Summer Transfer Superthread

charolais0153

is_that_so wrote: »

Pogba is like Balotelli could have been. Without a nursed ego he's like a spoilt child.

After that performance against Germany in the euros, you thought he could be anything but it wasn't to be

Mr.Nice Guy

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Ronaldo tried to engineer a move away from Old Trafford, comparing his treatment to that of a slave:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2008/jul/11/manchesterunited.premierleague1

Problem is the top players know they have the power in these situations, and they're being egged on by their agents to behave as obnoxiously as possible to get what they want.

I respect the way Hazard handled his business. Everyone knew he wanted the Madrid move but he went about it in the right way.

I'd agree here with this in bold.

Drumpot

Fred The Red wrote: »

They could all learn a thing or two from the ultimate pros like Messi, Ronaldo, Zlatan ect.

They won't ever fall in that bracket because of how unprofessional they are at times. A new age of footballer IMO. The bad kind.

As a Utd fan I'd lump Pogba in the same bracket as Neymar, Greizmann and the like IMO

I always Remember Pierre Van Hoijdonk (Incorrect spelling) for striking at forrest. He got a lot of flack for it even though His reasons for striking were more reasonable the the modern molly coddled children who just want more money or are demanding a move.

Back then that sort of crap was the exception, now it seems the modern footballer can do what they want, some fans will come up with excuses and the media will stay away from criticisng them so they can interview them and not rock the boat.

charolais0153

Drumpot wrote: »

I always Remember Pierre Van Hoijdonk? (Incorrect spelling) for striking at forrest. He got a lot of flack for it even though His reasons for striking were more reasonable the the modern molly coddled children who just want more money or are demanding a move.

Back then that sort of crap was the exception, now it seems the modern footballer can do what they want, some fans will come up with excuses and the media will stay away from criticisng them so they can interview them and not rock the boat.

Wasn't lukaku doing some awful talking at the Belgium camp a few weeks ago aswell

charolais0153

charolais0153 wrote: »

Wasn't lukaku doing some awful talking at the Belgium camp a few weeks ago aswell

Not for me to stray this away from OP about Greizmann ect but my thoughts;

I wouldn't say awful but he's been mouthing a bit alright.
To his credit he's at least going about pre-season it seems without fuss. And is at least wearing his Utd jacket with the rest of the squad unlike Pogba.

Jurgen The German

charolais0153 wrote: »

Wasn't lukaku doing some awful talking at the Belgium camp a few weeks ago aswell

The moment a player, any player, starts fluttering their eyelids at other clubs by name dropping, talking about their players, manager etc they should automatically forego any loyalty bonus/incentives in their contract. No problem with a player wanting to move for any reason but have a bit of class about it.

Blinky Plebum

rob316 wrote: »

Bollox. They are the worst, remember the fabregas transfer. All the players going out to the media begging for arsenal to let him come home, his Barca DNA etc.

Pretending to be some special club with that mesque une club nonsense.

They got coutinho to refuse to play too to force a transfer, it's a common tactic from them.

As someone else said I like Madrid they don't pretend to be anything else than the big bully in the school yard.

But it is a special club to the Catalan people, you obviously don't understand that, it has played a key role in peoples sense of individual freedom and identity in Catalonia.It was and is more than a club for Catalan people.

eagle eye

is_that_so wrote:

Pogba is like Balotelli could have been. Without a nursed ego he's like a spoilt child.

Pogba, Lukaku, Sanchez, Fred, Bailly, Matic, Martial, Schneiderlin, Depay and Mkhitaryan have all been big enough signings for United over the last few years. None of them have lived up to expectations.
That's too many players who you'd expect to do well at their new club to not perform. Problem isn't the players imo, there is a bigger issue at the club somewhere.

machiavellianme

Blinky Plebum wrote: »

But it is a special club to the Catalan people, you obviously don't understand that, it has played a key role in peoples sense of individual freedom and identity in Catalonia.It was and is more than a club for Catalan people.

Unless God forbid, Catalonia gained independence. In which case FCB would hightail it back to La Liga for the €$ and sod the more than a club for the Catalan people BS.

Harry Palmr

Blinky Plebum wrote: »

But it is a special club to the Catalan people, you obviously don't understand that, it has played a key role in peoples sense of individual freedom and identity in Catalonia.It was and is more than a club for Catalan people.

You're confusing Barca with Bilbao.

eagle eye

machiavellianme wrote:

Unless God forbid, Catalonia gained independence. In which case FCB would hightail it back to La Liga for the €$ and sod the more than a club for the Catalan people BS.

Have you proof of this?
I'm not a huge fan of the way the club is run but this is bull.

machiavellianme

eagle eye wrote: »

Have you proof of this?
I'm not a huge fan of the way the club is run but this is bull.

