James Trafford

[SG90]

I'd only agree to a buy back clause if it was £100m. Though no doubt Citeh will play the paupers with us and it'll be £45m.

[Carrick Dave]

Seems to be a release clause they’re negotiating with the player rather than a buy-back with City?

Clickbait at this stage:

https://insidefutbol.com/2026/07/23/lee ... et/720879/

[The Subhuman]

I’ll be well chuffed with this one mate.

He better be good then.. interestingly, and I forgot this, Burnley had to sell him back to Man City as they had the buy back, so to keep the cost down I can see us agreeing to that also. He's 20M for me maybe 25 at a push, same as Charles. 25 would be my limit there, don't think we've offered as much as 25 yet though

Odds of "undisclosed sum" to keep us in the dark?

[weasel]

TBF, we could have trained up Perri and Meslier so if we could we surely would.. Meslier's issues were always coachable

Only so much training can do if a player has no natural ability in a certain area. Otherwise you and me could bob along to Thorp Arch, do a bit of training and become premier league footballers.

Will be interesting to see if Arsenal can iron out his weaknesses and make him into the keeper his potential suggested he could become.

[pjm2019]

Get In.

Absolutely fantastic signing this

Not proven at this level. Very high price for a GK, wages breaks our wage ceiling, i only hope if we sigh him he has a great season with us and his exit clause he is demanding is at least £20 million higher than we pay for him

[weasel]

Seems to be a release clause they’re negotiating with the player rather than a buy-back with City?

Clickbait at this stage:

https://insidefutbol.com/2026/07/23/lee ... et/720879/

To be fair as long as the release clause is set sufficiently high then it is fine and I have no problem with the player backing himself in this way. If he doesn't perform then any release clause becomes irrelevant, if he does brilliantly and then leaves then we have had a good keeper for however long we have him and then hopefully a decent profit too. Main thing is that it is not a release clause similar to the ones ORta and Rads put in where the player could leave for a couple of pounds more than we paid for them (so the good ones left with us not making a profit and we got left with the ones that didn't do well - lose lose situation for us). Likely also he would want a release clause too in case we get relegated.

[Victor_OTT_17]

TBF, we could have trained up Perri and Meslier so if we could we surely would.. Meslier's issues were always coachable

Perri should/could have been training all of his weak areas the past 6-7 months for all we know? Else what is the point of coaching (I sometimes wonder here)?

[Victor_OTT_17]

wages breaks our wage ceiling

How do you know this? I'm sure our financing experts know what they are doing

[The Subhuman]

Perri should/could have been training all of his weak areas the past 6-7 months for all we know? Else what is the point of coaching (I sometimes wondere here)?

I agree, it's not difficult to coach up keepers if they have a modicum of talent. We know Perri is an excellent shot stopper and his throw outs are excellent making him a very good distributor.. His weakness is crosses and that's very coachable..

[SG90]

Only so much training can do if a player has no natural ability in a certain area. Otherwise you and me could bob along to Thorp Arch, do a bit of training and become premier league footballers.

Will be interesting to see if Arsenal can iron out his weaknesses and make him into the keeper his potential suggested he could become.

I doubt he'll ever play for Arsenal

[Barlow Boy]

He better be good then.. interestingly, and I forgot this, Burnley had to sell him back to Man City as they had the buy back, so to keep the cost down I can see us agreeing to that also. He's 20M for me maybe 25 at a push, same as Charles. 25 would be my limit there, don't think we've offered as much as 25 yet though

Odds of "undisclosed sum" to keep us in the dark?

It’ll definitely be “undisclosed sum”, we’ll be relying on the journalists and AI for any real idea.

If we want the better players, we have to pay for them, and he’s 100% one of the better players.

[Barlow Boy]

Not proven at this level. Very high price for a GK, wages breaks our wage ceiling, i only hope if we sigh him he has a great season with us and his exit clause he is demanding is at least £20 million higher than we pay for him

We haven’t had a keeper like him for donkeys years.

Don’t dispute the high transfer fee, but who says he breaks our wage structure?

[pjm2019]

We haven’t had a keeper like him for donkeys years.

Don’t dispute the high transfer fee, but who says he breaks our wage structure?

DCL earns £105K per week, Trafford reported to be offered a lot more

[Carrick Dave]

Thing is, to attract quality we need to offer comparable wages to other clubs.

Last year’s wage structure may be just that, last year’s.

[1964white]

I’ll be well chuffed with this one mate.

And me too.

Now get that Brandt fella in once we have sorted the problem between the sticks, you'll like him too!

[Barlow Boy]

DCL earns £105K per week, Trafford reported to be offered a lot more

Have you got a link to the article?

[Victor_OTT_17]

DCL earns £105K per week, Trafford reported to be offered a lot more

Reported by whom?

[The Subhuman]

Have you got a link to the article?

Someone from close or at the club said DCL earned 100k plus 20k guaranteed in weekly bonuses as a minumum. He intimated it was north of that. But can't remember where I bloody read it, I'm extremely sceptical of most reports and rumours but something about this one had me thinking it were true..

It does seem we pay bonuses on top of salaries and 120-125K per week seems right for DCL...

[Victor_OTT_17]

Have you got a link to the article?

Haha has he heck! He makes it up as he goes along. He has a lot of pent up anger and I think him winding me up gives him a thrill

Just Joking Maurice

[Cjay]

Someone from close or at the club said DCL earned 100k plus 20k guaranteed in weekly bonuses as a minumum. He intimated it was north of that. But can't remember where I bloody read it, I'm extremely sceptical of most reports and rumours but something about this one had me thinking it were true..

It does seem we pay bonuses on top of salaries and 120-125K per week seems right for DCL...

Was reported he was asking for upto £150k a week in the summer.

Which put both Villa and Manure off.

He wanted £130k a week from West Ham the year before which would have also meant paying Everton a fee (they refused).

David Moyes also confirmed after he left Everton pulled out of negotiations over his demands.

I would imagine his wages are well over a £100k a week base with significant bonuses.

Much like Trafford he has to justify it every week.