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Monday Aug 5: Ok well us signing a new goalkeeper was probably the last transfer rumour I expected, but it feels like there may be something to this one, as if you were making up a bullshit rumour this doesn’t seem like the kind of thing you’d come up with, so therefore I’m assuming there’s something in it. I know nothing about the lad in question, Giorgi Mamardashvili, but he was meant to be boss at the Euros and he’s been Valencia’s number one for three seasons. The suggestion is he wants to come here but not while Alisson is here, so the plan is to get him now and then loan him out again, preferably to a PL club. That club is claimed to be Bournemouth, who also want to sign him. Ah, Richard Hughes obviously didn’t change his password when he left! Maybe I'm imagining this, but Alisson’s time here feels like it is coming to a close and we’ve probably only got one more year of him, maybe two at most. He can still be great for many more years but it feels like he’s going to want a change of scenery and he might fancy that Saudi money. Achteberg reckons we were close to losing him this summer, so it makes sense to have a succession plan and if this fella is the best out there then sound, go and get him now. Meanwhile, saw a headline on news now saying "Everton want Matip". As if! Firstly, you don't go overnight from the heights he had at Liverpool to slumming it with Everton. He'd be mental to do that. Joel has been building a spectacular house back in Germany. He didn't live anywhere fancy when he was here and he was putting his money into building his dream house in Germany. I assume near Schalke where we got him from but I don't know. He'll be looking to go to a German club if possible, and if its not possible he'll be doing a damn sight better than Everton. He'd probably retire before signing a contract there. The other reason this seems ridiculous is that Everton wouldn't want him either. He's not their type of centre half and his skillset wouldn't be needed there. That isn't even a criticism, it's just a fact. They need the big, physical, defend your own box and put your body on the line type of defender. They don't have a place for an elegant, ball playing, adventurous maverick who loves his mazy runs. Also today, Solanke is closing in on a move to Spurs that will net us around £8m because of a clause Edwards put in when he sold him to Hughes. Those two will have the cigars out when that deal is finalised. Or instead, how about getting those new contracts sorted? For us to be going into this season with no deals for Trent or Virgil is fucking appalling. Players are even making jokes about Trent and Madrid now. Either Nunez or Diaz today (difficult to make out which one said it) made a crack about him and Real Madrid, and a couple of weeks ago there was a clip of Curtis joking at the end of his press conference that "I can't believe no-one asked me about Trent". Either there's something going on, or they know there's nothing in it and they're having a laugh about it. If he had a contract it wouldn't be an issue though.