Who has proof of anything outside of the immutable laws of physics and mathematical theorems?
But back in 2017, when it was all kicking off, this was a hot topic. Barca supposedly supported the right to choose. See https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41346846

brianregan09

Bilbao are Basque not catalan

IncognitoMan

brianregan09 wrote: »

Bilbao are Basque not catalan

I presume he's referring to the fact Bilbao only field basque based players so they are an actual representation of the area. Almost a mini national team.

Where as Barca like to portray themselves as that same idea in Catalonia but they don't follow the same restrictions. They obviously have a very strong Catalonia representation traditionally in their squads but they also like every club in the world look to bring in the best world talent.

i.e they like to pretend they are more special than they really are.

I don't really have an issue with it. Just find the whole more than a club thing cringe more than anything when they aren't really that different to any of the mega clubs.

Blinky Plebum

Harry Palmr wrote: »

You're confusing Barca with Bilbao.

Bilbao isn't in Catalonia, check a map if you're not sure.

HalloweenJack

eagle eye wrote: »

Have you proof of this?
I'm not a huge fan of the way the club is run but this is bull.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUKKBN1CQ0ES

irishguitarlad

Pau López from Betis was sold yesterday to Roma for 29 million. Not too sure how I feel about it but if It means we can keep on to a couple of the bigger players and add one or two more then I'm happy.

LuckyLloyd

Blinky Plebum wrote: »

But it is a special club to the Catalan people, you obviously don't understand that, it has played a key role in peoples sense of individual freedom and identity in Catalonia.It was and is more than a club for Catalan people.

Would you say their former Qatari benefactors are big fans of individual freedom and ethnic identity?

Barcelona are just a club. There is nothing about their behaviour, football or history that make them better than any other club. And even if they get Griezemann or Neymar or both they will be beaten in next year’s CL.

pjohnson

If only that lad was still around he could post a superlative laden thesis explaining the majestic Messi's importance to Catalan people

Unearthly

pjohnson wrote: »

If only that lad was still around he could post a superlative laden thesis explaining the majestic Messi's importance to Catalan people

His gimmick has evolved, flying under the radar from most people though

Baggly

Why are people conflating 'more than' with 'better' or 'special'. Maybe it's a translation thing. Liverpool are more than a club to my eyes. United too. A lot of clubs are. Leave them to it. Doesn't impact on anyone but the supporters of Barcelona, and if you think they are wrong, leave them to it.

Any transfer news this morning?

pjohnson

Unearthly wrote: »

His gimmick has evolved, flying under the radar from most people though

Its easy enough to spot but a return to the glory days would be gas.

Baggly

Mings to Villa for £20m confirmed, it seems.

https://twitter.com/AVFCOfficial/status/1148268064506568704

Baggly

I enjoy these guys (TIFO Football) and their vids. They are doing a seres where they try to identify the right signings for clubs based on statistical analysis. This one was done retroactively, since Dortmund got their business done early. Worth a watch though! You can find the other videos on their channel (ones on United and a lot of the other bigger European clubs) if ye want.

Link

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

Harry Palmr

brianregan09 wrote: »

Bilbao are Basque not catalan

IncognitoMan wrote: »

I presume he's referring to the fact Bilbao only field basque based players so they are an actual representation of the area. Almost a mini national team.

Where as Barca like to portray themselves as that same idea in Catalonia but they don't follow the same restrictions. They obviously have a very strong Catalonia representation traditionally in their squads but they also like every club in the world look to bring in the best world talent.

i.e they like to pretend they are more special than they really are.

I don't really have an issue with it. Just find the whole more than a club thing cringe more than anything when they aren't really that different to any of the mega clubs.

Blinky Plebum wrote: »

Bilbao isn't in Catalonia, check a map if you're not sure.

IncognitoMan is on the money. Barca are cynics about their difference, Bilbao are the real deal.

Agent Coulson

The whole more than a club thing was invented by some marketing team in an office somewhere and that office was nowhere near Barcelona.

marklazarcovic

Would be beyond hilarious if griezman got no move this summer.

is_that_so

eagle eye wrote: »

Have you proof of this?
I'm not a huge fan of the way the club is run but this is bull.

There's a logic to them staying in Spain financially as the likes of TV money would vanish almost immediately and playing Espanyol 20 times a season does not make a league.

is_that_so

marklazarcovic wrote: »

Would be beyond hilarious if griezman got no move this summer.

I think they want him so it I expect will be done. Barca do shamelessness very well when it suits them.

BullBlackNova

irishguitarlad wrote: »

Pau López from Betis was sold yesterday to Roma for 29 million. Not too sure how I feel about it but if It means we can keep on to a couple of the bigger players and add one or two more then I'm happy.

