2014 Summer Holiday Transfer News and Speculation

[Vinho Tinto]

Let's start off with the Monaco job opening. Over the past week, there was heavy speculation that Monaco was looking at name coaches such as Arsene Wenger, Antonio Conte, and Jorge Jesus. Now, a lesser known manager may have applied pen to paper. Leonardo Jardim is rumored to have landed the job after a very good season with Sporting. Adding fuel to the fire is Marco Silva announcing that he is leaving his job at Estoril (Who finished 4th this season), but will remain in Portugal.  Abola is reporting that Jardim will end up in Monaco and Silva will take over at Sporting. We have learned that when these deep pocket owners hire a new manager it is always a fun ride to the finish. Very interested to see who gets that lucrative job.

 

[Infield Infidel]

Clermont Foot, in France's Ligue 2, hired Helena Costa. First female coach in France. She's from, you guessed it, Portugal. Previously was a scout at Celtic and managed women's national teams in Iran and Qatar

 

[CodPiece XL]

According to Sky News, Costa heading to Chelsea for 32 big ones.
 
 
http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11668/9309372/transfer-news-chelsea-agree-deal-to-sign-atletico-madrid-striker-diego-costa

 

[bosox4283]

According to Sky News, Costa heading to Chelsea for 32 big ones.
 
 
http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11668/9309372/transfer-news-chelsea-agree-deal-to-sign-atletico-madrid-striker-diego-costa

 
ESPN also had this reported and added that Costa has told his teammates that he's leaving this summer. I guess Costa wants to get paid.

 

[fletcherpost]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/27386226

Link to BBC Page that links to BBC's transfer gossip page, with subsequent links to the papers covering said goss.

Top of the tree today:
Liverpool have moved ahead of Manchester United in the race to sign 22-year-old Portugal and Sporting Lisbon midfielder William Carvalho, who has a£37m release clause in his contract.

Chelsea have offered striker Romelu Lukaku, 21, to Atletico Madrid as part of a deal to sign 25-year-old forward Diego Costa from the Spanish club.

 

[PedroSpecialK]

Take it with a grain of salt as it's the Mirror, but signs are pointing to a 2-year deal for van Gaal at United, with Giggs as his no. 2 man.

 

[AgentOrange]

SKY, the most reliable transfer news source in Italy, is reporting that David Luiz is close to a move to PSG for 60 (!) million euros. This will free up Marquinhos to Barca from PSG.

PSG is also pushing for Hazard, and may include Lavezzi in a deal. FFP what?

 

[Nick Kaufman]

 
ESPN also had this reported and added that Costa has told his teammates that he's leaving this summer. I guess Costa wants to get paid.

 
 I guess he wanted to get to a team that gave him a better chance of winning silverwa.... oh wait.

 

[Snakebauer007]

 
 I guess he wanted to get to a team that gave him a better chance of winning silverwa.... oh wait.

There's no doubt that Chelsea offers a more consistent chance to win season to season than just about any club in Europe.

 

[Morgan's Magic Snowplow]

There's no doubt that Chelsea offers a more consistent chance to win season to season than just about any club in Europe.

Real, Barca, Bayern, PSG, Juventus, probably City all offer better chances.

Costa is going to Chelsea because they're a big club offering him a big contract. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[Snakebauer007]

Real, Barca, Bayern, PSG, Juventus, probably City all offer better chances.

Costa is going to Chelsea because they're a big club offering him a big contract. Nothing wrong with that.

Since Roman took over the club, of that list only Barcelona and Bayern have won more major trophies

 

[Nick Kaufman]

FWIW, that was more a dig at shit footballers say when they move clubs.

 

[Snakebauer007]

FWIW, that was more a dig at shit footballers say when they move clubs.

Oh for sure, I mean everyone knows he's getting a substantial raise. It is comical(from my stand point) to see him leave a team that just knocked us out of the CL and may win the double to move to The Bridge. If the deal is going through, what was seemingly done is far from official. And with Mandzukic also being available it makes me wonder.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

Since Roman took over the club, of that list only Barcelona and Bayern have won more major trophies

 
I think it's safe to say that PSG and City are not the same clubs today as they were when Roman bought Chelsea.  You guys are obviously a good pick for a trophy in any given season, but the path to a domestic trophy goes through a lot more legitimate competition in the EPL than in many other leagues.

