Nothing will happen until the Gallagher situation resolved. My guess we are waiting for a final yes or no from Chelsea, before we make any move for anybody else, just keeping options open for a fallback.

The last week of transfer window is bit like a game of poker, who holds their nerve the longest.

He wont get in the team as an attacking midfielder unless Eze leaves or is injured, and he is rubbish as a DM

“That’s a joke son, I say, that’s a joke.” “Nice boy, but he’s sharp as a throw pillow.” “He’s so dumb he thinks a Mexican border pays rent” “ “Son… I say, son, some people are so narrow minded they can look through a keyhole with both eyes.”__ Forhorn Leghorn

I can’t see why CG can’t play in a midfield 3 alongside Eze and Doucoure.

Schlupp is a decent left sided player, but not a CM player

“That’s a joke son, I say, that’s a joke.” “Nice boy, but he’s sharp as a throw pillow.” “He’s so dumb he thinks a Mexican border pays rent” “ “Son… I say, son, some people are so narrow minded they can look through a keyhole with both eyes.”__ Forhorn Leghorn

My opinion too. With Gallagher we could switch up or hold, depending on the situation. Currently, if Eze or Schlupp aren't firing we can't really change things up. We have no options there.

Red and Blue Army!

Agreed. At Lens, Doucoure played DM with Seko Fofana playing CM.

I think the club have been hanging on to the possibility that we might get Gallagher back on loan, that explains why we were slow to make move on our other midfield targets. We were also banking on at least one of them still being available at the end of the window. When we realised all our targets were getting snapped up we tried moving quickly for Downes. We probably only missed out on him because Wasserman wanted more commission so the Warburtons got together and took him to West Ham- everyone got a better pay day and the player got to move to the club he supported as a kid. Unfortunately for him I think he’ll regret not coming to us.

The last couple of weeks we have been sounding out a few options, hence the odd name here or there echos around News Now. Boubakary Soumaré appears to be gaining some traction in the press, but is that just because it’s a switch between two premier league clubs so bigger outlets see it as newsworthy?

Soumaré is a DM but I’d be happy if we signed him. I could see him playing alongside Doucoure in front of a back 3 when we play against sides who dominate possession.

Perhaps, longer term, PV sees potential for Doucoure as a CM- hence he’s already played him there. Clearly PV knows more about the requirements of that position than any of us and his track record of getting players to buy into his philosophy has been pretty impressive so far…

I’ve been reading these forums on and off for years but have never registered or commented. Things feel a little different now though and it’s inspired me to comment. We have a young and happy squad who are capable of playing some fantastic football and are improving all the time. I have every faith in Freedman, Vieira and the rest of the recruitment team to bring the right players in.