Life is a Beach - Summer 2023 Transfer

rguilmar

rguilmar

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Mighty Joe Young said:
All he had to do would be say no. They can’t be sold without their permission. (As I’m sure you know)
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Yes of course. But it’s easier said than done. The financial realities do matter and the money ultimately makes the decision. Gabri Veiga will be another one who is currently playing for his boyhood club. He’s on the same team as his idol and has no desire to leave. Celta Vigo want to keep him and he wants to stay, but he’ll probably be in Anfield by the end of the summer. The reality is that Celta needs the money as the fee for Veiga will be significantly more than the club’s entire payroll. Newcastle’s fee for Isak was nearly triple Real Sociedad’s club payroll. The money that Premier League clubs are throwing around makes it impossible for other clubs to say no and players feel like they have to go for the benefit of the club. The players obviously make out fine with the higher wages and often have their heads turned by that I’m heavily biased since I generally just root for La Liga clubs who build through their youth systems- Sociedad, Osasuna, Athletic Club, and so on- but it’s depressing watching EPL clubs just pilfer top talent every transfer window. The margins for these clubs is pretty tight, so they can’t really offer competitive salaries and they can’t say no to huge transfer fees.

Obviously Milan is a different beast entirely, but the fact that they’re unable to hold onto a player like Tonali is just another sign of the times, that EPL clubs can just use their financial might to bully even big clubs like Milan, never mind the Celta Vigos and Sassuolos of the world. My comment about Tonali might prove to be wrong because I see his agent is now shooting down the report, but it doesn’t change that it sucks watching players over and over again get snapped up by the Premier League.

Again, I’m probably alone on this, but part of the allure of club soccer has always been the connection to the club by both fans and players, and with the EPL buying up all the top talent, part of that connection is lost. Give me stories like Aspas and Veiga saving their boyhood club from relegation or Lucas Perez paying his own transfer fee and taking a pay cut to go back to his childhood club. Going full Forest and buying 30 new players in a season? That’s not for me, and I think that sucks.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get off my soapbox and go yell at some kids to get off my lawn.
 
Kliq

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I prefer greater equality in terms of finances and competitiveness that @rguilmar is speaking of, but at the same time I think so many of these leagues and teams have been poorly run and financially mismanaged for so long that this is what you get.

Being and English-speaking league gives the EPL some inherent advantages over other major leagues, but 20 years ago Serie A and La Liga were the cream of Europe but they squandered that largely through comedic mismagament.
 
Cellar-Door

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Kliq said:
I prefer greater equality in terms of finances and competitiveness that @rguilmar is speaking of, but at the same time I think so many of these leagues and teams have been poorly run and financially mismanaged for so long that this is what you get.

Being and English-speaking league gives the EPL some inherent advantages over other major leagues, but 20 years ago Serie A and La Liga were the cream of Europe but they squandered that largely through comedic mismagament.
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Yeah, EPL rose to dominance on TV deals and foreign investment, but they also positioned themselves for it.
They said.. hey hooligans, you're done, you won't be in the stands, you won't be outside. They are the only league that actually took cracking down on racism seriously (maybe Germany too), so when you go to NBC you can say... you want our league, high quality, you won't have to drop out the crowd noise because of racist or homophobic chants, you won't be showing fights in the stands, no fascist banners, just sports.
They also basically eliminated corruption and set it up so only the strongest financial groups were included. You have to pay your taxes, you have to pay all your debts, you don't.... administration and we either boot you to oblivion leagues or bring in an owner with enough money.
 
