James_lcfc

You could tell almost immediately in that Bournemouth game. Barely looked like a footballer.

They signed Luke Thomas. Ours is still better. Just.

No different to us with Ayew then

Still failing to get the player in though!

Well yeah, we're not very appealing at the moment - Most players will wait to see if there are other options. But 'never interested'? Probably not true.

You have no absolutely no clue if that's true or not

Well I don't disagree with any of that, but we are where we are now. Players will come for the money and PL shop window regardless of manager - It's just a case of finding the right players - And maybe waiting for them to get a little desperate towards the end of the window! We aren't going to be anyone's first choice unfortunately, because as you say, we are a bit of a joke at the moment.

This one is a bit disappointing if it's true as he looked like an almost perfect option for us. Good sources suggest we agreed the deal with Leverkusen, so what else are we supposed to do? Can't force the player to sign other than offer crazy wages...and most fans agree that doing that in the past has led to all sorts of problems. I agree they should be sounding out agents before pursuing deals, but maybe we did? The player may well have fancied it until another team came in for him. We'll never know.

Looking at it now, yes, we are in for a miserable season. But players will move in the last week of the window so there will be opportunities to do some good deals you'd think. This season was always going to come down to our Summer recruitment - It's been very poor so far but as I said, there's still time. I was very disappointed with the Vestergaard and Ndidi contract extensions, but I guess we'll need them as it stands now. Worst season in the clubs history though? Just recency bias. Even in my lifetime, those few seasons before the relegation to League 1 will take some beating. There was literally nothing positive about the club back then!

The highest tier.

What’s the betting we get linked again tomorrow now you’ve bumped this thread?!

He’s happy to take anything then. Gives us a chance!

If we bring Fotis and Hlozek in, I'll accept Ayew. Ayew on his own and we're all done with the club!

Sevilla wanted him last year - Played over 30 games for them. He must be on disgusting wages, as otherwise surely we’d be able to get £7m for him… What an utterly terrible signing he’s been.

Pre-season has been a ride hasn’t it!

Fear the worst to be honest, but it's a new season - Got to have a bit of hope and optimism! 1-1

If the ones we're pushing for are good players and back themselves - You'd think they'd hang on a bit before committing to a newly promoted side with a looming points deduction. Wouldn't blame them waiting to see if a better offer comes in. Having said that you'd also think they'd want to get themselves sorted as quickly as possible for the new season, so who really knows!

Nobody likes a fence-sitter!

Wish he'd play Ricardo there instead of Ndidi. I can watch another season of Wilf in the PL, it's bad for my blood pressure.

Looks awful from what I’ve seen so far. …but I’ll judge him on a decent number of competitive games.

Squad is full of poor to average PL players. This season was always going to be a massive struggle depending on the recruitment - Regardless of manager. You can’t look at what we did in the Championship last year. It’s completely irrelevant. People vastly overestimate our players at this level. It’s borderline comical.

We were Premier League Champions in 15/16.

Always thought he was decent, but there's far too many reds on his FBREF report. I'm a statsman nowadays so it's a no from me.

Hopefully an obligation in there if they get promoted.

£25m + add ons for a player in the last year of his contract seems like great business by Watford. Only slightly above average stats at Championship level. Fair play to them.