Transfer Rumours | Tactics | Who to buy/sell etc

This should be an interesting week! It’s the self imposed deadline for signings. And sounds like lots of possibilities for sales. Let me be clear first off and say these are rumors or stories out there. Some or none of them may be true!

Sounds like renewed efforts for Pogba, including giving away Bale, (lol).

Eriksen kind of put on hold!

For the first time ever, there is a story out there that they may go after a RW (Mane) in reaction to Barca possibility going after both Griezmann and Neymar.

Reguilion confirmed after Medical to Sevilla.

Marcelo wants out and has offers.

James and Odegaard deals almost complete.

Lucas has offers.

Ceballos has offers

No rumors that I’ve heard of re Isco, Navas, Nacho, Vallejo, Mariano.

I wonder (there is a story that both Nacho and Vallejo stay) if Nacho remains as a LB backup, if there is any truth to the Marcelo story.

Reports that Arsenal is interested in Lucas Vazquez.

That offer should be accepted immediately.

MARCA: PSG have offered Neymar to Real Madrid, however at this point RM is not interested. They think there is an overbooking of attacking players, namely Gareth Bale, and if they can transfer him out, then things may change....:faceplam: :faceplam: :faceplam:

https://www.marca.com/futbol/real-madrid/2019/07/06/5d1f920446163f77b68b462f.html

So we are not interested in signing Neymar because Gareth Bale, what a load of shit. Find a way to make that deal, include Bale in the Nerman deal or even Pogba deal ffs.

I don’t think PSG would want to trade one headcase for another. United on the other hand, I could see Woodward going for Bale, but the problem is I don’t think Ole wants to get rid of Pogba without midfield reinforcement.

As soon as Zidane was appointed I knew our interest in Neymar would die. Even without Bale I don't think we are interested anymore. Zidane chose Hazard and he doesnt like Neymar. That's the end of that pursuit. If he wants out of PSG so bad he should buy himself out of his contract

Rumours that Atleti want to buy James

imagine gifting them both Llorente and James in one window. Why not add Isco and Brahim too

halamadrid2 wrote:Rumours that Atleti want to buy James

imagine gifting them both Llorente and James in one window. Why not add Isco and Brahim too

They paid for Llorente, 40 mil and if they want James, it's 60 millions, although, i saw a tweet of Sergio Valentin today which seems to suggest the club wont sell him to Patetico lol

Y el Real Madrid está interesado en Mbappe pero hay veces que uno no puede conseguir lo que quiere. https://t.co/g5mjThiTf2

— Sergio Valentín (@SergioValent1n) July 7, 2019

this journalist is also well connected to the club

Now, here is an interesting take. I was reading This piece from abc.es today, TGM suggesting we might sign two midfielders depending on who leaves the club, which is something i believe we should do. Pogba + Ndombele would have been my preference, but anyway, there is a need to create more dynamism from the midfield with genuine box to box guys in my opinion.

And then i saw a tweet from a journalist of Gazzetta, saying about the same

Zizou #Zidane wants two new midfielders for his #RealMadrid. Besides Paul #Pogba they are in talking with #Ajax for Donny #VandeBeek. Also #Barcellona is interested in him, but the player prefers Blancos. #transfers

— Nicolò Schira (@NicoSchira) July 7, 2019

we already know there have been contacts with Ajax, but it was presented as a back up option. what if it's both?

I don't think Zidane is looking for another midfielder aside from Pogba. If it had been the case, he wouldn't have ignored Ndombele, and he certainly wouldn't have preferred Van de Beek over him.

I think he'll only go for the Ajax youngster if Madrid fails to sign Pogba.

Buying two midfielders would be overkill. We have enough of them already. Our primary concern was breaking up the midfield most specifically Kroos-Modric and adding a dynamic midfielder in their place. That is why ZZ is after Pogba because he thinks he is that guy.

Rumours now that Luca is on his way out. Good, though only lower league teams are after him. Imagine if this kid was the understudy to our calamity number 1 glad ZZ saw sense. He should do his all to keep Navas and make him his number 1.

last season you were killing the midfielders and calling everyone finished but now just signing Pogba, whom most of you hate, is enough?

1) With Llorente gone, there is no other back up DM on the squad. this is a problem.
2) I dont know what's happening with Modric, but Pogba arriving at the club will certainly bench someone, him or Kroos. and both are guys who struggled mightily last year.

For the sake of revamping the squad, it makes sense to add 2 new midfielders.

We do need to replace Llorente, so someone needs to come in, but it doesn't seem like anyone is being rumored. That is a bit worrying. I suppose Ceballos might be used as an option there to use his energy deeper, but I prefer him running vertically.

Ceballos is going on loan Deez, not even an option. Not having a Casemiro back up is especially concerning, it just makes sense that someone else would come in, someone who is hopefully dynamic and can play DM, or at least could be a defensive option in a 2 man midfield.

halamadrid2 wrote:Buying two midfielders would be overkill. We have enough of them already. Our primary concern was breaking up the midfield most specifically Kroos-Modric and adding a dynamic midfielder in their place. That is why ZZ is after Pogba because he thinks he is that guy.

Rumours now that Luca is on his way out. Good, though only lower league teams are after him. Imagine if this kid was the understudy to our calamity number 1 glad ZZ saw sense. He should do his all to keep Navas and make him his number 1.

