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I think Wolves were always going to sign him after the agreement they had.

I said it then, and I’m saying it now, we should have signed Ben Yedder. Scored the same amount as Mbappe in a joke Monaco team. And I enjoy watching him play. Jimenez doesn’t entertain me.

I think Wolves were always going to sign him after the agreement they had.

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You're probably right but had a bigger club come in for him, it would've been interesting to see what might've happened.

Perhaps another club would've had to pay more though.

United have to think long and hard about what type of striker they bring in next if they can't extend Ighalo's loan.

I still don't fully trust Martial to lead the line, regardless of the goals he's scored and I just have a feeling he's not going to be at United as long as some people think and I'm not exactly sure where Greenwood's future lies. Signing somebody of Jimenez's age would offer the necessary pathway to Greenwood though if he continues improving and sees himself playing through the middle.

I said it then, and I’m saying it now, we should have signed Ben Yedder. Scored the same amount as Mbappe in a joke Monaco team. And I enjoy watching him play. Jimenez doesn’t entertain me.

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His futsal background shows.

I wish more players played it at a younger age.

Most futsal players aren’t good enough to make it as pros, in fairness. I hope we go for him in the summer. Monaco are out of Europe as well so could knock down the fee.

I know but I've always thought younger players should at least be given the chance to play futsal as well as small sided games to help improve their technical skill and ability in tight spaces. It offers a different type of challenge to normal 5 a-side on smaller pitches indoor and out.

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Yeah I suppose. I think the change in focus on 11 aside for the younger ages is helping us in this regard. In recent years the young English players are looking more technically gifted than previous generations due to the change in coaching.

I think this coming decade will see England’s next golden generation. How that translates to international level remains to be see. But I think we’ll have a depth of talent we’ve not had since the mid 2000’s.

Hopefully we'll produce at least one midfielder of genuine class in the coming years who can make a real impact at international level.

Yeah I think that could be an area of concern. Central midfield in particular.

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Nicky Butt

Scholes, Gerrard, Lampard, Hargreaves and Carrick. Vastly superior to anything we have now. Same at cb. But we now have better depth in attack, particularly out wide, as well as at full back and a more reliable cf.

England don’t tend to have the right balance of talent in the squad.

And I say reliable cf because Owen was injury prone. Owen was better for England than Kane. But after 2006 his career was basically finished and England weren’t as good without him.

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Sven was part of it. But there were a combination of loads of things. Rio often speaks of the dressing room issues that were caused by club rivalry - he also missed Euro 2004 due to his ban for missing a drugs test. But injuries played a part as well. Beckham got injured going into 2002. Neville had injuries as well and we played Danny Mills at right back. Rooney and Owen getting injured in 2004 and 2006, with no capable replacement. We were unlucky as well. And didn’t have the bottle when it came to pens. I think the pressure was probably one of the biggest things. The amount of pressure on the England team to deliver is ridiculous.

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But England have continually displayed an inability to cope with it. And I’d day the expectations on England are disproportionate to the record that the team has at international level. And not had the luck needed to progress in tournaments. Look at the two Portugal games for evidence of that. When you combine the other factors I mentioned that explains why we went out of the stage we did.

These aren’t excuses, they’re the reasons I’m giving you for why we didn’t really produce.

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But they’re things that have contributed to the failure of the England side. Whether or not that influence other nations is irrelevant to the impact they had on the England team we are talking about.

I won’t bring up the penalty spot with Beckham’s pen as ultimately it was still England’s inability to with penalty shootouts that cost us in 04 and 06 even allowing for all the other issues.

That’s actually the real answer as it was the determining factor in out eliminations. The rest of it is what contributed to it having to get to that point.

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