That was my thought too, just seemed odd to see no mention of it. And I don't recall seeing mention of how long Park's contract was either, turned out to be a year.

Not sure we are going for cheap on the CB, after the links to Anel and Davies. Suspect they want a rock they can rely on. Wise, since Ayala has unreliable availability to put it mildly, and Wharton is still relatively inexperienced at this level although he had a good season. It would be unfair to frequently put the burden on him, especially if we line up with 3 CBs at any stage. Course, if we want two CBs, one could be relatively cheap as you say. I suspect if we get two though, we will buy one and loan one, since we have Carter and Phillips coming through who, if not ready this season we may consider to be next season.

Makes sense if you think he will go back to BB next season though. Even if he notched 22 again I don't think it would go up more than a few million unless we somehow went up, as there is a bit of a ceiling on Championship players. Maybe another few million if he hit 30 or shone even more for Chile. On the other hand if he scored 7 again his value would probably half. A dramatic loss of value is probably more of a possibility than a dramatic increase in value. So there is some logic to it. Though personally I think he is more likely to continue as is, or improve, than become a bit shit again. And an increase of a few million is still an increase.

Anybody know how long his contract is? I haven't seen it anywhere. I wouldn't want another 1-year appointment like last time, I think it's the kind of role you need to bed in and do your thing for a while.

I haven't seen the player whatsoever, and I doubt many on here have. But I'd have to say 16 goals in Serie A probably trumps 22 in the Championship.

The remaining length of contract does weaken our hand though. Especially with foreign clubs lurking who could pre-sign him for free in Jan. If he had 2+ years left his market value for his profile would probably be about 20-25 million. With a year left, 15 is probably about right unless there's a bidding war. Come January we won't be getting more than about 10 at best.

Oh look, the 900th rumour about West Ham wanting BBD... 😴

No need to apologise, this thread is huge.

Nope, it was being spoken about on here before then. Originated from the Blackpool side.

Ok, thanks for confirming it was just because you were being pedantic. We talk about the club as 'we' all the time on here. We need players. We should have fired Mowbray sooner. We got promoted from League One. None of those are the fans, we vicariously experience them or want them for the club. You knew what I meant, and you knew I didn't believe I was wiring Pears 3k a week.

And a competent CEO should have been the one saying 'No Tony, that will put an excessive financial burden on the club for players who will have no market value soon.'

(Not to mention, in a roundabout way we do pay them, as we put money into the club...same as taxpayers pay politicians in a roundabout way)

Cool. Good thing too, I can't afford it. Were you just being pedantic, when you know that by 'we' I mean the club I'm a fan of, or did you have an actual counterpoint there?

Not gonna lie, I really want us to sign Styles...that's usually when it doesn't happen!

I'd be OK if I only had to sit on the bench. We don't pay these pro footballers thousands a week to sit on the bench, we pay them to be up to the task when called upon. Pears isn't.

Didn't say otherwise, just that a WB has less defensive responsibility in a 3/5 than in a 4.

He will be exposed less not more, if it's wingbacks in a back 5, which it likely would be as wingbacks in a 4 is too cavalier. That's the whole point of the 3 CBs, to compensate for the fact the wingbacks are fully expected to spend more time further up the pitch. The WBs defensive attributes become less important and we would mostly judge him on his attacking output, whereas a fullback I'll mostly judge on their defensive contributions. Both still matter for both roles, but the balance shifts.

Him being a young player with minimal appearances doesn't mean he's on a par with Vale.

True but also may be a sign our move isn't either.

He definitely doesn't write well. I was writing better than that by the end of Primary School. The articles are littered with grammatical and other errors that rile me no end. The editor should take some flak for that too though. If you mean his footballing opinions, I think they have merit from time to time and he occasionally writes interesting stuff. I think he is keen and has a good work rate, but his writing is technically shoddy and his sources appear to be highly limited most of the time. Unless he hears loads he doesn't report because the club don't want him to and he's just too soft to be a real journalist about it.

One of his teammates is here now, might help. Hope they get along...

Nobody should ever bother asking Mowbray what position a player plays.

It was also him that scored the winner in the reverse fixture, wasn't it?

True, but City are a bit prone to not caring as much as other clubs what fee they get when a player they don't mind losing wants out.

Definite difference of opinion there...