rguilmar

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Kliq said:
Being and English-speaking league gives the EPL some inherent advantages over other major leagues, but 20 years ago Serie A and La Liga were the cream of Europe but they squandered that largely through comedic mismagament.
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Oh I agree 100%. This is true both for La Liga and individual clubs. I can’t speak too much to Serie A but the short sightedness of the television deals signed by La Liga over the years have been laughable, as has the conduct of many of the top clubs. We’ve all watched Barca and Juve try to keep up with the Jones’s and the price they’ve paid. I grew up in a strong Catalan independence family that bleeds Blaugrana. I have a Catalan flag on my arm and my dogs have all been named after Barca players. I’ll go to my grave believing that the Pep Barca teams played the best soccer the world has seen and will ever see. But at some point they went from “Mes Que Un Club” to “Un Club” for me. It was right around the time when the club closest to my family, Reus, folded mid season. It wasn’t like they were in some backwater league either. They were in the Segunda at the time and couldn’t pay their players or the bills. I’m 90% sure USMNTer Shaq Moore was on the team at the time. Can you imagine a team in the Championship folding mid-season? Meanwhile Barcelona was spending money like a drunk newly rich financial advisor on their first trip to Vegas. It just felt wrong and unfair (and given recent events, it probably was)

I don’t want this to be too much of a criticism of big clubs or fans of these clubs in general. Just a note on the financial realities facing other leagues. Osasuna had to sell young stars like Azpilicueta, Mikel Merino, and Nacho Monreal well before they should have (and at a discount) to pay their debts. Sevilla made a run at a La Liga title two seasons ago knowing that there would be a price to pay, then spent the bulk of last season in the relegation zone. Nobody will shed a tear for Valencia, but they had to sell two of their three best players (Soler to PSG and Guedes to Wolves) in order to balance the books a couple of years ago. Former heavy hitters Deportivo La Coruña and Malaga are in the purgatory of the Spanish third tier. Things can go wrong very quickly for these clubs. No doubt the EPL made many correct decisions that have positioned themselves for where they are now. I’m more saddened by the impact of it all because so many clubs have such tight margins that they can’t turn down these huge transfer fees, and players that grow up at these clubs have to go to help the club survive.
 
Mighty Joe Young

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rguilmar said:
Oh I agree 100%. This is true both for La Liga and individual clubs. I can’t speak too much to Serie A but the short sightedness of the television deals signed by La Liga over the years have been laughable, as has the conduct of many of the top clubs. We’ve all watched Barca and Juve try to keep up with the Jones’s and the price they’ve paid. I grew up in a strong Catalan independence family that bleeds Blaugrana. I have a Catalan flag on my arm and my dogs have all been named after Barca players. I’ll go to my grave believing that the Pep Barca teams played the best soccer the world has seen and will ever see. But at some point they went from “Mes Que Un Club” to “Un Club” for me. It was right around the time when the club closest to my family, Reus, folded mid season. It wasn’t like they were in some backwater league either. They were in the Segunda at the time and couldn’t pay their players or the bills. I’m 90% sure USMNTer Shaq Moore was on the team at the time. Can you imagine a team in the Championship folding mid-season? Meanwhile Barcelona was spending money like a drunk newly rich financial advisor on their first trip to Vegas. It just felt wrong and unfair (and given recent events, it probably was)

I don’t want this to be too much of a criticism of big clubs or fans of these clubs in general. Just a note on the financial realities facing other leagues. Osasuna had to sell young stars like Azpilicueta, Mikel Merino, and Nacho Monreal well before they should have (and at a discount) to pay their debts. Sevilla made a run at a La Liga title two seasons ago knowing that there would be a price to pay, then spent the bulk of last season in the relegation zone. Nobody will shed a tear for Valencia, but they had to sell two of their three best players (Soler to PSG and Guedes to Wolves) in order to balance the books a couple of years ago. Former heavy hitters Deportivo La Coruña and Malaga are in the purgatory of the Spanish third tier. Things can go wrong very quickly for these clubs. No doubt the EPL made many correct decisions that have positioned themselves for where they are now. I’m more saddened by the impact of it all because so many clubs have such tight margins that they can’t turn down these huge transfer fees, and players that grow up at these clubs have to go to help the club survive.
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Actually, I CAN imagine a Championship club going belly up - from everything I’ve read, they are amongst the worst run clubs in European football - mostly due to the pot of gold waved in front of their face.

The FA is going to have to come to grips with the corrupting financial power of the Premier League and institute meaningful revenue sharing.
 
