Strange that’s what I said when I woke up over here. England have this test match won.

For some reason they have no resnsibility for the programming of the BBC. Iirc the Chairman has resigned and been replaced by a woman unless it didn't go through. Anyway they appear to have no control over Lineker, Maitliss and other pro Labour reporters.

Saka with a stunning international hat trick pretty much completes life. Anything this boy can’t do or acheive?

14 goals and assists for Saka in 21 international appearances. Quite phenomenal

3 very different finishes for Saka as well.
First one is that finish he’s made with his right foot high at the gk near post.
Second one is lashed across the gk with his left in the top corner from 20 yards
Third one is through 1v1 with the gk and calmly passed it passed him.

I don’t understand why England supporters are not loving him like they do some of the other players. I wish he qualified for Australia.

Arda Guler scored his first goal for Turkey tonight, 18 years old very talented. Available for a knock down £15m due to a clause in his contract being triggered based on the minutes he played last year. Potential low risk signing for so many team considering his talent and his age

Ornstein reporting we’re in for Ajax defender Jurrien Timber. Man U were heavily linked when ten hag took over.

Constant theme of us being linked to right sided defenders, but some are CB who can play RB and some are RB who can play CB.

Arteta massively valued versatility in his players

One persons view in what I think is the very unlikely scenario of getting Rice, Havertz and Caecido.
How is Rice captain?

Agree 100%

Hi Rich,

Don't understand why Arsenal have fed Ornstein this info.

Now everybody knows we want him and its perfect for a United hi-jack.

Hi g7,

Only thing I would say is that Lacazette has banged in even more goals than Balogun in the French league this season and he was hopeless for us in the latter days of his time in england.

Hi Soc, RE: Timber, Romano also says Simikan from Leipzig is high on our list of RB/CB.

Who knows what tactics the clubs play in trying to get their targets, it is a big game of poker. Maybe Simikan is the real target and so they release some news of being very advanced with Timber to prompt Leipzig in to action on the Simikan deal.

As fans we probably get less than 1% info on what is going on with various transfer dealings

Yep, Balogun has come on leaps and bounds but I'd really want to see him do it in the prem before we say he's a world beater. If we need to raise funds to secure primary targets then a smart move would be to sell Balogun but include a buy-back clause. the buy-back clause could be as high as £50m for example, because if we sell him for £35m (for example) and he goes on to be a striker that is worthy of being a No.1 target for us to transfer in (ie: he's proven very special) then a net £15m spend for us to find that out is peanuts

The big thing Edu et al need to prove this window is that we can get our No.1 targets. We've done very well manoeuvring to secondary targets and they have worked out well but we're in danger of becoming a team who has numerous very high bids rejected and we move on. Already this window good sources are saying we've had (quite public) bids rejected for Rice, Havertz and Timber.

I can see logic in all 3 signings, albeit Havertz is one that won't sit well with many Arsenal fans, but if we were signing him straight from Leverkusen we'd be excited, he was one of the most sought after teenagers in the world at the time. With that particular deal Arteta clearly likes the flexibility he can bring to w number of positions. Also with Chelsea's FFP deadline coming up maybe we think we can strike a bargain deal.

Rice would be incredible for us, however if we don't get him for whatever reason I don't think we can let Caicedo slip through our fingers. I want both but we cant get in a situation where we let Chelsea get Caicedo whilst we focus on Rice and then that one doesn't come off.

Rice as the primary midfield target
Timber/Simikan as the hybrid RB/CB
Havertz as the versatile attacker
Then for me I think there is still need for another central midfielder.
Then any more signings depend on outgoings

Yeh, I agree, it sounds like a little reminder to other clubs we are negotiating with that we do have other targets and not to hold us to ransom.

That sounds like the perfect solution.

The trouble is, is a club going to spend £35m on a player knowing that if he does really well they may be foreced to sell him for well below market value (even though £50m gives them a tidy profit).

It's definitely time we started getting a few no.1 targets over the line.

Chelsea appear to be selling all their cast-off to the Saudis for inflated fees so who knows where they will be financially this summer.

Saka is now approaching that 2nd tier bracket of players, just below the likes of Mbappe and Haaland. Amazing really.

Let's be honest, international football is total dross with many opponents probably below the standard of League 2 in england but he's producing the goods at 21 and I think he must now be high on Real Madrid, PSG and City's list of targets.

Yes to be fair my figures are slightly unrealistic there. If you put a buy-back clause in then the initial selling price is goin g to come down quite a bit.

I think Tammy Abraham went to Roma for 40m euros and Chelsea had an 80m euro buy back - feels a bit more realistic in terms of selling to buy-back ratio

Apparently we've gone back in with a second bid for Havertz, £55m with some add ons.

Given that a lot of Chelsea fans will welcome that deal and football fans in general will raise an eyebrow at it, it is really one that needs to come off for us.

Rice is different, everyone would agree generally that he's worth the £90-100m you'd spend

Maitliss left the BBC two years ago. Richard Sharp, the BBC Chairman, doesn't leave his role until the end of this month. Both he and Davie were approved for their respective positions by the govt. The bias towards Labour is in your head. Pro-Freedom of speechers really don't like free speech at all, they just want to hear their own opinions echoed as often and as loudly as possible. As soon as anyone deviates from that they yell "Bias".

The Havertz bid is very interesting. Arteta must really want him and have a plan for him.

