bill must be karanka in real life lol

futbol_bill wrote:

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:good to have you back bill, i have a question for you, are you familiar with "eleconomista"? are they reliable?

Thanks for the comment Nick and No, I'm not very familiar with El economista at all. By name it should be a business publication not deportes.

I know, but they have some interesting sports article, it keeps me distracted, but i have no experience with them to speak of their reliability.

I agree with Bill. The Aguero deal was never supposed to be finished until Aguero is done with Copa America, so there is no point of negotiating at the moment. Once Aguero is done with Copa America the rumours and reports will explode

futbol_bill wrote:

theaguia wrote:benz has done so well, i feel like this could be his season, and now we are thinking to offload him, its just preposterous

Done well in 2 months (out of 2 years). He may have potential but he hasn't earned his keep (aquistion costs and salary). Bottom line is there is more to Aquero than there is to Benzema.

ya i mean aguero has more than benz, i know this i watched aguero live and he is really a fantasista everytime he had the ball my heart beated faster and got me to the edge of my seat even if he didnt do anything special, it a quality he has in my opinion. i just feel benzema has finally adjusted and is abt to explode, his good months came towards the end, so there is no indication he cant do it again this new season. i really do wish we get aguero but not at the expense of our other strikers, i think we should keep them too, even if it mean no neymar(we can get him in 2012).

i dont think there is room for aguero, benzema, higuain, neymar etc... + the rest. we have to make some choices here.

Ganso wrote:bill must be karanka in real life lol

He's much younger than me!!!

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St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:i dont think there is room for aguero, benzema, higuain, neymar etc... + the rest. we have to make some choices here.

There isn't room for all 3 of Higuain, Aquero and Benzema. If Aquero comes, Benz is the only option to go. After the words Mou said in past couple of days re Higgy there is no way it's him.

Mou has said he considers Neymar more of a playmaker than a striker so when he comes, it will be Di maria fighting for playing time (and kaka to go).

Mou also is saying he still wants a 3rd striker, but this one will be mostly on bench. It's either Morata or Adebayor. I still think it's Morata from Castilla,

Adebayor has to lower his wages. And IMO I wouldnt accept anything less than 1m for him. Does nothing for the team except some lockerroom laughs

omarish wrote:Adebayor has to lower his wages. And IMO I wouldnt accept anything less than 1m for him. Does nothing for the team except some lockerroom laughs

Oh I agree, I don't want him. I prefer to use Morata in that role when needed. I'm only commenting on it, since there has been a lot of renewed speculation about him. The deal for Madrid was (if they were to go after him) that not only did he need to lower his salary expectations, City also had to reduce their transfer price. I don't believe either has happened yet.

I think all this started because of comments from Mou that he needed another striker and the press, impatient as they are thought with no news yet about Aquero and Neymar, that maybe he was referring to Adebayor (he is still a casual interest). But stepping back, Mou knows better than most what is going to happen. I believe the Aguero and Neymar deals are almost done, waiting until next week after Copa America. Also they had to have made some promises to Morata when they resigned him. So bottom line, I don't think Adebayor is coming.

Welcome back Bill! Hope you had a great vacation.

It's really hard to predict Madrid moves these days because they push several agendas forward at the same time obviously. Based on how things go, they execute on some, delay others and cancel a few.

Pretty interesting stuff if you're into deal making. Hard as an outside fan though.

sportsczy wrote:Welcome back Bill! Hope you had a great vacation.

It's really hard to predict Madrid moves these days because they push several agendas forward at the same time obviously. Based on how things go, they execute on some, delay others and cancel a few.

Pretty interesting stuff if you're into deal making. Hard as an outside fan though.

The club isn't the one putting forward other players, it's been the press, mainly Marca. As we have said, this year the club has been unbelieveable in how they have not given anything away. I think (and I believe Nick as well) that there really has only been 3 pursuits this year (Coentrao, Aquero and Neymar with Neymar likely to be for next season). Varane just happen to come available thanks to Zidane and the other 3 were done before the last season ended.

Bill, why do you keep calling him Aquero?

omarish wrote:Bill, why do you keep calling him Aquero?

Thanks I never saw that before. I normally just use Kun but writing Kun comes, just doesn't sound right in english. I will try to use Aguero in future.

After yesterday's games (Argentina and R. Mad - LA) and Mou's statement today about Aug 7th as last date for the transferees to be gone, I'm beginning to wonder if maybe we are done.

My doubts are about Aguero. We (at least Nick and I) have believed that Aguero was a done deal just waiting until after next weekend when Copa America is finished. But after seeing the confidence in Benzema yesterday (it's funny you can just tell by looking at him whether he has confidence or not), I think Mou might be reluctant to let him go (and I don't think Higgy would go either - he also looked good yesterday). Maybe Aguero like Lass has put himself in a corner. I still would like to see him come, but I'm very suspect now. Maybe my predictions are not all 100%.

I do believe that Neymar is nearly signed, but he won't come until July 2012.

