2018 Summer Transfer Extravaganza

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Paulinho is moving back to his former Chinese club for a fee slightly higher than what Barca paid last year.

This deal stinks. I'm not sure what the arrangement was, but it definitely stinks.

I'm interested to see who Barcelona buys in midfield. Iniesta and Mascherano will both be 35 next year, Andre Gomes is out of favor and reportedly likely to be sold, Denis Suarez hasn't seemed to get any traction. So its basically Rakitic and Busquets, two guys who will both be 30 at the start of the season. They really need to rebuild in midfield.
 

Kliq

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I don’t know; they just got two pretty good midfielders during the last transfer window...

I don’t think Iniesta is going to contribute much for Barcelona next season.
 

bosox4283

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Paulinho is moving back to his former Chinese club for a fee slightly higher than what Barca paid last year.

This deal stinks. I'm not sure what the arrangement was, but it definitely stinks.

I'm interested to see who Barcelona buys in midfield. Iniesta and Mascherano will both be 35 next year, Andre Gomes is out of favor and reportedly likely to be sold, Denis Suarez hasn't seemed to get any traction. So its basically Rakitic and Busquets, two guys who will both be 30 at the start of the season. They really need to rebuild in midfield.
Iniesta will be playing in Japan next year and Mascherano plays in China.

Dembele and Countinho will need to step up next year.
 

speedracer

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I'm guessing Sergi Roberto will move to midfield. Roberto, Rakitic, Busquets and Coutinho should be fine.

Definitely a tall order for Dembele to replace Neymar's production though, and Barca probably want to see if they can do better than Paco Alcacer as cover for Suarez.
 

PedroSpecialK

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So that's Mahrez, Raheem Sterling Bernardo Silva, Leroy Sané, and Paddy Roberts as wingers.

Good grief
 

teddykgb

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Roberts is going to be sold but I think Pep is recreating his Bayern wing options (Ribery/Coman/Robben/Costa) all rotating based on fitness and plan of attack.

Bernardo Silva is destined to move into CM. Pep played him as a false 9 at times and he looked good there for Portugal in final match
 

Cellar-Door

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In much smaller news.
West Ham officially signed Jack Wilshire yesterday.
Will announce Yarmolenko from Dortmund tomorrow.
Corinthians announced that Fabian Balbuena is sold to West Ham as well (but WH haven't announced because the paperwork isn't done).
 

teddykgb

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In much smaller news.
West Ham officially signed Jack Wilshire yesterday.
Will announce Yarmolenko from Dortmund tomorrow.
Corinthians announced that Fabian Balbuena is sold to West Ham as well (but WH haven't announced because the paperwork isn't done).
West Ham are having a fascinating summer accumulating a ton of interesting players. The only thing that gives me pause is that it reminds me of Mark Hughes Stokealona experiment
 

Cellar-Door

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West Ham are having a fascinating summer accumulating a ton of interesting players. The only thing that gives me pause is that it reminds me of Mark Hughes Stokealona experiment
One advantage West Ham should have is that Manuel Pellegrini is a good manager and Mark Hughes is a bumbling incompetent.
 

Zomp

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I really wish we went after Mahrez. He would have been perfect for the right side.

I think Peps usually good about everybody getting their minutes and Lord knows he’ll have enough games next year to do it.
 

PedroSpecialK

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All summer, Jorginho to City had seemed a foregone conclusion. It appears he's instead going to Chelsea, per Aurelio De Laurentiis - who also divulged that Sarri will become Chelsea's manager. Gotta be a bit awkward for Conte running training sessions...


apparently it's €57m for Jorginho, €8m for Sarri
 

Cellar-Door

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Felipe Anderson is rumored to be going to West Ham on loan.

I swear whoever is running that team is a massive FUT fan.
I haven't seen loan, I know West Ham applied for his work permit yesterday but everything I've seen is its £35M plus incentives that could reach £40.
 

OCST

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I would be fascinated to see how Chelsea plans to transition to Sarris system. There may not be a “top” side in all of Europe with a worse existing roster for the change. They can probably make the back line work but they’re facing huge decisions in midfield and attack

Edit: I hope for Chelsea’s sake the plan is youth. Their youth system has been consistently top tier but they have struggled to integrate them into the first team. Maybe Barkley and Drinkwater fit a bit more, if you squint you could almost see Barkley filling Hamsiks role
Lolz at Barkley doing anyhthing meaningful

One of the English papers called him an “almost-man.” Brutal and apt. He got nothing.
 

