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Could we have an option for red or black numbers on the back too? 🙂

26 minutes ago, RamLad1884 said:

Another player who’s relatively tall for full back, first real signs of the impending Warneball?

Mac always favoured tall defenders, doesn't mean we're going to lump it forward, more likely we will be better attacking and defending set pieces.

6 minutes ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

3 clubs allegedly in for him now, Bristol City, Stoke and Ipswich. Knight’s comments in the post match interview @Animal is a Ram shared are interesting, shows he’s as receptive to staying here and being part of the project moving for as he might be to a transfer. 

I'd like to think he can see the intent with the recent activity and stick with us this summer, unless there is interest from a team who will be challenging for promotion in the Championship or a team in the Prem that can give him some playing time.

Just now, Heisenberg said:

£10m for a player with 1 year left on his contract?

You should see how much PSG want for Mbappe mate! 😉 

10 minutes ago, Jimbo Ram said:

No, read again….I said go back. You are so gullible 🤣

You're a broken record mate. I read what you wrote, but I'm still sure you have a record of everything Big Trav says and probably keep a diary of what he eats and how firms his 💩s are.

Keep up the good work...

1 minute ago, Rammy03 said:

What more does stones need to do to be in that bracket? Every time I watch him he's excellent. There are not many central defenders better than him.

He needs to be consistent across the whole season and be the main bedrock in the City defence. The fact that he's been moved to full-back and DM for City this season shows that he's a good and versatile player, but not first choice at CB against Akanji, Dias, Ake and Laporte - obviously they are excellent too. Out of the the City CBs I would call Reuben Dias World Class, with Akanji having potential to be.

Maybe I have set my expectations of what "World Class" is higher, but you need to be in the top 10/20 players in the world in that position for me and he isn't there right now.

1 minute ago, Jimbo Ram said:

I was going to go back and highlight all his ITK factual statements that were totally wrong but I can’t be arsed. If people are gullible enough to believe he has contacts that’s their problem, not mine.

Sure you have them all saved somewhere. You're obsessed! 😂

11 minutes ago, S8TY said:

Nice one Big Trav....it seems you get slaughtered for saying something you might've heard ....perhaps say nothing might please some but If i were you mate keep letting us know if you hear anything 👍

I second this. I've trusted Big Trav's ITK posts since he popped up on the board. I get that some of them don't happen, but he's explained it himself. These deals and negotiations change and a rumour is only a rumour until the contracts are signed.

I, as well as many others, love the inside scoop. I understand that there's bound to be sceptics, but it's part and parcel of the whole thing. TBF to Big Trav, he always seems to handle the consistent winding up well and when he does respond to a naysayer like Jimbo Ram, then it's with dignity and always level-headed. I'd have blocked him ages ago with the amount of responses to posts I've seen from him 😂

1 minute ago, scout's dad said:

Crumbles in front of big crowds? Are we only going to play him away?

If anything, the more he gets used to crowds at PP, the better he will play in those matches and also in the away fixtures at the smaller grounds we'll have to endure again this season.

6 hours ago, Kernow said:

We’re probably a starting CB away from being world class all over the pitch. Maguire is generally pretty good for England but we can’t go into the Euros relying on a player who probably won’t play much football next season if he stays at United.

We also lack any real depth behind Kane. Rashford is used more out wide. Toney & Abraham both unavailable for most of next season. Wilson is good but injury prone so he might not even be available.

I wish we gave Balogun a go ahead of Toney last time round, instead he’s gone off and chose the US. 21 goals in Ligue 1 would’ve been worth a try, now that option is gone.

We've got options at CB, but you're right, none are world class currently, and those that are promising aren't in the managers plans currently as he keeps it settled with his preferred pairing.

The number 9 department is more of an issue. In the short term, we need Kane to stay fit. An injury to him while Abraham is recovering from his ACL and Toney is banned from football would be a big problem. I think Abraham is the like for like replacement long term, but who knows how he will recover from an ACL injury. After that, there's not a ton of English strikers coming through - Delap (not a good season last season) and Jebbison (Canadian by birth, so would he rather represent them?) are the only ones that spring to mind.

Mavididi has been doing well at Ligue 1 Montpelier, but he is more of a wide attacker, like Rashford.

7 hours ago, Rammy03 said:

Stones is world class

Let's not go too far here. He's a very good defender and has shown versatility under Pep's coaching this season.

However, in my opinion, he is fortunate to be surrounded by other top players, so when he makes a mistake it often isn't critical. I think he's an excellent player, but he isn't what I'd call world class. We need a solid and dependable defender next to someone like him or Tomori to complete a strong spine.

8 hours ago, TigerTedd said:

Step forward Fikayo Tomori. 

