Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert He probably feels he isn't good enough to start for us and would rather develop his game at Leipzig before moving to a big club. I have seen bits of him and he does seem raw despite having some interesting qualities.

The Gyokeres situation is the one that intrigues me. This guy is banging them in left, right and centre and he did look a player when we played Sporting few weeks ago, but we don't seem to be making any effort to sign him. I must admit I haven't seen much of him beyond the match against Sporting, so maybe scouts that watch him regularly don't think he has what it takes to excel in the PL.

Tactics The Gyokeres situation is the one that intrigues me. This guy is banging them in left, right and centre and he did look a player when we played Sporting few weeks ago, but we don't seem to be making any effort to sign him. I must admit I haven't seen much of him beyond the match against Sporting, so maybe scouts that watch him regularly don't think he has what it takes to excel in the PL.

Something about him makes me think he won't step up, there are always one who do well at clubs and sometimes score 20+ league goals but they never make it to the top clubs. I remember back in the day on the forums loads of fans thought Darren Bent and Defoe should have played for top clubs but even though they put up numbers for the like of Spurs they'd never be able to step up. Arsenal & Chelsea are both actively looking for a CF, I'd argue both clubs have good recruitment in general and neither club has shown any interest in him.

JazzG

Why doesn't it look like Watkins is possible now? Emery has basically said that anyone is for sale for the right price. And with Villa stepping up their interest in Tel (Bayern want 50-60 for him), trying to get 60 from us for Watkins would give them the money to buy Tel for around the same price, and they would get a player at the beginning of his career instead of heading to the latter part of it.

USArsenal Is Jorginho not leaving too? He's been heavily linked with a club in Brazil

JazzG I agree Durán would've been a better target. I'm strongly against us signing stars in the 29+ age bracket. Watkins would be an excellent signing if he were 25 or even 27. At 29 if he signs a 4 year contract here, chances are he'll spend a couple of years of it pulling high wages from the bench while we bemoan that we haven't signed a striker again.

He's not coming though so it's a moot point.

USArsenal Villa are still in the CL, still in contention for CL places in the league so I'd be shocked if they sold both their strikers this window.

USArsenal Gone quiet on that front but it sounds like a deal structure is being worked on and most importantly we've convinced Zubimendi. Getting him to leave was the hard part!

He is very reliable this guy....

JazzG Yeah true, I remember Mario Jardel hitting insane numbers in Portugal but no serious club put in a bid for him

Tactics Yeah true, I remember Mario Jardel hitting insane numbers in Portugal but no serious club put in a bid for him

Think Jardel had some bigger issues than just his talent.

The Times also saying the bid was £40m.

Burnwinter I understand where you are coming from, I have also been very against signing players over 26 and we've built up a good age profile in the squad as a result. But the striker market is hard and like I said the club might think it is worth throwing a bit of money to try and solve our problem. I don't think he will be on the bench that often, he is a very versatile forward. Good link play, good at pressing and he sets up a lot of goals as well. We need two players to share the load of that position.

With Duran we are competing with Saudi wages which is a non starter if his head is turned.

daredevil Injuries have clearly forced our hand.

This is a failure of squad building.

Ange the inverse of Arteta they barely have any fit defenders but signing forwards for €60m

i wish i was a striker. people will pay whatever.

Bring Back Kerrea Gilbert who knows why. Maybe Bayern have already tapped him up. Wouldn't be the first time.

Tactics Seems to be a lot of media talk about him being an option for clubs but no real solid links to him going anywhere. He seems very settled to me. I also think he's not as good as people think and that league has a habit of making players look amazing when they are not. See Joao Felix and Darwin as a recent examples.

Panda yeah and their wingers have being doing alright. Tel needs to bench 2 of Kulu, Johnson and Son. Silly move. Probably not serious anyway and just a distraction from their on pitch mess.

@"JazzG"#

Having a hard time taking our £40m bid seriously, and I would imagine Villa felt the same.

Claudius mate, the guy who has replaced Edu seems very amateur. Why would you bid when you know they are selling Duran and no way in hell they will sell both?

Sicario2 - Tier 1 rumors are the leaks of the bid didn’t come from either club so it might be Watkins and his agent pushing the move.

Sicario2 - Tier 1 Think he is waiting for the best offer

Sicario2 - Tier 1 when was the bid made relative to the Duran situation?

Apparently, Villa are in for Felix and Asensio and have already signed Malen.

They will let Watkins go if we make the right offer, even with Duran having left.

daredevil Apparently, Villa are in for Felix and Asensio and have already signed Malen.

A real smorgasbord of mofos

Sicario2 - Tier 1 they are selling Duran because they are in PSR trouble. I don't think they are letting go of Watkins for £40m but apparently they've stuck an £80m price tag on him so its not an impossible purchase. All depends on whether a fee can be agreed.

Sicario2 - Tier 1 we probably wont get Watkins but John Cross knows about as much as us on here. A real hasbeen when it comes to football scoops.

Qwiss I’m all for Watkins joining but £80m for a 29 year old is crazy.

80m for Watkins, 50m+ for Tel...the market has gone crazy

Real could be open to a loan deal for Endrick as he's hardly getting any minutes for them. Bring him in so he'll tell Rodrygo in the summer how amazing we are

Tactics -- and that's without considering Saudi Arabia

[James Benge] Al-Nassr already readying second and final offer worth up to £90 million for Kaoru Mitoma. Brighton are reluctant to sell.

daredevil Remember that Gyokeres has also banged them in in Europe, incl. a hattrick against City, and for Sweden. The likes of Seferovic and Bas Dost never passed the eye test either.

What's Ascencio done lately? Worth a loan?

Thought he was a decent player once upon a time, but haven't heard much of him at PSG.

In light of the €60m Tel fee, the €77m Duron fee and the €65m Mitoma offer, how do people feel about a potential 70m euro fee for Watkins? Discuss.

Claudius not good. All those fees are inflated but two of them are fined by Saudi money. We are my funded by Saudi money.

Don Pacifico

When have prices not been inflated?

Claudius We should pull Trossard and Jorginho aside and ask them to think about their children. Consider a nice palatial existence in Saudi.

All for this.

daredevil

Sure but relative to the rest of the market.