Really? Ugh. Always been a huge fan of Godin's game, it's a shame it had to end like this. There are worthwhile Libertadores-grade clubs in Uruguay for him to play at, no reason to put up with that BS.
The culture is off when away supporters being banned from traveling to matches becomes a league-wide policy.Never liked It's a discussion for another time, but things are not pretty in Argentina.
https://theathletic.com/4748754/2023/08/04/west-ham-transferroom-moyes/West Ham’s increasingly desperate search for new signings has led the club to advertise for seven squad positions on the website TransferRoom.
Man am I pulling for him to go to Rayo. This is probably the only way an American would end up there as the club are on a shoestring budget. I almost imagine the managers duct taping the team plane’s propeller like in Major League. I know Mr. Keller played there years ago but that was a different financial world both in soccer and in the cost for American players. Rayo are a team for the dispossessed, and that is Reggie Cannon right now. I know Cannon is pretty far down the list of Yanks Abroad, but even the idea of Americans seeing the absurdity of the stadium in Vallecas- I’m pretty sure a Fede Valverde shot landed in someone’s living room last season- maybe gaining an appreciation for the severely underrated Isi, and possibly even buying a super cool Rayo kit is enough to make me smile.Reggie Cannon, whose contract with Boavista has been terminated (the downside to the Portuguese league is that there's like a 50/50 shot you get paid), is reported to be close to a deal with either Rayo Vallecano or Köln
Football's Transfer Marketplace | TransferRoomhttps://theathletic.com/4748754/2023/08/04/west-ham-transferroom-moyes/
The big revelation here for me is that there's a website where clubs can advertise for transfers. Is this like craigslist for football clubs?
If they realize all the add ons, West Ham just about break even on the transfer fees here. Which is good enough. Haines because Scamacca is an old school lumbering target man. I don’t know what Atalanta see in him given their style of play. I was eager to see Scamacca take a step up in the EPL last year, but though he was thoroughly exposed as having few skills beyond being tall.Gianluca Scamacca to Atalanta is apparently on. Scamacca had been Inter’s fallback plan should they not land Folarin Balogun. Nice hijack by Atalanta.
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Xavi would definitely want him as he replaces Ansu as the starting LW and gives Barca another huge attacking threat to draw attention away from Lewa.The Spanish papers Marca and As are reporting that Neymar has asked to leave PSG, with Marca hinting that he wants to return to Barcelona. I have no idea why it makes sense for Barca to being back Neymar. Would Xavi want him?
This is also true.Neymar seems about a billion times more likely to go to the Saudi league than Barca. The last thing Barca needs is an incredibly expensive attacking player who is always injured.
IIRC that is more or less correct - they sold off some of their broadcast revenues if memory serves.Are they even digging out of their financial mess? Or are they just continuing business as usual, taking out more debt and having an unsustainable payroll? I know they opted out of the La Liga deal with the private equity firm, but I thought they were instead doing some other transactions that also amounted to "eating their seed corn", much moreso than "taking their medicine".
It’s a bit of both. They spent something like €3.4 million total on three player (two on a free) and are likely selling Dembele and Kessie. They had a couple of other minor sales too. Once the Dembele sale goes through, assuming it does, they will have more than balanced the books and can register all of their players. The Kessie deal is a bonus and will allow them to get another RB and maybe a CM. Generally speaking it was the high payroll from the previous regime that was setting them back, and they’re getting closer to righting the ship. They likely will be able bring over Vítor Roque earlier too, which is much more realistic than Neymar.Are they even digging out of their financial mess? Or are they just continuing business as usual, taking out more debt and having an unsustainable payroll? I know they opted out of the La Liga deal with the private equity firm, but I thought they were instead doing some other transactions that also amounted to "eating their seed corn", much moreso than "taking their medicine".
It's kind of both, in true Barca fashion--pren el teu pastís i menja'l també. They've acted more responsibly in the sense that they settled the contracts of the old guard (Pique, Busi, Alba) and haven't spent like drunkards acting like sailors (Barto was so incompetent he couldn't even be considered a sailor in this short-lived yet tortured analogy), opting for free transfers like Kessie, Gundogan, etc. instead, but at the same time splashing real money for Lewa, Raph, and others.Are they even digging out of their financial mess? Or are they just continuing business as usual, taking out more debt and having an unsustainable payroll? I know they opted out of the La Liga deal with the private equity firm, but I thought they were instead doing some other transactions that also amounted to "eating their seed corn", much moreso than "taking their medicine".
Tifo has a decent soccer podcast and they recently did an episode on club finances with an expert in the field. They went into the financial situations for several clubs, Barcelona obviously among them. Generally speaking, they agreed that the absurdly high wages is really what put the club in the position that it’s in, but the expert, Abhishek Raj, was cautious not to be too critical because of the reaction of La Liga to Covid. Every other league in the world more or less allowed teams to not count any debt when calculating FFP except La Liga, so when Barcelona have long term high wage contracts combined with zero game day revenues, it was catastrophic. Again, the free spending is the main cause, but if there are no lockdowns or if La Liga followed other leagues in their FFP policies, it likely would not have been as much of an issue. Barca were also slow to react to the financial realities of Covid. He agreed with you that the club have responded reasonably well given the circumstances and are on the right path.It's kind of both, in true Barca fashion--pren el teu pastís i menja'l també. They've acted more responsibly in the sense that they settled the contracts of the old guard (Pique, Busi, Alba) and haven't spent like drunkards acting like sailors (Barto was so incompetent he couldn't even be considered a sailor in this short-lived yet tortured analogy), opting for free transfers like Kessie, Gundogan, etc. instead, but at the same time splashing real money for Lewa, Raph, and others.