Titans Bastard

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InstaFace said:
Do we need a wellness check on @Titans Bastard ? How was he not on this hours ago?

Busquets to Inter Miami!

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/37879626/sergio-busquets-join-lionel-messi-mls-inter-miami

View: https://twitter.com/InterMiamiCF/status/1672354037625135104
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This is a pretty risky signing, IMO, but it's possible that committing to signing Busquets was a condition of signing Messi.

Messi doesn't play defense. That's fine, who cares, he's Messi. However, having a CM behind him who can't really run puts a lot of pressure on the rest of the midfield to cover ground. Furthermore, Busquets is occupying one of Miami's three DP slots (they are expected to get rid of Rodolfo Pizarro to make room), which carries a high opportunity cost.

Miami's roster is in a tough spot. Their GM inherited a bad, incoherent roster as well as a bunch of salary cap penalties from his predecessor's misdeeds. There hasn't been time for a full overhaul and Miami has also suffered from critical injuries (particularly to Gregore, who is the ground-covering midfielder who they could really use right now). You never want to bet against Messi's magic, but it's absolutely possible that this team misses the playoffs.
 
Zososoxfan

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Titans Bastard said:
This is a pretty risky signing, IMO, but it's possible that committing to signing Busquets was a condition of signing Messi.

Messi doesn't play defense. That's fine, who cares, he's Messi. However, having a CM behind him who can't really run puts a lot of pressure on the rest of the midfield to cover ground. Furthermore, Busquets is occupying one of Miami's three DP slots (they are expected to get rid of Rodolfo Pizarro to make room), which carries a high opportunity cost.

Miami's roster is in a tough spot. Their GM inherited a bad, incoherent roster as well as a bunch of salary cap penalties from his predecessor's misdeeds. There hasn't been time for a full overhaul and Miami has also suffered from critical injuries (particularly to Gregore, who is the ground-covering midfielder who they could really use right now). You never want to bet against Messi's magic, but it's absolutely possible that this team misses the playoffs.
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Inter won't have to play much traditional D since they're going to dominate possession with Busi in the pivot. They're bringing a possession mentality to a league that's EPL 'attacking and fitness' lite. At least that's what I've seen in the few matches I've watched in the past couple of seasons.
 
Titans Bastard

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Zososoxfan said:
Inter won't have to play much traditional D since they're going to dominate possession with Busi in the pivot. They're bringing a possession mentality to a league that's EPL 'attacking and fitness' lite. At least that's what I've seen in the few matches I've watched in the past couple of seasons.
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Maybe, but these are also famous last words. “We can be soft on defense because we’ll dominate possession” works much better when you have eleven peak Barcelona players than when you don’t.

My view is that Messi will carry them this season but they’ll be dysfunctional, and they should be able to significantly retool for 2024.
 
Zososoxfan

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DJnVa said:
Bayern has been mentioned on the periphery of the Kane stuff for a month. I don't think there's any way Spurs sell if it's under 100M though.
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Agreed. I think Levy thinks long and hard once 9 digits gets thrown around, but he probably laughs off 80M. UCL qualification alone is worth about 50M right? It's not hard to see why Levy would hold out, although if Kane goes public then that changes everything.
 
Senator Donut

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Joe D Reid said:
Really thoughtful of Berlusconi to die so that I can feel OK about rooting for Milan now. (I know he hadn't owned the club for a few years, but the stink still wafted a bit.)
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Berlusconi wasn't too fond of Milan in his later years. He infamously promised his Monza players he would pay for prostitutes if they beat Milan last season, so you were probably in the clear. Monza is essentially a suburb of Milano and bringing them to Serie A was his last vanity project. His heirs have already said they will sell the club.
 
67YAZ

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UEFA closes the “Boehly Loop Hole” starting Saturday. Now, transfer fees can only be amortized up to 5 years regardless of player contract length.

This became a high profile issue when Chelsea signed both Enzo and Mudryk to 8.5 year contracts back in January, which allows the club to amortize the fees across that time span.