Did he spend a season on loan at Spurs or have I confused him with someone else? He must have developed quite a bit!!

Other done deal - Pontus Jansson has left Leeds. Joined Brentford in a 5.5m deal. Him and Bielsa fell out last season apparently - in the Villa game, it was Jansson who refused to let them walk it into the net - but that strikes me as a big loss for Leeds. Lots of unhappy fans on Twitter anyway.

Fitz*

irishguitarlad wrote: »

Pau López from Betis was sold yesterday to Roma for 29 million. Not too sure how I feel about it but if It means we can keep on to a couple of the bigger players and add one or two more then I'm happy.

Can you see Junior Firpo leaving? Is he ready for one of the top teams do you think?

is_that_so

BullBlackNova wrote: »

Did he spend a season on loan at Spurs or have I confused him with someone else? He must have developed quite a bit!!

Other done deal - Pontus Jansson has left Leeds. Joined Brentford in a 5.5m deal. Him and Bielsa fell out last season apparently - in the Villa game, it was Jansson who refused to let them walk it into the net - but that strikes me as a big loss for Leeds. Lots of unhappy fans on Twitter anyway.

Clubs move on "problem" players all the time. Fans will get over it if they start out as they did last season. He's good for the Championship but not as good as he imagines and had some shockers in his time.

BullBlackNova

is_that_so wrote: »

Clubs move on "problem" players all the time. Fans will get over it if they start out as they did last season. He's good for the Championship but not as good as he imagines and had some shockers in his time.

That's fair - I watched them quite a few times last season and he struck me as a good player. But at 29 and if he has issues with the boss, its not worth it. Now just a matter of seeing if they go into the market to replace him or boost from within the club.

Mitch Connor

is_that_so wrote: »

I think they want him so it I expect will be done. Barca do shamelessness very well when it suits them.

Seems they would like Neymar more, or at least some at Barca do and so do the players.

Looks like AG was basically done, then Neymar became a possibility and now Barca are unsure which direction to go in.

You would have to think Neymar will simply be too expensive to buy, for anyone. You're talking huge transfer fee plus huge wages. Beyond any club not utterly bank rolled by billionaires. Which means PSG (obviously not) and City - who have shown no real appetite to get into that level of spend on one player.

Unless something drastic happens I can't see Neymar going anywhere, which puts AG to barca as a matter of time, imo.

Blinky Plebum

Agent Coulson wrote: »

The whole more than a club thing was invented by some marketing team in an office somewhere and that office was nowhere near Barcelona.

It was said by former club president Narcis de Carreras in his 1968 nomination speech.

Lots of clubs all over Europe go with the more than a club idea and portray themselves as being more important than just the action on the field, it just seems to be only Barcelona who provoke the ire of people for doing this.

gimli2112

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Unless something drastic happens I can't see Neymar going anywhere, which puts AG to barca as a matter of time, imo.

I imagine Barcelona are waiting on the player to go nuclear, which I expect he will. PSG won't want to hang onto him, more often than not when a player wants to leave you're better off letting them go. It happened with us with Suarez and Coutinho where it was delayed but inevitable.

Blinky Plebum

gimli2112 wrote: »

I imagine Barcelona are waiting on the player to go nuclear, which I expect he will. PSG won't want to hang onto him, more often than not when a player wants to leave you're better off letting them go. It happened with us with Suarez and Coutinho where it was delayed but inevitable.

Barcelona have to convince a couple of their players to want to go to PSG in apart exchange so It'll probably drag on until the last minute as thoe type of deals are very hard to get sorted.

is_that_so

gimli2112 wrote: »

I imagine Barcelona are waiting on the player to go nuclear, which I expect he will. PSG won't want to hang onto him, more often than not when a player wants to leave you're better off letting them go. It happened with us with Suarez and Coutinho where it was delayed but inevitable.

The fact that they played better as a team when he wasn't on the pitch shows how important he is to them. They can afford to let him rot in the stands or continue to face him down.

Cookiemunster

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Seems they would like Neymar more, or at least some at Barca do and so do the players.

Looks like AG was basically done, then Neymar became a possibility and now Barca are unsure which direction to go in.

You would have to think Neymar will simply be too expensive to buy, for anyone. You're talking huge transfer fee plus huge wages. Beyond any club not utterly bank rolled by billionaires. Which means PSG (obviously not) and City - who have shown no real appetite to get into that level of spend on one player.

Unless something drastic happens I can't see Neymar going anywhere, which puts AG to barca as a matter of time, imo.

