Other clubs' transfers

He was already on the list, hence me saying

Doucoure is a class player.

Fab: Nunes has agreed terms with City who have submitted a bid of around 50M to Wolves. Would be good for us, Nunes is a terrific player.

It's all about Olise.
Glides around the pitch and makes other players better. Scores and assists.

Tyrick Mitchell had Saka in his pocket. Now that's a left back I would nick off a pure relegation bound team...

Especially when we actually don't have a left back.

Anyway....

Chicago: In the changing rooms.

Leeds are close to signing Piroe from Swansea for 12M. I'm a little surprised that a lower half Premier League club isn't taking that punt given his age, his record and his style of play.

When did rules on tapping up get scrapped? Seems like pretty much every transfer this summer has been "personal terms agreed with player, now [buying club] trying to persuade [current club] to sell".

Scored on his debut too. As you probably know. I bet you were watching it and cheering them along.

I don't have Championship coverage this season, I'm saving the money to put towards a trip to England to see my beloved Mighty Whites in person.

(I was watching the Forest game, as you know.)

I was talking to a Leeds friend yesterday, and he said it was one of those "story" days. Gnonto, who supposedly went on strike, scored. Sinisterra, who supposedly was also trying to force a move, scored. The useless lump who failed last year got another. And the new signing got one too. Given the issues with the first two/three, he was a bit relieved it all started in an away match, as many of the fans were happy to burn their bridges.

The only restriction is on the club talking directly to the player, so, as it’s all done through intermediaries, no rules are broken.

That seems like a fairly glaring loophole that renders the rule somewhat pointless.

Yeah but everyone does it, so no one cares. Pretty antiquated rule nowadays anyway.

A club can, presumably, give permission to discuss terms in advance of a fee being agreed… if they are happy to do one and the numbers look credible. After all, with wages being such a key part of a deal it’s completely illogical to negotiate them one after another… that just slows things down and potentially wastes everyone’s time.

Yes, but it's pretty clear in many of these instances that permission hasn't been given, and wouldn't have been had it been requested.

Fans don't genuinely think that transfers are conducted that way in the real world, do they? Absolutely no chance any club is going to spend days (maybe weeks) negotiating a fee with another, only to discover the player in question either has no interest in joining or they're miles apart in terms of salary and bonuses.

Any club which approaches another to talk transfers fees has definitely had contact with the player or his advisors, either directly or indirectly, way ahead of that to guage interest and wage demands, etc.

Of course. But it seems like any pretence at following the rule has been dropped, hence me asking if they'd actually canned it.