The Paris SG owner has stated that he would be willing to pay 125m for CR7, which is a ridiculous hypothetical offer from Paris SG for a 30 year old. Madrid should take the money and run imo.

I don't see why CR would accept though.

Without a doubt. Won't happen though.

Absolutely, but feck the money, just get Verratti in that deal

He's still RM's best player and they don't have a proper replacement to him, or anything close to it. Bale is not up for the task, Neymar is at Barca and there's no one of that level they can buy yet.
Plus he's 30 but like Ibra he'll be at his peak until 35 or so, so no rush to discard him.
I'm sure he'd like to stay too and break Raul's record and cement himself as one of the Real Madrid's GOATs.

Madrid don't need the money. If they want to sell someone, sell Bale to United for £80m+ or something. And instead of just signing whatever ridiculously expensive striker is out there this summer, maybe they should listen to their new manager and what players he thinks could come in and better balance his planned lineups. Ronaldo still produces at ridiculous levels, they would be crazy to sell him now regardless of his age.

What they should do is leave it up to a new coach to choose.

I am sure a new coach would like that option, so he can actually formulate an idea of what the team will look like. Without Cristiano, it would obviously change the idea drastically.

On footballing terms...I actually dont think they should. Who will they replace him with? 125m and 25m is no different is it? They can sign who they want regardless.

It should only be a football decision in my opinion, that is for sure.

The Franchise wrote:What they should do is leave it up to a new coach to choose.

I am sure a new coach would like that option, so he can actually formulate an idea of what the team will look like. Without Cristiano, it would obviously change the idea drastically.

On footballing terms...I actually dont think they should. Who will they replace him with? 125m and 25m is no different is it? They can sign who they want regardless.

It should only be a football decision in my opinion, that is for sure.

CR is an extraordinary player, the way he can score goals in la liga to make it easy on the team and to mask mistakes is invaluable.

yet i would let him go. How to replace, first of all we dont need to. for once that would be the first step of trying to build a balanced squad with all parts working together.

By all means, guy hasnt had a defining moment in a big game in the past 2 years, including when we won the CL. As a team factor, he doesnt do much for us.

Imo, you start playing Bale towards the left side of the pitch where he is actually comfortable. And i dont like the guy at all, but he can be very and very useful. And goodbye sidekick Karim, hello Kun. That's mainly how i would think it up, the rest is easy to figure, James in n10 or on the left, Isco down the middle or u sign an additional winger to bring width on that side.

Rest is self explanatory, and if you get Verratti out of that deal, even better

i'd ask PSG if they'd be willing to pay 100 for Bale and go for that

CR has 2-3 elite years left in him still.

I defiantly agree. I would go even further and be more critical of him but this isnt the bash Cristiano thread.

But without him, I think you would really struggle more to score goals and all it would take is one Aguero injury, which is probably quite likely. The one thing Cristiano's goal desperation does provide is, a mean to put games to bed. He can quickly turn a 2 goal lead to 3, 4 and 5 even though he didnt score either of the first two or play well up till that point.

I realise you didnt say this at all but I dont believe in the myth that Bale would play so much better without Cristiano. We would still see alot of the same failing with him. But yes your right he would be better on the left..the issue I have is, on the left his game is still about crossing balls into the box...Benzema nor Aguero is a box presence to me. Aguero likes the balls in behind or down the sides between CB and FB. In that sense, he would surely enjoy playing with James, the runs are perfectly lined up for him for James to cut inside and play reverse balls on the blindside of the left CB. But keeping with Bale, still think he would be lost...losing too many balls and so on like now and crossing aimlessly to targets who dont want those balls.

In the end though, I could picture you playing better football without Cristino, I could picture everyone else being a little bit off the shackles (Especially Benzema) and I could see a better team work rate (a coach would love this, being able to be much more tactically flexible without Cristiano) but I really cannot picture you winning things next season without him. Then again, and this isnt a shot..its not like Cristiano is exactly piling up trophies now.

I dont disagree, something else that i have been wondering about was playing 41212, i actually dont understand how Carlo nenver tried playing like that and forced the flat two bands of 4 defending on us.

Even as a variation, even though i realize how much your forwards need to work in defensive phase with such system, it could have provided something different.

Like at Milan? I am really surprised that I have not seen that from him since those days, I think he has seen something about the the football of 2015(and the last couple years before I guess) which has turned him off that formation because it seemed like he would play that formation (or flipping the front 3 around to a 2-1) regardless. I recall Kaka having some small comments back in the day about him preferring the 1-2 (Him behind Inzaghi and Shev) instead of the 2-1 (him next to Seedorf/Rui Costa and only 1 target in front).

But I am not exactly sure what has turned him off this formation. I dont think its simply Cristiano. Would take some analysis. My first guess is simply the 2nd line of 4 share the load more than the 1-2 which allows for more creativity within the 4 (look at the technical ability and skill of your midfield 4 vs the 2 of Gattuso, Ambrosini and Pirlo for example) The 1-2 required 2 hard working battlers whereas the 4 all working hard but together, therefore giving them more freedom also.