More like Barca thought they could get him for €120m, but Atleti are claiming the original release clause of €200m because negotiations occurred before July 1st when the release clause dropped.

gimli2112

is_that_so wrote: »

The fact that they played better as a team when he wasn't on the pitch shows how important he is to them. They can afford to let him rot in the stands or continue to face him down.

tbh PSG are one of the few clubs that could hang him out to dry if they wanted

gimli2112

gimli2112 wrote: »

I imagine Barcelona are waiting on the player to go nuclear, which I expect he will. PSG won't want to hang onto him, more often than not when a player wants to leave you're better off letting them go. It happened with us with Suarez and Coutinho where it was delayed but inevitable.

Neymar tends to go nuclear regularly :P

gimli2112

Fred The Red wrote: »

Neymar tends to go nuclear regularly :P

It's worked for him the past but I wonder now. He has some pretty bad allegations hanging over him, he's probably not the player he was and perhaps most importantly his transfer fee/wages will be monsterous. There's a lot you could do with that kind of money that doesn't involve such a gamble.

AdamD

gimli2112 wrote: »

It's worked for him the past but I wonder now. He has some pretty bad allegations hanging over him, he's probably not the player he was and perhaps most importantly his transfer fee/wages will be monsterous. There's a lot you could do with that kind of money that doesn't involve such a gamble.

This is the third or fourth time I've seen this put in the thread. I care nothing for Neymar but those allegations were very swiftly shown to be complete nonsense and withdrawn. They aren't hanging over him at all

gimli2112

gimli2112 wrote: »

It's worked for him the past but I wonder now. He has some pretty bad allegations hanging over him, he's probably not the player he was and perhaps most importantly his transfer fee/wages will be monsterous. There's a lot you could do with that kind of money that doesn't involve such a gamble.

Absolutely. There was a point in time in his career where he was coming close to being a brilliant player. It was before his move to PSG. Can't remember exactly off the top of my head but it was his second last season at Barca I think. He had a brilliant CL campaign.

Once he looked to move and eventually left he had it in his head he was the best when he wasn't yet there. I mentioned already but it seems to be a problem with modern footballers.

Too much money, complacency creeps in, and just an all round poor attitude attributes to this.

rob316

Fred The Red wrote: »

Too much money, complacency creeps in, and just an all round poor attitude attributes to this.

Weak coaches/managers and ****bag agents don't help.

Mitch Connor

gimli2112 wrote: »

I imagine Barcelona are waiting on the player to go nuclear, which I expect he will. PSG won't want to hang onto him, more often than not when a player wants to leave you're better off letting them go. It happened with us with Suarez and Coutinho where it was delayed but inevitable.

PSG pushed for the signing Neymar as an FU to Barca over trying to sign Veratti.

Of all the clubs in football, they will not be bullied by a player into selling him for anything less than his market value (in their eyes). They may be happy to sell, but only for the price they are happy with, and not a penny less imo.

Coutinho as an example is a funny one - he went for arguably way more than he should have cause Liverpool held firm on it.

Blinky Plebum

rob316 wrote: »

Weak coaches/managers and ****bag agents don't help.

99% of it is his own fault.

No manager is able to be tough on him because if they are he'll throw his toys out of the pram.

He knows he has power to do what he wants and so can pnce around with minimal effort and get away with.

Shows you the big difference between him and Messi and Ronaldo he has as much talent as they do but his attitude is miles behind them.

~Rebel~

AdamD wrote: »

This is the third or fourth time I've seen this put in the thread. I care nothing for Neymar but those allegations were very swiftly shown to be complete nonsense and withdrawn. They aren't hanging over him at all

No they weren’t... still very much an active case;
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/world/neymar-rape-allegations-police-brazil-psg-acccuser-a8984031.html

ERG89

https://twitter.com/juventusfcen/status/1148490111245574144?s=19

Juve signing Cristian Romero from Genoa, joining Demiral & likely De Ligt.


https://twitter.com/footballitalia/status/1148184344420335617?s=19

Pau Lopez going to Roma from Betis.


https://twitter.com/ASRomaEN/status/1148136084997640192?s=19

Always wonder what would have happened this guy had Milan not bought Balotelli & put him out wide as he was in the form of his career at the time.

An update on free agent Mario Balotelli

https://twitter.com/footballitalia/status/1148255904577589248?s=19

Waster

irishguitarlad

FitzShane wrote: »

irishguitarlad wrote: »

Pau López from Betis was sold yesterday to Roma for 29 million. Not too sure how I feel about it but if It means we can keep on to a couple of the bigger players and add one or two more then I'm happy.

Can you see Junior Firpo leaving? Is he ready for one of the top teams do you think?

He could very well leave if an offer comes in for him, he was rumoured to be joinimg Madrid but that was before they signed that rb. To be honest I still think he's a bit raw, great going forward but dodgy defending sometimes. Another season with Betis wouldn't help his development. Good news there recently was that Canales has committed to this season, there was talk of him leaving for atleti.