Will Dembele be on highest earner at the club level wages factoring in a relegation drop? Also I dont get why Newcastle would have to sign someone to let him go. He was a bizarre signing to begin with. He is 5th choice. You are right though. Big outlay for a very short term focused recruitment haul. And Eustace keeps going on about building a football club etc, yet his choices of players seemingly spit in the face of that. He will live or die by any decision. But he managed him for a brief opening of a season in which he showed to be on the decline physically, is now a year older, was released (in agreement with fans) by a side he played a part in the relegation of. The reason that people are against him is because of his age and because he has actively declined in quality especially over the last year. Your counter argument is merely that Eustace has managed him before. And Johansson has been a top quality keeper at this level for years. Basing his ability on the highlights of one game would be stupid.

Feels like a bit of a power struggle and its not something we can afford so close to the deadline. Very much against Eustace's desire to re-create his old Birmingham side and also our squad could go from being too young to too old in one window. The Stansfield for big money suggestion was never going to happen and sounds based on what @Tugayisgod is suggesting that Nixon has backed down from talk of a multi million pound deal and is reporting that he would be a loan. As a permanent even though he isnt in a position where we need to strengthen, at least he would give us a younger asset of which weve been stripped. Good player but any loan would be expensive and we would face big competition. Ruddy obviously a big no, would be a terrible and unacceptable signing especially considering superior alternatives. Dembele would be a really uninspiring addition as touched on. Baker has question marks, his injury record and the price previously reported is too much. He also again is an older player. But he is a decent player at this level who would provide a goal threat and an ability from set pieces.

They dont wish to invest and that has always been an issue. The case is obviously an extra barrier but they wouldnt have invested anyway. We have brought in so much in the last 6 months that its merely a case of using a slither the funds we have as a club raised ourselves. And even if they needed to invest, as you say they can use the bond. They just dont want to.

But that only changes things if they were going to invest in the first place if they could. Which they still can, but wont. We have raked in so much in fees that any investment would be reinvestment of fees in, and even beyond that, they can invest and put an equal amount in the bond. Talk of a late bumper kitty dependant on the court case (a week and a half before the window closes) was total delusion.

The court case doesnt change much in this window. Anyone expecting a potential late spree off the back of the case going in Venkys favour were deluding themselves. At most, we was always going to spend a slither of the £40m received. At a push.

They had one summer when they splurged a decent sum on Brereton and Armstrong. Otherwise, im struggling to remember many other splurges.

Where is this from?

Even then, would leave us very short in midfield and defence.

Poku is a winger.

Even if we signed a good keeper, we would struggle to compete over 46 games with the current outfield players. Nowhere near enough before you come to issues with quality.

Im sure New York Rover is right on the pulse with their cryptic transfer insights.

And thats worked out well.

Dembele is more of the profile and type of player that we need, a quick winger. Just not the quality. Its all based on speculation but I am not fond of the idea of Eustace just going for former players. One thing I am sure of is that we have no time for disagreements, we need players in ASAP. Time is running out and I also dont see how we can afford to lose Travis.

I take rumours of the manager wanting one player and us signing another with a pinch of salt. But in general, we are the most dysfunctional club in terms of potential for disagreements like this by using such a structure.

Eustace doesnt appear happy as it is. Selling Travis against his will might tip him over the edge.

I think Travis and Tronstad can compliment each other well. Whilst I appreciate that we could with a more technical alternative, Tronstad sitting back allows Travis to go box to box as he did against Derby.

Rover Insider is just seeking attention with often cryptic or at least unprovable rubbish

Theres absolutely no reason to sell Travis. Shouldnt be any pressure whatsoever for further sales, we are already short in midfield and Travis has been very good since returning. As ever, it would be the owners fucking us over.

Not the same Josh King.

To be fair, there are so many examples of successful managers and coaches with at best very poor playing historys, and vice versa. Brightons new manager just played B team and lower league football and is only 31. He won his first game 3 nil. Benson may be poor at his job but its not necessarily because of not having a glittering playing career.

I dont think that Liam Delap is worth the money paid, let me be clear. I think with that amount of money and a bit of creativity, you could spend it far more efficiently. The point is that you simply cannot directly compare the price of a 21 year old striker to a 29 year old attacking midfielder. It cannot be used as a benchmark.

It is pretty self explanatory. Delap is clearly not as good as Szmodics and we dont know if he ever will be. But he is far, far earlier in his development and he has become far better in the last year. There is much more of a chance that Delap could earn them a substantial amount in the future due to his age. Szmodics is at his peak so even if he has a stormer and proves to be Premier League quality, aged 30 no one will be putting massive money. Its not comparing like for like. They are paying what they are for Szmodics for the very immediate future. They are paying for Delap knowing that he has plenty of progression left in him. Comparing the price to a keeper is even more stupid.

Surely if Ipswich have got a bargain for Szmodics them they were correct to hold off.

Wahlstedt was doing that from the very beginning.

Whilst obviously the key to recruitment is identifying the best possible players over a wider spread of countries, it is a considerable advantage to have more money available in the first place. There is a strong (not absolute obviously) correlation between the money spent on players and how well that team is likely to do. The issue with say signing Jerry Yates for £2.5m is not anything to do with the fact that they had £2.5m as opposed to say £1m. Its lazy recruitment. (Im guessing that is Swansea who have since loaned him to Derby) Had they spent £1m but had the same scouting and recruitment and the same close mindedness, they likely would have got someone domestic with even less of a track record. The more money available to us, the better. It is as simple as that, budget plays a huge part. It will all come down to recruitment from that part, but our recruitment team will have a much better chance of finding quality if they have more money. Because we signed Ohashi and Gueye for cheaper than Yates, that doesnt prove that its sometimes better to have less money, although it is very premature to assume them as successes yet anyway. It perhaps proves that casting your net further and looking across the world can help you to fins better value for whatever budget you have available.