Not to contradict, but, is it even possible for this to be true if taken literally? Surely he has to sign his contract before tonight's deadline? I know there are some rules about if you've got the bulk of the deal done and paperwork submitted you can finalise a bit later, but I didn't think that applied to the player signing the contract too (I guess in a way he could only sign once clubs are signed off with each other though).

Yeh it wasn't. Not by me anyway.

Anybody played a few seasons on FM 20 and seen how Ben Brereton turns out? I'm probably about to sell him for about 12 million to Everton in January 2020 (can tell it's just a game, hah!) but I do have some concerns as his potential ability has consistently shown as being at least 4*, possibly 5*. I'll be slapping a sell on fee in there of course but it still keeps making me think I might be making a mistake. He's my only asset who I don't imminently need who I can get a lot of money for at the moment. I don't massively need the cash, I'll only see 2.5 million of it as budget for this season anyway and I think I can squeeze my remaining budget to buy the three first-teamers I'm lining up. But I'd like to sign 17 year old Fran Lopez, who my scouts tell me is slightly better than Ben right now (different type of forward though, which my main style doesn't really use) and has potential of 4 to 4.5 stars. It's that 0.5 possible difference that's giving me pause for thought... although from past experience I'll probably be regularly hoovering up forwards with as much or more potential than Ben within a year or two, and that at 20 with only 2.5 CA he probably won't hit his potential anyway. Selling Breo for 12 million and bringing in Lopez for 1.3 mill seems a no brainer (not sure if the owners will pocket the difference when deciding my summer budget though) but I'd just feel more comfortable if I knew how good BB really can get on here...

Which world though? If the theories about infinite alternate realities are true, there has to be a world out there where Brereton actually is world class.

Cheers. You won't be saying that when I play. Though as everybody has been saying 'absolutely anybody we sign there has to be better than Bell', I can only conclude I'll be an improvement. Hopefully I can make it to the Jan window before we start to hear 'anybody we sign there has to be better than Bruce' and I'm transferred on a free to the Dog n' Bucket due to budget constraints.

I think you need full on LSD for that. Something hallucinatory. No amount of weed is going to make you think Brereton is better than Reed.

The contracts absolutely need to be sorted. I just don't see why you're so flabbergasted that doing so will come out of the transfer budget now that covid is going to drag on longer. Could the owners fund it? Depends what damage has been done to their businesses and how deep their pockets are. Will they? No. Could they get around the FUP constraints in some clever way? Probably, although the league seem to be cracking down on loophole closers in a way they never did when it was introduced. Will they? As has been shown by now, no. They either lack the nous, desire, and/or only do things in the spirit of the rules. Whatever the reason we surely all know by now it just isn't happening and we have to live within both the budget of the club (its natural income plus the FUP permitted owner input) and the FUP restrictions. All this academic discussion to the contrary is only raising your blood pressure mate. Like the famous saying goes, accept the things you can't change. Oh and I agree the season ticket sales handling has been a club-made disaster.

I can confirm I've been asked to join. I told Tony that despite it being a lifelong dream, as a fan I had to do what's best for the club, and as a 35 year old, injury prone, right-footed centre half who never got to semi-pro level before injury issues stopped me playing for more than a few months at a time, I couldn't in all conscience become the club's new left back. Despite the improvement I think I would offer over Amari'i Bell, I told them to sign someone a lot better than me, but that if they still haven't by the end of the window, I'd sign for my day-job wage, a free season ticket for life, and a legal promise they'll do everything in their power to sign Nyambe to a new deal.

Meanwhile you're ignoring, again, the multi million pound losses that have and will happen from covid. Very worried about several of those contract situations too though. As I've said before this looks a make or break season.

A player of that pedigree, who knows full well he spends most of his time injured, would probably need committing to an asylum if he signed a deal like that with a Championship club. At the very least his agent would need firing. Course, I hadn't thought there was a chance on earth that Rodwell was going to sign for us either, though that was clearly as a stepping stone move. Depends how desperate the player gets I guess. Can't see it being remotely feasible though.

Doesn't look like that's happening: https://www.nottinghamforest.news/2020/10/05/report-nottingham-forest-wont-sign-west-brom-flyer-kamil-grosicki/

Aye Lars' lad looks a handy player from that. Some great passing, fierce tackles at times...what I like the most there is how quickly he seems to make his mind up what he's going to do with the ball once he receives it. Doesn't come across like someone who dawdles on the ball while they weigh things up. Which is good because he would probably have less time in England. Only 21. No Norway caps yet though, except at U21 and below.

Just been reading a bit about the way the European and domestic transfer windows work, and had a think about it, and think it's a right load of shite. So Prem clubs will try to do their business in Europe and within the Prem, and if they don't do it today they will have literally only one avenue of recruitment - the leagues below them - to fill the remaining gaps. They can't even trade with other Prem clubs for some pointless fucking reason. This makes it a certainty that some Champs clubs (hopefully not us) will lose some star players and no longer be able to use Europe to replace them, which is the best value market. To ensure good quality replacements, they will either: 1) Nick them from other Championship clubs (which I think is still allowed?) or League One clubs at high prices, who will then have the same problem, or 2) Be over a barrel with Prem clubs regarding paying ridiculous wages and loan fees for the talent they incessantly use their muscle to hoover up. It's a fucking racket.

Really?? He's ridiculously good for this league, there must be a reason. Either a fall out with the manager or some transfer saga going on. No way he isn't good enough for their side, he's probably their best player.

Whoever it is, they seem to think Bell and Armstrong have the same pace and acceleration, so I wanted a word ?