I haven’t seen it called the Boehly loop hole anywhere else, but it’s clear that it’s the same strategy US teams use to bring down contracts’ AAV for tax/cap accounting - most notoriously the NHL in 2009 when Marian Hossa and couple out her signed massive & ling contracts before that loop hole as slammed shut. Hossa got $63m over 15 years!

I wonder if Arsenal can finalize a similar deal for Rice by Saturday.
 
Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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The strength of the PL just grows and grows.

This is a "midtable" club with a CB rotation of Pau Torres, Diego Carlos, Konsa, and Mings. Midfield rotation of Douglas Luiz, Super John McGinn, Jacob Ramsey, Emi Buendia, Tielemans, Coutinho, Kamara.
 
Zososoxfan

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rguilmar said:
Pau Torres to Aston Villa. He played for Emery at Villarreal. I’ve been down on him over the last year or so but he’s a nice ball-playing CB. Curious to see how he holds up in the Prem.

View: https://twitter.com/fabrizioromano/status/1674400529194135552?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ
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Suspected to be €40M. That's really good biz from Villa IMO, as Pau is a really solid CB and young enough that he could grow some and improve on his physicality. Having Emery as his manager also puts him in a good position, and the expectations at Villa won't crush him if they have a down year after last season's surge. I just learned that Villa also signed Tielemans on a free. Really impressive transfer strategy.

Morgan's Magic Snowplow said:
The strength of the PL just grows and grows.

This is a "midtable" club with a CB rotation of Pau Torres, Diego Carlos, Konsa, and Mings. Midfield rotation of Douglas Luiz, Super John McGinn, Jacob Ramsey, Emi Buendia, Tielemans, Coutinho, Kamara.
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Yeah, the top half of the table is stacked. What I've come to realize recently is that strong Championship clubs could legitimately compete in most of the other big 7 leagues, and that's totally baffling. It's also pretty wild to think of how a club like Brighton, WHU, Wolves, Southampton, or LCFC would do in La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, etc.
 
Cellar-Door

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rguilmar said:
Edson to BVB is off. He’s still a quality player and that won’t change, but the Mexicans Abroad community must be hurting after this transfer window.

View: https://twitter.com/fabrizioromano/status/1674435330303463429?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ
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West Ham was rumored to be interested... honestly, whenever I watch him with Mexico I think he's a player who doesn't have the extra gear. He's best suited to bossing a lower tier league or beating up on the Trinidad's of the world.
 
Jimy Hendrix

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Zomp said:
He replaces eriksen
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So defensively better, but offensively worse? Eriksen isn't getting younger so it makes long term sense, but if Eriksen is healthy again it feels like a lateral move at best for the 11, albeit one that improves overall depth.
 
Zososoxfan

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Jimy Hendrix said:
So defensively better, but offensively worse? Eriksen isn't getting younger so it makes long term sense, but if Eriksen is healthy again it feels like a lateral move at best for the 11, albeit one that improves overall depth.
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Right. Mount clearly adds depth, but I thought he was more of a AMF/Winger than CMF (FWIW, FBRef lists Gotze and Buendia as 2 of the comparable players that I recognize). But maybe they see his fit as the third MF alongside Casemiro/Fred and Bruno. He's not there to replace Bruno, but perhaps back him up as well. Doubt he's a better winger (regardless of whether setup in 433 or 4231) than Rash, Antony, Garnacho, Sancho, et al. He's not stout enough to play in the double pivot either.

On the other side of this, with Mount and Haavertz gone Chelsea have now lost their #2 and #3 G+A guys from their putrid offensive output last season. Do you know who's number 1, and his tallies?

Raheem Sterling, 6G, 3A
 
InstaFace

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Do we think Weah's last name, and its resonance in Italy in particular, helped him get picked up off the pile and focused on? Does he have more marketing value to a Serie A team than to others in the big 5?
 
Jimy Hendrix

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InstaFace said:
Do we think Weah's last name, and its resonance in Italy in particular, helped him get picked up off the pile and focused on? Does he have more marketing value to a Serie A team than to others in the big 5?
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Somewhat yes to both, but he makes sense in their system as a Cuadrado successor regardless.
 
