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Michu is at Napoli now I believe

Lovren will go official tomorrow per Carra.

 

I wouldn't mind Bony at all. 

Completely different player than Suarez...Bony reminds me a lot of Edin Dzeko and would have a natural back-up at LFC in Lambert.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/12040/9396762/sky-sources-liverpool-pull-plug-on-loic-remy-deal

(iphone pic)

That girl all the way on the left tho...

Can't do any worse than the Judas rat in the # 9 shirt.

 

Hail. 

Ah, but, do you remember...THIS!?

By the way...looks like your boy Lovren's got one foot in the door...

Chelsea FC @chelseafc  ·  1h

Welcome back, @didierdrogba! http://che.lc/PYD9dX  #CFC pic.twitter.com/S2lPNYxwwx

 

 

 

See 'English Premium' for Lallana, Adam.

The home grown player quota gives clubs a license to print money on any remotely good English talent. In reality Lallana's not worth half that £ 25 million. But it is what it is and L'pool were stupid enough (IMO) to pay it.

Herrera won't get all the time in the World on the ball when the season starts (or the time he had in La Ligue for that matter); so again we'll see. He was never a standout in Bilbao. Lallana's a good comparison as regards a good but not great player heavily over priced.

Personally, I wouldn't of touched either for the money. Time will out if they both prove me wrong or not.

Hail.

The problem is, competition is fierce during the window. If you want a particular player, you're going to have to pay a premium. A lot of clubs set their sights on 3 or 4 players for the specific positions they're looking to fill and will pay whatever premium necessary, it seems.

Easy to stand out in a meaningless friendly when you've all the time in the World on the ball. He's a tidy player but certainly never stood out in Bilbao to the tune of £ 30 million.

We shall see once the proper stuff starts in August.

Hail.

Time on the ball is certainly a big key. I don't see him racking up a ton of multi-assist games throughout the year, but you can see quite easily that he does all of the little things exceptionally well. Those little things go a long way towards elevating the level of your midfield play.

As far as "to the tune of 30 mil"...it's just the state of affairs nowadays it seems. Young, high-quality, entering his prime. See: Lallana, Adam.

Finally got a chance to catch the Man Utd match. Wow. Ander Herrera absolutely oozes class. Every touch of the ball just has that little bit of quality that makes him stand out.

Not quite sure what happened with Lamela last year. I get the move to a new Country/ culture settling in thing; and he was criticised by his managers for poor work ethic and attitude; but to fall off the grid so to speak so spectacularly after the move was more than surprising. 

 

Dude was a top talent at Roma. 

 

Hail. 

Well, he also suffered a fairly debilitating back injury after his slow start, which didn't help. He reminds me of a left-footed Thomas Müller. Although, I am crossing my fingers, hoping he doesn't pan out

I watched that Tottenham friendly last night. Boy, Lamela looked mighty sharp. He and Eriksen will prove to be deadly so long as they can both stay healthy.

I guess they are not going to even pretend like they care about FFP...

I don't see how the big-revenue clubs like RM could consider FFP to be a hindrance in the first place. Isn't the basic premise of the rule that the club is not allowed to spend more than they earn? So...how in the hell could RM be worried about that?

Their operating income is around $200M and revenue is around $700M. Am I missing something here?

It's pretty obvious that Madrid will sell Isco, Benzema and Di Maria. I hope that Liverpool can sign one (two would be fantastic and fantastically expensive) This is the way I would rank them:

1. Isco 

2. Di Maria

3. Benzema

 

Admittedly, I do not watch Madrid every week. My rankings may be wrong...

I don't see them selling all three. They're definitely not selling Benzema. They're working on extending his contract and Ronaldo has lobbied with RM ownership for him to stay.

And Footie Manager > FIFA.

Tend to agree

As for Hummels .....  An old school centre back. But he's woefully lacking in pace and when he gets caught out of position, he's not busting a gut to get back. A mirror image of Mertasacker at Arsenal. Although some will tell you he's boss and their 'B (ig) F (***ing) G (erman)' rock back there. But then it's been that long since Arsenal fans saw a defense when they last did, soccer still lagged behind tractor pulling in the US. So I wouldn't listen to much to them.

All I know is, if they don't update James Rodriguez' face in FIFA 15, I will personally fly out to EA sports studios and slap the first employee I see.

Why only if rose is healthy? He didn't help them to the record they had last year.

The sample size of the Bulls with Rose was not large enough to say that he did not significantly impact their performance in a positive way.

Do you think they end up better or worse then last year?

Slightly better record than last year if-and-only-if D-Rose remains healthy and that's a big if-and-only-if. Still don't see them making a terrible amount of noise in the post-season.

And United finally picks up a Center Back. Hope this is true.

 

http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2014/07/21/report-manchester-united-set-to-sign-mats-hummels-in-28-million-deal/

From Sky Sports:

German tabloid BILD has given short shrift to the reports emanating from Spain that Manchester United might beat Barcelona to the signature of Borussia Dortmund centre-back Mats Hummels. The newspaper comments:

If a Spanish sports newspaper reports first on the transfer of a Germany international to an English club, a certain scepticism is entirely appropriate.

I'm not putting Chicago in tier one of anything until Rose proves himself and they can show me how they're gonna give proper minutes and space the offense with the glut of power fowards they now have.

Thank you for saying that. Don't understand the Chicago hype. I mean after D-Rose...you have Pau...Joakim Noah...Jimmy Butler...Kirk Hinrich? That's a top-tier team? Sure, they made the playoffs last year without Rose because they play tough-nose D and are well-coached but come on. The talent just isn't there.

I love Sanchez and wish he was wearing a different (better) shade of red. I think he has the potential to be the best player in the league next year.

I think this could end up happening, dependent upon where Wenger decides to place him on the pitch. I think he could have a Hazard-like impact at Arsenal.

Well, Wilshere certainly has some maturing to do on and off the pitch. Don't see Arsene giving up on him any time soon though. I could honestly see them kicking the tires on Jenko and them signing another fullback as Debuchy's back-up. I would feel bad for Jenko, though because he is a true gooner.

Jenkinson always looked real promising to me. Solid, tidy defender. 

 

I guess his career must of stalled as with Sagna gone he really should be stepping up at 22 and becoming a first team regular. 

 

Hail. 

He fits the bill physically and has some technical skill but his problem is the mental errors. Can't be havin' that.

 

 

If only soccer was the game of statistics that American football is. 

 

But in reality it isn't. At all. 

 

And Debuchy is a  limited, average full back who get's caught out of position up the other end of the park almost as much as the abysmal Johnson. (Nods to j.). Plus there's been BIG question marks on his attitude and commitment at Newcastle. I personally think they've done terrific business in skanking Arsenal for £ 10 million and bringing in a younger, cheaper and better player with a far better attitude in Janmaat for half the price. 

 

Hail.

Points taken. Still think Debuchy will be more than serviceable as a replacement for Sagna. I think it's difficult to argue against Zabaleta and Azpi being the best fullbacks in the league last year. Their stats don't lie. Debuchy's stats are right up there with them. That's saying something...as much as you may like to ignore the stats. Just figured it would be worth comparing the fullbacks of the top 4 teams.

Sure, he can get caught out of position and commit silly fouls as we have seen last year in the Prem and in the World Cup but he's still a quality player who started at RB for the French national team.

Edit: On the topic of playing hard for NUFC...was there a player who played hard for them all year last year??

Condolences.

Hail.