Stock up on canned goods, tell your friends that you never really likes them anyway and head down to that underground bunker you've been building for yourself. The day of reckoning has arrived.
It was a bit mad when West Ham were about to sign Michy Batshuayi for €40 million but at least that made sense. A club pushing for Champions League football and with all that Olympic Stadium money soon to be burning a hole in their pocket, the Hammers are going to be making a splash this summer. We had all come to accept and expect that. But Crystal Palace?
Their inability to bring in a striker of any real quality cost them dearly last season and it looks like Alan Pardew and co. are attempting to plug that hole with €38 million worth of prime Belgian attack. According to the Guardian, Palace have agreed a deal with Marseille to bring Batshuayi to Selhurst Park. Not only that, French goalkeeper Steve Mandanda is also close to join up with the Pardew army with a free transfer close to completion.
And as if that wasn't enough, Palace have also agreed to meet Andros Townsend's release fee of £10.5 million (for which Newcastle are getting absolutely screwed in comparison to what £10.5 million was worth last week).
However, before Palace fans get too excited about the Batshuayi deal, it's worth noting that it's only at the stage of agreeing a fee with Marseille. If West Ham really are as keen as was first suggested, and with Juventus also linked, it would appear fairly likely that this could be an instance of Palace's hefty bid being used to attract some more fashionable interest from elsewhere.
Nonetheless, it once again shows just how much cash is available to spend in the Premier League this summer. It may be a sham of a league according to Didi Hamann, but with money like that available to the likes of Crystal Palace, you can't imagine that too many in demand players will care when it comes to signing a hyper inflated contract.
