DJ Barry Hammond

There has to be a question mark as to whether he survives until the League Cup final as this rate.

Are Arsenal good or Liverpool woeful?

So… l asked this after the cup game, and it’s become relevant again. Has Nelson done enough to keep his place?

You’d also think right now is the perfect time to be discussing his personal situation. He might well be the only one of the out of contract players we actually try to renew.

It’s worth remembering that if Nelson is developing well - which it seems he is - his partner in training a lot of the time is likely to be Coady. Sometimes players are worth more than just what is seen on the pitch.

Oooooo, Harvey Barnes with the equaliser!

This winning stuff with shit players that shouldn’t be in the side ain’t half boring.

The reporting deadlines have changed now though - last years (22/23) accounts had to be in by 31 December 2023. I’m pretty sure there is also ongoing reporting requirements through the season, especially if a club is reporting it had breached the higher loss threshold.

Depends how long the contract is. Term length can be a higher consideration than basic wage at this stage of his career.

How much are we due to spend if we keep the 3 players we currently have on loan. It would be north of £30 million combined wouldn’t it? • Fatawu - £14.6 million (reported as both option and obligation) - no idea on contract length • Akgun - £8.85 million (obligation) - contract until 2028 • Doyle - £10 million + ??? (no option or obligation in loan deal) I imagine having these forward transfers makes calculating an FFP position much more difficult.

The long term outlook has surely got to centre around using our facilities, the academy and expanding the stadium - with a view to becoming self sustaining - which seems to be what the current plan is by and large. Top holds a lot of equity in the club from the conversion of debt - so buying him out won’t be cheap. Additionally, the club is currently running at a substantial loss. That doesn’t make it the most attractive of investments right now. If someone did buy the club at this point - they’d need deep pockets OR it would require a leveraged approach, with that debt potentially landing on the club. However, both of those would probably require a period of cost cutting.

Fulham haven’t replaced Mitrovic yet - and I think upfront is an area they’re light on. Currently 13th, that’s worth £17.6 million in prize money. Drop two places to 15th - £13.2 million. Climb to 11th - £22 million. At £4 million initial outlay, it’s not a horrible deal for them, especially if it translates to match winning goals.

Jettisoning the ownership and DOF might not keep Enzo here either. That would look equally as bizarre would it not? If, as it seems, FFP is tight one thing we could conclude is that as a club, we backed Enzo as much as we could in the summer. And as we know, getting rid of players that you’ve paid fees for is no longer as easy as just giving them a free because that can still count as a loss.

Well both Rudkin and Top are getting shit flung at them from all directions at the moment.

So who appointed Enzo in the first place? Someone that was a left field choice to begin with?

Makes some sense that, given we could have gone pre-contract agreement route. Additionally, it really wasn’t in Inter’s interests to not agree a deal.

But as I’ve mentioned… we could just sign a pre-contract agreement with him now for the end of his contract. Inter wouldn’t be able to sell him to anyone else for 6 months - so we then table a low ball take it or leave it offer to make the transfer immediate.

Do Wolves and Utd realise they’re interrupting the Sensi transfer debacle?

So why didn’t we do that and hold Inter over a barrel for the fee for making it an immediate transfer?

How have they managed to do that on Rashford’s redemption ark?

Hang on - we could agree a pre-contract with him anyway now couldn’t we? He’s inside his last 6 months.

You sure, he’s only got 9 caps for Italy? I expect he’s nowhere near the 75% threshold over the previous 2 year period… BUT - he’s not been available during that time due to injury (and that is a proviso I believe). However, I can find no guidance on what happens outside of those parameters. Maybe we’re trying to get hold of someone from the Home Office 😂

Italian clubs do have weird contract structures, which is why I considered this angle when ‘legal issues’ were mentioned. My other thought is that we don’t have an available ESC slot for him - and that he doesn’t qualify for the International Sportsperson VISA.

Have we found out he’s co-owned / part owned by an agent or group in addition to Inter? That situation would surely mean an initial loan wouldn’t work because he’d still be co-owned and that’s not allowed over here?

The fact Enzo started Daka last game suggests he has a slight preference for him over Cannon. I think that’s further confirmed by the fact Cannon’s chance came when it was almost forced upon Enzo - it was Daka he went to first.