2008/09 Soccer Thread in Shock £50m Chelsea Switch! (And Other Ludicrousness)

UCRC wrote:

MONEY. CITY.

Man City - stripping the hypocrisy from soccer, one lie at a time.

Oh, and UC - no midfield can claim to be the best in the world if it has Fabregas in it. The only place he's in the world's top 15 midfielders is in his own head.

davet010 wrote:
UCRC wrote:

MONEY. CITY.

Man City - stripping the hypocrisy from soccer, one lie at a time.

Oh, and UC - no midfield can claim to be the best in the world if it has Fabregas in it. The only place he's in the world's top 15 midfielders is in his own head.

go ahead name 15 better ones. This will be fun.

jowner wrote:
davet010 wrote:
UCRC wrote:

MONEY. CITY.

Man City - stripping the hypocrisy from soccer, one lie at a time.

Oh, and UC - no midfield can claim to be the best in the world if it has Fabregas in it. The only place he's in the world's top 15 midfielders is in his own head.

go ahead name 15 better ones. This will be fun.

No, I think that Dave might be right. If not fifteen, you could definitely just add Xavi instead of Fabregas and voila, I'm not delusional and don't rate Fabregas as third best midfielder in the world *already*.
I was just saying that this would be definitely best midfield in the world relatively to what all other teams can field right now. I think you'll agree.

As long as Real Madrid big transfers flop then I'm happy. You can't buy a championship and they are really trying to. It makes it harder on all the other smaller clubs that can't afford crazy sums of money. Some clubs don't even break even so signing players with multi million dollar contracts are not even possible.

Juve fan wrote:

As long as Real Madrid big transfers flop then I'm happy. You can't buy a championship and they are really trying to. It makes it harder on all the other smaller clubs that can't afford crazy sums of money. Some clubs don't even break even so signing players with multi million dollar contracts are not even possible.

Can't buy a championship ? See Chelsea, who had 2 rich benefactors in a row, or even the top 3 in Italy, who are probably the only solvent clubs in Serie A, as they are bankrolled by the Italian president's TV monopoly (AC Milan), the owners of FIAT (Juventus) or a large oil company (Inter).

In order to play for time while I think of 15 midfielders ( of any type) who I consider better than Fabregas, my second favourite team has now produced its away kit for next season.

You might wish to look away at this point

IMAGE(http://www.ptfc.co.uk/img/galleries/newstrip/images/aa4d0002.jpg)

Can't buy a championship ? See Chelsea, who had 2 rich benefactors in a row, or even the top 3 in Italy, who are probably the only solvent clubs in Serie A, as they are bankrolled by the Italian president's TV monopoly (AC Milan), the owners of FIAT (Juventus) or a large oil company (Inter).[/quote]

how many of those teams have dropped over 200 mil in start of the year for example Man City or Real. You can't say that the top flight teams in serie A have the same budget or same financial pull. If you look at past transfers you will see great players leave the serie A for much bigger contract and go to Spain and England where foreign investers with huge pocket can buy teams and pump the teams with never ending money.

Chelsea probably did roughly that for 2 seasons in a row after Abramovich turned up to start laundering his money. As for Serie A teams, they might not have the same power now, but up until about 2004 when all of them apart from the big 3 going bust there were huge transfers all over the place...I remember Hernan Crespo moving for £46m, and Vieri has, I think, moved 3 times for more than £30m.

I await your list then. I expect it to include a bunch of attacking mids who might be better described as forwards/wingers to fill the numbers and allot of DM's who cant strike a ball over 10 yards to save their lives. So more or less a list so subjective because of the differences in where they play and even then your going to be hard pressed to get to 15.

Cesc is mini Xavi and Xavi is the best midfield orchestrator in the world right now bar none. Difference is Cesc is a whole 22 years old and has 7 years to pass Xavi's current level... and will.

Real world-class midfielders? Even including DMs it will be hard to complete fifteen:
Lampard, Stevie G, Xavi, Iniesta, Mascherano, Essien, Pirlo, Sneijder, de Rossi, Xabi Alonso... Nedved? Cambiasso? Carrick? Ballack? Arteta/Cahill?
Well, I've got fifteen, but after first seven it begins to be really arguable.

Carrick ?? Probably a couple of years too late for Nedved and Ballack, as well as one of my favourites, David Albelda from Valencia.

I'd have Silva (Villareal - they could have named their price after Euro 08 but for his age), Cahill, Ribery, Xavi, Iniesta, Mascherano, Essien, Yaya Toure, Kaka, Lampard, Gerrard.

La Liga players I'm less sure of, as Italian football is no longer shown on any British TV channel, however I'd be tempted by Cambiasso and de Rossi due to their international performances.

