repman

I don't know exactly how the club do it. But all of Lewis, Aarons, Idah and Omobamidele joined the club when they were 16. 3 of the 4 made their debuts when they were 18 and Lewis was 19. What's likely is that those 4 are simply better players than the ones we sign slightly later. We sign them on the off chance that they slipped through the cracks. They also help fill out the under 23 team, to a better standard than what we may have in house, which in time will help every player improve.

I think the pathway to our first team is pretty excellent, it's a shame players don't make it but it reflects the reality that most won't. Adshead was signed with about 15 games of senior football under his belt and he presumably hasn't progressed enough since then.

They'll get rid of Winks before Skipp

We really don't need many more players who are around the age of 30. Even then behind Pukki we should be investing time into Idah.

I agree with a lot you've said here but I think it's being slightly harsh on Hayden. He would come into our team immediately, this is better than the signing of Hugill for example who was always going to be behind Pukki in the pecking order. He was good enough for Newcastle the whole time they've been back in the PL, bar the last 6 months where he got injured and lost his place to a £40 million pound player. Also, the criticism of his passing stats are fair, he's not Sergio Busquets, but he has been playing under Steve Bruce so he won't have great numbers in that regard.

What about it exactly is a joke?

Would be a terrific signing, left footed too so would also be perfect in terms of balance. I know lots of fans mentioned Twine from MK Dons but I always thought this lad made as much sense. I think there was talk of him going to Swansea to link back up with Martin.

While this may be true, it makes you wonder how much Lauren Hemp is worth at this point in time.

Was it ever confirmed that Webber had signed an extension on the rolling contract that was supposedly up this month?

The thing about 'Farkeball' is that it was never the dominance that you see from Man City and Liverpool in the PL. In 18/19 the football was tremendous to watch, but there were plenty of seesaw type games, which that year we often came out on top in so it will always be remembered fondly. The 20/21 season was nowhere near as pretty as the previous promotion, though that can be put down to the fact that the season was massively condensed.

Also, if we are signing players over the age of 30 they should at least be PL quality, I doubt Mee would even consider us and I'm not sure he's worth it given what we already have, but at least you can point to the fact he has played at the top level. Hourihane has been on loan to the championship for the last 2 seasons, he wasn't good enough for the PL then and he won't be getting any better.

They've been linked with just about every manager going at this point.

It's probably more they won't splash the parachute payments if the club can't afford it long term. Alternatively it could be we extended ourselves last year trying to stay up, and so there's less money now we are back down.

I think when you consider Smith had to go all January with no signings then letting him get one he wants early on is a good thing. Also the Hayden signing doesn't have many red flags looking from the outside, his injury history isn't perfect but it's better than a lot of players we signed when Farke was still here. 27 years old means he won't have much resale value if he's here 2/3 seasons but it's not like he is 30+ already.

Yeah I think it shows that the more possession you have the better the map will look. What is possibly notable about it from our perspective is that we have only 3 players in the oppositions half on there, which to my eye is the least of anyone in the division. Certainly felt like Pukki was isolated and that the wingers weren't helping too much. Rashica was definitely more a threat than whoever played on the right.