Oliver Burke to WBA done. I remember him being hyped to high heavens before his move to Leipzig. I don't understand why any young attacking talent would want to go play for Pulis though.

I dunno about that, a lot of young attackers have looked really great on loan at teams that play quite hoofbally (Sturridge, Lukaku) because they've got tons of space when they actually do get the ball.

Thé version i saw was that everything everything was agreed between Barça Nice and Seri but Barça froze it because they're going to have to throw more money for their other targets.

Lol barca if they can't fork out 40 on Seri

On top of that you are likely to lose key assets for 0 €€€. I think Schalke will actually play a solid season due to the focus on BL (as will Gladbach) and it feels like a really hard reset next year would make a lot of sense assuming Tedesco pans out ok which I think will happen. The Höwedes situation has me worried. I'd try to extend Meyer since I haven't given up on him (keeping Goretzka seems impossible) then build around youth and pray for some stability at the coaching position.

Ben Arfa

Also the fiscal year press conference for us starts in about 10 minutes (12h here). Could contain the Dembele transfer reveal. At least it would make a ton of sense to have that settled for this PK.

I compared him to seydou Keita for versatility and IQ but he also has a bit of Verratti in him (including his build).

Def worth 40

One of the Germans on here told me he was world class whilst at Leipzig.

So how crazy would it be to just ship a boatload of the likely Dembele money Pulisic's way? I'm thinking wage increase to Reus level (actually more, 10-12 million). I think he could get a sick deal if he leaves after the season but he also seems like a guy who could stay with us long assuming we get in front of the high wages others will offer.

Feels like we can wait until winter and if he keeps performing at his level we just ship him all the money (extend till say 2022 and immediately increase his wage to 12 million/year). He's probably on about 3 million after his last extension (wild guess, I think he was on 1,5ish before). So that's essentially 4x9=36 million in extra wages. Doesn't seem bad, could probably even go as high as 15 as long as we structure it in a clever way (some sponsorship deal for 3/year and a base wage of 10 + 2 in easy bonuses or something).

The go full USA #1 mode and build strongly around him media wise. I think he'd actually like being our "cornerstone player of the future" but who knows these days.

The way I see it we should invest 40-50 million in him and I feel like we could recoup a good chunk of that from US market exposure. Crazy or smart thinking? He's really ****ing good and it feels like we can make the huge offer during the winter break and announce before Xmas.

Think it's different for a winger though - look at Gnabry under Pulis or even someone like Callum McManaman, the likes of Tuncay back in the day etc. Pulis winger needs to run in straight lines and cross the ball, with the only other requirement being they need to play as a second full-back out of possession.

Burke will get a few cameos, go on a mazy dribble and lose the ball, and more importantly a precious chance to cross it, and then it'll be shower-headbutt time.

Cliffs so far: 8,209 million profit after taxes for the year, about 5 million excluding transfers (63,4 million in write offs next year excluding Dembele). 49,297 million cash on hand + 0 debt. >400 million revenue, we want to crack 500 next year.

Dembele not confirmed, if he leaves we'll likely buy someone but Watzke said if in doubt we'll prefer patience over panic. Explicitly said he loves the work of Bosz so far, specifically mentioned that he handled the media situation surrounding Dembele really well.

Goals: Survive group stage, get into CL.

About 130 million in player wages+bonus payments

Watzke conservatively estimated the total value of the club at "above one billion".
Talked to his friend Florentino during the draw and said RM is very smart/ahead of the curve with their exit clause values.

just to clarify, it was a fully naked shower headbutt

i dont want ppl to think pulis headbutted someone near the showers while fully clothed when he did in fact have his penis very much on display. also worth noting that the penis, the bollocks and the suprapubic fat surrounding the area were more than likely swinging all over the place due to the newtonian forces in effect

Watzke on international strategy: Germany should stay the country with the lowest ticket prices in Europe among top leagues, should not bow too much to other markets (cup final not outside of Germany, draws not during night times, no show games in Asia).

Merchandise: Stagnated a bit but happy to stay at that level not to raise prices for kits etc.

Agreed that it wouldn't take that much. But I think it makes strategic sense to not try to hit the perfect amount but rather deliberately "overspend" a bit to signal to future young talents that you can actually stay at the club and earn a **** ton. And Pulisic would be perfect for that because he's both elite enough and also has pretty sweet side benefits.
I think there's a huge pyschological effect to be had. If a player expects 8 million and you tell him "well we think your market value is about 8 but we'll give you 12 because we want you to stay with us for a long time" there's a huge level of identification that can be build that way (principle of reciprocality). Ideally we'll want to extend with him at least one more time, possibly twice (only 18ffs) so that goodwill can be worth a lot.
Basically that offer would be the foundation of "you'll be our Messi/Gerrard/Totti" in an age where these long term players are very rare

Thanks baids. I'm tired of seeing inaccurate or incomplete reporting of the story. Details matter.

In case anyone needs further clarification:

Half-ass it at work for 6 years, call in sick 25% of the time, treble your salary. Sick life.

I don't get why RB Leipzig had burke for only 1 season. Bought him for 15m , sold him for 15m. And now they need depth for UEFA CL.

my cousin in Germany who is a RB fan and season ticket holder said that the consensus is Burke is very athletic and physically talented, but not a very smart player.

Sell sell sell sell

£180k a week for the Ox holy crap these prices wages

Might need a BAIDS siren if he's turning that down cos we sure as hell ain't matching that. Doubtful Chelsea would either.

I dunno, he makes a lot of sense for Chelsea and they may well be panicking.

high wages are ruining the game

what we need is some sort of metric which gives us wages as a function of a meaningful reference point

He'll end up at Bournemouth on loan hopefully.

needs much more for a siren imo. historical evidence so overwhelmingly one sided that the base assumption simply must be 'chelsea offer > arsene offer'

Isn't part of the issue at Arsenal that he wants to play CM? Can't see him being a great fit there for Chelsea.