That's 13 - oh, and perhaps Yoann Gourcuff (Bordeaux), probably the best player I saw in French football this season.

And for number 15....I'm going for Steven Ireland, 9 goals and 9 assists last year and on the fringe of the Premier League's team of the year. But then you knew that I would, didn't you ?

And as jowner said, 'tis all subjective.

Speaking of Cesc ... Hull City have got US international Jozy Altidore on loan for the season from Villarreal (pending a work permit). Hopefully Jozy gets plenty of playing time.

maxox wrote:

Speaking of Cesc ... Hull City have got US international Jozy Altidore on loan for the season from Villarreal (pending a work permit). Hopefully Jozy gets plenty of playing time.

Fingers crossed indeed. He's going to be stuck in a relegation dogfight with a team that arguably quit on their manager last year, and I doubt he's going to get great service, but here's hoping he can notch double-digits and show some promise.

davet010 wrote:

Carrick ?? Probably a couple of years too late for Nedved and Ballack

Told you, I was stretching it to the limits ;]

davet010 wrote:

I'd have Silva (Villareal - they could have named their price after Euro 08 but for his age) (...) Ribery

Eh, both wingers.
But Yaya Youre is probably decent addition to my list. Gourcuff - definitely. Not above Cesc, but easily in first twenty.

davet010 wrote:

Carrick ?? Probably a couple of years too late for Nedved and Ballack, as well as one of my favourites, David Albelda from Valencia.

I'd have Silva (Villareal - they could have named their price after Euro 08 but for his age), Cahill, Ribery, Xavi, Iniesta, Mascherano, Essien, Yaya Toure, Kaka, Lampard, Gerrard.

La Liga players I'm less sure of, as Italian football is no longer shown on any British TV channel, however I'd be tempted by Cambiasso and de Rossi due to their international performances.

That's 13 - oh, and perhaps Yoann Gourcuff (Bordeaux), probably the best player I saw in French football this season.

And for number 15....I'm going for Steven Ireland, 9 goals and 9 assists last year and on the fringe of the Premier League's team of the year. But then you knew that I would, didn't you ?

And as jowner said, 'tis all subjective.

Cahill? really? I rate Arteta on the same team higher anyways it is all subjective especially considering Masch is a DM, Yaya is a DM who played CB in a CL final, Ribery could be more described as a forward/winger in the Ronaldo\Messi mold. Ireland? teheheheh. Now I just know your taking the piss.

Xavi, Ineista, Kaka, Essien, Gerrard and Lampard are all fair shouts but as far as play maker/holding mids go its Xavi then Cesc for me then a distant Pirlo as he has Ambrosini and Gattuso cover for him and then a very very very distant group headlined by guys like Alonso and Carrick with Arteta maybe being better then both but since hes at Everton no love.

jowner wrote:

Ireland? teheheheh. Now I just know your taking the piss.

On another hand I would pick Ireland had I five more spots in my rankings. Him, Cahill, Yaya Toure, Gourcuff and... one of Lyon's midfielders, Toulalan or Bodmer.
So, that's my twenty (I think):

Iniesta
Gerrard
Xavi
Lampard
Essien
Mascherano
Fabregas
de Rossi
Pirlo
Sneijder
Xabi Alonso
Cambiasso
Arteta
Ireland
Yaya Toure
Cahill
Gourcuff
Carrick
Toulalan
Nedved

My mistake UC - I didn't mean Silva (the Valencia winger, overrated a bit IMHO) but Marcos Senna, the DM from Villareal.

davet010 wrote:

My mistake UC - I didn't mean Silva (the Valencia winger, overrated a bit IMHO) but Marcos Senna, the DM from Villareal.

Oh, right. Completely forgot about him. I guess there should be a place for him on that list.

Bundesliga has just kicked off. Fortunately, Eurosport 2 has bought the rights so I'll have chance to watch some great games in HD.
And since media tout this season to be the best ever I can't wait to see it in action. Club really didn't hesitate to spend and top German clubs seem to be making a good progress in their chase of European giants:
(league - players bought - players sold - balance)

Serie A 353.868.450 £ 352.199.700 £ -1.668.750 £
Premier League 341.617.600 £ 311.046.100 £ -30.571.500 £
Ligue 1 197.936.000 £ 163.782.250 £ -34.153.750 £
1. Bundesliga 163.893.500 £ 95.946.450 £ -67.947.050

Opener was already a great hit, Wolfsburg vs Stuttgart. Finally, a chance to see Dzeko, Grafite and Misimovic in action.

Bah - forgot about that and watched Middlesbrough vs Sheff Utd kick off the new Championship season. Boro look about as likely to score in the Championship as they did in the Premiership (ie not at all) whereas Sheff U were committed but slightly wasteful. 0-0, not a bad crowd (23k) but a long road ahead for Boro.

