Barclay in if Phillips out I reckon

thats the way it goes

Dont see Kalvin going in January just cant see it. Would hope Rapha would stay till end of season and see us rising up the table once all injuries in the first team have cleared up, probably will go in Summer window tho.

I’d be concentrating on getting Phillips a new contract rather than selling him. If he was given one that was in line with Bamford and the highest paid players at the club, the mood music strongly suggests he would stay.

Wouldn‘t be adverse to Barkley but only if MB wants him. Wouldnt see much more activity than that given how notoriously overpriced players are in the January window.

Very true smurf Jan window has an air of "panic buying" for alot of managers / teams which in turn has a tendency to inflate a transfer figure.

Clubs at the bottom at christmas need to "turn things around" and teams 3rd-8th need that little bit extra in their squad if a CL spot is the Clubs target, all leading to it being a sellers market and how much of a barrel a team is over.

I personally dont like the windows at all, for the very reason of above, if it went back to the old days when a manager bought when he needs to buy i think overall players transfers figures would be lower.

John Swift getting punted around. Out of contract in the summer so Reading may have to take what they can get in January. Decent player and having a fine season.

Just had a look at Swifts stats as I was willing to take a punt on him as they are very impressive.... this season!!

I presumed that he'd had 3/4 consistent seasons in a row as we have been linked to him on and off for that long.... unfortunately, his stats aren't as impressive as I thought and this is a Championship footballer. Can Bielsa work his magic....?

Definitely not sure on Ross Barkley as he seems to start off at EVERY new club on fire and then having to settle for a place on the bench after his first month....

Is he our type of player anyway? He'll have the creativity but not the workrate or pressing alongside.... we'll probably only use him as a winger like last time anyway!!

The only way to keep Raphinha and Kalvin is with a big transfer budget to prove we want to mix with the top teams.... I'm sure they'd give it another season if our owners spent big like other clubs. I'm not saying 'do a Ridsdale' but that calibre of player will leave for a 'big' club rather than gamble on us buying mere 15-20m players....

I'd rather have Raphinha in the middle to try him as Summerville, Harrison and James can adequately cover the wings.... soon hopefully, but sure all will come good with them.

I agree with you about Barkley TC10 (i know i nearly fell off the chair) i just dont see him as a MB workhorse, ya first month or two he will battle hard but as we all know the master dosent tend to change his starting xi too often and prefers to give the Jersey to a warrior that has worked for him previous, so Barkley not alone wont be upto bielsaball pace, and will have a few extra pounds on him, Barkley and anyone else joining can expect at least 4-6 weeks on the sidelines before he gets anywhere near a starting spot, by then Barkley's new found enthusiasm will have been extinguished.

Swift has certainly found a very rich vein of form with 6 goals in 6 appearances for the royals and yes MB could improve him as he can with any player (im convinced about that) but i recall Marcelo saying in an interview that a striker dosent need to be one that puts the ball in the back of the net as long as the team scores everyone has to play their part in the game. So would Swift be Bamfords replacement i cant see it, Bamford's contribution to LUFC is never underestimated by Marcelo and im praying that it wont take Paddy too long to bang in a goal on his return from injury.

Is Swift not an end to end midfielder? If we signed him, it would surely be as Klich's replacement.