Given Kaka play yesterday, I think he will stay for this year, but I believe he is the one to go once Neymar does arrive.

There are issues with Lass, Drenthe, Leon and Canales leaving. The first 3 need to listen to some decent advice. Lass has put himself in a corner and the other two are trying to dictate where they will go. And Canlaes just wants playing time and to stay in Spain. The club can't get a loan deal in Spain and don't want to sell with option to buy (Villareal and Valencia). Canales is already with U20 team so this one will likely drag out until Aug 7th, but I think it will end up being one of the Valencia area teams getting him.

I still believe that Morata (from Castilla) is our 3rd striker. I don't believe Adebayor is coming back.

The last doubt I'm having is Gago. With Lass leaving, we have 22 players plus at least 3 at Castiila that we will use occasionally. There is room for Gago, but I'm not too certain about this. He has played well with Argentina, which may have earned him another shot with Real.

we are drawing conclusions after one preseason games? the very first one?

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:we are drawing conclusions after one preseason games? the very first one?

Sort of, plus what Mou had to say afterwards especially saying what he liked and giving the Aug 7th deadline. I'm not saying my original predictions are wrong, it's just that I now have a couple of doubts especially Aguero.

I was wondering what you meant by august 7th, then i went on Marca, and i saw no quotes.

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:I was wondering what you meant by august 7th, then i went on Marca, and i saw no quotes.

I heard him on Televison. He wants all of the players that are leaving (he said it was pretty clear the ones that were left behind in Spain) to have their transfers completed by Aug 7th.

ok i see. fair enough then

It makes sense. Copa America final is on the 24.7 I think. So if brazil makes it, it still allows a couple of weeks to get things finalized with Neymar.

I think the aguero ship sailed once we decided to move on Neymar. He won't play cf... But it might push cr7 to cf eventually. Besides, Higuain and Benzema are showing that they're going to perform and they have chemistry together and with teammates. Both having varying degree of back issues, I doubt that they would want to or could play every game as starters. Works out neatly.

The only stopping point we have had with Aguero so far is Gil. you can tell Kun is fighting atletico to impose his destination of choice with no hurdles.

Today's news, other than both Argentina and Brasil out of Copa America, is Mou has given Higuain and Di Maria 2 weeks rest and said (note this Nick) that Gago is not counted on i.e. he joins Lass, Leon, Drenthe and Canales on the to be discarded list.

So we are just about finished.

The only remaining questions are whether either of Neymar or Aguero are coming (and in the case of Neymar - when) and selling the 5 on the discarded list (the only one I care about is Canales, I want him to end up with Villareal or Valencia with Madrid having buy back option in 3 years).

We have a definite date (Aug 7) for them to be sold and we should be able to clear up the possible deals in that same timeframe. If Aguero does come there is also the probable issue of selling Benzema and if Neymar comes this year, they may try to sell Kaka, although at this late stage and with his form the other night I doubt it. Interesting is they have room on squad (it's now only 22) to keep both. It would lead to a lot of frustation on the bench, but Mou does seem to like to have a full squad.

LIne-up then will be

Goal - Casillas, Adan back-up and Mejias available from Castilla.

Defense - Starting Ramos, Pepe, Carvalho, Marcelo, with Coentrao getting lots of action both in defense (both LB and RB) as well as forward positions.
Other back-ups are Ramos for CB, Arbeloa for both RB and LB, Varane and Albiol. and then Nacho available from Castilla.

Midfield - I think we start out with Khedira and Alonso , backed up by Sahin and Granero plus Altintop. I expect later on, Sahin will start ahead of Khedira. Also we have Pepe and Coentrao available. It's also possible (given we will be using mostly a 4-3-3 formation) that we start some games without a CAM and play Alonso, Sahin and Khedira.

CAM - Ozil and Kaka. I suspect this will be rotational with both also getting some time in on wing.

Wings - starting Ronaldo and Di Maria, back-up Callejon plus alternate position for Ozil, Kaka, Higuain, Benz, Aguero and Neymar (if either of the latter two come). If either of them come, they would likely get starter position over Di Maria. If both come, this would be Neymar's position. Also available for this position on occasion are Altintop, Coentrao and Marcelo.

Striker - for the moment starter is Higuain, back-up by Benzema, although this too will likely be rotational, plus Morata available from Castilla. If Aguero comes, he becomes the starter.

No way Higuain is currently the starter over Benzema.

sportsczy wrote:No way Higuain is currently the starter over Benzema.

I'd be surprised if either of them start since I still think we will get at least one of Aguero or Neymar. But with the two incumbents, they are pretty equal (Higgy had a good Copa while Benz had a good practice game). If it's just the two, I expect it to be pretty rotational and Higgy did win the battle last year - note he has gotten better in each of his years here. I'm not definitely saying Higgy is clear cut starter, since I view them pretty well equal.

Yeah, they're the same i would guess right now. I also think Neymar pushes Di Maria out as opposed to the CF. Aguero would definitely take over at CF