Norwich City vs QPR (away) Monday 2nd April.

[Canaryboy]

when the sale of Jacob Murphy, the inevitable sale of Maddison, with Josh Murphy and Jamal Lewis in the first team, and Ben Godfrey and Remi Matthews on the fringes of it, have helped us out massively. I don't think Webber should bash it (on the youth side at least) as much as he does,

Add £1m for Rudd in the summer to that Jacob Murphy fee. Not an unsubstantial fee for a goalkeeper, its more than we paid for John Ruddy.

I don't really see what the point is in investing so heavily in the academy if you bring through a left footed player of Glenn Middleton's calibre and then let him move to Rangers on a free at 18. Not like we're not short of wingers is it?

We actually paid Northampton a fee for Middleton when he was 12 (another investment made under McNally, Mr. Academy neglector).

 

[Din]

"I certainly don't believe based on what we've seen so far that we'll continue to slide down the league as you're suggesting"

Can't see where I've suggested that, I actually said we're going to need to invest heavily in attacking players from the Maddison proceeds if we're going to have any chance of challenging at the other end of the table. Where have I said that?

Although as it happens, I wouldn't rule out us being at the wrong end of the table if we get the summer transfer window wrong. We can't be too stingy with reinvesting the Maddison proceeds, we're going to need to spend some real money on one or two attacking midfielders and a striker or two.

To be fair you did say:

We've got a below average squad and Gunn, Reed, Tettey, Oliviera, and Maddison are replaced by players of the standard of Watkins and Husband in the summer then we're probably going to have a League One standard squad.

Not saying that we're going to slide down the league to be fair but hardly certainly implying we might.

But yeah I don't want it to see as if I'm having a go at you personally, and I do agree if we get the summer transfer window wrong then we could easily find ourselves at the wrong end of the table. I just think that based on what we've seen this season from Webber and Farke if we keep up the same success ratio in terms of the signings we've made so far then we won't be battling relegation. As I said next season I do expect to see progress in some form. As much as I like Farke and to an extent Webber, if we haven't made any progress after 3 transfer windows then something definitely needs to be looked at.

Couple things about the Maddison money:

1 - Ruben Neves cost £15m ish and is actually slightly younger than Maddison. The jump to £25m for Maddison seems unrealistic.

2 - Other clubs will adjust their prices for players knowing we have got a wedge for Maddison in the bank or on its way.

To be fair Maddison is English, coming from an English league and is an attacking player. Neves is coming from the Portuguese league (even for a club in the Champions League like Porto £15m will be a good amount of money),is a defensive midfielder and they got him at a cut price because of the relationship they have with Jorge Mendes.

I think the fee for Maddison is probably more likely to be about £18-20m with a load of add-ons. But it's still a lot of money for a club in our position. Other clubs will probably adjust their price as you say but even with slightly boosted prices you'd think we could really improve the spine of our team.

 

[Canaryboy]

Think I'm just feeling a bit down about us not finishing the season strong to be honest. Feels like we've got more work to do than we should in the summer. In a few cases we need to be replacing players that we signed last summer, although hopefully Bristol City still have that £1m set aside.

We're going to have to spend a bit of money anyway because we've struggled to name 7 homegrown players at times and with Maddison likely off and Gunn and Reed going home, and Watkins probably out.... we're going to have to promote a couple of kids permanently and sign a few English players.

We may be in a better place than I think though, Tettey and Hoolahan leaving will free up a lot of money... probably talking a few million quid off the wage bill with those two.
.

 

[GJP]

To be fair Maddison is English, coming from an English league and is an attacking player. Neves is coming from the Portuguese league (even for a club in the Champions League like Porto £15m will be a good amount of money),is a defensive midfielder and they got him at a cut price because of the relationship they have with Jorge Mendes.

I think the fee for Maddison is probably more likely to be about £18-20m with a load of add-ons. But it's still a lot of money for a club in our position. Other clubs will probably adjust their price as you say but even with slightly boosted prices you'd think we could really improve the spine of our team.

He's a defensive midfielder but he can create and has a goal in him. But I do know your point about Madders being English etc. Having said that, and I think you have pretty much agreed with it with your £18-£20m comment, £25m seems too much of a jump.

As for what you've said about the spine of the team, usually I would fear losing our best players. But this time I think we need to rake in the cash from Madders for the overall benefit of the team.

He has to go really. Another season in the Champs doesn't add any value to him and unless we do bring in some extra quality in the summer we are going to be just as far away as we are now.