By the middle of the season if nothing changes, the starting mids are probably gonna be Kroos-Casemiro-Pogba. Modric can swap for either Kroos or Paul but Casemiro is a bit of an issue. Llorente and Kovacic done sold and Ceballos is not a DM at all. Then there is Valverde who only TMO rates with the littlest of actual football that he has played for Madrid. Also, not really a DM.

Are we really gonna go into another season where we have no natural replacement for Casemiro that Zizou would use, like actually use?

Kroos!

Doc wrote:

halamadrid2 wrote:Buying two midfielders would be overkill. We have enough of them already. Our primary concern was breaking up the midfield most specifically Kroos-Modric and adding a dynamic midfielder in their place. That is why ZZ is after Pogba because he thinks he is that guy.

Rumours now that Luca is on his way out. Good, though only lower league teams are after him. Imagine if this kid was the understudy to our calamity number 1 glad ZZ saw sense. He should do his all to keep Navas and make him his number 1.

By the middle of the season if nothing changes, the starting mids are probably gonna be Kroos-Casemiro-Pogba. Modric can swap for either Kroos or Paul but Casemiro is a bit of an issue. Llorente and Kovacic done sold and Ceballos is not a DM at all. Then there is Valverde who only TMO rates with the littlest of actual football that he has played for Madrid. Also, not really a DM.

Are we really gonna go into another season where we have no natural replacement for Casemiro that Zizou would use, like actually use?

thank you for agreeing with me

Worst thing I did for the day tbh.

i have a theory on this pogba issue. imo the club's reluctance on pogba is about finances and coaching. finances; pogba is an expensive player, signing him is a huge investment, and at this stage if you sign him, resell is difficult. not to mention, flo doesn't seem to be a fan of super agents

as far as coaching, this is a very cynical view; if the club trusts zidane, they'll get him what he wants. the reluctance says to me, maybe flo doesn't fully trust him. i think a section of the club is thinking, if we get this guy, and things don't pan out, thus we have to sack the coach, we have another huge wage bill on our hands ala bale. and worst still who's to say the other coach we hire would want him, especially if that turns out to be mourinho

my opinion; if the coach wants him, and we have the money, sign him. the worst thing a club can do to a coach is ignore someone he wants and sign someone he isn't interested in at all. then get mad when he isn't playing the other dude. this is zidane's first full window, i say give him whatever/whomever he wants now and let's see what happens.

@tito, i am pretty sure we are past the stage of "reluctance" now, we are already engaging United to negotiate the transfer. You dont do that unless you have a basic agreement on wages.

also, pogba is not a mediocre footballer that will fail to integrate himself to the club like Bale. Bale has been good for madrid in a general sense, he just refuses to fit and obviously there is a clear conflict with Zidane.

Pogba already speaks spanish fluently lol, he will have 0 difficulty to fit.

I was gonna write something to defend Bale then I remembered this entire season and feel any insult is justified.

That being said, when Pogba helps us win 4 CL titles like Bale did, he has to prove to us ridiculous, non-French, not you Madrid fans he isn't "mediocre and won't fail to integrate".

@doc what's the problem with pogba? you don't think he's a good player? he brings different qualities, but i'm not sure why the apprehension towards him from fans. he's done well with other coaches, if anything one can make the argument that the utd situation was a one-off.

I'm not as bad as DoC who thinks he is a numpty. He isn't. Like at all. I'm not as cynical as Thimmy but we both have more or less the same thought pattern when it comes to him. He's a fantastic footballer, there is little doubt about that but his time at Utd hasn't been something stellar or worth the chase we are currently doing. As for a problem, I had an issue with the transfer but I am starting to believe that whatever issues he may or may not have had at Utd, he'll be stellar at Madrid.

However, what Nick wrote about Bale isn't right. Bale is many things negative currently but he helped us a lot with the 4 CLs and the club can say that they got their "money's worth" with him. Pogba, for all what his fans like to say about him, has yet to prove anything with us and as far as I am concerned, he has to live up to Bale's accomplishments.

The line "mediocre and fail to integrate" is in relation to this

pogba is not a mediocre footballer that will fail to integrate himself to the club like Bale

the only thing that applied to Bale is "failed to integrate himself to the club", i dont think he is a mediocre footballer. I should have been clearer.

some of the comments the anti-Pogba crowd have advanced here do make pogba sound like he doesnt know how to play football

If ZZ was concerned about a Casemiro back up he wouldn't have sold Llorente. He'll probably just stick Valverde. As for the other teo positions either side yes it'd be overkill to get another additional midfielder in. Last season was obvious we needed to bench either Kroos or Modric because they couldn't play at the same time. We are getting a starting caliber player to make that happen. It might be prudent to get a back up if both Ceballos and Isco leaves but that wont happen. So our options in midfield will be; Kroos, Casemiro, Modric, New B2B, Isco and Valverde

Mr Nick09 wrote:

some of the comments the anti-Pogba crowd have advanced here do make pogba sound like he doesnt know how to play football

No, that's just you reading what you want to read. Who does this anti-Pogba crowd consist of, exactly? Me and DoC? Clearly, Pogba has talent. I've stated countless times already, that I don't appreciate his professional attitude, and more importantly, his performance level over the course of a season, as well as his big game track record are both really underwhelming considering what a high profile player he is, not to mention the kind of money he demands.

Mr Nick09 wrote:the only thing that applied to Bale is "failed to integrate himself to the club", i dont think he is a mediocre footballer. I should have been clearer.

some of the comments the anti-Pogba crowd have advanced here do make pogba sound like he doesnt know how to play football

Agreed. Calling Bale mediocre would be generous