67YAZ

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rguilmar said:
From relegation to the Champions League? Gotta love it.
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It seems Aaronson negotiated a relegation loan clause with Leeds. That’s a new one to me, but smart thinking from his team.

Another USMNT rumor making the rounds today is Adams to West Ham to fill Declan Rice’s locker. It appears that the full sale of Leeds sale to 49ers Enterprises has gone through, but no public updates on the club directors. They’re still waiting to finalize Farke as manager. All this to say, it looks like someone at Leeds should be responding to all those Adams inquires soon?
 
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candylandriots

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67YAZ said:
Aaronson to Union Berlin? @candylandriots

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InstaFace said:
I love it, great fit of style. Would he start, @candylandriots ?
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Gosh, I really like this for Union Berlin and for the USMNT. His style of play I think is going to fit right in, and I think he’s got an opportunity to really up his game here too.

Union plays almost exclusively a 5-3-2, which is often described rather as a 3-3-2-2. The wingbacks do play a pretty attacking role. Looking at the midfielders on the team, I assume Khedira is #1, but that’s ok because he generally plays the more defensive role. Among the more attacking midfielders, I’d absolutely rate him in the first tier on last year’s team. He will mostly be competing for minutes with Janik Haberer and Aïssa Laïdouni, I’d imagine. I’m also really impressed with Andras Schäfer, but he was injured a lot last season.

I don’t think he’ll start every single game, but he will play a lot. I could also see Fischer just putting him out there to run his ass off for 60 minutes, or bringing him as a sub to do the same for the last 30. Probably both. I swear, Fischer made five subs in every single game last year, or close to it.

This also sounds like great business by Union’s shrewd front office, as it’s a loan deal from what I see. No way they’re gonna pay anything close to what Leeds paid for anybody outside of maybe Messi haha (so nobody).
 
InstaFace

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yeah the terms of Aaronson's contract apparently allow him to insist upon a loan, as long as the loaned-to team pays his entire salary, but he can't insist upon a full transfer at a lower release number or something like that (which I understood to be more common in relegation clauses).

But now hang on: So this means Union is going to pay him his £ 2.3M / yr (€ 2.72M / yr), even though that makes him the #1 top salary on the team? Man, seems like the potential for locker-room grumbling is pretty high unless he absolutely balls out.
 
candylandriots

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InstaFace said:
yeah the terms of Aaronson's contract apparently allow him to insist upon a loan, as long as the loaned-to team pays his entire salary, but he can't insist upon a full transfer at a lower release number or something like that (which I understood to be more common in relegation clauses).

But now hang on: So this means Union is going to pay him his £ 2.3M / yr (€ 2.72M / yr), even though that makes him the #1 top salary on the team? Man, seems like the potential for locker-room grumbling is pretty high unless he absolutely balls out.
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That’s interesting. My guess is that it won’t be much of an issue at all. Or any really. I think getting a solid player in with no transfer fee (?) would negate a lot of that grumbling. It shows some additional ambition too. And I don’t know how exactly to describe it, but in terms of how at least it *appears*, that clubhouse is in the top 1% of player overall happiness.

There’s also this, which I think is instructive in how this team is both run, and how the players are behave.

https://www.goal.com/en/news/polter-exiled-union-berlin-fundamental-community-values-bundesliga-club/7uwt52wvnpw1191w7x6boxh0e#

This was in their first year in the Bundesliga, and well before safety was assured. And Polter was not an unimportant player.
 
Titans Bastard

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InstaFace said:
Do we think Weah's last name, and its resonance in Italy in particular, helped him get picked up off the pile and focused on? Does he have more marketing value to a Serie A team than to others in the big 5?
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No, I don't think Tim Weah has any particular extra marketing value because of his last name. George Weah last played for Milan over 20 years ago, and when he won FIFA player of the year, a lot of the demographic that clubs try to market to weren't even born.

I think the basic explanation is that Weah is a quality player who Lille did a bad job of getting the most out of.
 
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