 

[DLew On Roids]

Yeah, the key word in Snake's post is "have."  There's more top-end depth in the EPL than in any other league in Europe.  While I think only France has a second domestic cup competition, there are 5-6 legitimate contenders for the three English trophies every year right now, and the randomness of a cup competition tosses in a 20-30% chance someone outside that group wins, too.  Contrast that to Germany (Bayern), Italy (Juve), France (PSG/Monaco), and Spain (Real/Barca), where there's a clear top dog or pair.  
 
Taking nothing away from Chelsea; among the Big Five leagues, they're still easily in the top 10 most likely to win a trophy.  Just not as likely as the most usual suspects.
 
Nit picking is fun!

 

[Nick Kaufman]

Before PSG became big - and who knows how long it will last- the french league was one of the wide open races in Europe every year. I mean there's a shit ton of teams which won the league and then got relegated.

 

[cjdmadcow]

If you check my post of May 12 in the now-locked Chelsea thread from last season, I saw this coming.
 
Luiz & Hazard are not Mourinho players despite what those of us who value the more pleasing aspects of this wonderful game think, and Mourinho has every right to make those decisions, but he'd better get it right next season otherwise there will be hell to pay. Pragmatism is all well and good when nicely-crafted pieces of silverware are sitting on Roman's dining table at the end of a season but even the fans, surely, will begin to question what the hell's going on if another season ends in failure.
 
A splurge will undoubtably come with the signing of new players, Costa obviously, but where's the creativity going to come from? Who loads the bullets for Costa to fire?

 

[Snakebauer007]

If you check my post of May 12 in the now-locked Chelsea thread from last season, I saw this coming.
 
Luiz & Hazard are not Mourinho players despite what those of us who value the more pleasing aspects of this wonderful game think, and Mourinho has every right to make those decisions, but he'd better get it right next season otherwise there will be hell to pay. Pragmatism is all well and good when nicely-crafted pieces of silverware are sitting on Roman's dining table at the end of a season but even the fans, surely, will begin to question what the hell's going on if another season ends in failure.
 
A splurge will undoubtably come with the signing of new players, Costa obviously, but where's the creativity going to come from? Who loads the bullets for Costa to fire?

Luiz is a defender who can't crack our defensive lineup on most days and was sold for a reportedly world recd fee for the position. He is one of my favorites and very likeable, but Chelsea would have to be stupid to turn down that money for HIM.

As for where the creativity comes from, probably the attacking mids: Hazard, Oscar, Schurrle, Willian. Luiz had 2 assists this season in almost 40 matches, this wasn't about selling a creative player, it was about selling someone Mourinho didn't see as a guaranteed starter for ridiculous money(Mata-esque).

I still expect the replacement for Luiz should be a centermid and maybe a centerback but we shall see.

 

[Zomp]

Yeah no matter what you think of Luiz, I've seen the number around 48 million pounds.  Just stupid money.

 

[SoxFanInCali]

Nice to see how effective that FFF penalty was in holding down PSG's transfer spending.

 

[PedroSpecialK]

Buying Luiz for £20.25m and selling him for £48m, given his Chelsea tenure, is beyond ridiculous from Chelsea's perspective.

 

[TheJodyReedExperience]

Nice to see how effective that FFF penalty was in holding down PSG's transfer spending.

 
I believe their settlement allowed them to buy one player up to €60m. The odd part is that they were not given permission to buy 2 at €30 or 10 at €6; only 1 at €60.
 
As a Chelsea fan I am not happy to lose Luiz, but uhh... the numbers we're talking here are laughable.

 

[TheJodyReedExperience]

If you check my post of May 12 in the now-locked Chelsea thread from last season, I saw this coming.
 