Interested in your figures, UC....where did you get them from ? The Italian league seems to have spent more than the Prem, and the biggest deficit is the Bundesliga ?

"Paging Mr Platini....it's him again...."

davet010 wrote:

Interested in your figures, UC....where did you get them from ? The Italian league seems to have spent more than the Prem, and the biggest deficit is the Bundesliga ?

It's from transfermarkt which is great resource for all transfer info.
Thing with Serie A is that many big transfers happened below the radar, because English/US media don't care and are all about EPL. Every 5m transfer in England gets huge coverage on ESPN and BBC, while Inter spending 35m to buy Milito and Motta from Genoa goes unnoticed.
Look at few other big ones:
- Diego to Juve - 21m (pounds)
- Felipe Melo to Juve - 22m
- Arnautovic to Inter from Twente - 9-10m
- Huntelaar to Milan - 13m
- Aquafresca (U21 Italy striker who's of Polish descent but prefered to play there. No wonder ;]) to Genoa - 13m
(Genoa has 18 new players and spent 60m on them)
- Zarate to Lazio - 18m (bought after loan period)
- Fabio Quagliarella to Napoli - 14m (Napoli spent over 40m and didn't sell anyone)

Looks like 'plus-valence' transfers are back on the agenda. There might be a universe where the perpetually skint Napoli have 40m to spend, but it ain't this one.

Serie A used to have a pretty high profile over here, but the escalating cost of the broadcast rights and the fact that clubs were perpetually going bust or not getting promoted killed it off on TV over here. I've just subbed to ESPN UK who bought out Setanta's bust UK operation, and I can get live Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Portuguese, Dutch and Russian league games, but no Serie A.

Nah, from what I've heard they're in pretty good financial condition, with high attendances at stadiums and generous board trying to make push for Europe (they were 1st at the beginning of last season but then everything went wrong and they ended mid-table).
Plus, hey, it's Camorra's home-city club. They can get any money, I guess ;]

Spanish media announced that Perez has reached an agreement with Franck Ribery over 4-year contract with start date of... June 2010. By then Ribery will have only one year left on his contract and Bayern will have to sell them or let go for free the season after. Real expects to pay up to 25-30m Euros.

Now that I have Bundesliga at home I really want Ribery to stay in Germany for this season.

Also: Gago dice "no" al Atlético de Madrid
Looks like Real players don't feel like leaving, even if Perez can finally agree on a price with someone. It will be funny to see growing desperation in Madrid's camp as end of transfer window approaches.

Also: Guardiola, in his interview with press during American tour, has dismissed doubts about size of his squad and needs for replacements by saying that "El 99% de los entrenadores quisieran tener esta plantilla" (99% of coaches would like to have such outfit).
btw: God, when I grow I want to be Pep Guardiola. Guy's 38, good-looking, earns 1,5m a year, can dress casually for work and manages the best footballers in the world. Best job in the world.

And one last piece of news from outside of Spain: Aquiliani might not play for next two months. This and reports of VD Sar's and Vidic's injuries are really heart-warming because at least Arsenal won't bo the only team facing injury crisis.
But hey, of course I wish all of them well.

Ooookay, one more: if we're going to hire Salomon Kalou, all of sudden other players might need a pay rise:

"Further to media reports that have appeared alleging that Chelsea players attending Salomon Kalou's birthday party on Wednesday night spent £120,000 on drinks, the club and the players totally deny the facts and implications of these reports.

"None of the Chelsea players spent these extravagant sums. Whilst many players attended their team-mate's party, it was in fact hosted and generously paid for by friends of Salomon and even then the sums involved have been greatly exaggerated.

Well, if RM are selling, I want Higuian and Sneijder, the rest can do what they like

Definition of a nightmare start to the season...

Norwich City down in League One for the first time in many years. Old fan favourite Bryan Gunn still in charge.

Kick off season against relatively local rivals, Colchester Utd.

Half time score....Norwich 0 Colchester 5

Guy I used to work with was a fanatical Norwich fan, in fact I spotted him once on the telly (albeit it was when they went to Fulham and had to win to have a chance of staying in the Prem...they lost 6-0). Bet he's looking for a silver lining now

Dave, if you have Eurosport 2 HD, they should have Bayern-Hoffenheim in about an hour. (I believe they have a license to cover it in whole Europe because usually that's how they roll)

Dani Jarque, Espanyol captain, dead at 26. RIP.

Indeed, very sad.

I can't wrap my head around it*. Why do footballers have such problems with heart failures? And what is the nature of problem? Overtraining? Improper medical supervision (just like with Thuram who's at age of 34 or 35 discovered that he had some heart defect for all his life)?

*is that a real idiom or have I just made it up?