Just re-posting my comment from the El Janny thread - I think we need to be quite busy this summer.

"If both Partey and Jorginho go we definitely need Zubi plus one. Looks like they rate this young Norwegian bloke so we could have - Ode / Nypan, Rice / Merino and Zubi. I guess Ethan and MLS can also play midfield, but we will have lost a lot of experience and would be banking on youth as our backup in a season when we should be expecting to battle for the title again. I wouldn't be surprised to see Zubi, Nypan and another 30 year old come into midfield.

Plus a striker, a winger, a GK and possibly even a centre back if Kiwior leaves. It's going to be a busy summer for a club currently lacking a DoF."

I can't imagine Harry Kane's wages being affordable.

If Isak really is available then he will have plenty of suitors - we may not be in his top 2 options.

Salah leaving Liverpool is high on my summer wishlist too.

MLS can and should play midfield at times

Perhaps we’ll see an attacking mid added too. Wirtz ideally. Failing that, bringing in a striker would allow Havertz to play in midfield when required.

So summer’s priorities in order of most to least important are:-

1) striker
2) Zubimendi
3) left winger
4) attacking mid
5) cover for Saliba
6) cover/competition for Raya

lorddulaarsenal Completely agree. They should just hire us. I'm sure we'd do a better job lol.

If we can get high quality in the first 4 would be delighted. 5 and 6 can be free transfers/loans do not care about them.

If Wirtz is available and open to moving to us, we should be all over it. I would still want striker depth with someone like Sesko but we could get away with our wing options (or at least just add a cheaper stopgap) IMO if we added a talismanic creator/attacker in Wirtz. He's actually my ideal player for the Odegaard role with Odegaard moving deeper to specialize in buildup. Has all of the output that Odegaard doesn't while also being a great presser. I just don't think he is going to be available and if he is, I think he will head to Bayern unfortunately (even with Musiala). Having him and Saka on the same team would be a cheat code - just look what he's done for Schick and Boniface. Arteta talked about having killers with that X factor after the Bayern loss last year and I don't think you can find many better than Wirtz at this point in time.

lorddulaarsenal I believe Son extended his contract recently.

JazzG Musiala is one of the best in his position and English adjacent. He will cost as much as Wirtz.

Saw a rumour today that Liverpool are prioritising Isak. Isak is the only true striker out there. Newcastle will be able to extract an insane fee if they choose to/are forced to sell.

lorddulaarsenal So summer’s priorities in order of most to least important are:-

1) striker
2) Zubimendi
3) left winger
4) attacking mid
5) cover for Saliba
6) cover/competition for Raya

Fairly spot on I reckon. Although you could switch attacking mid for a different profile if the right player came along. And in reality it'll probably just be that Norwegian kid.

Claudius I just don't see Newcastle selling unless Isak demands a move and he doesn't seem that disruptive. I reckon they at least want to hold onto until the 115 charges ruling is out so they know where they actually are as a club.

If Newcastle makes Champs League, which I think is going to happen especially since top 5 look like they will make it this year, then I don't see a scenario where he leaves them for anyone. Frankly, I almost rather that happen instead of having to deal with a transfer saga that takes up precious time and tons of resources this summer when we could get our business done early and potentially bring in two quality players for the cost of Isak.

If we are to guess at Isak's price, it's probably going to be close to 130m pounds, a PL record fee. Now my question to everyone here is - would you rather Isak at 130m pounds or a combo of Sesko (let's say 75m) and Semenyo/Nico Williams (50-60m)? I'd probably be happy with either option but I think I prefer the second option. You'd bring in a high potential CF whose production has been ahead of basically all his peers at the same age other than Haaland and a quality winger to compete with Martinelli for the starting LW spot and push our attack to another level while also improving the floor of our depth.

Isak, easily. Our other options complement him well. Isak, Saka, Havertz, Martinelli, Trossard is a big improvement.

Sesko would be in danger of ending up in a selection no-man's-land. Isak would play (and get injured, but that's another story).

City are about to get sanctioned and quite likely go into transition, Liverpool are maybe losing Salah and Trent, the rest of our squad is peaking and starting to get tapped up. There's well above average major trophy and player retention upside built into a couple of "capstone" signings.

daredevil do you like Isak now?

Burnwinter Isak would play (and get injured, but that's another story).

Yeah, I worry about that bit. You know that as soon as we sign him, he'd pull an ACL and then we're back to square one.

Linked to Thuram recently - he’d be a good option

Fuck the summer window. We need to look at free transfers asap. Ben Yedder please.

I want nothing to do with Ben Yedder. Vile human being who has been charged with rape and sexual assault in two different incidents over the last two years. Having to watch Partey on the field the last two years has been tough enough but bringing in someone where there already is a history of this is a bridge too far for me and no amount of success is worth that.