67YAZ

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Fulham impressively swoop in for Seri. I was holding out vague hope that they would reach back for Emerson Hyndman, who played well for them a couple seasons back. But, alas, our boy is still buried on the Bournemouth bench.
 

Cellar-Door

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Felipe Anderson to West Ham is done. Club record 35 million pounds with another 7M in add-ons that could be reached
 

Zososoxfan

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With respect to Barca's MF, I read about some rumors regarding Rabiot. But, like @speedracer said, it would make a lot of sense to see if Roberto can finally be a rotation piece (really a backup for Busi) in the MF. There are also a few academy players that may finally make the jump to fulltime squad (Alena, Arnaiz, and to a lesser extent Samper, not to mention guys that are getting good press but are blocked like Cucurella and Palencia - not MF though). Arthur seems like he will get some real PT, but it's hard to say with South American imports (see: Douglas). Rafinha is still on the squad, but should be loaned or sold. Gomes is likely to be sold and Arsenal makes too much sense.

On defense, there is still some player movement that will occur. Digne has indicated that he wants to leave, although Palencia and Cucurella may be ready for backup duty. I actually really like Digne and if he can wait Alba out one more season, he could be the heir apparent (and Alba could use more rest). Mina is almost certain to go out on loan with the excellent Llenglet coming in. Umtiti will be the no doubt starter and Pique will still get tons of minutes, but I hope he gets more rotation. I think Vermaelen is still on the squad, but may not be come fixture 1 in which case, Mina would stay.

The biggest issue I see at the moment though is a backup CF. If it's Alcacer, there needs to be enough confidence in him, Dembele, and Coutinho to keep the offense in top shape when Suarez is off form and Messi needs rest (something I think will become a big issue this year finally, similar to CR7 last season). There are a few CF targets that make sense to me: Angel Correa (not much of a CF though), Lewa (would make a lot of sense), Morata (unlikely), Rodrigo, Immobile, Belotti, Kramaric (I think he plays CF for Hoffenheim), Mertens (if he plays CF for Napoli), Ben Yedder, Maxi Gomez, Dzeko (as a stop gap), Alario, Milik, etc. It's been the Barca MO in recent years to just go for the best available regardless of long term plans, which makes me think Lewa could be possible (total speculation on my part based on his barking at Bayern), but Barca are always apt to raid other La Liga teams too so Rodrigo and Gomez make sense too. On the wings, Messi, Dembele, Coutinho is not quite enough for rotation, especially if Couts is going to be used in MF. Vidal and Munir are still on the squad but not up to quality IMO. I hope Denis gets some action, or Arnaiz gets a shot. I could still see a quality but not headlining deal here (similar to Semedo last year).
 
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PedroSpecialK

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Courtois has run his contract down to 1 year remaining, so Chelsea risk losing him for nothing this winter if they don't find a partner now
 

teddykgb

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I am going to have to dig up some of the old FFP and City threads for some tremendous ripped out of context quoting the way the rest of the PL is spending this summer. Safe to say I'll be hearing none of this talk about spending from the vast majority of you.

From City's perspective the Jorginho deal dying has left a bit of a gap. As with most championship teams, it's hard to make big changes to the roster because you essentially can't offer a starting position to any targets. DeLaurentis is a known shithouse and the fact that he played City along until he could get more from Chelsea is hardly a surprise but in that time period the other players City might have looked for signed elsewhere. I've personally been struck a few times by Lemina at Southampton when watching him play and his name has popped up but that's a much lower class of signing if City were to even pursue it. I suspect that City are likely to stand pat and either do business in Jan or have a lot more money next summer.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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I am going to have to dig up some of the old FFP and City threads for some tremendous ripped out of context quoting the way the rest of the PL is spending this summer. Safe to say I'll be hearing none of this talk about spending from the vast majority of you.

From City's perspective the Jorginho deal dying has left a bit of a gap. As with most championship teams, it's hard to make big changes to the roster because you essentially can't offer a starting position to any targets. DeLaurentis is a known shithouse and the fact that he played City along until he could get more from Chelsea is hardly a surprise but in that time period the other players City might have looked for signed elsewhere. I've personally been struck a few times by Lemina at Southampton when watching him play and his name has popped up but that's a much lower class of signing if City were to even pursue it. I suspect that City are likely to stand pat and either do business in Jan or have a lot more money next summer.
City spent 500m pounds net on players the three years before this one. They’ and PSG are in a different financial stratosphere because they’re owned by (awful authoritarian) states and Liverpool or West Ham splashing some chips around this summer doesn’t really change any of that.
 

