Really? Ugh. Always been a huge fan of Godin's game, it's a shame it had to end like this. There are worthwhile Libertadores-grade clubs in Uruguay for him to play at, no reason to put up with that BS.
Life is a Beach - Summer 2023 Transfer
- Thread starter Vinho Tinto
- Start date
The culture is off when away supporters being banned from traveling to matches becomes a league-wide policy.
https://theathletic.com/4748754/2023/08/04/west-ham-transferroom-moyes/
The big revelation here for me is that there's a website where clubs can advertise for transfers. Is this like craigslist for football clubs?
For a third tier club in a third tier league, I get it. It's like the NCAA transfer portal. You don't have the resources to stay up on every player everywhere and you don't know who's looking to move. Have a marketplace to connect buyers and sellers, let people put up scouting videos on themselves. Same for the youth or reserve teams of big clubs, who might be looking for home run potential (e.g. Austin Trusty is Arsenal at least hitting a double, arguably a triple).
The number of players who are potentially able to help West Ham's first team squad must number in the high hundreds of low thousands at most, and they have EPL resources to scout every last one of them, most of them in person. The Big 5, UCL clubs, a handful of other clubs at leagues #6-10. Some are right out due to age, injury history, position fit, etc. The hard part is picking right and at the right price. Totally different problem. What the hell are they even doing?
The number of players who are potentially able to help West Ham's first team squad must number in the high hundreds of low thousands at most, and they have EPL resources to scout every last one of them, most of them in person. The Big 5, UCL clubs, a handful of other clubs at leagues #6-10. Some are right out due to age, injury history, position fit, etc. The hard part is picking right and at the right price. Totally different problem. What the hell are they even doing?
Because the entire USMNT pool is transferring this summer:
- Yunus Musah to AC Milan is official
- Haji Wright moved from Antalyaspor to Coventry City for a club-record transfer fee (€9m, reportedly)
- Malik Tillman is nearing a move. Lots of reports about Sheffield United and PSV, with the most recent ones stating he's going for PSV, on a loan with an option to buy
- Reggie Cannon, whose contract with Boavista has been terminated (the downside to the Portuguese league is that there's like a 50/50 shot you get paid), is reported to be close to a deal with either Rayo Vallecano or Köln
Man am I pulling for him to go to Rayo. This is probably the only way an American would end up there as the club are on a shoestring budget. I almost imagine the managers duct taping the team plane’s propeller like in Major League. I know Mr. Keller played there years ago but that was a different financial world both in soccer and in the cost for American players. Rayo are a team for the dispossessed, and that is Reggie Cannon right now. I know Cannon is pretty far down the list of Yanks Abroad, but even the idea of Americans seeing the absurdity of the stadium in Vallecas- I’m pretty sure a Fede Valverde shot landed in someone’s living room last season- maybe gaining an appreciation for the severely underrated Isi, and possibly even buying a super cool Rayo kit is enough to make me smile.
In soccer terms, I’m not sure I see the fit. Rayo played a very fast and aggressive style with the fullbacks flying up the wings all game long. Reggie is more of a RCB and Rayo have a new manager, so maybe he works his way into the squad.
Football's Transfer Marketplace | TransferRoom
It's that easy? Can we create a semi-pro team and post? Who can we sell to West Ham?
I find it hilarious that they are using Power BI
I don’t have a link, but it sounds like Palace have signed youngster Matheus França from Brazil. Good news.
Seriously bad news however is that it seems that Michael Olise has a release clause in his contract. One that’s only like £35 million, and there seems to be a lot of smoke about him winding up at City. That would be a major catastrophe - or really already is. They had denied the existence of the clause, but it sounds like it’s really there. They got him with one in the first place, and probably wouldn’t have gotten him without including one when they got him from Reading, but this still will sting. It’s one thing to lose him, that was inevitable. But I would have figured for something more like double that.
Seriously bad news however is that it seems that Michael Olise has a release clause in his contract. One that’s only like £35 million, and there seems to be a lot of smoke about him winding up at City. That would be a major catastrophe - or really already is. They had denied the existence of the clause, but it sounds like it’s really there. They got him with one in the first place, and probably wouldn’t have gotten him without including one when they got him from Reading, but this still will sting. It’s one thing to lose him, that was inevitable. But I would have figured for something more like double that.
