ClaphamFox

Yeah it was a shame she apologised. I was hoping she'd stand up to the lunatic fringe of the party, but sadly not.

So last night Cooper said Stolarczyk was out for six months, but this morning it's only three? Kudos to the medical team for pulling a productive all-nighter

Has he reacted to the latest news? I can’t see as he blocked me years ago…

But he can’t possibly go straight from the development squad to the first team squad! He needs to go on loan!! 😡

His wages would likely be an issue.

Do we have any more information about this? If true you'd imagine it would only strengthen the club's resolve to keep Hermansen...

I hate to break this to you, but in the coming season we may occasionally need to shithouse draws and wins. Having a player in the squad whose skillset helps us to do that will not be a bad thing. And if that player is also very good at holding the ball up and making space for more skillful teammates, then he might just be very useful for us.

People talking about Ward being number one again are being very silly indeed. Just ignore them.

Jeez, you really reeled a few in with this one, didn't you?

I think he was joking, mate.

You sound as if you think that no young player has ever been thrown in at the deep end, whereas in reality it happens all the time. Every season, some young players transition straight from their club's academy to the first team. It doesn't always work out, but plenty of times it does. Why are people insisting there would be something unusual in a couple of 19/20-year-olds being promoted to the first team squad in the PL? It's a well-trodden path.

Because it would be a very odd thing to make up. When players are interested in a move to a particular club, their agents leak this info to the media to pressure the selling club to accept a bid. It would make zero sense for media to report that a player didn't want to join a club that he actually wanted to join - nobody would benefit from that. A lot of folk seem to have convinced themselves that the multiple stories from multiple sources that Soule wants to join Roma instead of us are fake. It's nuts. Trust me, this lad genuinely has a strong preference for Roma over us. That does not mean Juventus are obliged to sell him to Roma for less money than they want, but this is clearly what Soule wants. The interesting bit will come if Roma drop out and his only options will be to stay at Juventus or come to us...

If we had greater squad depth or lots of scope within PSR to spend big this window, I might agree with you. But as we have neither, I think we'll need Alves and Braybrooke as options this season. If we want to beat the points deduction and stay up, we'll need to spend the limited budget we have on improving the first team. In practice, this means we'll need our highest quality youngsters around to step in if required. And as for your statement that neither Alves or Braybrooke are ready for the Prem, how do you know when they haven't been given a chance yet?

He's holding out for Empoli.

We need a new rumour linking us with a wonderkid attacking midfielder who doesn't want to join us. This one's gone a bit stale now...

…ed his medical? Really?! Get in!!

There are more than the usual amount of contradictory stories about this particular transfer, but the number of reports suggesting he really doesn’t want to join us leads me to suspect this one won’t happen. Who knows - maybe he’ll have a change of heart if Juve dig their heels in? I can’t see it though.

He’s under contract until 2028.

Percy didn’t claim that it was happening. He tweeted that Leicester were ‘hopeful’ of striking a deal. Big difference.

They're probably hoping that if their offer is close enough to ours, the player's preference for them (IF true) will get it over the line. If Juve have the choice of getting close to their valuation immediately or facing a delay while they try to persuade Soule to join us for slightly more money, they might choose the former option.

Nketiah?

Summerville looked an outstanding prospect when Leeds were in the PL, too.

Fatawu and Hermansen joined us only a year ago and will likely be sold at huge profits in the next few years. Were they obvious targets?

[Soule's phone rings for the 14th time, goes to voicemail] Uh, Matías? Leicester here. Again. Ha ha. The thing is, uh, it’s just, this just isn’t working out. We think you’re great and everything, but maybe we should just take some time off from each other. It’s not you, it’s us...