2017/18 Soccer Thread

Wow, Bayern lost 4-0 to AC Milan in pre-season. Just a friendly, but I'm not sure if it shows the new Milan is really ready or Bayern are woefully underprepared for the new season.

Marko Arnautovic will apparently cost West Ham £51m in total when transfer fee and contract are combined! West Ham will sign anyone with 4 limbs though, won't they?

Dave, what do you think about Kolarov leaving? I thought he had a bit more to offer Man City, it's definitely a good signing for Roma, in my opinion, although I fear for his quality of life going to them with his Lazio past!

Newcastle have finally made a few extra signings, I'm personally delighted to see Jacob Murphy sign considering he is a fan of the club. I can see the thought process with Ashley agreeing to buy him as well, as he's a young English player for £12m, if he turns out to be great in the top flight then he'll probably go for double/triple that. Manquillo is a strange one as his career in recent seasons seems to be one of turmoil being with so many loan deals (Sunderland the most recent one, which is a warning sign!), but we did get Yedlin last season who also was on loan at the mackems, so I'm happy we have a bit more full back cover. Daryl Murphy has also left to Nottingham Forest, it is bitter sweet for Newcastle fans, as we really took to him last season, but know that we wouldn't really be able to rely on him in the Premier League. We're already looking for a new striker, which may be accelerated if we can get rid of Mitrovic, which will hopefully be fairly soon.

Kolarov ?

Well....as a LB he was slightly hampered by the fact that he couldn't actually defend, despite looking like someone who commits war crimes in his spare time. His CB experiment didn't really work, although he wasn't as bad as, say, Mangala ('damn with faint praise' exemplified there).

Six seasons, trophies, CL - wouldn't have got any of that at Nazio. Their ultras hate Roma anyway, so it's not as if he's going to be any more hated - he is white, after all.

Arnautovic at 51m ? That would put his salary at about £120k a week, which I guess is believable. Not someone you could really rely on every week, though. Buying Little Sprout or whatever he's called for 15m does look like a good piece of business though, if they can pull it off. I do predict that Hart will be a bit of a disappointment though - Torino weren't interested in bringing him back even at a price much lower than he was being touted to PL teams for.

Not sure who we are targeting to lead our line but I would take Chicharito for 15m in a heartbeat.

Losing Lukaku but being able to replace him with (potentially) Giroud & Chicharito - and still have money left for more inbounds would be business I'd be very happy with. (Still wish we could have sold him to a non-PL team, but them's the breaks).

Didn't some of us theorize that Klopp would be out of his depth with actual money to spend?

Pep knows what's what. There's an arms race and he's dropped 200m in the window.

Klopp tried to tap up a player and complained when another club was too solvent to accept a bid. I haven't followed Salah at Roma I'm sure he's playing well and what's 35m these days. Still I don't think anyone gets scared with his name on a team sheet.

80m for Coutinho would be good but I'm not sure if Klopp would effectively reinvest.

Liverpool already have a good strike force on paper, but I'm not sure how Naby Keita would help them unless Coutinho went...and he's no Coutinho. I think that Man U will unfortunately be stronger now that they will have 11 men on the field, rather than 10 plus Shrek. Arsenal will do well if Lacazette hits the ground running, and if they either keep Sanchez or sell him and reinvest the cash. I think Liverpool will be lucky to finish top 4 again, and they didn't have Europe to impact on their squad last year.

PSG are apparently leading the Sanchez race now, and also are apparently putting the final ink on a bid for Naymar...for £195m. Given that the Sanchez fee will be around £70m, and both will be wanting wages in the 500k per WEEK bracket, I can only say that if you see steam coming out of a building in Paris, it'll be PSG's accountants trying to work out how exactly they get this lot past FFP. There's no incentive for Barcelona or Arsenal to go structuring these deals so that they'll get paid over 5 years etc, not when clubs will give them cash on the nail for Sanchez.

My problems with losing Sanchez are you give up an A class player when there's finite of those.