Gianluca Scamacca to Atalanta is apparently on. Scamacca had been Inter’s fallback plan should they not land Folarin Balogun. Nice hijack by Atalanta.
View: https://twitter.com/fabrizioromano/status/1687720340909338625?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ
View: https://twitter.com/fabrizioromano/status/1687720340909338625?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ
Fwiw re: Aaronson, he’s starting today in the last friendly vs Atalanta, which is, aside from the absence of Becker, seems like what I’d picture Union Berlin’s starting XI to look like.
edit: Union are just wrecking Atalanta. 3-0 28 minutes in.
edit: Union are just wrecking Atalanta. 3-0 28 minutes in.
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If they realize all the add ons, West Ham just about break even on the transfer fees here. Which is good enough. Haines because Scamacca is an old school lumbering target man. I don’t know what Atalanta see in him given their style of play. I was eager to see Scamacca take a step up in the EPL last year, but though he was thoroughly exposed as having few skills beyond being tall.
Turner reportedly very close to finalizing a move to Nottingham Forest. It will be great to have Turner getting reps every week.
View: https://twitter.com/David_Ornstein/status/1688456418318299136
View: https://twitter.com/David_Ornstein/status/1688456418318299136
Messi is rightfully getting the attention, but Alba’s contributions were eye opening as well. The mini-Barca triangle has already had a massive impact, and the guys around them are picking it up quickly.
A couple of Benfica moves:
Goncalo Ramos to PSG:
View: https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1688256447899942912
Anatolij Trubin from Shaktar:
View: https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1688515709272281088
Goncalo Ramos to PSG:
View: https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1688256447899942912
Anatolij Trubin from Shaktar:
View: https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1688515709272281088
The Spanish papers Marca and As are reporting that Neymar has asked to leave PSG, with Marca hinting that he wants to return to Barcelona. I have no idea why it makes sense for Barca to being back Neymar. Would Xavi want him?
Xavi would definitely want him as he replaces Ansu as the starting LW and gives Barca another huge attacking threat to draw attention away from Lewa.
This is also true.
I get the feeling that aside from 'Big Club Linked to Big Player' dynamics at play, Barca has never recovered from the wound that was Neymar's departure. So they don't mind poking PSG in the eye at every opportunity. But again, I put the chances of this at <2%.
I highly doubt Barca can afford Neymar. If they could, they would have bought a player like Zubimendi for CDM this summer rather than the likes of Oriol Romeu.
I get the sense that Barca likes being continually linked to top players they can't afford as it allows them to keep up appearances as one of the biggest clubs in the world while they dig out of their financial mess.
I get the sense that Barca likes being continually linked to top players they can't afford as it allows them to keep up appearances as one of the biggest clubs in the world while they dig out of their financial mess.
Are they even digging out of their financial mess? Or are they just continuing business as usual, taking out more debt and having an unsustainable payroll? I know they opted out of the La Liga deal with the private equity firm, but I thought they were instead doing some other transactions that also amounted to "eating their seed corn", much moreso than "taking their medicine".
IIRC that is more or less correct - they sold off some of their broadcast revenues if memory serves.
It’s a bit of both. They spent something like €3.4 million total on three player (two on a free) and are likely selling Dembele and Kessie. They had a couple of other minor sales too. Once the Dembele sale goes through, assuming it does, they will have more than balanced the books and can register all of their players. The Kessie deal is a bonus and will allow them to get another RB and maybe a CM. Generally speaking it was the high payroll from the previous regime that was setting them back, and they’re getting closer to righting the ship. They likely will be able bring over Vítor Roque earlier too, which is much more realistic than Neymar.
There is talk of using one of the levers that they approved last year but didn’t use, the sale of part of Barca Licensing and Merchandising. A big factor for the club is moving to Montjuic for a season or three because of the smaller crowds.
