Football: A Tale of Two Finals

[Spockydog]

9 minutes ago, mormont said:

Never in the history of football has a player appearing/not appearing in the new shirt promo meant anything.

The Sun story is reportedly, ahem, well sourced, but it runs into the basic problem that has existed from the start of this whole thing: Spurs don't have to sell, even at £160m. They're not hurting for cash and Kane has three years left on his current terms. Leaking the possible price doesn't help - neither Spurs nor Man City are likely to be happy with that, or with the impression that the player/his agent are trying to bounce them into a deal.

I hear you, but I dunno. We all know there is so much bullshit around transfers, but I read the Sun story (I know, somebody punch me in the face!), and it felt like there was a little more substance than the usual clickbait transfer bollocks.

What is new about the story is the revelation that Levy has said Kane can leave. Talksport were going all in on his change of heart late last night.

When The Athletic start reporting it, we'll know it's on. 

[mormont]

3 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

revelation

Uncorroborated claim, I think you meant to say.

I don't think anyone's ever thought that Levy would never, ever sell at any price. Only that Spurs can name their price and Man City may not be willing to pay that much for a player with a low resale value that they don't, in the end, really desperately need.

[BigFatCoward]

2 hours ago, Soylent Brown said:

I think Kane is better at the moment in that he's just as good in front of goal but has a much better all round game, but yeah, Haaland has time on his side.

The problem with Haaland is that he wouldn't cost the same - you'd probably need to add another £60m+ in agent fees, and then you'd also have him itching for another move in 2-3 years.

 

But unlike Kane he is likely to be worth at least what you paid for him (acknowledging the number of teams you could recup 160 million from is seriously limited). 

[Spockydog]

26 minutes ago, mormont said:

Uncorroborated claim, I think you meant to say.

I don't think anyone's ever thought that Levy would never, ever sell at any price. Only that Spurs can name their price and Man City may not be willing to pay that much for a player with a low resale value that they don't, in the end, really desperately need.

Whether or not they need him, City want Kane. Nobody is disputing that. 

So any unsubstantiated claims about what they are or are not willing to pay is just as nebulous as anything in the Sun.

[mormont]

I would agree that if a newspaper was out there saying 'we have information that City won't pay £160m' that's an unsubstantiated claim. From me, it's just an opinion. Might be wrong, might be right. Time will tell.

On the whole, though, the Sun story really tells us little that's new. Kane desperately wants to leave. City are the only interested club who can afford him. City may or may not be willing to pay what Spurs will accept. Kane's agent is trying to force a move but has a weak hand. All of this we knew months ago.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Yep, pretty much the same situation it's been for months.

Kane wants out and claims there was a gentleman's agreement with Levy allowing him to leave. Levy put an insane price tag around Kane's neck, that no club operating in this reality should pay. City is interested, but the price tag means Kane will very likely have to stay at Spurs.

The Messi situation with the salary cap at Barca is way more entertaining with way more drama.

[Spockydog]

34 minutes ago, mormont said:

City are the only interested club who can afford him.

From what I understand, that is simply not true. Chelsea are waiting in the wings. They'd have no problem with the fee.

In amongst all the noise, the only reason Chelsea aren't higher in the mix is the enmity between the two clubs. If City pull out, you can bet Kane would happily put that to one side to cross London.

 

[Consigliere]

The Manchester based journos (Brennan and Ducker) have rubbished those rumours from The Sun saying that word they've gotten is that City have no intention of paying £160m for Kane and will not spend that much on one player. However, the club are still hoping to get deals done for Kane and Grealish.

[Mark Antony]

Say what you want about United’s owners but they back the club in the transfer market. That’s for sure. 

[mormont]

16 minutes ago, Mark Antony said:

Say what you want about United’s owners but they back the club in the transfer market. That’s for sure. 

They're not really footing the bill so this isn't a great recommendation.

[Spockydog]

1 hour ago, Consigliere said:

The Manchester based journos (Brennan and Ducker) have rubbished those rumours from The Sun saying that word they've gotten is that City have no intention of paying £160m for Kane and will not spend that much on one player. However, the club are still hoping to get deals done for Kane and Grealish.

I'll bet they did. They're probably upset they didn't get the story. And as much as I detest them, The Sun gets plenty of scoops and cannot be dismissed out of hand.

