Time to pounce on Mbappe

I think we would have competed longer and, if we actually had a chance, our veteran players would have stepped up in the 2nd half of the season. We were basically out of it before we had a chance to react.

Also, we would have beaten Ajax.

Can't help it, thread title sounds strangely sexual to me. As if sports were trying to start a gang rape on Mbappé

sportsczy wrote:Mainly because CR isn't stat hunting at Juve (no Messi to keep up with for his ego). So he's focused on big games/big occasions. He's been predominantly great in those. Juve don't need him to win Serie A mostly.

Pretty much. @VanDeez, Juventus play an incredibly negative style this year. It's a miracle Ronaldo got that many goals. Allegiri was playing with some Mourinho-lite tactics.

FennecFox7 wrote:

sportsczy wrote:Mainly because CR isn't stat hunting at Juve (no Messi to keep up with for his ego).  So he's focused on big games/big occasions.  He's been predominantly great in those.  Juve don't need him to win Serie A mostly.

Pretty much. @VanDeez, Juventus play an incredibly negative style this year. It's a miracle Ronaldo got that many goals. Allegiri was playing with some Mourinho-lite tactics.

It's an old and relatively slow team, overall. As much as the football was negative, he's only playing to the team's strengths, and it worked to some extent. I mean, as long as you can prevent the opponent team from scoring, you just have to cross it to CR and you're pretty much golden. He can beat a giraffe in the air with his positional awareness and athleticism. He's strong on counters, as well, although his speed is not as exceptional as it once was.

sportsczy wrote:Also, we would have beaten Ajax.

For the very least ffs.

This year was a good opportunity to win another CL believe it or not... if we'd taken a few steps such as keep CR, move Bale and buy a couple of players in the midfield for depth.

There really was no reason for us to screw the pooch like we did.

Keeping Ronaldo would not have gotten us any trophies. Juve were a better team than us this season and couldn’t beat Ajax with CR. What makes you think we would have won with CR?

Leave me in my delusion Deez lol. Let me be me damn it.

vanDEEZ wrote:Keeping Ronaldo would not have gotten us any trophies. Juve were a better team than us this season and couldn’t beat Ajax with CR. What makes you think we would have won with CR?

Juve were better than us, season-wise, but I really don’t think their performances against Ajax was. We both looked subdued in our second leg performances against them. I honestly believe CR would’ve made a substantial difference for us if he had played in the first leg, but hindsight IFs and BUTs are pointless.

keeping cr7 would have gotten us to semis at worst. y'all forgetting the kommander really makes that much a difference. also helps that the kommander aint surrounded by schmucks as Benzema and Vinicius supporting CR7 is much superior vs w/e nonsense he has to deal with at juventus.

dont see us beating liverpool though. not with the lacklustre performance from our midfield and defense. plus with liverpool having the exrra chip over shoulder from previous cl, the story literally writes itself: liverpool exacts revenge on Madrid one year later.

Thimmy wrote:

vanDEEZ wrote:Keeping Ronaldo would not have gotten us any trophies. Juve were a better team than us this season and couldn’t beat Ajax with CR. What makes you think we would have won with CR?

Juve were better than us, season-wise, but I really don’t think their performances against Ajax was. We both looked subdued in our second leg performances against them. I honestly believe CR would’ve made a substantial difference for us if he had played in the first leg, but hindsight IFs and BUTs are pointless.

We were incredibly fortunate to win the first leg. We got dominated in both legs, but the scoreline flattered us to make it seem like we even had a chance.

https://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Actualites/Thomas-tuchel-sur-l-avenir-de-neymar-et-kylian-mbappe-au-psg-on-est-dans-le-foot/1021834

Tuchel leaving the door open that it's not assured that Mbappe (or Neymar) will stay.

Sports, would the fact that Khelaifi just got indicted today for corruption have any bearing on the retention of both Mbappe and Neymar?

vanDEEZ wrote:

Thimmy wrote:

vanDEEZ wrote:Keeping Ronaldo would not have gotten us any trophies. Juve were a better team than us this season and couldn’t beat Ajax with CR. What makes you think we would have won with CR?

Juve were better than us, season-wise, but I really don’t think their performances against Ajax was. We both looked subdued in our second leg performances against them. I honestly believe CR would’ve made a substantial difference for us if he had played in the first leg, but hindsight IFs and BUTs are pointless.

We were incredibly fortunate to win the first leg. We got dominated in both legs, but the scoreline flattered us to make it seem like we even had a chance.

Well, you might as well be describing half of our quarter-final to final performances over the past few years. Ronaldo scores, momentum is flipped.. we win.

You really think Ronaldo would have been the difference for us when he wasn’t the difference for Juve? Quite confused by this logic. We are not the same team that we were years ago and Ronaldo is not the same Ronaldo he was years ago.

futbol_bill wrote:Sports, would the fact that Khelaifi just got indicted today for corruption have any bearing on the retention of both Mbappe and Neymar?

None

Are we seriously discussing whether or not CR7 would have made a difference?
Damn. never thought I'd see the day I'd be the one defending CR7 here. Things really do go full circle.

CR7 has won us games time many before. sure he has declined but not to the point where he becomes a clown. and his mentality is without question. his hunger literally won us games that we could have easily lost. and more importantly he is the kommander, a leader on the pitch. yes we fell to pieces and the lack of CR7's presence contributed to that. Have ye so easily forgotten his years of service? his hunger for success was infectious and boosted the morale of the team.

I haven't forgotten... and we need someone with that kind of hunger to push us forward once more.

https://www.abc.es/deportes/real-madrid/abci-mbappe-prepara-desembarco-para-2020-201905230234_noticia.html

I rather it be sooner rather than later but it seems Mbappe is realizing he is wasting his time in paris.

I mean we were shit this season but the quality of football has been pretty bad this season outside of pool and city. We probably could've made it to the semis with CR7 since hes dragged us before with hattricks against Bayern, Atleti, Wolfsburg, etc

Zidane is in Paris according to Djamel, a journalist apparently close to him

Valkyrja wrote:Zidane is in Paris according to Djamel, a journalist apparently close to him

zidane is from france, paris is the capital. he could be there for a million and two reasons that have nothing to do with mbappe or anyone for that matter. even florentino being in paris isn't newsworthy, its a beautiful city

ZZ is in France as he needs to take ongoing classes to maintain his professional coaching license (remember that whole fiasco).  They offer these courses after the season.  One of the centers is Clairefontaine.  He's attending a class there.

Not saying he didn't strategically choose this so that he's at Clairefontaine when the NT team will be there... so he can talk to Pogba, Mbappe, Griezmann, etc.

Also, ZZ wouldn't be directly meeting with agents and players. He just makes the interest known, he's not going to be involved in any type of negotiations.

My feeling on Mbappe is that he's setting the stage for his exit next summer.... not this one. And unless Madrid try to pull off a stupid stunt with transfer fee and wages, he will be our next superstar. Mbappe wants to come here.

I'm sorry but this is just wishful thinking. There are many IFs that need to be met in order for Mbappé to come to Madrid, mainly:

1. You would have to convince PSG to sell.
2. You would have to convince Mbappé to accept a pay cut.
3. You would have to convince Florentino to spend something between 200M and 300M to sign him (not including the salary package).

Now, assuming that you were able, by some miracle, to convince PSG to let go of him and you were also able (again by some miracle) to convince Mbappé to take a pay cut, I ask you this: What makes you think that the same man who initially thought 180m+Mbappé's salary demands were too excessive would be now willing to cough up 200M-300M + the same salary he refused a couple years ago?

And before you answer the question, let me remind you just how Florentino's mind works. Florentino is a man who thinks no player deserves more than 100M and also never breaks his wage structure for anyone, even Ronaldo.

Florentino wrote:If I do not talk about names, I do not talk about money. But €100 million seems a lot to me, a lot for everything.

Marca wrote:Taking all that into consideration, Real Madrid are the kings of the world when it comes to financial muscle, but when they ask Florentino Perez for a player worth more than 100 million euros, his glasses fog up.

Why do you think he's only considering Hazard now that he's in the final year of his contract? Why do you think he has been dormant in the transfer market all these years? The man patently refuses to spend more than a certain sum and he would rather break his own back than break his sacred wage structure.

I honestly think things are only going to get worse for Madrid, and we'll be signings more numpties than elite players from now on. As for Mbappé (or any other elite player), don't expect Florentino to move a finger unless they are in the final year of their contract and cost at most 100m.

we had agreed a deal with Monaco to sign Mbappe for 180 millions, before he chose PSG, so your argument is wrong lol.

there are simply very very few payers that are worth spending that kind of money on. Also, you should not be seeking to spend huge sums to build a team, there are clever deals to be made out there.

No, to this very moment, we still haven't spent more than 100m on a player. So my argument factually stands while yours is hanging by a thread of a rumor. Just like you, I read that Madrid had matched PSG's offer, only to be deterred later by Mbappé's wage demands. So even if that rumor has some truth in it, Madrid still backed out later because they wouldn't match PSG's salary package. So again it all comes down to Madrid's reluctance to spend.

And no, spending is vital to any successfully long-lasting project. Madrid of all clubs should know that. The minute you start looking for "clever deals" and refrain from battling the elite clubs for the best in the market, you instantly become a mid-table team, and that's exactly how we are being run right now. Like a midtable team.