Chris Smalling has also been performing well at Roma this season. I hope Southgate can give some of these players that choose not to go down the Premier League route a go before it's too late for them. Bellingham is a one off in the squad and even he had to wait until Kalvin Phillips had an injury before he took his chance to really show what he could do for England.

1 hour ago, Ghost of Clough said:

Rankings based on English players, playing in English leagues, and not switching international allegiances. Knight (Irish), Buchanan (playing abroad), Ebosele (Irish and playing abroad) and Stretton (English but switched allegiance to Scotland) for example don't count. 

Productivity needs to improve, due to developing very few PL quality players. However, it's difficult to truly judge until around 2030 when players have progressed through the entirety of the academy system from start to finish and had chance to develop in first team games and reach their peak.

Plus, some of our best potential players being taken before they're even past u18 level.

5 minutes ago, hintonsboots said:

Jack Daniels ?

You mean Johnnie Walker?

Someone needs to do a bit more reasearch on Whisky and Whiskey... 😉

28 minutes ago, Ambitious said:

I've set up some indicators for wing backs and a player in League Two caught my eye - Remeao Hutton. 

I set these up based on indicators where you would expect wing backs to be strong: 

Total actions per 90, including their success % - ideally you're looking at someone with 60 actions per game, with above 60% success. 

Cross accuracy - above 30% accuracy
Duels - above 50% success
Losses - below 35% in own half, less than 12 a game. 
Recoveries - above 35% in opp half, more than 7 a game. 
Defensive duels - above 60% success
Offensive duels - above 40% success
Progressive Runs - above 1.5 a game
Passes to final third - above 6 and 60% accuracy
Passes to penalty area - above 3 and 40% accuracy

Hutton came out: 

Total Actions - 62.21 
Success - 61.6%
Crosses - 7.08 per 90
Success - 35.7%
Duels - 17.85 
Success - 51.1%
Losses - 11.57
Own Half - 21.5%
Recoveries- 6.53
Opp Half - 28.8%
Defensive Duels - 4.99
Success - 62.8%
Attacking Duels - 8.16
Success - 51.2%
Progressive Runs - 3.82 
Passes to Final Third - 5.18
Accuracy - 51.2%
Passes to Penalty Area - 6.56
Accuracy - 40.8% 

While he misses on a couple, he exceeds in a lot of them. I've never heard of him or seen him play, but worth keeping an eye on if he does make a move to a League One club this summer. 

Putting the anal into analyst!

18 minutes ago, Papahet said:

People said same about Chris Martin...

He never puts the chips down until the whole lot are finished 😉 

41 minutes ago, Srg said:

Also both left footed and prefer left side of a three if that's the formation we are going with.

I don't think the fact they're both left-footed is a problem, if they were both right-footed would that be an issue?

We had a lot of left-footed players last season, but it shouldn't matter for a player based centrally. Cashin also looks comfortable using both feet.

1 hour ago, JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta said:

He has one year left, an option we activated earlier this season. If he doesn't go this summer for a decent fee he goes for next to nothing in January or actual nothing in the summer.

Due to his age, if we offer him an improved offer next season and he turns it down, we will be entitled to compensation as he came through our academy. He won't go for nothing even if he stays for this season.

My understanding is that the deal we made when we bought him was in the region of £8-£10m based on an agreed set fee (lower end) plus extras for any achievements written into the deal (usually promotion, appearance targets etc.).

I doubt we've hit any of the performance targets to trigger the added value and from what the club has said during the admin process, we have been paying off the main fee in regular instalments. One of the payments was deferred by Arsenal when we went into admin. However, since we are now out of admin and Arsenal would be considered a football creditor, we still need to complete agreed payments.

If we are to believe that the fee agreed was £8m and we are now entering the last of his 5 contracted years we can assume that we've been paying £1.6m per year (or £800k every 6 months, or £400k per quarter - depending on how the agreement was arranged). therefore we likely only owe the last £1.6m of the reported fee and that is a fee I think we can expect to get for him. It would be nice to get somewhere between £2-3m, but we need to be realistic.

3 minutes ago, B4ev6is said:

We have been linked with a Arsneal player swiss international begins with a X but I cant spell his name.

Do you believe everything you read mate?

Unfortunately, the morons probably believe that their actions encouraged these results from the team.

His managerial record with Jody Morris alongside him is much better than without.

Potter is going to OGC Nice, which will probably be better for his long-term reputation than taking on the Spurs job.

Obviously that article isn't written by Ben Osborn or anyone that drinks at his bar 😉 

Also worth noting that most of the Premier League teams will have several groups for kids at various age levels before they become first-year scholars.

I was with my youngest son (7 years old) at one of the Chelsea development team sessions the other week and he has a session with West Ham booked in for next month.

These teams have tons of kids at several bases and when they are old enough/good enough they go to the main academy. They are bound to get hold of the best players in a very densely populated area.