Transfer Rumours | Tactics | Who to buy/sell etc

He's not a AM hala... he's a physical freak with technique. Same mold as Pogba, Ndombele, etc He can be a DM, CM or B2B. He's not an attacking player (or at least yet since he's 16 lol).

I think the most remarkable part of Sports pushing yet another frenchman is that he says la lique is much stronger than the brazilian leaque!

Bill... are you f-in kidding me.  Brazilian league is on par with the Russian league and a step below the Portuguese league.  That's the level.

Ligue 1 is far far far better.

You seriously have no clue here so don't comment.

And he's not French.  He's Angolan. Like Fati, he could become French since he's been in France for a while. But so far, he's not French and hasn't played at any NT youth level obviously.

And what level is la lique? Certainly no where close to EPL, la liga, serie A or bunde. I probably rank portuguese above your beloved French leaque.

I’ll agree your leaque may be better than Brazilian, but not the much stronger you are proclaiming.

I never said it was close to the top 3 leagues (EPL, La Liga and Serie A).  I think it's close to Bundesliga (slightly worse).  PSG and Bayern are similar level and they completely dominate.  Only difference is that Ligue 1 is defensive while Bundesliga is offensive.

Again, stay quiet on this.  You have no clue.

Have no clue. Please.... you’re exaggerating about anything French is beyond realms of norm.

I’m entitled to my opinion just as you are entitled to yours!

AS & Marca both reporting that We will attempt an offer for Eriksen in the winter, 30 mil or so

30 mill is fair don't mind eriksen for that price and another option on the team, with high level experience, in their prime and has a brain.

i didn't know where to post this; most of it we knew already. i didn't know about the wine and beers thing nor that the squad controlled the training schedules. basically one of the primary reasons why los galacticos failed

https://en.as.com/en/2019/10/10/football/1570684802_680042.html?omnil=resrelart

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.marca.com/en/football/international-football/2019/10/26/5db37415ca4741ca208b458d.html

Interesting.....

My concern is mainly that, if we are waiting for him to have only a year on his contract before bidding, we may be in for a rude awakening . Its not just about battling psg, but other clubs with finances are definitely interested in him. If we keep slacking we won't sign him until he turns freaking 30.....and we'll lie to ourselves that we have just pulled some major coup

PSG refuse to do business with Juventus. Hate them worse than Barca.... they literally would rather hold on to Rabiot and let him walk for free then to agree on any deal with Juve.

Started with Kingsley Coman.

Doc wrote:I always maintain that Mbappe is not gonna be the only potential superstar (if he isn't one already) that Madrid could sign in the future. They'll be others that'll pop out of the woodwork but yeah, if Madrid is trying to be all pennywise and pound foolish with Mbappe, they'll be in for a rude awakening. A huge one.

Also, love the other article you posted. Of course player power is real at Madrid, duh. It's why Zidane, despite the mixed results and shit football, is still safer than most managers. He is actually liked by the lads and knows how to politic at this club.

kind of like when the players didnt want Ancelotti to leave but was still fired anyway for Benitez

Doc wrote:I always maintain that Mbappe is not gonna be the only potential superstar (if he isn't one already) that Madrid could sign in the future. They'll be others that'll pop out of the woodwork but yeah, if Madrid is trying to be all pennywise and pound foolish with Mbappe, they'll be in for a rude awakening. A huge one.

Also, love the other article you posted. Of course player power is real at Madrid, duh. It's why Zidane, despite the mixed results and shit football, is still safer than most managers. He is actually liked by the lads and knows how to politic at this club.

Most over used line "if the club doesn't do this or that everything is over" when the team wins with it unworthy players no one has nothing to say, flo won't pay silly money for every player no matter how fans talk cause all fans can do it talk.

Meh player power is code for Ramos, he is the one leading the players and he never wants to responsibility for anything, so all the manager tries to please him except Rafa, solari should have remained the coach he didn't fear the players or overly try to get along he just coached and was getting a lot of results, fans and media trash the guy for no reason cause his name is sexy enough and exposed isco for the piece of trash he always had been.

Doc wrote:I always maintain that Mbappe is not gonna be the only potential superstar (if he isn't one already) that Madrid could sign in the future. They'll be others that'll pop out of the woodwork but yeah, if Madrid is trying to be all pennywise and pound foolish with Mbappe, they'll be in for a rude awakening. A huge one.

Also, love the other article you posted. Of course player power is real at Madrid, duh. It's why Zidane, despite the mixed results and shit football, is still safer than most managers. He is actually liked by the lads and knows how to politic at this club.

Most over used line "if the club doesn't do this or that everything is over" when the team wins with it unworthy players no one has nothing to say,  flo won't pay silly money for every player no matter how fans talk cause all fans can do it talk, 100-150 mil is the limit no need to bankrupt the club.

