You think he'd have wanted out if we scraped CL qualification, the only reason he wants to leave is because of CL qualification, it was being reported as such all the way back in November/December that he'd leave if this wasnt reached.
all this transfer business is a smoke screen, also he has 1 year left on his contract you think even with lots of transfers we are going to go from 7th to 1st using one window and a new coach.
Not so sure. He has spoken favourably of ETH and the project since the end of the season, no CL is nothing new. It's only since our dry June/other clubs making big inroads in the market that he's come out publicly. I'm still not convinced by his wanting-out yet. I see it as much as a call to action for the board to spend more on the first team this window, and quickly. He knows he's a major part of financially offsetting lack of CL football for the board, so could be testing their hand here.
So what should we focus on sorting out in the meantime do you reckon
Since the window opened, there have been loads of players moving who would have instantly improved out first XI. And I'm not talking about the likes of Haaland, Philips and Nunez who were realistically never choosing us over their new clubs.
But look at Bissouma going to Spurs. Botman to Newcastle. Kamara to Villa. These players would have started for us, and shouldn't be the types of signings we're not prepared to do whilst working out if and when we're getting de Jong. Not only that, we've basically been priced out for Antony due to Ajax picking up fees through other transfers.
I'm not saying we're wrong to be playing the long game for FdJ, it's probably the only way it gets done. But we should be prepared to spend more on the squad this summer. Right now, we've brought in a back-up LB, and are close to a free back-up CAM. And the season starts in month. It's not dynamic enough to keep up with our rivals.