Luiz & Hazard are not Mourinho players despite what those of us who value the more pleasing aspects of this wonderful game think, and Mourinho has every right to make those decisions, but he'd better get it right next season otherwise there will be hell to pay. Pragmatism is all well and good when nicely-crafted pieces of silverware are sitting on Roman's dining table at the end of a season but even the fans, surely, will begin to question what the hell's going on if another season ends in failure.
 
A splurge will undoubtably come with the signing of new players, Costa obviously, but where's the creativity going to come from? Who loads the bullets for Costa to fire?

Putting aside the "play the right way" soft soap, it's unclear to me whether you're aiming at Mourinho's tactics or the personnel, but players like Hazard, Willian, and Oscar have more than enough creativity to support a striker.

 

[cjdmadcow]

Luiz is a defender who can't crack our defensive lineup on most days and was sold for a reportedly world recd fee for the position. He is one of my favorites and very likeable, but Chelsea would have to be stupid to turn down that money for HIM.

As for where the creativity comes from, probably the attacking mids: Hazard, Oscar, Schurrle, Willian. Luiz had 2 assists this season in almost 40 matches, this wasn't about selling a creative player, it was about selling someone Mourinho didn't see as a guaranteed starter for ridiculous money(Mata-esque).

I still expect the replacement for Luiz should be a centermid and maybe a centerback but we shall see.

 
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely agree that this is a no-brainer for Chelsea...take the money from PSG and run away as fast as you can. 
 
Oscar didn't get a huge amount of playing time towards the end of the season (injury?) so I'm not sure how Mourinho rates him and as for Hazard, let's see if he's still actually at the club by the start of the season in which case you have a point, but if he isn't...
 
Again...Chelsea will spend and get quality players in, I just expect them to be functional rather than fabulous but I'm a romantic and not a pragmatist.

 

[DLew On Roids]

There's the big challenge for Jose. The players who are naturals in the system he wants to employ are aging out and the tools he wants (say, a prolific striker who can allow others to track back and the side still scores enough goals) aren't quite there. Meanwhile, he has a lot of players he probably wouldn't have bought (Oscar, Hazard) in the squad. I'm not saying he thinks they're worthless, but if you value a player's expected contribution at £10 million and his market value is £20 million, you wouldn't have bought him. This summer becomes the big test of whether he can convert the squad he has into the one he wants. £48 million can go a log way toward getting there.

Luiz is a defender who can't crack our defensive lineup on most days and was sold for a reportedly world recd fee for the position. He is one of my favorites and very likeable, but Chelsea would have to be stupid to turn down that money for HIM.
As for where the creativity comes from, probably the attacking mids: Hazard, Oscar, Schurrle, Willian. Luiz had 2 assists this season in almost 40 matches, this wasn't about selling a creative player, it was about selling someone Mourinho didn't see as a guaranteed starter for ridiculous money(Mata-esque).
I still expect the replacement for Luiz should be a centermid and maybe a centerback but we shall see.

I think you and CJD basically agree. Luis is perceived as a unique combination of talent by some clubs, but Jose doesn't see that combination fitting into his vision.

 

[Cellar-Door]

West Ham news:
We signed and Argentinian again: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2638970/Mauro-Zarate-completes-West-Ham-transfer-three-year-deal.html
 
Also offerred Gareth Barry a lot of money supposedly.

 

[Vinho Tinto]

Toure is openly flirting with PSG.

 

[bosox4283]

As a result of Atletico's success, many of the team's players are being linked with richer clubs. Just from today's Spanish press (Marca and AS):
 
- Chelsea is interested in Filipe Luis, Atletico's starting left-back who had a superb season. His buy-out clause is 24 million euros. 
 
- Miranda is drawing attention from Barcelona and Manchester United. Miranda, along with Godin, has anchored the defense at centre-back. Miranda's clause is about 30 million euros.
 
- Arda Turan is apparently on the radar of both Barcelona and Manchester United. To me, ManU makes sense -- Turan is talented, and they are re-tooling. I don't understand the Barcelona link, unless, of course, Barca unloads players like Cesc, Alexis, and Pedro. 

