Raphinha

[Lumiukko]

Some of the courting doesn't make sense.

Arsenal already with England international Saka in that position and no CL.

Spuds, yes with CL but they just brought in Kulesevski last season on an 18 month loan who was one of the stand-out players of the PL during the second half of the season (admittedly, he is on loan but you would think they would want to make it permanent).

Newcastle hardly a step-up in campaigns he will be part of.

The only two links that make sense are Barcelona (no pot to piss in) and Chelsea. And on that, mostly because of the Deco links.

My only hope is Raph stands by his principles of not just jumping ship for the sake of more money. If his dream move is really Barca, he has nothing to lose by waiting until January when they might have the finances for him. It's win win for him and us. His fee won't really drop (unless something bad happens), and we could be flying by then and he decides to renew his contract (unlikely but we can dream).

[Rover]

Some of the courting doesn't make sense.

Arsenal already with England international Saka in that position and no CL.

Spuds, yes with CL but they just brought in Kulesevski last season on an 18 month loan who was one of the stand-out players of the PL during the second half of the season (admittedly, he is on loan but you would think they would want to make it permanent).

Newcastle hardly a step-up in campaigns he will be part of.

The only two links that make sense are Barcelona (no pot to piss in) and Chelsea. And on that, mostly because of the Deco links.

My only hope is Raph stands by his principles of not just jumping ship for the sake of more money. If his dream move is really Barca, he has nothing to lose by waiting until January when they might have the finances for him. It's win win for him and us. His fee won't really drop (unless something bad happens), and we could be flying by then and he decides to renew his contract (unlikely but we can dream).

Got to agree Lumiukko, although Barca may find the cash before the end of the summer window. The big question is whether LUFC will stand their ground in the face of all of the media pressure? If KP goes then we should be able to withstand the financial pressure.

[Cjay]

Ideal scenario for me is we talk directly to Raph.

Forget Deco.

Show him we mean business in the transfer market which he himself said he wanted in an interview back in April.

Go big on a striker, someone like Gakpo.

Get Tyler Adams.

Get another quality attacking midfielder.

Ask Raph if he has any recommendations for signings.

Make him feel important which he is.

Offer Raph our highest paid contract, £150k a week and a new 4 year deal.

Put in a Champions League release clause of say £80mil.

Tell him if we don't finish top 7 next season (unlikely I know) then he can go for £60mil next summer to any club in the Europa League or Champions league.

He gets the pay rise he rightly deserves.

He gets the status of our best paid player which he clearly deserves.

We get atleast another 12months of Raph.

[lufc1304]

Spot on, Cjay, that all makes perfect sense. Probably won't happen, but we should at least try

[Johnboy1965]

Would be worse for us if he left in Jan rather than right now.
Yes we would get a few more months service but we would be left in Jan scrambling around for a replacement which is historically a bad time for transfers anyway and could leave us going into the business end of the season without a replacement.
Whatever happens needs to happen soon so if he does leave we have time to replace.
Ideally would love it if he stayed but at the same time don't like the idea of us pandering to him either.
If he wants out then fine let him go. Same goes for KP.

[Lufcste]

Would be worse for us if he left in Jan rather than right now.
Yes we would get a few more months service but we would be left in Jan scrambling around for a replacement which is historically a bad time for transfers anyway and could leave us going into the business end of the season without a replacement.
Whatever happens needs to happen soon so if he does leave we have time to replace.
Ideally would love it if he stayed but at the same time don't like the idea of us pandering to him either.
If he wants out then fine let him go. Same goes for KP.

Strongly agree with this tbf...

[Cjay]

Spot on, Cjay, that all makes perfect sense. Probably won't happen, but we should at least try

Sure it won't happen

But makes perfect sense to me.

Understand what John and Ste are saying about losing in January but if that were to happen hopefully the ambition we had shown in the Summer to sign quality players would have paid off and we are no way near Relegation trouble.

And we get £80mil and any DOF worth it's salt will have planned for this scenario and have multiple targets waiting.

[lufc1304]

Sure it won't happen

But makes perfect sense to me.

Understand what John and Ste are saying about losing in January but if that were to happen hopefully the ambition we had shown in the Summer to sign quality players would have paid off and we are no way near Relegation trouble.

