craig

And Sporting, and Fiorentina, and Inter and, and, and...... I think you get the point ?

But rather than be glass half empty why not reminisce over the positives and be glass half full ?

You must be too young to remember Leeds, Marseille, Stuttgart etc then ?

It’s not illegal at all. All player registrations sit with the national association. As Bill says, they are merely interpreting what the contract says. of course.... they do have an ulterior motive as losing Messi, after losing Ronaldo, leaves the La Liga’s TV rights deal revenues in tatters.

Stat is wrong u less they aren’t including the Leverkusen game as “this season”

Randon draw I believe

Can we stop with the pejorative terms please

Depends I guess - if it is a loan with an obligation to buy and the total number is of a suitably high value then we could be reasonable to deal with.

They've just confirmed this transfer. But having gone out in the CL you have to think that there is an offloading coming from over there. No way can they retain that squad size and wage structure having just been punted out of the CL for the third season in a row. They will be looking at bringing in cheaper players on lower wages and punting some higher wage earners.

Autocorrect ?

Some of them legitimately felt they could sign him ?

Watched the goals. The second one Celtic we’re attacking and the defender blootered it, ball sailed over the Celtic defense and the boy outpaced Ajer I think it was and slid it in under the keeper ?

Sevilla and AC Milan were being attributed with interest. I am a little surprised that Morelos wouldn't prefer Spain over France.

Quick isnt just about physical speed though. Hagi has the technical ability to be play "quick one-twos" because that is about pinging the ball into the striker and receiving it back quickly - a player with a technically sound first touch can still be "quick".

Aye, in previous seasons we have looked amateurish at the back. Now, even with the cracking start Balogun has had, when he misses a couple of games Helander has come in and nobody is missing a beat. Very solid at the back right now, long may that continue. The defensive players must be absolutely oozing confidence just now.

Celtic's interest i Riqeulme was mentioned not long after ours was dB. He played against us in the Youth CL and was far and away the best player on the pitch in our home game. The lad can play, that's for sure. I wouldnt like to see us lose him to them but I doubt either of us will get him - some EPL clubs, and La Liga, will undoubtedly be prepared to offer him a contract.

I'm offended ? lol. I've heard it all now. I would say amused far more than offended. Round and round and round we go. I never posted anything and used it as if it were fact. You did. Just a couple off the top of my head is that losing Kent means we are weaker, without considering the possibility of a replacement who may be even better. Then there was the catching up of Celtic by getting a crack at the CL, when in actual fact Scotland gets two slots in the CL next year so us obtaining the top spot doesnt mean they dont get the same opportunity. That's just off the top of my head. How does that logic even work that replacing him with significantly less than the selling price gives you inferior quality ? He is virtually the same player who we paid £6.5 million for. Just because Leeds may be willing to pay £14 million doesnt mean that to get the same quality you need to spend the same amount. That's naive logic. I didnt say we would replace Kent with someone of similar quality - I said it COULD be done. And therein lies the difference between you and me - you consider the incumbents to all be crucial, without any consideration that there may be other, better, more suitable alternatives out there and perhaps even cheaper. Whereas I reserve judgement - Barcelona spent £130 million on Coutinho and yet Ansu Fati gets more game time than him, a La Masia graduate..... that's my point. Players will come and they will go. I am not going to put ANY of them on a perch when they can easily fall from it. Aside from that i am not responding further because a) it takes away from what this thread is supposedly about and b) you have a need to have the last word and all your words do is, as I said, go round and round and round stating the same thing multiple ways. Its tedious and tiresome.

Pure, unadulterated conjecture and speculation. Which is fine, but don't present it as factual when it clearly isnt, right ?

That stat on the face of it looks good for Celtic. However, 5 of those goals were in their opening game at home to Accies - their subsequent two games has seen them score 1 goal in each game, which MIGHT suggest that they are struggling to create chances against brick wall teams too. We can but hope. Fingers crossed loyal.

So it's ok for you to speculate but I shoudn't bother to rebut your speculation ? Which part of Scotland getting two CL participants next season is speculation ? He hasnt developed THAT much since he signed for Rangers last season. Come on, that is just fanboy stuff. Is he a better player ? I am still not convinced. The start of this season he has scored more but few assists - are there signs he has improved ? Sure, but on very few games this season. I don't think he has improved significantly since signing - he still makes poor decisions and his final product still can be lacking. You also state that the side "will be weakened if he leaves" - that, again, is pure conjecture because none of us know who would replace him. It isnt as if he is Messi where ANY team would be weakened by losing him. You also don't need to be "fantastically lucky" to get someone of equivalent quality - you just need a recruitment department that knows the market. Everything in that paragraph is pure conjecture. I get that you want him to stay, as do I, but it doesnt man=ke him some world beater that can't be replaced. It is my view we shouldnt be weakening the side either but, unlike you, I would reserve judgement until we saw who Kent's replacement were, should that time actually come. Gerrard is no different to any other manager - he will ultimately have to deal with the cards his Board deal him, or walk. The Board will decide whether to sell Kent or not, dependent on the financial side of it. Gerrard cannot stop that. Lest we forget that, as of yet, Gerrard hasnt won anything as a manager. Either way it is pointless continuing - we clearly will have to agree to disagree - you think Kent is irreplaceable whilst I believe that he can be replaced, though it is a risk.

1. The CL statement is a red herring because next season Scotland get two participants. So BOTH us and then would have a crack at the CL. Us winning the league won’t prevent them from having the same crack at the league. Not only is it a red herring but I doubt the veracity of us getting “£50 to £60 million” from CL revenues. More likely to be half that amount. 2. You categorically state that we “won’t replace him with equivalent quality”. Neither you nor I know that to be the case. There are certainly gems to be had, which is where the scouting team come into play. Sure, Kent May be seen as vital to our chances of success this season by Gerrard, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t someone else out there who could be an even bigger contributor. 3. Any player is worth what a) another team are willing to pay and b) what the selling team are willing to accept. But you obviously know that. Who knows what value Leeds have on him but it’s also naive to think that we aren’t also playing the game. We will likely have an acceptable number to part ways with the lad but are Leeds willing to stretch that far, whatever that number is ? 4. The problem with your Europa League analysis (£18 million revenue) is that keeping Kent is no guarantee to those revenues again but selling him for, say, £20 million is a guaranteed £13 million profit, reducing the necessity for Europa League revenues. do I want to see Kent go ? No, I personally like the fact that he always gives everything he has, he’s direct, pacy, skillful and so far this season is actually producing an end product by way of goals (long may it continue). However, if we were to double our money on him and use the that money to find a replacement for him and also get the creative, box to box midfielder we crave then I’d reluctantly be willing to let the lad go. The beauty of being just fans.... we don’t get to be the ones to make these very difficult decisions ?

I had a friend over so put their game ok in the background whilst we chatted. They were lucky. They’re pish

Doesn’t change the fact that he’s far more offensive than Kamara. Two completely different questions.

He’s far more offensive than Kamara, both in his positioning and looking for vertical passes

One thing that seems to have been forgotten in all the debate around how much we should sell Ryan Kent for is our recruitment department.... when we knew we were paying £6.5 million for him there were howls of derision from many within our support. However, even at an opening gambit of £8.5 million that represents a £2 million uplift in just a season, for a player who the support felt wasnt worth the initial purchase price. And when you look at some of the other signings recently too, one has to conclude that our recruitment department these days seems to be in much safer hands.