 

[Zomp]

How good is Miranda?  I'm seeing mixed reports.  Some are calling him one of the best defenders of the past year, while others are saying he's benefited from playing alongside Godin.

 

[bosox4283]

How good is Miranda?  I'm seeing mixed reports.  Some are calling him one of the best defenders of the past year, while others are saying he's benefited from playing alongside Godin.

 
Even though I'm a huge Atletico fan and probably watched 10-20 matches this year, I really lack the ability to judge Miranda's play. Furthermore, it's a good question how much Miranda benefitted from playing alongside Godin, in front of Courtois, and in Simeone's system. 
 
My sense is that he's very good: quick, athletic, good in the air, can handle top talent, and is a fairly smart player. 

 

[bosox4283]

Rumors are flying today that Villa is going to sign a contract with New York City. 
 
Given his age, I think the move makes sense for Villa. It's highly unlikely he gets called to played the European Championship, which means this World Cup is his last international tournament. If he can sign a lucrative contract, then I think he'll go for it.

 

[Schnerres]

http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/bundesliga/startseite/605407/artikel_garay-im-anflug-auf-den-fc-bayern.html
 
German football news page kicker.de reporting that Bayern buys Ezequiel Garay (also in WC roster) from Europa league runner-up Benfica Lissabon for about 15mil. Contract runs until 2018. He chose between Zenit and Bayern and the better perspective to win titles and to train under Pep led him to sign for the german giants.

Neither Bayern nor Benfica did confirm this, so probably he has to pass a physical(?) and then sign the contract someday.
 
If he goes to Bayern, he will effectively replace Daniel van Buyten (stone-aged) who leaves the club this summer. As centrebacks, there are brazilian Dante, german Jerome Boateng (both going to the WC), then german Holger Badstuber who comes back from two torn ACL and now Garay. Additionally, spanish WC participant Javi Martinez played there from time to time, too. If Badstuber finds back to the form that made him part of the german national team, this will be a crowded position (--> Boateng as RB again?).

 

[ehaz]

It's looking more and more like 21 year old Seville left back Alberto Moreno will eventually move to Liverpool. Some reputable La Liga reporters saying it will happen before the World Cup.

 

[JayMags71]

Is he any good?

 

[bosox4283]

Is he any good?

 
Yes, very good. Real Madrid was after him last year but the transaction did not happen. In addition, Moreno projects to be the national team's left back in the future. 

 

[thehitcat]

 
Yes, very good. Real Madrid was after him last year but the transaction did not happen. In addition, Moreno projects to be the national team's left back in the future. 

He was in the Spain 30 man provisional squad this year but did not make the cutdown to 23.  The future is bright for him.  I'd be thrilled if the Reds could get him and have Moreno and Flanagan learn together.  (Note: Moreno is better than Flanno I just like the idea of a young skilled FB tandem for the club going forward.)

 

[bosox4283]

Chelsea is reportedly moving closer to signing Diego Costa and Filipe Luis. 
 
Edit: Marca is saying that Atletico has reached an agreement with Siqueira, a left-back who played this past season with Benfica but belongs to Granada. If this news is true, we can assume that Atletico is paying ten-million euros for Filipe Luis's replacement.

 

[DLew On Roids]

Moreno is considered the second-best young left back in Europe after Luke Shaw.

I like Scouse Cafu personally, but he can't be more than a squad player if you want a realistic chance at the title.

 

[AgentOrange]

Rakitic to Barca. https://twitter.com/dimarzio/status/474655001437306880

Freeing up Cesc to?

 

[Gunfighter 09]

I might lose my mind if this happened, I could not imagine anything better, since they probably aren't bringing Deuce back.  
 

 
Tottenham are ready to make a £5million bid for Bayern Munich winger Julian Green, with Mauricio Pochettino hopeful of making him his first signing.
Green, 18, is highly-rated by the Bundesliga champions, but despite being selected for the USA team for the World Cup, he is not close to breaking into the Bayern first-team.
Pochettino had the winger watched at youth level during his time at Southampton, and after being installed as Spurs’ new boss, he is ready to launch a £5million bid.

http://metro.co.uk/2014/06/05/tottenham-set-to-launch-5million-bid-for-bayern-munich-starlet-julian-green-4751624/
 
http://cartilagefreecaptain.sbnation.com/2014/6/5/5783106/tottenham-hotspur-julian-green-bayern-usa

 

[bosox4283]

Rakitic to Barca. 

