EarlyPrototype wrote:I would be so butthurt if we lost out on Neymar even though we do not need him.

Agreed the kid is truly special

Neymar isnt for this year anyway, he wouldnt help us beat barca at all, so no biggie.

EarlyPrototype wrote:I would be so butthurt if we lost out on Neymar even though we do not need him.

same... i really REALLLY want neymar to come.
His dream team is real madrid, and wants to come. Almost had him when he was 13, now we end up paying an extra 30m more

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:Neymar isnt for this year anyway, he wouldnt help us beat barca at all, so no biggie.

You never know he can give all their defenders a nightmare. His agility is second to Messi really hard to stop him despite his lack of experience.

the simple fact that he has no work rate what so ever is enough for me.

great player, but not for now, if we can convince him into a buy and loan deal then perfect, if not... well, we will see in a couple of years. Aguero is the target for now.

I guess he would take Di Maria's place?

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:the simple fact that he has no work rate what so ever is enough for me.

great player, but not for now, if we can convince him into a buy and loan deal then perfect, if not... well, we will see in a couple of years. Aguero is the target for now.

I don't mind where he goes if we have our name on him. Loan is good enough for me.

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:the simple fact that he has no work rate what so ever is enough for me.

great player, but not for now, if we can convince him into a buy and loan deal then perfect, if not... well, we will see in a couple of years. Aguero is the target for now.

You don't need work rate to have a go against Farca. People should be able to keep possession and wreak havoc in final third. Neymar is someone like that on his own

you do need some discipline, the back trakcing and hassling of their midfielders, should start high, and then you keep possession indeed.

Defenses in Brazil and europa are so different, i cant be convinced that Neymar retain possession so well just yet, im sure he s more than able to do so, but i want to see it first.

also he is rather week, you cant count on him to ride challenges tbh...

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:you do need some discipline, the back trakcing and hassling of their midfielders, should start high, and then you keep possession indeed.

Defenses in Brazil and europa are so different, i cant be convinced that Neymar retain possession so well just yet, im sure he s more than able to do so, but i want to see it first.

also he is rather week, you cant count on him to ride challenges tbh...

He could dive for the fun of it

he doesnt dive as much as di maria though

How would both Neymar and Aguero fit in?

he signed callejon, sahin, altintop, varane and coentrao already

released garay..... and hoping gago will be next.

is adebayor officially gone already?


so do you think mou will have another signing?

Aguero or Neymar. Likely Aguero since Neymar wants to stay for another year at Santos.

There's still a lot of activity between now and the end of August imo. Until the end of the transfer period, nothing is final.

5 players plus counting this season

8 last season

8 last 2009

only going out officially is garay, leon, adebayor with the signing

arent we singing to many players every season? how will we can develop players and improve chemistry with this number?

let's just be happy the manager is the same for now.

There's that... at least our front office and manager look like they're staying for a while.

Nice to have system continuity. Regarding squads, you're always going to make significant changes with new system/manager. The idea is to keep the same manager, let him bring the right players and, after a couple of years, things settle down.

Mou's only going into his second year. Not all that shocking.... at least that's what i'm trying to tell myself to feel ok lol.

Eh, Mourinho isn't stupid. He knows continuity is important so this will probably be our last season of spending. I'm just hoping he will stay more than 2 years, I don't want him to quit as soon as he has won CL.

continuity happens at different levels.

when you change the rotation guy, it's not too much of a problem.

when you change the starters, you start having massive issues.

finally, most important change is the ideas, the structure, the coaching. That's the most sensible thing.

As long as our manager and our starters remain stable, ie not 5 or 6 new starters, then we are ok.

part of mou interview

Why haven’t you given an interview in such a long time?

It isn’t necessary. So many people talk about me, feature me in their front pages, accuse me of saying things… I don’t need to talk. They do it for me.

what a boss

Mourinho spoke of the names on the table to reinforce the front.
"Neymar is Santos player, Aguero of Atletico Madrid and Manchester City
Adebayor. Maybe the closest is that Adebayor, who has played here six
months," he said

mourinho surfs up

Mourinho's Post-Galactico Madrid Era

If there's anyone in the world who could have done with a decent summer holiday and a month-long lie-down it was José Mourinho. In May, the plot-losing Madrid manager was at war with Barcelona, UEFA, his own bosses, the Spanish FA, the Spanish League, referees and probably his own reflection if he gave himself a funny look, as the pressure of having to deliver immediate success at the Santiago Bernabeu took its toll on the Special One's suffering psyche.

