James_lcfc

I think he’s pretty limited as a footballer, sadly. Having said that though, I quite like him in the team. His energy is a massive plus and he’s pretty quick. Makes him quite effective at nicking the ball to stop attacks/launch counters.

Yeah, very impressed with what I’ve seen so far. Looks a real talent.

Stoke did exactly the same at our place?? They are the worst by quite a long way. (…I may still be bitter about the ‘08 game, but I’m willing to die on this hill!)

Yep. But both were better in the first fixture. Stoke the worst across the two…so far.

Stoke are the worst team in the league by a distance. (Based on what I’ve seen against us)

He joined a club in the Championship and yet was still given a Summer transfer kitty of nearly £50m? Pretty outrageous as far as Championship transfer budgets go? Yet now 'we've lost him' because of one bad transfer window? Re. this Summer - I'm sure you're right and we'll struggle to shift certain players, but a lot will be leaving due to contracts expiring and we may even look to cash in on KDH. We'll have to wait and see but there should be money available for Enzo to do a bit of shaping and moulding...just as he was able to last Summer.

We managed to get quite a few players in last Summer? I’m sure it’ll be fine. This has been a bit of a weird one though, I’ll give you that!

Not overly bothered either way now, but I am intrigued what the issue is. He wouldn’t have flown over unless it was pretty certain to go through, would he!?

He's looked pretty decent every time I've seen him. Shame he hasn't been given more of a chance really.

Absolutely. I already love watching him play. So even if he doesn't reach the highest heights, it's going to be great fun having him in the team. ...and that's all I said btw...that I wasn't sure he was going to reach the very top Not that he isn't going to be a good player for us. I shouldn't have used the word 'disappointment' to be fair...it's not really what I meant!

Big 'if' though isn't it? That's all I was saying really.

Just a feeling as I said. Wouldn't say it's particularly 'negative' saying I'm not sure a player will go onto be our next £60m+ sale. ...and only a disappointment in the sense that our expectations are pretty high after his very promising start. I'm aware that your rage knows no bounds, so I better leave it there.

I love watching Abdul, I really do. But I'm not sure he's going to progress to the level a lot on here think he is - Have a feeling he'll end up being a bit of a disappointment overall. Would love to be wrong though! I mean if is decision making and end product does improve he'll end up frighteningly good.

So just over £2m, but only if we go up. Sounds decent on the face of it.

Really? He will be one of our most sellable assets after a year in the PL. Highest potential ceiling of our current squad in my opinion.

Yeah. Coming out in the press and threatening to leave is a bit embarrassing. Not as embarrassing as the fans moaning when we’re 10 points clear at the top, but close. I love what Enzo’s done though. I do think he has a significantly better squad than 95% of the league though, so you have to say the jury is still out a bit. Very interested to see what he can do if we do go up. Working with a squad that is lower-half quality - That will be a proper test for him.

Perhaps the hierarchy don't really fancy having a 28 year old crock on the books. Not me, btw. I'm fully sold on the dream now - He's about to put 4-5 top class seasons together for us...but you can sort of understand the clubs hesitance

Not the reality at all. Our squad is much better than the vast majority of the teams in this league. Wage bill absolutely dwarfs everyone aside from maybe Southampton and Leeds too. I agree with a lot of your post though - There is definitely entitlement in the fan base. I know we don't have any divine right, but our squad really should be doing very well in this league shouldn't they?

It's nice feeling relaxed about a potential transfer though. I'd be happy if he signed. ...but also quite happy if it fell through. Weird

We have become one of those penny-pinching Italian/Turkish clubs haven't we. Eventually they'll just have to pay us to take him. Great stuff.

I'm happy for us to sell anyone, and would never begrudge the club cashing in. It just has to be at the right time - Obviously this is subjective, but I think it's pretty clear that selling him now could be disastrous given how influential he's been so far. Got to wait until the Summer.

I rate him. I thought he looked pretty rusty on Saturday despite scoring and doing OK overall. Quite a few times he had open grass in front of him to drive into and the ball kept getting caught under his feet. Sort of like his brain was working quicker than his feet. With a run of games, I'm certain he'll get better and better. Could be really important in our run in.

Forgot we brought Dean Smith in last year. Cheers for putting a damper on my morning.

Well that’s the slightly worrying thing - Do you know this for sure? I won’t pretend to know much (anything) about football finances, but is it not possible we do actually need to sell him? Either way, I think we’ll be looking for a good bit more than £30m.

We will probably take up the option to extend his contract and then look to sell him. ...so I could still be wrong (likely).