Even if you go out and spend his money efficiently you only have 11 on the pitch.

The other thing is if Neymar is 195 and Lukaku is 70m isn't Sanchez in the middle of that. Obviously a player is only worth what another team will pay but talent wise Sanchez is a 100m+ player. Somehow Arsenal are going to flub this and maybe get 70m.

If he's mentally checked out they need to start a bidding war and lining up the replacements. Instead I wouldn't be surprised if he goes near the end of the window for max 70m and no one is properly brought in.

Neymar put on a great show last night against Juventus, even as rumors were circulating that his move was now certain (although I've seen rumors almost daily that it's finally final, yes for real final this time).

Dimmer, are you suggesting Chicharrito to Everton? I thought I'd read West Ham.

Will Ferrell (yes, the movie funnyman) made a televised appeal for Chicharrito to join LAFC, the MLS startup that Ferrell has some ownership in. I don't think they (or anyone in MLS) can make a competitive bid for him, but they really want Mexican stars in LA / California in general.

Speaking of Mexico, they play tonight in the Gold Cup semifinals. Their B squad vs Jamaica just might be a close match. In the other semi last night, Clint Dempsey tied Landon Donovan for the USA's all-time goals record. He also assisted the other goal. I see others complaining about his and Howard's age (older but about the same in goalkeeper years), but I don't see why you'd care about anything other than how they perform. We're not signing long term contracts here; with a national team, I just want 11 guys who can perform right know.

And yes, develop the players of the future - Arena has been doing that too this tournament.

West Ham are who I've seen linked, and I haven't heard any noise about us being in for him, but 15m for Hernández (especially in the current market) is a steal and I'd be happy for us to step in and take him.

davet010 wrote:

PSG are apparently leading the Sanchez race now, and also are apparently putting the final ink on a bid for Naymar...for £195m.

The Neymar rumor mill is pretty hyperactive. He's going to PSG. He's staying with Barcelona. Then back and forth several times a day.

The fee is a buy-out fee, so there's nothing Barcelona can do if PSG ponies up the cash and Neymar wants to leave.

jowner wrote:

My problems with losing Sanchez are you give up an A class player (WHEN HE CAN BE ARSED) when there's finite of those.
The other thing is if Neymar is 195 and Lukaku is 70m isn't Sanchez in the middle of that. Obviously a player is only worth what another team will pay but talent wise Sanchez is a 100m+ player. Somehow Arsenal are going to flub this and maybe get 70m.

If he's mentally checked out they need to start a bidding war and lining up the replacements. Instead I wouldn't be surprised if he goes near the end of the window for max 70m and no one is properly brought in.

Personally, I'd much rather City spent 100m on Walker and Mendy than Sanchez. I just don't see where he'd fit in every week, and he doesn't really strike me as the sort to take one for the team every 3-4 weeks and sit on the bench.

That said, I'd be happy if he pissed off to PSG and trashed their FFP.

News to amuse, 24 July edition

"Chelsea will step up their interest in 23-year-old Arsenal midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain this week but can expect a battle from Manchester City. (Daily Express)".

Yes, imagine if you will Pep and Antonio, on the phone.

"He's yours"
"Piss off, you have him, he's yours"
"Get stuffed, here..."

Or better still, imagine him turning up at t'Etihad, agent in tow.

"Hi Pep, I'm Alex's agent. What sort of promises can you make my client about first team selection"

"err, that unless KDB, Sane, Bernardo and Raheem, and David S, and Phil Foden, and Jaden Sancho are all taken out by a meteor strike, that he'll be starting every week. In the u-21's. Tell him to shave regularly and talk in a high pitched voice and we might be able to squeeze him into the u-19s."

I'm not keeping track of actual numbers but Chamberlain does fit one role. HG quota.

Kinda like 50m for Walker.

I'd honestly not mind seeing him go if the price is silly like Walkers. 60m and Chelsea can have him. Then have good luck trying to figure out if he plays on the wing or the middle.... From the bench.

