The Sunland Lord

There's some talk of Ziyech's transfer to Al Nassr falling through.

16 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Didn't he say no a couple of days ago, because he felt he still had some top level football left in him?

He rejected their 20m a year, 3 years contract (60m in total) and requested more.

They accepted his demands and will pay him 100m over three years apparently.

10 minutes ago, Mexal said:

And yet still taking a massive loss on Havertz. Hilarious really but then we spent 70m on Pepe and are getting nothing back from that.

I don't think they'll write it down as a loss in their books, as he spent three years there, yet his transfer to Arsenal is for a fee similar to what Chelsea paid to Bayer Leverkusen to sign him. 

Pep won a treble in his first season as a manager. Barcelona were amazing under him. Let's not forget that he also had a house to clear there, he moved some declining star players elsewhere (Ronaldinho, Deco) cause prior to his appointment Barcelona had two underwhelming seasons while having Messi and the rest of the players Pep relied on for years to come.

Pep is a coach that you'll never know how he'd do with lesser teams, because so far he didn't have to do that, and who knows if he'll ever fall from grace in his career. He keeps his teams motivated, no matter how much they win, all the time. 

Apparently United offered 45-50m€ for Onana, but they were rejected. However, 60m€ should persuade Inter. 

1 hour ago, Consigliere said:

 

It's fairly reasonable but Spurs can get more. There's not many good quality CF's available. Just look at the ludicrous price tags that Frankfurt has put on Kolo Muani, Benfica on Ramos, Atalanta on Højlund, Napoli on Osimhen. Even Vlahović will go for €70m at least. Jonathan David will likely cost €50-60m too. The CF market is a sellers market. Kane is also currently much better than any of those players.

Kane is the best of all those players, yes.

However, Vlahovic is 6 years younger, and has 3 years left on his contract.
 

Don't know how much Napoli ask for Osimhen but they paid around 70-75 million € for him so I guess they want to make a good profit from his sale, and he's 5 years younger than Kane, with two years left on his contract. Napoli aren't desperate for cash either.

As for the rest, I'm not that much informed about their prices, except that the clubs they play at are mostly selling clubs so they might expect their prices will go up in the years that follow.

Re Kane again, it's not only his age and his year left on his contract.

-He wanted out (publicly) two years ago and he's not renewing. Everyone knows this so they'll lowball Spurs.

-If Levy won't sell Kane to other English clubs, then he must bear in mind that the number of clubs on the continent that Kane can go to are limited cause of the economic situation. There are only Real, Bayern, PSG. Who else?
 

I agree they can get slightly more, but not 100 million in pounds, imo, not from outside England except for the Saudis. 

 

The offer is reasonable. He's 29 and may walk on a Bosman next year.

Well, he'll be 30 by the time season starts.

3 hours ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Good signing. Works either as a InsideForward/Wide Target Man on the wing, who can dominate smaller fullbacks with his physique and he is also faster than you might expect from a player of his size (he is really fast), or as a CF.

He was linked with a move to Inter before corona hit. That would've been a 40m € signing (give or take). So whoever gets him will be very happy.

He would've been brought in 2021 if he didn't get injured. Those money were spent on the dud Correa instead. At least now he's coming a free agent so there's that.

@A Horse Named Stranger

Thoughts on Marcus Thuram? Will join one of Inter/Milan it seems.

There it is

Some say that even Tonali is overpriced by Milan. But if what I read is correct 15% of the amount will go for Brescia, and the fact they know Newcastle can overpay plays a part. Not an obscene amount for modern football standards; but if he flops it'll show to be an expensive one.

What would be too high is the reported salary by Romano, 8m + 2m EU net a year would make him their most paid player, I still don't believe it's that high.

That's a high salary they offer him.

Edit: Probably Romano is just wrong or he can't comprehend the difference between net and gross. 

3 minutes ago, Mark Antony said:

Milan fans must hate the owner so much what are they doing

They're fuming. But also, the player can reject the move, of course offers from abroad will come when you're broke. 

@A Horse Named Stranger

Thoughts on Yann Bisseck? Young German defender linked to Inter. 

There are some rumours that United are into signing Rasmus Hojlund.

1 hour ago, Consigliere said:

Luke Edwards reporting that Newcastle are in talks with Inter for Barella. Edwards mentions a fee of £50m but I can't see Inter selling Barella for that price and if they are then I'd expect half a dozen other clubs looking to get in on that action. £50m for Barella would be a steal.

Looks like this holds some water. Ausilio is in England to listen to multiple clubs according to Di Marzio. 

59 minutes ago, baxus said:

So, 1992 is where we draw the line? That is the point at which everyone gathered and said: "Ok, everything that happened up until this point is cool, but from now on owners can no longer invest money to buy success"?

That's the point when the current system of distribution of revenue was established.

The established, most supported teams like Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal etc. operated based on the principles on which the Premier League was established in 1992. If you believe that's unfair, then you are going a step further and claim that the English football "sold out" in 1992 and the takeover in 2003 of Chelsea by Abramovich, and later the oil states' takeover of Man City and now Newcastle are just a nail in the proverbial coffin of fairness in English football.

If you believe the principles on which the league was established were fair then you have a legitimate grievance that some clubs don't play by these rules because simply were taken over by wealthy owners who go around the rules. Add the charges against Man City (and the conclusion that will eventually follow) on top of this second stance.

37 minutes ago, Whiskeyjack said:

Nope -
 

 

What's the issue with the post you quoted? He's 100% right.

People wrongly judge this Inter being defensive when it's just a team not being much technically and creatively gifted compared to City/some other top teams in Europe. Inzaghi tries to go forward. For what it's worth, that cost him plenty of games and almost his job just two-three months ago. 

Conte was defensive (while played the same formation), it was eye-bleeding at times but it won us the league. Yet embarrassed us in Europe.

Inzaghi is the opposite, bottled the league last year, but won all the domestic cups both years, and reached a CL final in his second year, with a squad much worse than Conte's.