the1stknowle

Nah - Sheff Utd being total dross means basically 2 relegation slots. One likely to be Luton. Bournemouth have very decent chance of staying up.

Completely understood, but some silver linings: 1. Crazy good money in the bank for a championship player and, if he fulfills potential, I assume we have the chance to make another really good sum down the road. 2. Another high profile sale to the prem. Our reputation in that area builds. Promising players want to come to us because they see a pathway. Youth players want to develop here for same reason. That means more gems down the road. We have already signed some. 3. Related to 2, and the biggest silver lining for me, we now seem to have a recruitment operation that knows what a promising young player is and our transfer business and known targets are always really exciting now. Never trusted the football side of City so much as I do today. If Tinnion/Pearson say a player is class and I think he's onions, I know that I'm wrong. Even if they can only spend a fraction of that money over next few windows, I'm excited to see who they bring in. 4. I know this isn't universal, but for me, there is a massive element of pride in seeing a youth team player achieving like this. I'm not on board with the 'just Bournemouth' stuff. Hope he smashes it in a fun Bournemouth team and is in the England squad in next few years. 5. Players want to play in prem and history says you have to take your chance or you could miss it. Short career that can be over in one tackle. One day, we will be in that league, and we will have a chance to sign the best players from much bigger Championship clubs and their fans will be shouting 'why Bristol City?' and we will love it.

Saw Aaron Ramsey (Villa one) mentioned earlier as replacement for AS. Hes off to Burnley so it does look like Villa have decided to cash in on some of their youngsters - Archer also available. Hope that means we look again at Iroegbunam. We surely have to sign someone to replace.

And now they are signing Tyler Adams so he will be pushed even further down list. At minimum he will be available for loan.

They are spending so much that surely they will have to be very choosy about which of their promising youngsters they can hang on to and which they need to cash in on. Saw a story today that they might be willing to sell younger Ramsey to Burnley and no one is disputing that he is very highly rated. But obviously not when compared to Diaby, Tielemans, Mcginn, his brother etc (at least at the moment). Maybe they start looking at the Man City route of sell everything but insist on a buy back. You are probably right though that he'd be out of our range. I do hope we are a bit ambitious with our Scott replacement targets though.

Very different player, I know, but if we are going to invest a bit in an Aston Villa central midfielder, surely Tim Iroegbunam over Azaz.

Yep - I like James Piercy. He actually does some homework and can write. But I'd trust John Percy's sources over his. Let's see.

Not sure of the point here. If Newman is a proxy for Moyes and has scouted Alex extensively and they still haven't bid, does that not say that Moyes isn't into him??? They are not short of money. They are short of midfielders. They have bid for Zakaria and JWP and Paulinha. Because that is the kind of midfielder profile Moyes wants.

Yeah, agree we will bring in a Scott replacement. And given the inevitability of this move, you'd think we would have it lined up and can move very fast.

While Moyes there, I doubt it. Lots of stories coming out of WH about the profile of player moyes wants being very different to what the technical director wants. And Alex feels like a technical director pick (Ward-Prowse very much the type of player Moyes wants). If he went somewhere where manager wasn't fully on board with signing, that would be worst possible move.

John Percy is very reliable. And same story as yesterday with Peter O'Rourke from (much less reliable) Football Insider. Looks like its happening. But, deep down, we all always knew it was. Good move if it goes through - I'm not on board with the 'can do so much better' chat. New manager is supposed to be very attacking. And to commit this much, manager surely fully on board with signing so Alex will get starts. Rest is down to him.

Let's see. We will know soon enough.

Not sure about that. Football Insider can be absolute dross with literal guesswork and speculation manifesting as news. But Peter O is their actual journalist and article is pretty clear that it is sourced information and advanced talks. You might be right that the 'beat Wolves to signing' is overstating and speculative. But I would suspect there is something in this.

Youd think so from the outside. But they have some decent players still and, crucially, they have a very good manager so - as long as he can stick it out - I suspect they will be ok. Everton looking far worse I think, Luton will need a miracle and Sheff Utd I just don't think are very good.

Nice to see Tim Iroegbunam getting some mentions as we were apparently looking at him before and he does look very good. Would be a decent fee you'd imagine if they would let him go. But, regardless of how well he is doing pre-season, is he going to get minutes over Mcginn, Buendia, Luiz, Tielemans, Ramsey, other Ramsey, Kamara... So would they take say 3-5m rather than turning him into a perennial loanee??? Highly speculative but has been on our list and from the little I saw last season, very good.

Yeah exactly. Maximising your earnings is pretty normal and doesn’t reflect on anyone in their jobs. Unless you think your employer would be heartbroken to learn you would quit your job if another company offered to double your wages.

We will obviously take the highest bid. My point wasn't about that if you read back. Think you should give some of the examples you mention a bit of a longer timeline to yield any sell on clause, esp Kelly. But it doesn't really matter. The real point is that none of the three you mention above should be compared with Scott in terms of long term value. We made our big money with the initial sale of those three. But with Scott, he has a potential ceiling much higher than them or any player we have had before. (Marvin Brown aside, obviously). So from that point of view, its a completely unique case. And, money and FFP aside, as you say, also need to think about his development, as I think most right minded City fans will take a lot of pride in seeing him reach his potential and going to a club where he will play regularly in a top league would be great.

Much, much better for us if he goes to a stepping stone club rather than straight to, say, Spurs. Brighton or Brentford would be dream ticket you'd think to max out likely future transfer value (if he goes on to fulfil potential). Spurs currently seem intent on letting their most valuable asset leave for free rather than selling him for a 'reduced' price. Issue with Bournemouth is likelihood of staying in prem which would obviously change his value. But maybe this new manager is the nuts like people seem to think and they will do well. In which case, good place for both Alex and Antoine from both our point of view and theirs (assuming we have decent sell ons in deals which is surely a given).

Club just announced.

Brighton just signed new big money keeper so you’d imagine Rushworth might be looking around. If Brighton do bid for Alex, getting Rushworth as part of deal might be a possibility now. (All very speculative).

And for big money too despite only one year left on his deal. So, yeah, so long as their financial troubles aren’t really bad, they you’d imagine they will try to bid for Alex soon.

On your list of favourite realistic midfielders, where do you stand on Anjorin? I know he's coming back from another really bad injury but, when fit, he looks the business at this level and like he has capacity to go higher. Really good build and high level ability. And surely not going to get a look in at the Chelsea Player Dumping Ground. Maybe plays slightly further forward than Scott, but, when the inevitable happens with Alex, I would think one to look at.

That is sad. I feel awful for those very decent players getting paid more, for all the unnecessary exposure non-league and now L2 will get, and for football in general that some people who wouldn't have otherwise cared are being tricked into watching and enjoying it. So sad.

Yep. As I said in my post, that is exactly my view.

Where's the lie? The 'fairytale', such that it is, is that they were bought and put on this enormous international platform having previously been a tiny club constantly on brink of going out of business. Its not that they are some plucky underdog club defying the odds in national league. Nothing in the documentary ever gave off 'How on earth are little old Wrexham going to compete with the mighty Chesterfield!?!' vibes.