The Athletic reported recently that City were going big for Grealish and Kane this summer. Their estimated valuation was between 170-215m for the two players. So let's say Kane is 160, with another 80-100 for Grealish. Well, that doesn't take them too far above what they were hoping to pay. And how often does a buying club get what they want in terms of price?

Kane will score 50 goals a season for City. He will win them the Champions League. Of course they will pay.

Quote

 

Yes, we’re firmly in transfer season now, so here we go. Well, it’s not quite “Go” territory yet, as the players Manchester City want to buy have just gone on their post-Euros holidays but over the next few weeks, we can expect to see some real development.

There is a sense that things were fairly quiet during the European Championship but ultimately, there were still two significant updates: 

City made their first significant approach to Tottenham Hotspur for Harry Kane, and there was that flurry of stories around Jack Grealish’s future.

The England duo are City’s two biggest targets this summer by far, with any other business heavily dependant on outgoings.

It has been reported that City will have to choose which of the two to buy but The Athletic understands that is not the case and that they will sign both if Spurs and Aston Villa agree to let them go — and as long as City also sell some established first-teamers, which they expect to and has always been part of the plan.

 

And in case anyone doesn't know about The Athletic. They hoovered up some of the best connected, most respected football journalists in the country. They do not print bullshit. Their entire marketing schtick is that they've got sources we can trust. In my experience, when they say something is happening, it's happening.

[polishgenius]

You'd hope that the quality of their football coverage is at least better than the quality of their boxing and MMA coverage.

[Spockydog]

Can't speak for that, but for me it's the best football writing ever. Well worth the subscription. 

[Heartofice]

Yeah have to say Atheltic is rather good quality. Having said that, they are becoming the Amazon of sports writing and basically throwing money at it to grab the entire sector.. I feel a bit dirty reading it 

[Spockydog]

21 minutes ago, Heartofice said:

Yeah have to say Atheltic is rather good quality. Having said that, they are becoming the Amazon of sports writing and basically throwing money at it to grab the entire sector.. I feel a bit dirty reading it 

I know what you mean but I don't care. For years we've had to put up with a football press that was 90% nonsense. When you're charging £8 per month, you'd better ensure the content is worth it. And it is. 

Over the past few months, I've read some brilliant articles. Long, deep dives, multi-writer collaborations, delving into some really meaty topics. They did a piece on the demise of Mourinho's reign at Spurs that was incredibly revealing. There was also a really good one recently on Nuno. He sounds like a proper headcase.

It's clear their sources are very well placed, and the writing is top notch. If anyone would like a trial, I have two invites left that give a month's free access.

 

[ljkeane]

There is some good stuff on The Athletic. They do have a bit of a tendency to just do loads of long in depth articles though, some of which are good and a lot of which are just really long for the sake of being long. I don't really need to read a massive article featuring about six different interviews with people who sat on the same bus as Harry Kane to school but have never actually spoken to him.

[Heartofice]

They also had some crazy deals, think I picked it up for a quid a month. 
 

Used to be I would read football365 every day, but I can’t bare it now. Or I would watch for Jonathan Wilson articles but the Atheltic has a great range of writers. 
 

Good point that many of those articles are just incredibly long winded, maybe they just aren’t for me though. Used to love Michael Cox but there is just a very granular level of detail in his articles now that I can’t be bothered with.

Tifo is great though 

[Raja]

I actually stopped my athletic subscription 4-5 months ago. I just didn't feel the quality of writing was great; out of 10 articles, I would find maybe 2-3 that I actually thought were worth the read. But over the euros, they had a 1 pound per month for 6 months which was too good a deal to pass up.

Out of the recent articles I've read, found Horncastle's couple of articles about Italy during the euros informative and nice background on the team

[Consigliere]

Spurs making some good moves. Cristian Romero is looking close to getting done (fee expected to be in the €50-55m range including addons) and Bryan Gil signed from Sevilla for €25m + €5m in addons + Lamela. Kounde is a possibility as well - Alasdair Gold reported that Kounde is open to joining the club but the transfer fee could be a problem for Spurs. Ironically, the Gil transfer helped Sevilla balance their books and reports are Monchi could now demand as much as €70m for Kounde. However, reports also say that Monchi would be open to accepting Davinson Sanchez in a cash+player deal. A Kounde-Romero CB partnership, on paper, looks to be a massive upgrade if Spurs can get those deals done. Reports that Alderweireld will be in Qatar soon to complete his £13m move to Al-Duhail.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

On the lighter side of things

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqaaNlfsZnw