I can't see us being that busy in this upcoming window, I expect this defender from Benfica, may indeed be our only signing.

Where we may be more busy, is the players departing the club, Schweinsteiger, Memphis and Schneiderlin, may indeed come February all be playing elsewhere.

Think that's the amount the Swedish club believe they are owed now, might be a lot more if they have a sell on clause.

Good shout, and that would make way more sense.

Either way, I'd expect us to get it done, sooner rather than later. I could see Smalling getting punted at the end of the season, if Jones and Rojo keep doing well.

Being greedy, I would like a striker in Jan. It's highly unlikely for all the reasons we've discussed on the thread many times before but I'd like the load taken off Ibra a bit - as Rash and Martial aren't scoring much ATM - and we're going to have to get a replacement in summer anyway. Balotelli is up for another move I see....

Lukaku's about to sign a new deal at Everton, so I could see him being massively over-valued.

Probably best to look elsewhere, if we're going to go for a striker.

Apparently it's owed now because he has played 10 league and 10 champions league games so it shouldn't change. Though this is from the daily mail which also claim he is about to sign a new contract with them which will raise his release clause to over 50million which is surely crap.

If true then he can go swivel, either wants to come or not.

I'm surprised someone didn't nab him in the summer to be honest.

Agreed. Bollocks to him, if he signs a new deal with Benfica.


Me too. I can only assume that the asking price was too high.

He is out of the question in terms of strikers, as I couldn't see them selling him, after agreeing a new deal with him (which as you say seems imminent).

If we are to be looking for a striker, as a middle ground between Ibra and Rushford, then perhaps someone like that Colombian forward at Monaco, he seems to be doing alright!

On a more serious basis, it is hard to find someone who is of sufficient enough quality who would be willing to play second fiddle to Ibra, as a player in their peak years, will be wanting (quite rightly to) to play on a regular basis, and not confined to the bench.

If we do want someone for such a role, then we might have to look abroad, as I don't think there is such a player in the Premier League that would do such a job as that.

Must not discuss Balotelli, must not discuss him, I have learnt my lesson there, once burned etc.

I van see us waiting until the summer to sort out the striking side of things, as by then, Rooney's situation will be a but more clear I think, so if he goes, then he will have to be replaced, as unfortunately there is nothing to call up from the Under 21's, (Rashford is now I think part and parcel of the first team squad), so only having Ibra and Rashford, is not enough, we will need at least one more I think (if we are no longer counting Martial as a striker).

By the sound of things that may very well be Griezemann, which would be great to see, as he is very dangerous.
As for this upcoming window, I would love for us to get another striker in (which fan wouldn't, as it always gives us a but of a boost), but being a tad realistic, I don't think that we will.

I can see it being a bit of a quite window for us in the incoming sense, just maybe this Benfica defender, and more being sold.

Leave the bug, key decisions until the summer, when there are more options, when hopefully we will be able to offer guaranteed Champions League football, by either finishing third, or winning the Europa League.

Yes, I had that too! I thought it was just my TV or something. I've had that happen to me a couple of times now... Bloody annoying. What is the issue, I wonder?

Mkhitaryan's goal just looks ridiculous every time I watch it. It was like something out of The Matrix. I'll be shocked if we see a better goal this season.

It was and still is unbelievable, quite clearly the goal of the season by a long stretch, the technique, and flexibility to score it was amazing!

Would it be the first offside goal to win Goal of the season if it happens

I have got to say the Borini goal was pretty good as well

I've no idea, probably.

Either way, the goal should've stood because it was that good. The offside rule need not be mentioned.

Makes you wonder if the linesman saw the offside but just didn't have the heart to raise his flag. The look on the Sunderland players' faces!

Lol. He was so clearly mesmerised by that goal, he forgot to raise his flag .

How can it be offside when it wasn't given as offside??

Surely if it was given as offside, then it wouldn't have counted, and would sit alongside Schmeichel at Selhurst Park, in terms of quality offside goals that didn't count, but that is simply not the case here.

Borini's was good, but falls into the completely irrelevant, and pointless, as due to the time left in the match, they were simply not going to get anything, not even a draw from the match, so it didn't take any gloss off of the defeat I would say..

Dunno if we do. Sounds like Ibrahimovic will stay for the second year and we'll put off having to make a decision until 2018.


Did some reading on the dispute (yay for insomnia). Apparently Benfica's argument is that Lindelof previously signed a new contract with Benfica after joining which they claim invalidated the clause about him playing the ten games. That might be why he could sign a new deal then immediately get sold, it could back up their argument and invalidate any sell-on clause (some places mention the second clause, some don't). There's also confusion over his current release clause which is supposedly only 30m euros but it may only be valid in the summer which would be why we're paying more.


You know damn well what Owen10 was saying, to not understand you'd have to literally be too stupid to live. Don't pretend to be confused. And if Borini's goal was irrelevant and pointless, so was Mikhitaryan's. But since people were just talking about the aesthetics of the goals rather than the significance, the only irrelevance is your post.

An absolute nonsense post, the likes of which derail threads. I apologise for defending this specific poster previously as I realise that the likes of the above post are only aimed at baiting. I won't comment further as responses then lead to two pages of wasted posts, but just wanted to put my oar in on this one.

The above post shows that normal discussion on certain topics cannot be had with this poster.

If that goal went against us we'd rightly be furious. You could accept linesmen getting the marginal calls wrong but missing that was outrageous.

Batdude's post count didn't get to where it is today without wasting two pages on each post as CJ may or may not say! If that goal had been scored at Anfield he'd have been in the neutrals thread all day long dismissing it and telling all comers it didn't count. Totally transparent as usual.

I can disregard Batty's attitude regarding Miki's goal. He's only seeing things through rose tinted glasses with his comments. However his attitude to Borini's goal is staggering, whilst not being a "how the flip did he do that" type of goal as Miki's was, it's still a stunning goal no matter what time in the game. De Gea had no chance and no keeper in the world would have had a chance with that one. I hope both are included in the Goal of the Month contest, as they both richly deserve it.

Going back to Miki's goal, there is a shot which I'm going to try and find and watch over, where you see the linesman isn't in line with play and is ball watching rather than looking for where Miki was, and clearly misses the fact he's offside. Had it been against us we'd be crying foul at the linesman for this, we still should be as it's incompetency like this that costs teams from top to bottom, the fact it's given us an advantage at this point shouldn't stop us complaining and wanting a rise in officiating standards in this country.

agreed. i have stood up for bats in past but no doubt about it hes a weird cat.

Wow!

I didn't quite expect the backlash my one singular post would get from multiple posters, fair enough if I crossed a line with that one, I take it back then, perhaps I did say something that was out if order then.

Sorry about that.

Also one point, why do people keep on mentioning my post count, it is not important to me, have I posted a lot well yes, but then again I have been registered for quite a while on here, so it is no surprise that over a decade or so, I have acquired a fair number of posts.

If anyone wants to have a decent discussion on a football topic, then they are more than welcome to with myself, or anyone else.