Meh player power is code for Ramos, he is the one leading the players and he never wants to responsibility for anything, so all the manager tries to please him except Rafa, solari should have remained the coach he didn't fear the players or overly try to get along he just coached and was getting a lot of results, fans and media trash the guy for no reason, cause his name isn't sexy enough and exposed isco for the piece of trash he always had been.

We won our CLs recently by paying silly money for almost all the key players on the team... just sayin.

The only difference is that, back then, we could outspend anyone and we did. Now, we cannot.

sportsczy wrote:We won our CLs recently by paying silly money for almost all the key players on the team... just sayin.

The only difference is that, back then, we could outspend anyone and we did. Now, we cannot.

no we did not. Our 3peat defence line was made of either academy players or some who got here really young and except for Ramos all of them were purchases under 10me. that CL winning midfield amounts to give or take 60me. in attack we had CR who’s the most marketable player out there, and we paid for both top quality and marketing potential, as we’ll do with Mbappe in the future or with other mega talented player that is worth the price considered.

I hope we keep close on Arsenal’s Martinelli, looks like a legit talent in attack

r u serious? Check out the fees we paid for Ramos, Ronaldo, Benzema, Modric, Bale, Di Maria, etc. in relation to the fees of that time period.

This isn't even a point for debate

@Valkyrja , lol at mentioning only the defense. why didn't you bring up the attack? Real madrid have always spent or gone for top notch talent to win, the one period we didn't was in the butragueno era, and even then we still signed players like schuster hugo sanchez from rival sides. modric bale cristiano james kroos etc did not come to madrid for free.

Rumors are starting again re the pursuit (or obsession) of Pogba (I assume for next summer).

No doubt our midfield needs changes however I question as to who or what type of midfielder should be pursued. Right now it seems the midfield is comprised of Casemiro, Kroos and Valverde. Valverde has emerged as a decent midfielder, Kroos has uped his game, while Casemiro has been a defensive gem all season.The reason IMO why these three make our midfield ok is they add stability regarding defense. IMO both Casemiro and Valverde are good but have weaknesses on offense and thus against a good team, this midfield will struggle to get the ball forward to the forwards. The alternatives are Modric, Isco and James and while they should be able to play that offensive role, they all are weak on defense and thus the stability of squad is unbalanced.

Which brings me to Pogba. he definitely can be that offensive midfielder, however he isn't noted, at least I haven't heard of it for his defensive contributions.

Therefore I believe Pogba is not the right choice. I believe we need a midfielder who can play at both ends of the field and yet can be a real offensive force.

similarly we need backup midfielders that have talent for both ends of the field and thus all three of Isco, Modric and James need to be replaced.

The alternative would be to find a pair of solid B to B midfielders and therefore switch to a 2 man midfield with current starters as the backups!!

I really don’t think Pogba would be signed to defend, unless he respects Zidane so much that he’s willing to put all past indiscipline in that regard, behind him. It’s not impossible, but I really wouldn’t count on him doing so sustainably. I’ve become quite apathetic to our Pogba chase. If Zidane wants to prioritize and build our team around him, let’s see how it pans out. It’s not like we’ve got any other choice.

In the worst case scenario, we’ll have an expensive dud who might perform well in a few matches. Zidane will have to either have some brilliant masterplan for how to utilize him to the best of his abilities, or he’ll take the fall for signing such a mentally limited player. We’ll move on from it eventually. I won’t be among the people excusing him for having a 5th underwhelming season at club level.

Timmy, i’m with you re Pogba’s track record at club level. My question however was ignoring our perceived thought of his attitude / effort.

I have never heard about any defensive talent of Pogba, only his offense. I get that his talent level should be a good CM or I think he has even played as an Am. I believe Kroos has a similar profile and if it is Pogba coming in, them it should be to replace Kroos! However i believe we need someone who is equally good at both ends of the field

He was just as good as Kante in the WC on defense throughout the whole tournament.  But that's because France NT asks him to stay back and play the "Pirlo" role on the attack.  With Griezmann, Mbappe and Coman/Dembele/Lemar to go with Giroud... he's not needed in the final 1/3rd other than opportunistically.

The issue at Man U is that he has to create in the final 3rd (they have no other creators), score some (they have no striker you can count on for 20+ goals) AND defend.  It was too much.  Matic was awful so he couldn't cover him. Herrera was injured too often to really get into a groove. Then you had the wonderful fullback pairing of Valencia/Young. That team is just built like shit.

As long as he plays EITHER B2B or deeper CM, he can defend great.  If you ask him to become a CAM, then his defense suffers.

Even Vieira, who was an incredible defender, didn't attack anywhere near as much as Pogba was asked to.  They didn't need him to.  You had Henry, Pires, Ljundberg, etc on the attack.

That's why he wants to leave Man U.  He asked to do too much. At Madrid, you have Casemiro to cover behind him (like Kante does at France NT). He'll shine. Especially if Ferland Mendy is the fullback on the left and Hazard is in front of him. He doesn't need to try and overdo it.