Verumex

We don't do that here...

Yeah! Leave SecretPro alone!

Rudders, the sit back and do nothing master negotiator.

Whoever we get in as striker, Kone or not, will be brought in with the expectation that they're going to eventually be the starting number 9 for this year, after competing with Ayew. That has to be the intention with any transfer in. Then next year, when Daka and/or Ayew leaves at the end of their contracts, we look for another striker to compete, hopefully after promotion so that we have a bigger pond to fish in. If Evans is part of our future plans, which it looks like he is, then he will be used the same way that Monga is atm, with managed minutes, coming on as a sub. He cannot be expected to be competing for starting striker at age 17. That's a ridiculous level of pressure. Next year, or the year after that, he should be ready to start competing. Either way, any striker coming in now should have zero baring on Evans' career path.

We're linked because he was with us on loan, that's it. The moment it was said that Man City wanted to sell him, the articles all went straight to Norwich, Coventry and Leicester. Lazy journalism.

Come on John, pick up the phone...

RE: Woyo, I honestly haven't seen enough of him to judge, personally, but it's not a good sign that we haven't seen much of him. Either way, he's still in the squad and a possible option, even if he's last, but it still means that JJ is surplus.

True! I forgot about him tbh

At this level, I was pleased with what I saw with Choudhury playing RB, and obviously we have Ricardo and Woyo too. JJ is great, but if we get an offer then he's surplus to requirements.

If Everton get relegated, do you think we can get KDH back for less than we sold him for?

I hope it was Dorsett, that way we'll know it's BS.

Oh Ozzie_the_Relaxed is tier 1! #NeverWrong

With the Wilf deal done, I will be expecting news of an official bid for a striker in the next 48 hours, whether it's Kone or not. There are no reasons to wait left.

I'm still getting major flashbacks to every transfer window with Tielemans' agent throwing his name at every club, "leaking" connections to every journalist that would listen, and all the while, Youri clearly wasn't fussed about a move and liked living in the Midlands. This is just what some agents are like. They try to make fetch happen. It doesn't mean that fetch is going to happen.

No one expects the Besiktas inquisition!

Yeah but for me Evans fails the eye test, so I get to ignore all context, stats and info I want, and disregard everything you say, to make any ridiculous point I want. (If there's two words I've come to despise in the realm of football fandom, it's the dreaded "eye test". Such a meaningless way to say that you have absolutely nothing to back you up other than vibes.)

I don't think we do replace him. I know it doesn't make for nice reading, but we have Soumare, Skipp and Winks for the double pivot, and even Hamza at a push.

In fairness, is anyone here actually hyping him up? The general consensus is that we need to get someone in who fits the profile we need, and Kone is one of the few that fits that profile whilst also being a young and promising player. We will not be playing a system that requires a lot of pressure on the striker to provide all of the goals, and that means that we can just make some cheap tidy business to fill the gap and hope that he's a gudden. Kone just fits the bill and would be a relatively cheap pick up. I'm not seeing excitement for Kone in particular, just for any movement in that market at all.

It's looking like Ndidi to Besiktas is sorted, so hopefully a bid goes in later today.

Mads was always one of multiple names linked to West Ham. For the last week they've been talking about Mads, Parma's Suzuki, and as of a few days back now, John Victor. So this isn't a case of them changing their minds or playing games to get Mads.

Sorry, I'm a bit lost, can someone point me towards the Ndidi transfer thread?

He has scored a goal and I can prove it.

It's bad enough having to watch out for Hamza every time we cross the road

Yeah, watching us play yesterday has shown me that all we really need as a number 9 is someone who can get into the right positions and get the tap in chances created by our wingers. Any strong, tall striker should be able to do that, and if he can be better than that, then that's a bonus.

I have to ask, is it pronounced "cone" or "koh-ney"?