Dummy Hoy

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I hope both of your teams go under and get relegated so you get to understand the joys of praying for loans and free transfers.
 

Dummy Hoy

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I thought it was funny in general.

I mean, this is Red Sox fans crying about the Yankees. The gap between City and Liverpool is the same between Liverpool and Spurs for christ’s sake. There are few things funnier to me than Liverpool or Arsenal fans pretending they root for plucky little clubs that do things the right way.
 

OCST

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I thought it was funny in general.

I mean, this is Red Sox fans crying about the Yankees. The gap between City and Liverpool is the same between Liverpool and Spurs for christ’s sake. There are few things funnier to me than Liverpool or Arsenal fans pretending they root for plucky little clubs that do things the right way.
Oh I agree. Not exactly Yeovil Town are they
 

Zomp

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Everton are rumored to be looking at Bordeaux's Malcolm. He had a great season last year in Lique 1 and I thought a Champions League club would be coming for him. If Everton could sign him it would be a coup. He's 21 and still improving so even if it works out they could likely sell him in 4 years time for another profit.
 

PedroSpecialK

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Alisson looks to be close to official


The Echo now saying Everton aren't in for Malcom... which I hope to be the case. Agreed with Zomp that he'd be a great get.
 

thehitcat

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Also Courtois is down to the final year on his contract so if it lingers to January he's a Bosman. Per earlier in this thread (or maybe the Liverpool one.) :)
 

Senator Donut

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Before Alisson, Buffon's 100 billion lire transfer from Parma to Juventus had stood as the record* for 17 years and Liverpool just obliterated that mark by 50%. It's an amazing sum for a player with a track record of just a single year in Europe and I don't even think it's a bad deal.

*depending on if you calculate the sterling/euro exchange rate in 2001 or 2017, otherwise Ederson broke the record last summer
 

Kliq

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I'm so jealous of the Shaqiri signing; I ride with that little man.
 

candylandriots

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I'm so jealous of the Shaqiri signing; I ride with that little man.
I know. I was so hoping Palace would get him, and for 13 million, they could have afforded him. Of course, fans of almost every team probably said the same. I love watching him play.
 

PedroSpecialK

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Danny Ward to Leicester, £12.5m + a 20% sell-on clause


When does Michael Edwards get a statue outside Anfield?

edit: Seems there is also smoke around Everton's purported £40-50m bid for Watford's Richardlison, and discussion with Barcelona around Lucas Digne at LB


Would have to conclude from that Everton are losing out Malcom to Roma
 
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candylandriots

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Ahh .. but could they have afforded the weekly wages - reportedly north of 100k per week?

I think that’s what really restricted the bidding.
Fair enough. Palace already have a very high wage bill. I had been hearing some talk that Newcastle wanted Townsend back. I imagine that Palace would have liked Shaqiri if they moved Andros. But I can certainly see the appeal for Shaqiri playing at Anfield instead of Selhurst too.
 

candylandriots

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AAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Zaha to Dortmund?
Lucien Favre needs to sign an attacker for Borussia Dortmund, report Bild, and Wilfried Zaha is presented as a major option.

The German newspaper explain BVB want a flexible attacker who can provide competition in various positions at the head of Dortmund’s team.

The Crystal Palace player’s speed, directness and dribbling abilities are presented as key and Bild believe he’d be perfect for Favre’s game-plan.

It’s believed that Palace ‘should’ demand €40m and whilst that may be seen as a big fee in Germany it doesn’t quite feel enough from a Premier League perspective. Zaha would have to be replaced and that wouldn’t come cheaply for Roy Hodgson.
The obligatory deleted cryptic social media post here.
 

PedroSpecialK

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Brighton set their club record for AZ’s Jahanbaksh. Is that a record for an Iranian, @PedroSpecialK?
Far and away, as far as I can recall. I think the previous transfer record was something like £5.7m for Ashkan Dejagah's switch from Fulham to Al Arabi but I'm not positive.

Waiting for Jahanbakhsh's number assignment (and what he chooses to put as his kit name) so I can order one. Brighton are also reportedly in for Iran's CB Morteza Pouralaganji.