I know you’re not being serious, but I’ve rarely heard an Athletic player speaking Basque. The speeches at the parade were in Castellano, their YouTube videos are translated to Castellano, pretty much everything short of the songs and maybe a Muniain clip are in Castellano.
That's a title challenging squad IMO:
Catalan/Spanish accounting that results in people getting arrested regularly [shrugs]?
Barca just had some of the Libero money come in today. It was part of the infamous palancas that were pulled when Laporta first regained power, something like €40 million. Barca had a bunch of smaller sales earlier in the window, the biggest being Riad for €9-10 million (technically to Betis who sold him on to the Prem for around €15 million). They also will get back into the Nou Camp this season, so revenues will go up for a bunch of home games. Idk how much that is playing into the calculus but La Liga has forced clubs to be pretty conservative in estimating completion dates and impact on ticket sales. All in all, they are probably running a decent profit (by their current standards) by year end, depending on Champions League results, completion of the stadium, and league position. If the club could only restrain their spending and let the kids develop, they might be on to something. But they can’t.
Maybe a combination of the two - if I’m Barca I’d far rather have Nico than Olmo as they have lots of mids. Weren’t there lots of rumours about Williams’ exorbitant wage demands?
I’m going with (a) on this one. I think Nico wanted to play for Athletic Club in Europe. Beyond that, Athletic have sent a proposed new contract to Williams, so Barca would have to top that. I would also be very surprised if he left Bilbao but stayed in Spain. I’m not saying that top players don’t leave Bilbao, because they do, but they almost never leave for a bigger club in Spain. Of their biggest sales in the last 30+ years, Athletic Club players have been sold to the Premier League (Kepa, Laporte, del Horno, Herrera) and Bayern (Javi Martínez). There is too much in the way of politics and national identity to go into but given a choice in the matter, they just don’t want to go to San Mamés as a visiting player.
I agree with the desire/wish that Cholo can properly use Alvarez. It can take some time to adjust to Simeone's style and tactics. Players like De Paul and Molina needed perhaps a full season to find their groove. I think Joao Felix had a problem with Simeone's approach, and the two butted heads and never found a way past their disagreement. So, we need both Simeone to find the right attacking/defense balance and be able to manage Alvarez's feelings/attitude. Perhaps the Argentine/South American connection - Griezmann is an honorary member of that squad, plus Correa, Molina, De Paul, and Gimenez - will enough for Alvarez to feel settled, to understand what it takes to succeed, and find his place on the team.
I'm also excited about Atletico's outlook with these additions. It's important to note, too, that players like Julian and Conor Gallagher (assuming that he ends up at Atletico) could be replacements for players like Griezmann (33, 34 in March) and Koke (32, 33 in January).
I don’t think the €60m is an issue for Liverpool; they have a few guys who should be moving out this month. But it sounds like La Real are asking for it in one lump sum, which could require some cash flow gymnastics.
I don't recall where the odds were yesterday, but just re-checked and Real is at -240, Barca at +350, Atleti holding at +1000.
All three men- Andoni Iraola, Martin Zubimendi, and Xabi Alonso- come from the same tiny province in the Basque region. Of course, Iraola was a RB while the other 2 played similar midfield positions.
On the other hand Thiago moving on frees up a huge chunk as he was top three in the team wage bill. Not to mention Henderson last year.
There’s renewed rumors of Liverpool in the market for another CB, which could well be the VVD transition plan.
So Chelsea sent Slonina to Belgium for the season & their scouts must have got a look at Penders there. Penders is a year younger and just cost about double. It’s tough going at the mega clubs.
And now Gaga is off to Barnsley for the season. The finished 6th in League One last year and actually kicked off this season today. I just hope the Chelsea scouts don’t another teenage keeper they like while tracking Slonina again.
The latest word from Liverpool sources is that La Real are putting on a “charm offensive” (Paul Joyce’s words) & may be dangling a new contract. LFC have cleared the cash to make a lump sum release clause payment and are in negotiations with the agent. It will be frustrating if Liverpool got played so Zubimendi could get a raise, but that’s the game.
“Got played” might be a strong way of putting it. Zubimendi could have had those intentions. But he did just signed this current contract a year ago when other clubs were after him (Arsenal and Barca I think). More likely than not, it was something else or a combination of things.
This is eloquent & romantic. You can be Zubimendi’s publicist, I’ll be his agent.
What the hell is going on? What sort of black magic is Jorge Mendes using to get Chelsea to take another chance on Joao Felix after he was only OK there and then at Barca?
I’m just returning to the world now but this would be most hilariously amazing result for Atleti. They get to keep Samu, unload the immovable contract of Joao Felix, and add both Gallagher and Alvarez?
Ahh the old loyalty card - Liverpool got played by his agent.
I wouldn’t say loyalty. He’s happy where he is, and while I’m sure loyalty to the hometown club played a role in both cases as did improved contracts, they both have expressed happiness playing at home in the past. Like any other employee who is happy but gets an enormous contract offer elsewhere. They go to their bosses, say that they’re happy where they are but got this crazy offer to work elsewhere and the amount of money makes it a toss up , so is there anything you can do to help me out?
