Football: Transfers of Power

[Mexal]

46 minutes ago, Raja said:

Not entirely convinced by Zinchenko, but I need to watch him more.

Oh I am. He's great.

[Daemon the Leaner]

looking at the number of games Bruno played in 20/21, it really isn't mad to have more depth in that position

thing is, you didn't exactly expect Ten Hag to add even more competition in Van De Beek's life

[Raja]

2 minutes ago, Mexal said:

Oh I am. He's great.

I've seen  him more for Ukraine than for City, and for Ukraine he did look fairly decent. I hope he plays more in the midfield as opposed to LB

[ljkeane]

Looks like Norway are going out unless there’s a drastic improvement in the second half.

They’ve been pretty disappointing so far this tournament. I thought adding Hegerberg to what had been an otherwise pretty good side would make them a real danger to win the whole thing so how limp their performances have been has been a real letdown.

[The Sunland Lord]

Pedulla reports Bremer to Inter will be done Monday or Tuesday. 

[Mexal]

28 minutes ago, Raja said:

I've seen  him more for Ukraine than for City, and for Ukraine he did look fairly decent. I hope he plays more in the midfield as opposed to LB

I think he probably will. He wants to play in the midfield like he does for Ukraine and he's pretty good at building up from the back so I can see him pulling double duty, especially if Tierney is fit. I could see him rotating with Xhaka.

[polishgenius]

41 minutes ago, Ser Glendon Fireball said:

thing is, you didn't exactly expect Ten Hag to add even more competition in Van De Beek's life

 

Well, this is the thing. If I thought VDB was going to continue to get no gametime, I'd be fine with it, but you'd think Ten Hag would give him more of a chance. 

Add to that that most of our most promising youth players seem to be creatives too, and while you certainly can't bank a squad on them, depth is exactly the sort of thing you wouldn't mind seeing them given a few chances to contribute.

Like I've said before, I don't hate the Eriksen signing, I just think it's an odd one to prioritise.  

[Consigliere]

1 hour ago, polishgenius said:

 

If he's playing deeper? Sure, if we fail to get anyone else. Further forward? His two positions would be 10 or from the left and he's not supplanting Bruno or Sancho. Admittedly Sancho can also play from the right, making his competition Elanga and Rashford, but that could leave us lacking direct pace.  

Playing him on the left might be the plan. Sancho has played on the right in both pre-season games and has been our best attacker. Eriksen lacks the raw pace of Rashford or Elanga but is a much better creator than either. That could be useful when facing low blocks because neither Rashford nor Elanga have the guile needed to break down parked busses and their pace is not much of an asset in those cases either.

eta. Eriksen can play on the right too. Right midfield was his primary position for a time at Spurs with Alli at #10, Son on the left and Kane up top.

Edited July 15, 2022 by Consigliere

[Iskaral Pust]

Man City are reaping a lot from player sales this summer.  Aside from Jesus, Sterling and Zinchenko, they also sold a couple of youth players to Southampton.  Not to mention the quick profit on Ferran Torres in January.  That’s a lot of revenue without weakening their starting XI.  They may not need to fabricate new sponsors again this year.

It’s also quite a flex that they’re willing to sell to Chelsea and Arsenal because they don’t see them as rivals to be concerned about.

But I am surprised that they’re willing to sell Bernardo Silva to Barca.  That weakens their starting XI, even if Gundogan plays alongside KDB and Rodri.  But I assume they’ll have a replacement lined up.

 

edit: I forgot about Ake in that list, which makes it two players each to Chelsea and Arsenal.

Edited July 16, 2022 by Iskaral Pust

[Consigliere]

I highly doubt City will sell Silva. 

[Raja]

West Ham have made a bid for Broja, around 30 million

[Spockydog]

3 hours ago, Mexal said:

Oh I am. He's great.

Aye. Around the time our interest in him first emerged, he played in central midfield against Scotland. He looked amazing that night.

So this makes me very happy...

Let's hope they can get it over the line without any drama.

 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Meanwhile the Lewandowski soap opera is over. Barca agreed to fork over 50m €, which was acceptable for Bayern.

[Raja]

50????

That man is like 87

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Well 45m and another 5m in add-ons. No idea on the specifics, so I just gave the number of the total package. Not like that 5m would make that deal any more rational for Barca. As for Lewandowski he got the three year deal Bayern didn't want to offer. And yes, Lewandowski is gonna turn 34 next month.

Curious what Bayern will do in terms of a successor. Rumour has it they are looking at Kane, but that would be a transfer for next year. As getting him from Spurs this year would be way too expensive.

Anyway, the Lewandwoski fee means that Bayern now have the funds for the de Ligt deal.

Bayern's supervisory board was only willing to green light such a big deal in the case of Lewandowski's departure. That happened, now they can go after de Ligt in earnest.

Edited July 16, 2022 by A Horse Named Stranger

[Rorschach - 2]

11 hours ago, ljkeane said:

Looks like Norway are going out unless there’s a drastic improvement in the second half.

They’ve been pretty disappointing so far this tournament. I thought adding Hegerberg to what had been an otherwise pretty good side would make them a real danger to win the whole thing so how limp their performances have been has been a real letdown.

That's what happens when your manager is a weak copy of Roberto Martinez.

Or, that's not really entirely fair. To Martinez. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

In unrelated news.

First home match of the season today.

So not posting brilliance with four hooves this afternoon.

[Heartofice]

Barca are losing their minds. It’s really hard to see what their game plan is here. It seems so short termist, even funding all this unnecessary spending by selling future tv rights seems a very poor decision, and there are a lot of very worrying signs to do with their accounts which means they might be in even bigger trouble than we think.

I have to wonder if the club will even exist in 5 years.

[frenin]

9 hours ago, Raja said:

50????

That man is like 87

And one of the best strikers not named Haaland of Benzema.

 

5 hours ago, Heartofice said:

Barca are losing their minds. It’s really hard to see what their game plan is here. It seems so short termist, even funding all this unnecessary spending by selling future tv rights seems a very poor decision, and there are a lot of very worrying signs to do with their accounts which means they might be in even bigger trouble than we think.

I have to wonder if the club will even exist in 5 years.

They are not losing their minds but they are betting the house on black. The funding wasn't only to sign new player but to reduce short term debts that were killing them? Would  it work? logic says no or it'll only half work but...

Barca is too big to fall anyways. Either they are rescued or a Saudi buys them.

[Consigliere]

Barca have managed to significantly reduce their wage bill and will have to keep that in check going forward (which Laporta said is a priority not to be handing out bloated contracts the way Bartomeu did). They've raised over €550m from selling 25% of their TV rights for up to 25 years (but they do have an option to buy back those rights and this is much better than the CVC deal) and they've restructured around €140m of short term debt at a much more favourable interest rate. Barca are having to jump through hoops to register players because LaLiga's FFP is stricter than UEFA's FFP and much stricter than any financial controls that exist in the PL. Barca generate upwards of €800m in revenue so as long as Laporta doesn't pull a Bartomeu, the club is not in danger of going out of business anytime soon.

Edited July 16, 2022 by Consigliere