You Heard It Here First

[Nero]

well if that happens, newcastle will be the only winner here

Whys that? Shelvey has done it in the Premier league & despite being a big Tom Cairney fan I'm having serious doubts about his ability to make the step up.
TC great with the ball at his feet but hes a borderline liablity without it.

imo replacing our captain with a player that struggles to get onto the bench of newcastle is a bad deal.

Despite of the bad game he had, he is still one of our best players. He can maintain the ball, create chances, find accurate passes and his shots are lethal. And that is with only his left foot eventhough opponents are aware he uses one foot only.

I can't see what Shelvey has to offer except a cannonball shot that goes 50-50 on target or to the river. Probably some muscles.

Mitro struggled to get on the bench at Newcastle, just saying

[ByTheRiver]

Was this thread meant to be a joke?










Someone, please, tell me it was supposed to be a joke?

[The Old Count]

The suggestion of a swap has been poo poo'd by Benitez according to the BBC.

[Bassey the warrior]

Neither player is suited to playing in a midfield two.

[simplyfulham]

I know who would be on my list apart from Jonjo Shelvey........there is ......
Nathanial Clyne, Gary Cahill, Danny Drinkwater, Jermaine Defoe, Victor Moses to name but a few.
To help get us out of the bottom three.

We spent nearly £30m on Frank, surely we can tempt Stoke to let us have Joe Allen for £20m??

£20m?!! no thanks

We've spent £100m on a load of players where only about half of them have been successful and you want to quibble over values now?

Think I spend £50m if he kept us up.

£20m could get you a lot better than a Championship midfielder.

I don't really understand what you mean.

James Maddison and David Brooks were championship midfielders as you say. Both don't look out of place at this level. Then you've got Ruben Neves who was a championship midfielder last year as well and that's before we start talking about Mason Mount and Jack Grealish.

I don't think you can be quite so reductive, especially about a player who has played champions league and europa league football.

[Neutral Zone Ultra]

I know who would be on my list apart from Jonjo Shelvey........there is ......
Nathanial Clyne, Gary Cahill, Danny Drinkwater, Jermaine Defoe, Victor Moses to name but a few.
To help get us out of the bottom three.

We spent nearly £30m on Frank, surely we can tempt Stoke to let us have Joe Allen for £20m??

£20m?!! no thanks

We've spent £100m on a load of players where only about half of them have been successful and you want to quibble over values now?

Think I spend £50m if he kept us up.

£20m could get you a lot better than a Championship midfielder.

I don't really understand what you mean.

James Maddison and David Brooks were championship midfielders as you say. Both don't look out of place at this level. Then you've got Ruben Neves who was a championship midfielder last year as well and that's before we start talking about Mason Mount and Jack Grealish.

I don't think you can be quite so reductive, especially about a player who has played champions league and europa league football.

I don't want to damn Championship players in general, I just think it's not what we need right now. If we were in Leicester's position, sure, because there's little risk, whereas the next signings we make could define our season. And as for the players you've mentioned, yep Maddison and Brooks good players but they have come straight into established and stable Premier League teams so there is always breathing room for them in terms of performances, and they can learn off the rest of the team whereas with us it's one bad performance and you get thrown under the bus. As for Neves he was never a 'Championship player' in the first place really having played Champions League with Porto, and that it was madness that Wolves even managed to sign him in the first place (having Jorge Mendes helps I suppose), Mount hasn't played in the Prem so we can't judge and Grealish started off in the Prem anyway. And as for Allen playing in Europe, well clearly Liverpool didn't think he was up to it if they decided to sell him in his prime years, and to be honest I don't think he's even the kind of midfielder we need, too offensive.

[Statto]

I don't want to damn Championship players in general, I just think it's not what we need right now. If we were in Leicester's position, sure, because there's little risk, whereas the next signings we make could define our season. And as for the players you've mentioned, yep Maddison and Brooks good players but they have come straight into established and stable Premier League teams so there is always breathing room for them in terms of performances, and they can learn off the rest of the team whereas with us it's one bad performance and you get thrown under the bus.

But where then do you suggest we aim to recruit from?
There are only 3 options:
1. The league we are in - but we're not going to be able to afford or attract anyone playing regularly for another club in this league
2. The English lower leagues- you seem to be ruling that out
3. Abroad

Surely the last few years has shown, not that it wasn't totally obvious already, that players signed from abroad are at the highest risk of either not transitioning to our team, or taking a long time to transition

In other words, if we want to sign players who are fit and playing regularly, and likely to meet the requirements of the English league, then we are going to have to look at the better Championship players