I don't think we should be making short term defensive signings due to injury. We are pretty stacked in defence, hopefully Tomi is back soon. Get Partey back in Jan and thats another option. Midfield I'd be more open to because its probably somewhere that needs a summer signing anyway. However I'd still rather a forward. If we get a CF Jesus can play wide sometimes and free up Saka and Martinelli when we need to, plus it allows Trossard to rotate in midfield more. It gives us a lot of tactical options. I think thats more valuable than a sub to come in behind White and Zinny, or a mid who wont play ahead of Rice or a fit Partey.

    Qwiss
    I agree with this but I also don't think we should be signing a forward whose function is to replace Nketiah as backup/plan B. If we can sign someone who can challenge Jesus for starter's minutes (even if not right away, still as our conception of what he's for), great, let's do it. I'm unconvinced that Toney is anything more than a slight upgrade on Nketiah. And English players are always overpriced. It was worth it for Rice. I don't think it is for Toney.

        I'd take Toney on the cheap, I think £40m or less could look like a Trossard shaped bargain over the next 2-3 years.

        I'm biased though, because I love Jesus and don't really have a desire to see his spot challenged. It was heart-breaking to see the crowd putting in a lame half hearted 'eeeeyy' when Jesus controlled a cross field ball by juggling with his head.

        RowJimmy I'm not that into signing Toney but he's much more than a slight upgrade on Eddie. He'd be starting ahead of Jesus for me. Though I'd rather wait for Osimhen. I do like Toneys seeming eagerness to play here though. That matters.

          Toney gives a real plan B. He's so strong and physical and wins a lot of headers. From that perspective he is a huge upgrade on Eddie, who offers more of the same but shittier.

          For January, Toney >>> Guirassy >>> Solanke >>>>>>>> Nketiah. In an ideal world, Toney should be on a loan deal with an option, and we go for someone proper in the summer like Osimhen/Boniface/Openda.

          We really have to sell Nketiah, he's huge for FFP. If we sell him for 30m, it means we can spend 150m on another player with a 5 year contract. No brainer really.

            Nketiah is basically Tesco club card points waiting to be converted

            Clrnc We really have to sell Nketiah, he's huge for FFP. If we sell him for 30m, it means we can spend 150m on another player with a 5 year contract. No brainer really.

            We'd still need to sell another 30m per season for those 5 years to cover that, no?

                Big Willie We'd still need to sell another 30m per season for those 5 years to cover that, no?

                Yes. Companies are run by cashflow, not by accounting nonsense. Swiss Ramble has done untold damage to football discourse.

                    DiabyKungFu a regular company can use as much money as they want. A football club can't. Is your opinion about Swiss Ramble that they don't understand how FFP works, or that people don't understand what they're trying to convey?

                        Say the only business we do over the next 5 years is sell Nketiah for 30m this and buy one 150m player this season. No other sales or buys over the next 5 years. Would we be in breach of FFP or are we good?

                          Big Willie think the view is that we’ll have more room for manoeuvre with increased revenues from Champs League plus the associated increase in merch sales that comes with the unconscious love for Controlball

                            QuincyAbeyie Is your opinion about Swiss Ramble that they don't understand how FFP works, or that people don't understand what they're trying to convey?

                            My opinion is that Swiss Ramble has been so successful at explaining FFP to morons that football discourse is littered with people that know nothing sunk costs or opportunity costs but know everything about amortization schedules.

                            A more concrete example of what I mean is when you see stuff like "<INSERT CLUB> shouldn't sell <INSERT SHITTY EXPENSIVE PLAYER> for <INSERT SUM OF MONEY THAT IS WAY MORE THAN THE PLAYER IS REASONABLY WORTH> because that will register as a loss for FFP!". The more you make good decisions that make sense, the less you have to worry about FFP nonsense.

                                Big Willie Depends on income from other sources, as well as other expenditures. It's not transfer business that needs to balance.

                                  we're still hot for ol dooglah. would probably be the toughest deal of all the players we've been linked to, considering his new contract and how well he's been playing for villa

                                  Douglas Luiz would be a proper big club move.

                                  I think midfield has to be the priority this window. Elneny is injured and isn't quite good enough, and Thomas can't be relied on for fitness or possibly form anymore. We really only have Rice and Jorginho as proper deeper midfielders. That's not really enough to get us through a title challenge and a CL / FA Cup run.

                                  if rice gets hurt, I do get house of cards vibes from our midfield

                                  Solid talent ID when we tried to get Luiz a couple of years ago, he hadn't impressed me at all back then. I guess he's turned out better than we thought as well since we stopped bidding at 25m last time.