They have decided to mortgage some future revenue to keep the club relevant for the next few years, and frankly that might be the right decision. There's no guarantee that the brand could recover from 5-10 years of anonymity.
My theory is that Boehly is (mis)applying assumptions and ideas from baseball to the world of European football.I guess Lavia at least has a season under his belt, but it seems utterly fucking insane that someone with transfer power looked and the Chelsea roster and was like “we need another 19 year old midfielder”. Conor Gallagher is currently the midfield elder statesman at 23.
He was handing out baseball contracts too thinking he’d found a loophole until they said “quit it!”and changed the amortization rules I believe.My theory is that Boehly is (mis)applying assumptions and ideas from baseball to the world of European football.
If a baseball team sold off all their prime age and aging players with value and amassed a huge number of top quality age19-22 prospects from around the world, people would be thinking they were geniuses. Because a good number of those prospects would pan out, it wouldn't really matter if you were bad for a year or two while they aged, and player development is really about individual skill so its not like being in a rocky and tumultuous team context would hamper the development of players. And if you had a minor league club (ie, Strasbourg) where a lot of the guys could play everyday then even better, because you can just call them up when they're ready. In a couple years, 6-7 of those guys are top young players and then they're the core of your next great team.
I just don't think it works that way in football but I guess we'll see.
Ugh. For this price I was hoping he’d go some place where he’d be a bang on starter, ideally for a top-half EPL club. Hope this goes great or he ends up in that kind of spot in 2 years to prep for WC.Adams is off to Chelsea. I imagine he’ll be more of a rotation player for them given the other names they’re targeting.
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Reporting I've seen is that the clubs have an agreement and so it's now up to Kane to decide whether to ship off for Bavaria or not. If Kane leaving means Spurs can buy Tapsoba, I'm here for it.German media is blowing up that Kane is coming to Bayern.
Beaten by @Joe D Reid http://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?threads/spurs-23-24-men-at-work.39630/post-5684136
Not sure if that's what he wanted. I think West Ham kicked the tires, but were never going to sign a player who couldn't pass the physical, so they moved on to Alvarez (I think Moyes probably prefers him as well).Ugh. For this price I was hoping he’d go some place where he’d be a bang on starter, ideally for a top-half EPL club. Hope this goes great or he ends up in that kind of spot in 2 years to prep for WC.
Tammy Abraham did his ACL and is out for the year.Reporting I've seen is that the clubs have an agreement and so it's now up to Kane to decide whether to ship off for Bavaria or not. If Kane leaving means Spurs can buy Tapsoba, I'm here for it.
While all of the reporting indicates that Spurs have interest in Gift Orban, I'd also be interested in Jonathan David (Lille), Julian Alvarez (MANC), Tammy Abraham (Roma), or for a player you probably haven't heard of, Elye Wahi (Montpellier). Elye debuted for Montpellier at 17 years old (!) and put up 19 g, 5 a assists last season, coming off 10 g, 1 a the season before. He's 185cm/6'0'', and very good at dribbling and making incisive passes.
I listened to a Spurs podcast the other day and they were saying Spurs can't look for a Kane replacement because that doesn't exist. We're just looking at striker targets and I like all of the options above for different reasons. Although I will say I have no idea if Tammy is a good fit for Ange's system.
You know, if he decides NOT to go at this point---WTH? He knew teams were still involved.Reporting I've seen is that the clubs have an agreement and so it's now up to Kane to decide whether to ship off for Bavaria or not.
Yeah, its frankly bizarre. If he wasn't sold on moving to Bayern he could have informed everybody weeks ago, saved everybody involved a lot of time and drama, and allowed Postecoglou to plan for the season with a more confident understanding of his own squad and Levy to approach the transfer market with a better sense of his budget.You know, if he decides NOT to go at this point---WTH? He knew teams were still involved.
Bored of winning the league too easilyWhat’s with Bayern paying big money for aging EPL stars - first Mane, now Kane? And they kicked the tires on Walker. Don’t understand this shift in transfer strategy.
Correct on Wahi, I want absolutely no part of him.Elye Wahi has some really bad off field behavior that has reportedly scared a lot of clubs away.
To be honest, I don't see why Spurs don't just roll with Richarlison, Son, and Veliz at the striker position if Kane leaves. I don't think Richarlison or Son really have the skill set for the winger position in that tactical setup anyway.
From Carty FreeYeah, its frankly bizarre. If he wasn't sold on moving to Bayern he could have informed everybody weeks ago, saved everybody involved a lot of time and drama, and allowed Postecoglou to plan for the season with a more confident understanding of his own squad and Levy to approach the transfer market with a better sense of his budget.
The club has put significant time and effort into negotiating his exit from the club because that’s what the club thought he wanted. To come to an agreement for his exit only for him to turn that down and leave on a free would be not only the worst possible outcome for the club, but would represent a pretty seismic betrayal of trust. Maybe the club deserves that for the “gentleman’s agreement” a couple of seasons ago, but it’s still pretty cynical as hell.