold Kalvin the last too summers, we didn't which wouldn't have happened before the current regime took over. We are not the selling club of old.
corkleedsmot wrote:"Spanish media now intimating that Barcelona are 'cooling' their interest in Raphinha.
AS claims Barca bid was wholly dependent on Ousmane Dembele leaving.
That's in conjuction with Mundo Deportivo, who now reports France winger has decided, after all, that he plans to stay."
So if that is a possible he is not leaving for Barca that leaves Man City/Liverpool/Chelski and those in red to start bidding for him then.
Or he could even stay at Leeds
If you have good players other clubs will always be after them, its basically down to Leeds to either say no or ask a silly price.
Lets face it if rumours were to be believed we would have sold Kalvin the last too summers, we didn't which wouldn't have happened before the current regime took over. We are not the selling club of old.
That's how it works, it's a balancing act which boards/chairmen/owners at certain clubs have to complete. We are one of those clubs but we have also been one of the buying clubs not taking no for an answer.
corkleedsmot wrote:"Spanish media now intimating that Barcelona are 'cooling' their interest in Raphinha.
AS claims Barca bid was wholly dependent on Ousmane Dembele leaving.
That's in conjuction with Mundo Deportivo, who now reports France winger has decided, after all, that he plans to stay."
So if that is a possible he is not leaving for Barca that leaves Man City/Liverpool/Chelski and those in red to start bidding for him then.
To be honest, I think selling Raphinha to ManCity/Liverpool/Chelsea/those in red would be better for the club than selling him to Barcelona. Yes, we would have to face him twice a season - but it's not realistically that these teams will be our direct rivals in the league table in the near future. And I have a feeling that the transfer fee would be much higher if a English club buys Raphinha versus a non-English club. The transfer market works in mysterious ways and it seems to me that transfers within England always demands much bigger fees than a transfer abroad.
Just an example: it's much better for us to sell Raphinha to City for 75m instead of selling to Barcelona for 50m. Even if it will hurt to see him play against us.
Polkadot wrote:Just an example: it's much better for us to sell Raphinha to City for 75m instead of selling to Barcelona for 50m. Even if it will hurt to see him play against us.
It's a good argument, City will have the equivalent of a 75m winger on both sides when we face them regardless, so he doesn't necessarily make them harder to play, just maintains their top level. We'll definitely get more selling to an English club, despite the argument we've both just made, you'd apply a "rival tax" to go along with a "TV money tax" which just wouldn't apply with Spanish/German/Italian clubs.
if barca and real sign every player they are linked with even paying them 10k a week would bankcrupt both clubs
its all just click bait and neither club would be interested unless he was available on a free
Now that the team might not be relegated, maybe we can think about next year. And given the pleasing performances of the youngsters, I don't think there is as much need for reinforcements as many would like. The emergence of Gelhardt, Cresswell, Greenwood, Hjelde, Summerville and Bate I think will result in only a few targeted signings needed. At the moment, if everyone stays, we only need one no. 10, plus we are a man short in midfield. We need to strengthen there even in the optimal scenario, i.e. Phillips stays and Bate finally steps up. Klich and Forshaw are both over 30 and Koch is not a midfielder, the sooner we accept that the better.
The other arrivals, however, will depend of the departures. But it pretty much looks like we won't have to spend on a central defender for a while, and I know mine is a minority opinion, but I wouldn't bring a striker behind Bamford either, especially if Rodrigo stays. I would even wonder if Summerville could replace Raphinha, although we will need another right winger if the Brazilian goes.
But the point I'm making is that our youngsters are making things absolutely easier for us, and I really hope we don't make it harder for them to develop.
Apart from an attacking midfielder I think the greatest need is RB and LB. We haven't got an adequate LB at all, and we need to be lining up Ayling's replacement - possibly Drameh but otherwise we need to buy.
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