To be fair many doubted his signings of Ramsdale and White

Also who foresaw that Xhaka would play as an 8 driving in to the box, White would play at right-back all season and that Zinchenko would play as an auxiliary midfielder drifting in from left-back?

If Arteta has a plan for Havertz (and Rice and whoever else) then he's probably earned a degree of trust as he's built this team from scratch and has shown that he can improve players within the system as well.

Havertz at a mess of a Chelsea team could be very different from him at Arsenal in a settled and defined system playing to his strengths

From a mate in Africa:

Being reported in Ghanaian press that Partey has been allowed to speak to the Saudis.

That's been reported over here, 2 years left on his deal, Arsenal think they might be able to get a big fee for him.

Reports now we're in advanced discussions with Southampton for Lavia - their defensive mid they signed from Man City for £14m last year and Chelsea bid £40m for on deadline day (ie: only a month after Southampton signed him)

If we're already losing Xhaka I'd be nervous of losing Partey, and particularly if we consider a young lad like Lavia his direct replacement. As poor as Partey was in the last handful of games he was a huge reason we were challenging for the title, his role is incredibly specialised and not many players in world football can do it as well as he can

Prayers are working at the moment, Gaz.

I thought you guys would walk it when I posted that but then 3 top order wickets went down. Evenly balanced now. Shame Mo's spinning finger is buggrd so I still make you favourites. We need a shift from Jimmy. Should be some cloud cover so you never know.

2nd bid for Rice has gone in - £75m up front and £15m in add ons. Ornstein expects it to be turned down by West Ham.

If we are to believe that Rice wants us and no one else, and West Ham have given him their word he can leave there comes a point in these negotiations where if the player really wants the move he has to lean on his current club a bit

Best example was Cesc. He would only go to Barca so there was no 'market' at all. They made a piss-take of a bid which we were later forced to accept when Cesc effectively went on strike. Eventually, he went for about half what he was really worth.

That's a thought too. Although I see Balogun as someone who has the size and strength which we need up front. A point man for our crosses too.

Or we stop dicking about and pay the money. He's allegedly our number1 target so let's not have another mudryk situation.

Cracking game.

Fantastic. Looks like the Aussies are going to get it done. Fair play if they do.

What a game.

Congratulations Gaz and all our antipodean friends.

Big surprise waking up at 5am to find us winning. Got up for a pee during the night and checked the scores , first time raining and second time we were a few down and I went back to sleep thinking we would get about 220. Looks like it could be a good series.

If we look at the latest rumours on central midfield, we could.

Lose Xhaka and Partey for £45m
gain Rice and Lavia for £140m

We'll reduce the age of the midfield drastically, Rice is top quality but Lavia is still potential only, I'll happily be corrected but I don't think he's anywhere near ready yet to hold CM for a team like ours who were title condenders last year and surely want to be again this year.

CM last year was light on numbers and we were lucky that Xhaka and Partey stayed injury free. The replacements lack pace, power and athleticism. Lose them both and you're looking at 2 played in at their level which is tough to find.

Timber has a release clause that becomes active in 2 weeks, no report on what the fee is. We've apparently bid £30m for him.

I'm trying to work out if that would be more or less than the release clause. If it is more I can see the logic of trying to get a free run at him now before anyone can buy him at the release clause price - and tempt his club to sell him for more now than they have no say over in 2 weeks.

If it is less than the release clause there would be little logic in Ajax not just waiting 2 weeks to see what comes in

West Ham want Fulham’s Palhinha to replace Rice and Fulham want £90m!

You all rave about Rice but can someone tell me why he is regarded as so good and worth silly money. I never watch England games so it must be something he brings in those games. For Westham I never thought he was very good when we have played them over the years and the few Westham games I have seen this year I have hardly noticed him. They were near to relegation for most of the season so defensively I cant see his qualities.

If we pay 100mill for him he had better produce Viera performances every game he plays. It is a ridiculous amount of money to live up to.

That brings me to the next issue. Our squad was too thin last year. Then why would we sell Partey and only replace with Rice. Don't we need 2 quality players for most positions if we are to challenge. All we are doing is replacing a good defensive player with another.

Then onto our weakness in not having a plan B in games or for some opponents. Harvetz is hardly a different type of player from what we have . Obviously it is a big push from Arteta for him but he is just Jesus II to me. I am not saying we should not buy him but we should not spend all our money on him.

I would have thought we need more players than the 2 mentioned here and the Ajax back. And they need to be quality for both CL and EPL.

I've watched Rice a few times. Gets around and covers the ground. Decent passer but I can't see 100 million. That said Arteta really likes him and I trust his judgement.

I think we need to reevaluate what players cost. Maguire was £80m, Anthony £90m, Mudryk £80m. Rice for £100m is hefty but not far off in line with other recent transfers. If there was an 100% identical player to Rice who wasn't English and wasn't already in the premier league then you could easily knock £25m off the price. Those two things come at a premium.

Also, for a stats based approach I think Rice tops the interceptions list of all prem players, he's right at the top for tackles, passes, progressive passes - and in recent years he's shown he can drive forward with the ball. He's tall, defensively astute, great stamina, intelligent and can play in multiple positions, he's only 24 and is captain of his team and very well established in his national team who are one of the top 6 nations in the world (I think)- he's done all that for West Ham. That does come at a price