It's kind of both, in true Barca fashion--pren el teu pastís i menja'l també. They've acted more responsibly in the sense that they settled the contracts of the old guard (Pique, Busi, Alba) and haven't spent like drunkards acting like sailors (Barto was so incompetent he couldn't even be considered a sailor in this short-lived yet tortured analogy), opting for free transfers like Kessie, Gundogan, etc. instead, but at the same time splashing real money for Lewa, Raph, and others.
They have decided to mortgage some future revenue to keep the club relevant for the next few years, and frankly that might be the right decision. There's no guarantee that the brand could recover from 5-10 years of anonymity.
Tifo has a decent soccer podcast and they recently did an episode on club finances with an expert in the field. They went into the financial situations for several clubs, Barcelona obviously among them. Generally speaking, they agreed that the absurdly high wages is really what put the club in the position that it’s in, but the expert, Abhishek Raj, was cautious not to be too critical because of the reaction of La Liga to Covid. Every other league in the world more or less allowed teams to not count any debt when calculating FFP except La Liga, so when Barcelona have long term high wage contracts combined with zero game day revenues, it was catastrophic. Again, the free spending is the main cause, but if there are no lockdowns or if La Liga followed other leagues in their FFP policies, it likely would not have been as much of an issue. Barca were also slow to react to the financial realities of Covid. He agreed with you that the club have responded reasonably well given the circumstances and are on the right path.
They go into several other clubs too for anyone interested, including Arsenal who make an interesting case study as well. Bayern get several shout outs for how properly their finances are lined up, which I suppose isn’t surprising. Obviously Man City and Chelsea have a lot of time devoted to them as well. It’s definitely a very interesting interview. Link for the Podcasts app below:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tifo-football-podcast/id1227699368?i=1000623624853
Konrad de la Fuente goes on loan to Eibar in the Segunda. Hopefully the continued downward spiral of his career is a wake-up call that prompts him to adopt a more professional approach to the game. Managers get sick of him real fast.
View: https://twitter.com/SDEibar/status/1688980898052706311
Orlando City sold a reserve team player to Club Brugge. He didn't make the US U17 squad, but was later called up by Spain for their UEFA U17 games. An interesting and increasingly common situation where top-tier NT programs are coming after US-developed dual nationals for their youth teams.
View: https://twitter.com/OrlandoCityB/status/1688965944616357891
Reading signed an 18 year old center back from LAFC's academy and immediately threw him in the starting lineup for today's EFL Cup match.
https://www.readingfc.co.uk/news/2023/august/07/tyler-bindon-joins-reading-football-club-from-los-angeles-fc/
View: https://twitter.com/SDEibar/status/1688980898052706311
Orlando City sold a reserve team player to Club Brugge. He didn't make the US U17 squad, but was later called up by Spain for their UEFA U17 games. An interesting and increasingly common situation where top-tier NT programs are coming after US-developed dual nationals for their youth teams.
View: https://twitter.com/OrlandoCityB/status/1688965944616357891
Reading signed an 18 year old center back from LAFC's academy and immediately threw him in the starting lineup for today's EFL Cup match.
https://www.readingfc.co.uk/news/2023/august/07/tyler-bindon-joins-reading-football-club-from-los-angeles-fc/
A bunch of reports (including Ornstein) that Chelsea bid £47 for Lavia.
I’ve been rolling my eyes about the FSG bitching for awhile. What they’ve done and are doing is incredible. If this happens the explosion of anger will be off the charts. It won’t be the entire fanbase, but some protests will fire up for sure.
I’ve been rolling my eyes about the FSG bitching for awhile. What they’ve done and are doing is incredible. If this happens the explosion of anger will be off the charts. It won’t be the entire fanbase, but some protests will fire up for sure.
I guess Lavia at least has a season under his belt, but it seems utterly fucking insane that someone with transfer power looked and the Chelsea roster and was like “we need another 19 year old midfielder”. Conor Gallagher is currently the midfield elder statesman at 23.
My theory is that Boehly is (mis)applying assumptions and ideas from baseball to the world of European football.
