Jump to content

Football: 'Let's talk about six, baby'


AncalagonTheBlack

Recommended Posts

1 hour ago, Mexal said:

I have very little desire to watch Arsenal play right now.

Yeah but people analyzing our season/ our every move in the off season is doing my head in. Ready to read about *anything* else at this point. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Speaking of players moving several times for the same club, how about Romário:

Vasco

PSV

Barcelona

Flamengo

Vasco

Fluminense (Flamengo, Vasco and Fluminense are archrivals, in case you don't know)

Vasco

Miami FC

Adelaide United (6 matches only)

Vasco.

Mind you, after his career was over, he said Flamengo was the club that most special to him, which of course pissed Vasco fans immensely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since it was the Pogba to Juve rumours that started this little discussion, does anyone actually think that there's a good chance of Pogba returning to Juve? I'd say that if he does leave, Real Madrid is the most likely destination as they would be the ones most likely to meet United's asking price. Italian clubs tend to be cheapskates - Juve will probably offer 50-70 million + a couple of players they desperately want to get rid of.

I'm skeptical about the Lukaku to Inter rumours for this very reason. I doubt United would sell Lukaku on the cheap and I don't see Inter paying 70-80 million or more for him - they'll probably offer 30 million + Perisic or some shit like that. Also, we should really play hardball with Inter since they were determined to fleece us for the left-footed Willian. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Consigliere said:

Since it was the Pogba to Juve rumours that started this little discussion, does anyone actually think that there's a good chance of Pogba returning to Juve? I'd say that if he does leave, Real Madrid is the most likely destination as they would be the ones most likely to meet United's asking price. Italian clubs tend to be cheapskates - Juve will probably offer 50-70 million + a couple of players they desperately want to get rid of.

I'm skeptical about the Lukaku to Inter rumours for this very reason. I doubt United would sell Lukaku on the cheap and I don't see Inter paying 70-80 million or more for him - they'll probably offer 30 million + Perisic or some shit like that. Also, we should really play hardball with Inter since they were determined to fleece us for the left-footed Willian. 

I would be surprised if anyone is willing to pay United their reported asking price for Pogba or Lukaku. BUT I was already shocked by the price for Hazard, so what do I know?

It seems like both Pogba and Lukaku have tarnished their reputation slightly this past season, especially when both were sky high after the World Cup.  And both look disaffected at United, which should make it a buyer’s market.  Pogba probably still has deep-pocketed fans at PSG and in Zidane, and he’s a marketing dream, but both of those clubs have already spent a lot on other players.  Perhaps PSG have recovered from the Neymar and Mbappe fees and are ready to spend big to replace Rabiot, but FFP must be a concern.  And RM have notably completed at least three big signings already this summer (Jovic, Hazard, Mendy, am I forgetting someone?), and said that Isco and Asensio will stay, so Pogba wasn’t their highest priority.

Since Juve has already signed Ramsey, if they also sign Rabiot then I would say there is no chance that they’re after Pogba.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Depends on what kind of striker you need. Lukaku is/can be a very good striker. If you play a system that suits him. If you play like United atm, he is simply not the best fit.

Pogba is a strange case, I was sceptical, when he re-joined United about him being worth the 100m E they throw at United. Having that said, he undeniably has quality, but he like Lukaku just seems not to fit into the current United squad. But that was more or less a United problem for some time now. No, overarching vision/philosophy since Ferguson left, and a ragtag squad, where the parts just to seem to fit together - little surprise when you have a new manager every two years.

 

Anyway, going back to footballers moving back and forth between two clubs. There's a rumour about Hummels going back to Dortmund. That would really be the speculated Pogba kinda move.

Bayern youth set up. Did not break into the first team under Klinsmann.

Dortmund happily signed him, where he developed into a top class cb and won stuff. Then he moved back to

Bayern where he won more stuff (ok difference to Pogba at United :leaving:) With the new signings for Bayern's defense, and Süle's progress he is now linked with Dortmund again. Who could arguably use some more experience.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Atm this is just talk. And it's atm anyone's guess, whether Hummels actually wants to move back to Dortmund. Just because it makes sense footballing wise for the clubs involved, doesn't mean the players are all game too, With regards to the fans, I think Götze returning was a tougher sell. They might grumble a bit, but if he performs everything's forgiven. The officials at Dortmund wanted to make sure, there was no bad blood - or at least not more than absolutely necessary - by framing the move back then as Hummels felt like he had to prove something (or unfinished business as they called it). Like I said, Klinsmann during his glorious one year reign at Bayern considered him as not good enough.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And the Hummel's rumour seems to be really based in an observable reality.

