jeffschlupp

Just seen an interview where he says his own name. To confirm it is pronounced No-knee (where no is as in 'not' rather than 'no') Ma-doo-ay-kuh

Second leg against Benfica is 26 August, so this is going to be a very late one if it happens. Perhaps the club and player have said if we don't qualify then he goes - PSV will lose money in not qualifying for the group stage, and the player will have no reason to stay there over leaving for us/Dortmund. We've not been in there for 3-4 weeks for the club to feel they've not got a real chance.

In fairness last summer they named Dewsbury-Hall and Hirst and both got loans. Hopefully those three are all lined up for some good moves if they're not going to be involved here very often.

Not really - Hamza's spot in any Europa League squad is a 'free' spot in the sense that only a club-trained player can fill it, and we have plenty of room in the PL squad given Fofana is U21.

Don't usually read anything into squad numbers but I do get the feeling Benkovic has not been given his previous no.16 because he's got no future at the club.

If they do get Ødegaard and all of our other key players stay as expected, then this is probably our first summer since 2013 where we haven't lost an established first team player for one reason or another.

His embargoed comments mention 'one or two other things' the club might like to do in terms of incomings. Left footed RW is obviously the one. I know 'one or two' is a throwaway phrase mostly and is one that Rodgers often uses but does anyone seriously see another weakness in the squad? A young no.10/left winger might be the only other area I'd have a look at, but they wouldn't get a sniff in Europe this side of Christmas. And we have Sowah who, if we do get an RW in, will surely get a loan at a good standard and have an opportunity to come next season in that very position.

Typo! Oops

Had a look at Dortmund's window and what they still need. Akanji is their only fit CB - Hummels, Zagadou, Coulibaly and Collins all injured, so they need someone there ASAP. They seemingly need a few sales to make a big signing so I find it interesting they've supposedly bid £25m for Madueke. Then add in the fact Rose has been playing a diamond so far in pre-season. Arsenal, the two Manchester clubs, Chelsea, Villa are not in the market for a right winger, Everton/Palace/Leeds will be priced out at that level. I wouldn't think he'll fancy going back to Spurs and Liverpool are not interested in bringing anyone else in, it seems. If PSV lose to Benfica in the CL qualifiers I think this could be on.

As others have said, Nixon has called Vestergaard (last January), Ward and Rodgers before others, and also the Albrighton interest from Burnley which Rodgers pretty much admitted was genuine. He has his contacts and has been well up to date with Madueke all window. £30m up front with bonuses would be about the same price as we paid for Fofana. Fofana was 19, highly rated, wanted by a European giant (Milan), manager wanted to keep him, had only played 30-40 senior games. Young, speaks the language, immensely talented, left footed, pacey, plays RW/no. 10. He is literally everything we could possibly want in a right sided wide player.

If we signed him it would be our best ever transfer window. All five major areas of weakness plugged with quality and (fingers crossed) all of our key players staying. Go on Rudders

Usually a morning session at least, I believe. As you say not necessarily anything on a full size pitch but still there should be some work, perhaps some defensive isolation work would be useful for the back four unit for example.

In fairness they are well stocked in terms of home-grown players these days. James, Mount, Christensen and Lukaku all count as club-trained, Chilwell, Bettinelli are association trained, Hudson-Odoi is U21. So they can name 24 and that's without considering Loftus-Cheek, Barkley, Chalobah who might all stay. Man City find it a bit more difficult but then that's why their no.3 keeper is Scott Carson, for example.

I would be surprised if it wasn't announced by the club either tonight or early tomorrow morning. As you imply we know the fee and contract are done, if he's trained the afternoon session then his medical was done this morning, so it will just be signing paperwork and submitting them to the PL/FA. Another training session with Cags tomorrow and he starts Saturday I reckon.

It's an intriguing one. I'm really surprised Rodgers has come out and said he wants additions. I'd just think Justin could very easily be available for the last two group games and that would be an ideal place to build up his match fitness, especially if we're well placed in the group by then. But we do have much better full-back options ahead of him this year rather than just JJ/Castagne/Fuchs/a less experienced Thomas who were ahead of Ricardo when he made his return at a similar time.

The club will get a fee for him next summer, like with Ghezzal if he can have a half decent loan spell that fee will be higher than what he'd command right now. Paying up his contract would be a complete waste of money, a loan would at least get some fee and some wages paid to us. I expect the club will keep him as emergency cover until after Norwich on the 28th then get him a late loan move organised. Either way, I can see absolutely no way that either he nor Praet get registered in the Europa League squad.