Just need to flog off Welbeck and Walcott while everyone is in transfer hysteria.

Because Fedaykin98 asked what soccer podcast I actually like in the NBA thread:

The one "talk about football" one I still listen to is Statsbomb. I'm not sure most of you would enjoy it though - it's irregular (usually once/month), numbers-focused, the audio quality's fine but not great (nowhere near as good as say, GWJ is), and I wouldn't say it's all that focused. I absolutely love it though.

I've actually picked up two more recently that aren't just "talk about the football" By Association is a pretty good short storytelling podcast once a month. I kind of wish the host would do some research storytelling shows without using an interview as the basis of the story but it's still good. And I've only listened to the Blackpool episode but the "Who are Ya? Podcast" is pretty great too. They basically talk to a bunch of people about the club they cheer for but because they're doing most of the audio recording around the ground on matchday the audio quality isn't always great.

I mainly listen to the Total Soccer Show. They mainly focus on the USMNT and events we're in, and they go more into tactics than anything like ESPN FC or Men in Blazers, both of which I've listened to at times.

Sports Illustrated used to do a good one called Planet Futbol that kind of covered whatever they felt like, but really well - but they haven't put one out in so long I assume it's dead. Same with Alexi Lalas' podcast.

davet010 wrote:

And in response to almost no requests...

GWJ Premiership 17 Fantasy Football is here !!

Usual website (fantasy.premierleague.com), select your team, then enter a league.

Submit the following code - 852100-205580

And you'll be in.

Come on people, sign up - at this rate, I might be in with a chance of winning it.

davet010 wrote:
davet010 wrote:

And in response to almost no requests...

GWJ Premiership 17 Fantasy Football is here !!

Usual website (fantasy.premierleague.com), select your team, then enter a league.

Submit the following code - 852100-205580

And you'll be in.

Come on people, sign up - at this rate, I might be in with a chance of winning it.

I'm in, so last place is pretty much locked up.

davet010 wrote:
davet010 wrote:

And in response to almost no requests...

GWJ Premiership 17 Fantasy Football is here !!

Usual website (fantasy.premierleague.com), select your team, then enter a league.

Submit the following code - 852100-205580

And you'll be in.

Come on people, sign up - at this rate, I might be in with a chance of winning it.

Please join. Just over two weeks until the season kicks off again!

A morning troll, see if any of Arselona's fans are awake

IMAGE(https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/onesport/cps/976/cpsprodpb/037B/production/_97119800_sun29july.jpg)

If Claudio Bravo persuades Sanchez to come to City, that's probably more valuable to them than anything he's done on the pitch.

He's suffering from Europaitis. I'd be fine selling him to a non-league side but selling him to city is like a two player negative change for us.

James Richardson leaving Football Weekly to start a new football podcast:

http://www.football365.com/news/excl...

If they end up getting a better group of guests more consistently than Football Weekly does I'll be thrilled. I think Richardson's a great presenter and enjoy listening to him but some of the regular guests on FW drove me up the wall (Macintosh was one of them which probably doesn't bode well for this new show for me).

Roke wrote:

James Richardson leaving Football Weekly to start a new football podcast:

http://www.football365.com/news/excl...

If they end up getting a better group of guests more consistently than Football Weekly does I'll be thrilled. I think Richardson's a great presenter and enjoy listening to him but some of the regular guests on FW drove me up the wall (Macintosh was one of them which probably doesn't bode well for this new show for me).

He's good friends with Macintosh, so it's no surprise, especially considering the Guardian has a load of financial problems. They might as well not bother with FW next season, I'm going to guess the core of their listener base largely tuned in to hear AC Jimbo. Presumably Max Rushden will replace him, who I don't mind, but he can never beat JR!

Finally took a look at some fixture lists for the upcoming season. Newcastle's looks fairly comfortable to start which should help build a solid foundation. Since the schedule's balanced it more or less evens out in the end but a difficult start means you're more likely to get the media hounds chomping at a low points total.