It's not just Madrid, he went away from that formation since his  PSG days. If i recall, it was a big topic in france when he arrived, everyone was talking about the xmas tree. But it failed miserably, i dont remember the exact evolution of his choice of formations then, but he ended up with the 442, and he kept it ever since...

Anyway, our squad needs better balance, some guys have to be sacrificed so that we can approach more games with more overall solidity. Will be interesting to see what Carlo does with those guys

Mr Nick09 wrote:
By all means, guy hasnt had a defining moment in a big game in the past 2 years, including when we won the CL. As a team factor, he doesnt do much for us.

You wouldn't have made it past the quarters without him...



http://streamable.com/9dn9

Surely that is a great "big game moment"? 87th minute in the CL against city rivals with a 0-0 aggregate score.

gets a bit discounted when its against 10 men.

but anyways madrid shouldn't sell ronaldo.
just sell bale.
but that wont happen so eh

Mr Nick09 wrote:It's not just Madrid, he went away from that formation since his  PSG days. If i recall, it was a big topic in france when he arrived, everyone was talking about the xmas tree. But it failed miserably, i dont remember the exact evolution of his choice of formations then, but he ended up with the 442, and he kept it ever since...

Anyway, our squad needs better balance, some guys have to be sacrificed so that we can approach more games with more overall solidity. Will be interesting to see what Carlo does with those guys

The christmas tree cost PSG the title in the season he came to coach (came in January).   The issue was the Pastore was flopping in the "kaka" role and, once Ibra came on, that was over.  

I personally think Carlo became a pragmatic.  He has a definite idea of how he wants to the ball to move up the pitch,,,  but that idea can be morphed to fit different formations.  He designs shapes that emphasize his best player(s).  At Chelsea, it was a 433 because you had a trio of Malouda-Anelka-Drogba and a midfield of Lampard-Essien-Ballack.  That was the best design for that squad.  In his first year at PSG, he tried the christmas tree as i mentioned since Pastore was the best player that season when he joined... but then moved to a 442 because Ibra was best in a free role and he needed cover for his fullbacks who were very poor that season (Jallet, Van Der Wiel and Maxwell).  The 442 gave him winger cover on both sides and also a lot of real estate for Ibra to operate in the middle.  At Madrid, he designed the scheme around BBC and the fact that he had CMs and AMs but no B2Bs or DMs pushed him to a 433 naturally.

So i think he fits the players the best he can to his overall philosophy, which is not married to a singular shape interestingly enough. He really is brilliant. Too bad that his flaws are so pronounced where he can't stick somewhere due to league failures.

His rotations killed him.  Just doesn't manage a squad well.  He also doesn't stand up to get the players he needs.  Too much of a "yes" man politically.

Only if Verratti were to be included in a deal. Otherwise it makes no sense. Agüero isn't attainable for uncle Flo(p). He has business ties with the owners of City, Flo(p) won't do anything to unsettle them by trying to poach Agüero. But even in a world where it was possible to replace Ronaldo with Agüero it would cost at least somewhere around the € 80M mark like Suarez so what's the point to replace Ronaldo with Agüero? Ronaldo might be 3 years older but Agüero is already more injury prone.

Why do you need Aguero? Freedzema will pick up the slack. A 4-4-2 with Freedzema-Morata/Chicha would probably get each of them 40 goals. Madrid could spend the money on Hazard the new Messi and get some creative genius and much needed balance.

Benzema will never be free unless he escapes Madrid and finds a team willing to deploy him in a suitable role that matches his skillset.

Jese would replace him with no problems.

Take the money and run away, and drop mines behind you. That would be the best deal in history, 125m or 30 year old poacher with knee problems.

imo, if only we could get a fine replacement, it's not about 1 to 1 player replacement, but overall quality. only reus in my mind, not even hazard. aguero is no better than ronaldo, and he will play in similar fashion.

ronaldo still have some good years and he's still capable of being better than the current him, im saying the 1 when he play unselfishly, the team balance was there, everybody were excited and benzema was like cinderella that period based on the term u guys imposed.

nick, u said team will have better balance etc by not accommodating the ronaldo need, but u wanna switch/change even more thing just for bale? 4231 of
aguero; bale-isco-hames ?
sorry, that just seem more imbalance to me.

if u just meant bale is not going anywhere and this is the only way we could do it? well, that case, i have nothing else to say tbh...


anyway, agreed that this should be left for the coach to decide.

None would replace him adequately and absolutely no one will come to close to matching his marketability.Real Madrid definitely wont sell unless he's 33/34 and wants a new challenge or like Becks,spend the rest of his career in the US.

For me, players who are world class are too valuable to sell. They are more important than the money you can get for them.

Just look at Suarez last season, Kaka from Milan, Spurs losing Bale, Hell, even Utd losing Tevez and Ronaldo.

If Chelsea lost Hazard, or City lost Aguero, neither team would be able to reach the same heights, regardless of who they brought in, imo.

Well, if it means getting Verratti it would be worth it IMO. A setup with Modric, Verratti, Kroos, Hames and Isco would be quite nice to watch although I wouldn't have a clue how to make it work. Probably need to get Pep for that.