So we're at a stage where I think we've got three options a) Don't get a right winger b) Get a right winger but keep Hamza and move Mendy on c) Get a right winger but but leave someone out of the squad (Justin/Jakupovic/Amartey?)

Got a link?

Rodgers' press conference very interesting. I make the current UEL 23 as Schmeichel, Ward, Jakupovic, Ricardo, Castagne, Justin, Bertrand, Soyuncu, Evans, Vestergaard, Amartey, Ndidi, Mendy, Tielemans, Soumare, Dewsbury-Hall, Maddison, Perez, Albrighton, Barnes, Vardy, Daka, Iheanacho. Fofana obviously unregistered given he won't play in 2021. Thomas and Sowah eligible for the B list, but I now get the feeling Sowah will get a loan if we get a winger. Who out of that 23 drops out? Justin is surely in line to get a game in one of the later group games if he's on track. I am starting to seriously question whether it's Mendy on his way out, not Choudhury - that would allow us to register 24. Mendy going to AFCON in January is also a concern and it means we'd at least have one natural defensive midfielder around in the meantime. FWIW of that 23, in addition to Choudhury we have Praet and Benkovic missing out - plus Ghezzal who is all but gone. So is it Praet and Mendy out, Benkovic and Sowah out on loan, Vestergaard and a winger in?

This will only happen if Arsenal don't get a centre-forward or Ødegaard and feel they have to make a late panic marquee buy to appease the supporters. At that stage it is probably going to cost them £70-80m. I am reliably informed that the deals for Daka and Soumaré are extremely good deals for City in terms of the payment structure - the ~£40m we've paid in total for the two is spread out over some significant instalments, so the need to sell anyone for major money this summer is not there.

Can you give me any examples of when Söyüncü has played on the right please Strider? The only one I can think of is Southampton at home in 19-20, think it was about January time and he tried it and both looked rather shaky and uncomfortable. I certainly can't think of Söyüncü playing on the right of a three at any stage but might be wrong. He looks far more mature of late than he did when he first replaced Maguire, though - he was woeful on the left of a 3 for months but last season looked far more comfortable, for example. And without Evans he doesn't look short of leadership and organisation.

I agree with this. I think we were all in agreement as fans before the window that there were five areas of weakness (CB/LB/CM/RW/CF) but probably that CB was the least of our concerns as long as we returned to 4atb and Evans was fit for the start of the season. It has frustrated me in both of the last two seasons that we have changed to 3atb - in 19/20 we lost Söyüncu and the 3rd/4th choices were Morgan and Bennett so that was understandable. Last season it was purely because we didn't have any width. In a 4 at the back the fourth choice rarely plays, so Amartey getting a dozen games then leaving on a free next summer would've done us fine. As it is, we've had to replace Fofana with Vestergaard. I expect Benković to stick around until deadline day just in case and then as long as Evans is on course he can get a loan move. Nelson stays as fifth choice and might get the odd chance. If Evans is back no later than the third round of the League Cup we should be absolutely fine. Fofana potentially being back for the run-in would be a blessing too, although I suspect they may give him all summer to be ready for a return. And to those worried about an Evans/Vestergaard pair, Evans and Maguire were mostly class together, and Maguire got done for pace by Laurent Depoitre!

Would imagine a 3 year contract will be a formality. Medical tomorrow or Friday

I would hope that the explanation is that we are waiting for the right player to be available. I've said it before but the classic example was Jan 2017 - club could've had Acerbi or Hoedt but weren't 100% convinced on either, got a stopgap in the form of Wagué on loan, then got in early to sign their main target Maguire in the summer. I just don't know who that winger they want is. Albrighton/Perez/Barnes and one more looks like what they'll settle with for the season, given they have 2 players in every other position plus a third keeper, striker and full-back. That makes 25. Perhaps they think cover for Barnes in terms of raw pace is the more urgent and better use of funds - they have two system players (at best) in Pérez and Albrighton on the right. I dunno. RW will forever remain a mystery it seems

Tanner maintains we were in on the loan market only for a winger this summer, so if Vestergaard comes in in the next week or so we have the final 10-14 days to continue to have a look at loans. Don't know if the club would stretch to loans with obligations because I think that's the only way we'd be able to bring in a Neres or similar. I've read Lazio were in for Josip Brekalo and Wolfsburg would be happy to let him go on loan with a €15m option. If we wanted Barnes cover to let Sowah go on loan I can see that sort of deal being one we'd look at.