Stoke look set up to fail to me. Not one easy match and I could see them with 3 points or fewer through Thanksgiving. It gets normal after that and there'll be plenty of time to turn things around from mid-October onwards. But I wouldn't be surprised if Pardew turns up as Hughes' replacement after the Newcastle match and they haven't exactly strengthened a weak squad so far.

Not really a surprise, but still.

Off to PSG then

Good for him.

PSG stock goes up a tad, Barca down and a boat load of money enters the football economy.

Will be interesting to see how the money flows around from this point. Would be kinda cool to build a chart to see where it washes around.

Kinda curious if the EPL should also adopt the Spanish rule that every contract has a buyout even if it's absurd.

Good for Neymar, he can have a nice 9 month rest before the WC.

Barca can get a replacement for him at half the price...Griezmann, for one. Or maybe Sanchez and Dybala for 120m and still have plenty left for a good night on the tapas.

Money isn't really 'entering the football economy' though. Only a few clubs have the sort of players that Barcelona want to buy ('step this way Senor, spend 50m on Nasri and get a free Mangala thrown in...'), and by the time those deals are negotiated, the transfer deadline will be upon us.

I'm hoping UEFA are selling tickets to their finance team's review of PSG's accounts this year, should be v.amusing unless they start unloading people like Verratti. Apparently United want to buy Serge Aurier, the notorious loudmouth and homophobe, however he is currently banned from entering the UK, which might be an issue. He's also mouthed off about Ibrahimovic, which might make it interesting if he ever joins United.

Jowner pretty much said what I think. It's going to be interesting to see what Barca does with the money and what clubs they buy from do.

This genuinely blowing Financial Fair Play is a good thing. FFP's always been about keeping the nouveau riche like Man City and PSG at bay so the legacy clubs like Barca, Real Madrid, and Manchester United could continue to dominate.

Thanks for everyone who signed up for Fantasy Premier League. We're up to 9 teams! Also thanks to dave for setting it up again.

davet010 wrote:

Good for Neymar, he can have a nice 9 month rest before the WC.

Barca can get a replacement for him at half the price...Griezmann, for one. Or maybe Sanchez and Dybala for 120m and still have plenty left for a good night on the tapas.

It's so depressing as an Arsenal fan that I got excited at the thought of Barca buying our best player so Man City can't...

Latest game on the BBC website is 'what is Neymar worth?'. Not in a sort of Guardian-tendentious way, but in a stupid calculation way. E.G.

If Neymar weighs 68kg, his fee equals his weight in plutonium (though i'd get it in instalments if I were Barca, as I'm pretty sure that 68kg is more than critical mass

IMAGE(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/13/Partially-reflected-plutonium-sphere.jpeg/350px-Partially-reflected-plutonium-sphere.jpeg)

Yup, 11kg will do it.

Now reading that Barca are insisting that the fee be paid IN FULL before Naymar moves...which should be interesting.

davet010 wrote:

Good for Neymar, he can have a nice 9 month rest before the WC.

Barca can get a replacement for him at half the price...Griezmann, for one. Or maybe Sanchez and Dybala for 120m and still have plenty left for a good night on the tapas.

Money isn't really 'entering the football economy' though. Only a few clubs have the sort of players that Barcelona want to buy ('step this way Senor, spend 50m on Nasri and get a free Mangala thrown in...'), and by the time those deals are negotiated, the transfer deadline will be upon us.

I'm hoping UEFA are selling tickets to their finance team's review of PSG's accounts this year, should be v.amusing unless they start unloading people like Verratti. Apparently United want to buy Serge Aurier, the notorious loudmouth and homophobe, however he is currently banned from entering the UK, which might be an issue. He's also mouthed off about Ibrahimovic, which might make it interesting if he ever joins United.

Maybe PSG can get a bit of advice from Man City on how to get their mates to sponsor them to get around FFP