Freeing up Cesc to?

 
Is it me, or did the anti-Cesc sentiment come out of nowhere? Does Luis Enrique not like him? Do his teammates not like him? Does Barca need to make money? I don't really get it.
 
Rakitic is excellent, but he's 26 and Cesc is 27. I'm not sure if this move is an upgrade for Barcelona.

 

[Zomp]

I'd kill for Fabregas on United.  If Van Gaal really doesn't want him he better bring in 2 that are better.
 
I kept reading that Koke was going to Barca and Cesc off to Chelsea.  This Rakitic news is new to me...does that eliminate Barca from going after Koke?  I can't see Atletti selling yet any way..not when he's 23.

 

[DLew On Roids]

I keep reading Cesc to Chelsea for £27 million is done. And while I was looking for Cesc news this afternoon, I found a Daily Telegraph article from early 2011 noting that Arsenal gets 50% of the fee. (I'm on my phone, which sucks at adding links)

Which might mean that Arsenal could have had him back for £13.5 million, which would be really outrageous to pass up.

 

[bosox4283]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-heZS8VYAE

 

[mgoblue2]

I like Scouse Cafu personally, but he can't be more than a squad player if you want a realistic chance at the title.

Finally someone with sense re Flanagan. Everyone I've pretty much ever seen says he's the second coming or something. Moreno is the wrong part of your defense to fix but at least it's defense.

 

[Morgan's Magic Snowplow]

Cesc to Chelsea might happen (I dunno) but it really makes very little sense from a football perspective. He's basically everything Mourinho doesn't usually like in a pivot midfielder - very little defensive contribution, not a big engine, not all that disciplined in his defensive positioning. His skills are really maximized in other systems.

If Jose just wants to troll Wenger, of course, it's a brilliant move.

 

[Snakebauer007]

Cesc to Chelsea might happen (I dunno) but it really makes very little sense from a football perspective. He's basically everything Mourinho doesn't usually like in a pivot midfielder - very little defensive contribution, not a big engine, not all that disciplined in his defensive positioning. His skills are really maximized in other systems.

If Jose just wants to troll Wenger, of course, it's a brilliant move.

He is exactly what we are missing in the central midfield though, as no one besides Matic can pass the ball in a forward direction and is very good in possession. We had trouble unlocking defenses that sat back because Matic had no one helping him link defense to attack(as well of course: our strikers sucked and our fullbacks can't cross).

Costa, Fabregas, and an attacking Leftback would be a huge summer for us, while also hopefully adding Lukaku and Courtois to the team.

 

[Morgan's Magic Snowplow]

He is exactly what we are missing in the central midfield though, as no one besides Matic can pass the ball in a forward direction and is very good in possession. We had trouble unlocking defenses that sat back because Matic had no one helping him link defense to attack(as well of course: our strikers sucked and our fullbacks can't cross).

Costa, Fabregas, and an attacking Leftback would be a huge summer for us, while also hopefully adding Lukaku and Courtois to the team.

I agree and I really hope you don't get him. I have trouble seeing him as a Mourinho player is all.

 

[sachmoney]

Which might mean that Arsenal could have had him back for £13.5 million, which would be really outrageous to pass up.

I've seen so many things with regards to the buy back clause and its stipulations that I have no idea what it is comprised of besides the right of first refusal.

 

[Titans Bastard]

I might lose my mind if this happened, I could not imagine anything better, since they probably aren't bringing Deuce back.  
  http://metro.co.uk/2014/06/05/tottenham-set-to-launch-5million-bid-for-bayern-munich-starlet-julian-green-4751624/
 
http://cartilagefreecaptain.sbnation.com/2014/6/5/5783106/tottenham-hotspur-julian-green-bayern-usa

 
Seltzer says it's bogus