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Ortega, Bernardo, Kovacic, Akanji, Grealish, Phillips, Stones and Ake. All over the age of 30 by the end of this month. Three of them will be out of contract next summer. I'd be amazed if any of them are with us this time next year. We may end up loaning out one or two of them again.

So as it stands, assuming Ederson, Donnarumma, Akanji and Gundogan all complete their moves, we have 26 players. We have 17 NHG players including Ortega. NHG Donnarumma Ortega Nunes Dias Khusanov Gvardiol Ait-Nouri Rodri Bernardo Kovacic Reijnders Nico Gonzalez Cherki Savinho Doku Haaland...

Fine. Add them to the list.

Jesus Christ, does it matter?! I was trying to make the point that deliberating so much in the transfer market is undermined when so many of the players in the squad aren't up to the standard required.

Yes. Toured Alabama and Mississippi with the saxophonist Bleeding Gums Nunes.

Kind of worrying that the club thinks Doku, Savinho, Lewis, Nunes and Kovacic do fit into their plans.

Yes, but I suppose the official announcements will be tomorrow. Like a general election, this. You go to bed not really knowing how it's gone for certain and have to digest it all the next day.

How many did we win with the full-back positions being occupied for 90% of the games by players of the calibre of Lewis and Nunes?

He'll get Huddersfield if he's lucky.

We've won a league title on goal difference. Five out of our eight PL titles have been won on the final day of the season. These things can make material differences.

£4.7m? For Ake? Where did you see that?

Good man, I say. Stand your ground. Built the best team in Palace's history only to see Parish dismantle it without giving him an adequate replacement.

I'd sooner keep him a further year and let him walk for nothing in 2027. He's too important to us and it will take a while for us to get up off the canvas. We'll need him for as long as possible.

Not our Nico ;)

"Could I have a right-back please, Bob".

The same must be true for us as well. We've spent more than them in summer 2023 and January 2025, but nobody has sold as much talent as us in recent years until Chelsea this year. We must be sitting on a massive war chest.

And moving from a club with lower expectations where he plays on the left side of a deep back five, to a club with stratospheric expectations where he will play on the right side of a high back four.

That's a good point and hindsight is a wonderful thing. But I thought at the time we were wrong to give a 33-year-old Walker a three-year deal after the Treble. And whilst I can forgive us for not dismantling things after the Treble, we still bought poorly. Furthermore, I think deep down we all...

Indeed. It really all hinges on King Rodri getting back up to speed and Foden being the player we know he can be.

Correct. Think Ortega probably goes out on loan.