And we get £80mil and any DOF worth it's salt will have planned for this scenario and have multiple targets waiting.

Exactly, all about succession planning. He's our crown jewel, there will always be suitors, more so if he has a good WC as a Leeds player. We need to be in a position where we could let him go to the highest bidder safe in the knowledge that X is the next man up or in to fill the void. Victor needs to be smart about this, jury's out on whether or not he will be......

[Rook]

Do we know what Arsenals bid was?

[Cjay]

Exactly, all about succession planning. He's our crown jewel, there will always be suitors, more so if he has a good WC as a Leeds player. We need to be in a position where we could let him go to the highest bidder safe in the knowledge that X is the next man up or in to fill the void. Victor needs to be smart about this, jury's out on whether or not he will be......

Exactly.

As the club grows you prepare for all possible scenarios.

Raph has a good world Cup, we have a much better season, he leaves with our gratitude and gets his deserved move and we sign a replacement who joins a club with a better squad and in a better position.

Problem solved.

[Cjay]

Do we know what Arsenals bid was?

Not been leaked but the gist was it was bordering on insulting.

Probably somewhere near £30-40mil?

[Johnboy1965]

And we get £80mil and any DOF worth it's salt will have planned for this scenario and have multiple targets waiting.

Hit the nail square on the head with that statement CJay
Question is do we have confidence that Orta can do this?
Planning and preparation hardly been his forte so far.

[Johnboy1965]

I'm just worried if we leave it too late this window or in Jan Orta will go into panic buy mode ala JKA

[The Subhuman]

I'm just worried if we leave it too late this window or in Jan Orta will go into panic buy mode ala JKA

Then if we sell late this season we wait til next to buy, You pay a massive premium to buy in Jan

[Rook]

We need Barcelona to sell a few players so that they can put a bid in for Raphinha.

I don't want him to sign for ANY premier league team, even if the bid is deemed acceptable, tbh.

[Cjay]

Phil Hay has said Arsenal offered less than £40mil and it was immediately rejected.

I'd add £5mil on to the asking price just for the arrogance.

[Cjay]

Hit the nail square on the head with that statement CJay
Question is do we have confidence that Orta can do this?
Planning and preparation hardly been his forte so far.

No John tbh no

I am utterly convinced they will leave us short and do the minimum.

We need an extra striker, creative midfielder and cm even if Raph and KP stay.

But according to Phil Hay we will only do a striker if those 2 stay.
.

[Irish Ian]

And apparently that offer wasn't viewed as desisory

I know it is still June but this seems to be dragging on.

I hope Leeds arent anxious to sell becuase they have a long shopping list.

[Mountain]

Arsenal makes perfect sense to me

Big 6
London
Can offer high wages
Improving
A player like Raph could be the thing that puts them into the top 3 with Manure in rebuild and we're not sure how good Chelsea will be going forward .. Man City/Liverpool makes no sense, he probably wouldn't be a starter there.... Chelsea or Arse look his best landing spots imo....

Plus they've lost Aubameyang and will lose Lacazette and if that happens is their highest scoring striker Nketiah with 5? if so can see why they want to get a few more up front, even if not out and out strikers.

[weasel]

Understand what John and Ste are saying about losing in January but if that were to happen hopefully the ambition we had shown in the Summer to sign quality players would have paid off and we are no way near Relegation trouble.

And we get £80mil and any DOF worth it's salt will have planned for this scenario and have multiple targets waiting.

Okay so say he goes in January and Orta has drawn up a list of his top 8 targets. Targets 1 and 4 play for teams still involved in the Champions League, they won't win it but understandably want to keep their best players to try to get as far as they can (see Aaronsen this January as an example). Target 2 and 6 play for teams challenging for their league titles and neither of the clubs want them to leave and nor do the players. Target 3 is injured. Target 5 is at a club fighting relegation and they dont want to sell him. Targets 7 and 8 have been on the fringes of their teams and not played much football so would likely need a month or two to get up to full match fitness.

As such we keep looking down the list for a player who's team is not involved in the Champions League or Europa League, aren't in a team challenging for a title or trying to get into a champions league or europa league qualifying position, aren't involved in a relegating battle and the players themselves aren't injured but are match fit.

It really is more of a case in January of what is available than what you actually really wanted to buy.