That grey-haired, slouching, bleary-eyed rant-bag has been banished and replaced by an infinitely more relaxed figure, who sat in the team hotel in Los Angeles and spoke to the media for the first time since his self-imposed press exile two months ago. There was good reason for the Special One to be looking so sprightly, as Mourinho is now enjoying full control of the sales and signings at the club without having suits standing over him, tutting about marketing values or shirt sales in Singapore.

On Monday, the Real Madrid squad gathered together and headed to the UCLA campus for a second summer in a row for pre-season training and three friendly games. And as in the year before, there were no new shiny Galacticos on board the plane. Instead the new recruits for Real Madrid would barely get 80 people to their presentations, rather than the 80,000 who turned up to see Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009.

This is especially the case with 19-year-old French defender, Raphael Varane, who was signed from Lens for €10m with 'Marca' claiming that the young centre-back was the new Hierro, for lack of any other information on him. Even Michel Platini admitted that he had never heard of him in an interview with the paper.

Midfielder, Nuri Sahin, may have been the Bundesliga player of the year last season, but is hardly a household name in Spain. Free transfer, Hamit Altintop, didn't exactly set the pulses racing and nor did the purchase of former youth team player, José Callejón and his trademark wedge haircut, who joined from Espanyol.

Most money has been spent on speedy left back Fabio Coentrao, but few Madrid fans would admit to knowing that much about the former Benfica defender aside from the fact that he has bleached hair, has cost quite a lot of cash and shares the same agent as Mourinho.

The fairly low profile of the footballers reflects the control that Mourinho now has at the club with former Director General, Jorge Valdano, moved out by Florentino Pérez. Rather than Galacticos coming to the Spanish capital like Kaká, the Portuguese boss has brought in footballers he sees as being pliable team-members rather than superstars, a long way from mohican-sporting, show-boating, five sponsor-possessing Neymar for example. "We have signed players that we felt were important for completing a squad that was already very good."

Mourinho says that there is one more recruit to come over the summer in the form of a striker and the signs are that it won't be Neymar or Sergio Kun Agüero joining for €45m, despite the latter being the obsession of Florentino Pérez, but the less glamourous Emmanuel Adebayor returning for a permanent spell after a decent loan period last season. "Adebayor is better as it is closer," admitted the Madrid boss.

A second sign of the power that Mourinho now has in being able to mould the club to his own desires is the footballers that have been shunted onto the sidelines. These include Pedro León and Sergio Canales - two players brought in by Valdano that Mourinho appears to neither rate as players nor like as people - and Lassana Diarra who refused to travel to Los Angeles and instead chose to sulk in Madrid and wait for a move to the Premier League.

'Cantera' players such as Pablo Sarabia and Juan Carlos have been sold to Getafe and Zaragoza respectively, rather than being moved into the first team as Barcelona might have done. Mourinho still has little sentimentality when it comes to hiring and firing his players and feels no obligation to promote youth teamers no matter how much supporters and the press grumble when comparing Madrid's youth policy to La Masia.

Another former youth-teamer, Dani Parejo - a footballer that Alfredo Stefano thought was one of the best he had ever seen - was allowed to move from Getafe to Valencia after Mourinho decided not to activate the buy-back clause on the U-21 international.

The former Chelsea man appears to have succeeded where so many have failed, in turning Florentino Pérez away from the Galactico policy of 'Zidanes and Pavones' to a much more balanced way of doing business. While Zinedine Zidane has become Madrid's Sporting Director - although the role is not yet clearly defined - it is obvious who is wearing the trousers in this relationship.

Indeed, Real Madrid may even make money this summer if Kun and Neymar are passed over with the resale value of the transferable Diarra, Fernando Gago, Léon, Canales and Royston Drenthe potentially being greater than the current outlay of €55m.

However, this more modest strategy of Mourinho could all change if Barcelona manage the double whammy deal of bringing in Cesc Fabregas and Alexis Sánchez to strengthen for the season ahead. At this point Florentino Pérez may begin to panic and revert to default mode by bringing in a big name, against Mourinho's wishes. But until this moment comes, Real Madrid is becoming a Galactico-free zone as Mourinho begins to take complete control of the club.

football365

neymar is almost a done deal

ok article, but too many cliches, there is a plan with the castilla, and the constant comparison with la masia is turning annoying. Mourinho is actually quite fond of Canales, on contrary to what this article will lead people to believe.

Poor mans Andre Villas-Boas