One of the Bild is reporting that the clubs have more or less reached an agreement over a fee, it's just down to Hummels, and whether he wants to go back, and how much (less) he would ask from Dortmund in wages. So I think, this deal might actually happen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No big surprise: Pogba wants out of United. Now just a question of whether Real Madrid or Juve are willing to pay up. Reports in Spain have been saying that Pogba is Zidane's first choice ahead of Eriksen and Ndombele.

 

 

 

ETA.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/15/2019 at 1:12 AM, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Modeste. He is back in Köln after his money move to China.

If a money grab was Modeste’s plan, then his plan backfired. In August 2018, he went AWOL from his Super League team, Tianjin Quanjian. During the winter break, the top owner was arrested. So Modeste probably made only a fraction of what he was promised contractually. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, Ser Glendon Fireball said:

What I really wonder about Sarri at Juve is how he's gonna use Ronaldo and Dybala. Sarri is a die hard adept of the 433, and whether Ronaldo is open to play as a sole 9, and Dybala can play as RW, remains a question mark.

Ronaldo - Mandzukic - Bernardeschi.

Dybala is not a right winger - he's best when playing as a secondary striker. He's can't play in a midfield three either. As a result I don't expect him to be in the first choice XI. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Teng Ai Hui said:

If a money grab was Modeste’s plan, then his plan backfired. In August 2018, he went AWOL from his Super League team, Tianjin Quanjian. During the winter break, the top owner was arrested. So Modeste probably made only a fraction of what he was promised contractually. 

How else would you describe one of the best goal scorers in Germany (he scored 25 goals in 34 games in his last year at Köln) moving to the Chinese league, which is really not on the same level as a the top three leagues in Europe by any stretch of imagination. Modeste was 29, I think, when he left Köln, and his career had not been that impressive before. So he went after the one big contract in his career. So of course it was him trying to make as much money as possible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds like Chelsea are making a serious approach for Lampard.  It will be hard for them to reconcile their pattern of manager turnover with the fans’ adulation of Lamps.  United fans might gush over OGS, but it won’t tear them apart to fire him.

What would you do in Lampard’s shoes?  Take the opportunity when offered because it may not come along again?  Or decline and develop your experience first out of the limelight so that you’re better prepared later for a big club role? (Like Arteta)

Zidane obviously made it work but I cannot think of many others who did.  Shearer, Sherwood, etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lampard will jump at the opportunity of taking the Chelsea job even though it is a bit of a poisoned chalice. Rejecting Chelsea in order to develop at a lower level could backfire as well - if things go south at Derby and he ends up getting sacked then he will regret not accepting a much bigger job. A transfer ban and Hazard leaving makes the job more difficult but also lowers expectations and places less pressure on Lampard (at least in his first season).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep. It's a risk he has to take. Initially I thought the list of downs is a bit incomplete, as I thought there would be still a few players that he has played with. But I just checked, it's pretty much down to Sideshow Bob, Christensen, Cheek and Azpilicueta. And I don't think Cheek and Christensen were really first team players back then. So really just David Luis and Azipilicueta.

I also think, his history with Chelski will give some credit with the fans. So they should not turn on him immediately, same with Solskjaer at United. But there will still be limits with the fans' patience. Let's see how they are doing around christmas.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Willian was at Chelsea during Frank Lampard’s last season as a player, too.

For Frank, this is a good time for him to come to Chelsea. Abramovich will always set the bar to at least qualify for the Champions League, but with the emergence of the top 6, coupled with the fact we have a transfer ban and have lost our best player, qualifying for the Champions League will be extremely difficult for Chelsea.

With the past few managers, I think Abramovich has actually tried to move away from being the owner that sacks the manager at the first chance. At the start of his reign, if it seemed we were out of the title race or could miss out on top four, the manager would be fired. In the past four seasons, that hasn't been the way Abramovich has worked.

We were well into December of the 15/16 season and only a few points off the relegation zone before he sacked Mourinho.

With Conte, there was a spell where we lost 3-0 at home to Bournemouth followed by a 4-2 away defeat to Watford that really dented our top four chances in the 2017-18 season. At one point, after the first home league defeat to Spurs in 28 years, we were 8 points off top four with seven games to go. We went onto decent form after that, ended up finishing fifth and won the FA Cup. Abramovich didn't sack Conte until the start of preseason for 2018-19.

With Sarri, there were some terrible performances and results, such as the 4-0 defeat away to Bournemouth and a 6-0 defeat away to Man City. A faction of the support had turned very vocally against Sarri. Still, Abramovich stuck with Sarri, we ended up third and won the Europa League. Sarri was able to leave on his own terms, to return to Italy as Juventus manager.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...