He does 'seem' to have a direct line, but there have been times (I can't remember examples right now but it has definitely happened) where one of his denials or confirmations have turned out to be bollocks. I think he gets told some things sometimes, but either he gets lied to on occasion or he is aware of the level of trust we have historically put in the LT for denials and confirmations and plays on it a bit to keep the paper relevant. I have started to appreciate some of his analysis articles in recent months though if I'm honest. Still hate that he is constantly saying TM 'admits' this or that though, when he isn't admitting anything. His actual writing skills are sub-par (and/or his editor is terrible) but I think he understands the game fairly well. Better than Andy Nield was it?

Yeh hasn't gone unnoticed by me. I don't think Sharpe is much better though, the club don't let much leak these days, and when it does happen you usually see it tighten up further for a while after (after the Kipre fail it has gone very quiet in terms of seemingly reputable rumours)

I'm playing FM 20 (got it for free on Epic Games Launcher...it was free there for a week, thought about sharing this fact on here but I didn't want to be responsible for anybody else returning to the addiction like I have! Sorry/you're welcome everybody). Do you have anything to do with the Rovers data for those or just on FIFA? I find there are certain recurring problems with player ratings in FM...the last one I played was FM 11 but I'm seeing many of the same issues here. Central AMs seem to struggle to get good ratings. In fact all AMs seem to struggle to get good ratings no matter how good they look like they're playing when you watch the highlights, unless they get some goals or assists, which in my experience they won't do too frequently unless they're a certain type used a certain way (on FM 11 I used to get one with great long shots and decent pace and encourage him to shoot, that worked well). Dack always keeps the play ticking over really nicely on mine but doesn't score many like the real Dack. This could be that my system is 4-2-3-1 wide gegenpress though, which has his role as advanced playmaker. Thinking about it, switching him to attacking mid attack duty might improve things for him, but I dunno if it would keep my team overall playing well. Dack's average for me is still 7.03 from 23 (8) games. 4 goals, 3 assists. Rothwell and Arma are absolute menaces on my game but they keep fluffing the chances, so get 6.4 or 6.5 quite a lot. Goalies are the worst for ratings though. I'll see a goalie pull several worldies before creeping slightly over a 7 if lucky, but let in one unstoppable rocket out of like 10 shots on target and get a 6.7. Practically impossible for them to score an 8 unless you thrash the opposition heavily. All ratings lifting the more you win by seems a bit daft too, it's a very newspaper thing to do, true, but this scoring system isn't like newspapers, using decimals, and, since we don't get to watch how the whole game plays out we are fairly reliant on those ratings to know how good our players are doing (and the other data I guess, but that's a hassle to wade through). My left backs always do well though, even Bell who has averaged 7.11 (but is still second choice LB...first thing I did was grab Martin Olsson on a free, who has averaged 7.10 but over more games, and he usually plays the hard teams whilst Bell gets the easier ones during congested patches). Another problem this game has is easy chances are frequently missed. Tons of chances are created, maybe to compensate for this, and maybe it's all intentional as an entertainment thing, but for me it draws me a little out of the illusion of realism.

Of course, you'll have seen a lot more so I'll defer to your judgement rather than a highlight clip. But you're right, we'll all know once he's been wearing that shirt a while, if that happens. It sounds like the sort of deal that would be on the cards though, and I expect as a free transfer it doesn't matter that it's European so doesn't have to be done tomorrow? I think Sharpe has previously said as much not that long ago.

Got to say, Crooke's report on the new guy came across pretty amateurish... he either read about it on here, which is fairly likely and not a problem as such (hi Jacob) or he used the same google translate that the lad who posted the translation in here used. He really should have made some obvious alterations though...but it was funny to read in an 'official' publication Aleesami twice talking about 'driving medically' instead of 'driving for a medical'. Don't think you're supposed to drive when medicated! Not to mention the 'the end of the transition window', which makes it sound like he's nearly done with his gender reassignment surgery.

Interesting, that wasn't the impression I got from the clips at all. Aleesami looked a lot more confident and decisive, a little rough, and maybe lacking discipline. Also seemed to turn reasonably quickly. Just goes to show what a well composed highlight reel can do to impressions of a player!

Aye, though you'd sorta have to say we play with 3 up front now. Not true strikers though. I think we are fine there for now though.

Much better clip, got more of a sense of him now. Undoubtedly looks a lot better attacking than Bell. It's a highlights reel of course so can't judge that too much, but I think if you put it against a Bell highlights reel I'd be saying the same. He looks a lot more aggressive and, critically, decisive than Bell in attack. Seems to really enjoy bursting forwards, sometimes to the point of recklessness. That generally gives me kittens as I like defenders to defend first and foremost, even the full backs or wing backs, but it may suit our new style well and help against those shore-up sides like Cardiff. Defensively it's harder to judge. Certainly seems stronger (or again, maybe just more aggressive). No defending on the clip that made me think wow, but I don't need defending to be eye catching, I need it to be solid, consistent and free from mistakes as often as possible. These clip reels can't tell you that, they can only tell you the best he is capable of. Shorter and probably less aerial presence. The reel included a couple of clear fouls he was presumably lucky to get away with. He seems as quick as Bell, though that may have diminished with age as I've no idea how old the clips are, but hits top speed quicker and can turn more nimbly. If I was to base it entirely off that clip, I wouldn't be too unhappy with signing him, although I'm not salivating based on comments from our Norweigans.

You're right. I didn't watch it all, I kept skipping forward a bit because nothing was happening. And each time, still nothing was happening. I learnt nothing until the last time I skipped, where it shows him scoring a rocket with his right from the edge of the area. That's a good sign at least, he's not one-footed. He couldn't fluke hitting it that well if he had a really bad right foot.

If you don't think he would improve the team, are you saying you disagree he is better than Bell?