If a baseball team sold off all their prime age and aging players with value and amassed a huge number of top quality age19-22 prospects from around the world, people would be thinking they were geniuses. Because a good number of those prospects would pan out, it wouldn't really matter if you were bad for a year or two while they aged, and player development is really about individual skill so its not like being in a rocky and tumultuous team context would hamper the development of players. And if you had a minor league club (ie, Strasbourg) where a lot of the guys could play everyday then even better, because you can just call them up when they're ready. In a couple years, 6-7 of those guys are top young players and then they're the core of your next great team.
I just don't think it works that way in football but I guess we'll see.
But guys, this is it right here:
View: https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1689277295926595584?s=20
View: https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1689277295926595584?s=20
He was handing out baseball contracts too thinking he’d found a loophole until they said “quit it!”and changed the amortization rules I believe.
Adams is off to Chelsea. I imagine he’ll be more of a rotation player for them given the other names they’re targeting.
View: https://twitter.com/fabrizioromano/status/1689588601061879811?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ
View: https://twitter.com/fabrizioromano/status/1689588601061879811?s=46&t=XvGOrrWIyL-5CHVVL_0JYQ
German media is blowing up that Kane is coming to Bayern.
Beaten by @Joe D Reid http://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?threads/spurs-23-24-men-at-work.39630/post-5684136
Beaten by @Joe D Reid http://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?threads/spurs-23-24-men-at-work.39630/post-5684136
Ugh. For this price I was hoping he’d go some place where he’d be a bang on starter, ideally for a top-half EPL club. Hope this goes great or he ends up in that kind of spot in 2 years to prep for WC.
Courtois did his ACL. Between that and Neuer being unable to strike the ball, things might get interesting on the goalkeeper front.
Reporting I've seen is that the clubs have an agreement and so it's now up to Kane to decide whether to ship off for Bavaria or not. If Kane leaving means Spurs can buy Tapsoba, I'm here for it.
While all of the reporting indicates that Spurs have interest in Gift Orban, I'd also be interested in Jonathan David (Lille), Julian Alvarez (MANC), Tammy Abraham (Roma), or for a player you probably haven't heard of, Elye Wahi (Montpellier). Elye debuted for Montpellier at 17 years old (!) and put up 19 g, 5 a assists last season, coming off 10 g, 1 a the season before. He's 185cm/6'0'', and very good at dribbling and making incisive passes.
I listened to a Spurs podcast the other day and they were saying Spurs can't look for a Kane replacement because that doesn't exist. We're just looking at striker targets and I like all of the options above for different reasons. Although I will say I have no idea if Tammy is a good fit for Ange's system.
Not sure if that's what he wanted. I think West Ham kicked the tires, but were never going to sign a player who couldn't pass the physical, so they moved on to Alvarez (I think Moyes probably prefers him as well).
Tammy Abraham did his ACL and is out for the year.
Elye Wahi has some really bad off field behavior that has reportedly scared a lot of clubs away.
To be honest, I don't see why Spurs don't just roll with Richarlison, Son, and Veliz at the striker position if Kane leaves. I don't think Richarlison or Son really have the skill set for the winger position in that tactical setup anyway.
You know, if he decides NOT to go at this point---WTH? He knew teams were still involved.
Yeah, its frankly bizarre. If he wasn't sold on moving to Bayern he could have informed everybody weeks ago, saved everybody involved a lot of time and drama, and allowed Postecoglou to plan for the season with a more confident understanding of his own squad and Levy to approach the transfer market with a better sense of his budget.
Correct on Wahi, I want absolutely no part of him.
I don't think a similar striker is what they need to replace Kane. It's basically him, Benzema, and Lukaku that fit that bill. Kane would be great in this system because he is great, but he isn't a great fit per se. Rolling with Son and Richy at striker is certainly a good option, they would still really need to add at least one quality winger.
Yeah to be clear, I don't think Spurs NEED to buy another striker, but rather thinking about whether they might. I think it's more important to buy Tapsoba or another elite CB for results THIS season. Put another way, if Spurs find themselves flush with cash, who might they consider the best striker (or best youngish striker) for Ange.
I didn't realize Tammy was out for the season and had no idea about Wahi. I should probably put this in the Spurs thread, but does Alvarez constitute a good fit?
I didn't realize Tammy was out for the season and had no idea about Wahi. I should probably put this in the Spurs thread, but does Alvarez constitute a good fit?