The Arms (Errr, Legs) Race: 2022 Summer Transfer Window

teddykgb

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As long as @teddykgb is happy, I guess.
Happy is not nearly enough of a sexual term to describe where I am.

The first time I seriously watched Haaland was when he was at Salzburg and I was convinced he was headed to United. I was despondent watching him because it was clear he’d improve that sad sack of miscreants. It’s unbelievable to me that that player is going to join this City attack.

As I said earlier, I think he will struggle a bit both to adjust and because Peps system isn’t setup to make strikers shine. It’s focused on wing play and the strikers will often occupy 2 CBs or 3 and then have a bus parked around them. You truly have to feed on scraps and occupy defenders. The Bundesliga has been a very high scoring league and a lot of his goals at Dortmund have him running in behind and City rarely have that opportunity. But he’s got a great sense of space and knows how to finish so I imagine he will score a lot of chances we currently see Jesus sliding for and narrowly missing on low driven cutbacks. Someone like KDB feeding him should result in some ridiculous goals even against the constant low block City faces.

Strangely this even makes me want to keep Raheem. He’s been outright awful as a Lw for City as he’s too one footed and indecisive but the few times he’s gone back to RW he’s looked like a player again. I would hope we might stop inverting wingers with a true striker to aim at when the wingers take it to the goal line. Grealish has a very high number of chances created this season in spite of a lack of stats but the one thing City wingers struggle with is always wanting to come inside which makes for an easy double team. Going outside the man is much harder and it has really been since Sane left that we have not really featured that slide rule pass from David Silva to a winger who cuts it across for often Sterling to finish at the back post. Those are more direct, simple goals and I would love to see them return
 

candylandriots

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Rüdiger is good, but €400 million release clause :D

Haaland's release clause was only £51 million?!? So that's like 1.1 Aaron Wan-Bissakas?

Palace are working with Michael Olise to increase his release clause (sorry for the Sun link, I couldn't find where I originally read it) from £35 million to something like £50 million (thank god). And I love Olise, but he's no Haaland. I mean, I'm pretty sure that Dortmund knew what they were getting, but that just seems criminal for them to have such a low price (though I guess that was probably the price of admission). Anyway, it will be fun to see him in the PL, at least for City fans.
 
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Jimy Hendrix

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Happy is not nearly enough of a sexual term to describe where I am.

The first time I seriously watched Haaland was when he was at Salzburg and I was convinced he was headed to United. I was despondent watching him because it was clear he’d improve that sad sack of miscreants. It’s unbelievable to me that that player is going to join this City attack.

As I said earlier, I think he will struggle a bit both to adjust and because Peps system isn’t setup to make strikers shine. It’s focused on wing play and the strikers will often occupy 2 CBs or 3 and then have a bus parked around them. You truly have to feed on scraps and occupy defenders. The Bundesliga has been a very high scoring league and a lot of his goals at Dortmund have him running in behind and City rarely have that opportunity. But he’s got a great sense of space and knows how to finish so I imagine he will score a lot of chances we currently see Jesus sliding for and narrowly missing on low driven cutbacks. Someone like KDB feeding him should result in some ridiculous goals even against the constant low block City faces.

Strangely this even makes me want to keep Raheem. He’s been outright awful as a Lw for City as he’s too one footed and indecisive but the few times he’s gone back to RW he’s looked like a player again. I would hope we might stop inverting wingers with a true striker to aim at when the wingers take it to the goal line. Grealish has a very high number of chances created this season in spite of a lack of stats but the one thing City wingers struggle with is always wanting to come inside which makes for an easy double team. Going outside the man is much harder and it has really been since Sane left that we have not really featured that slide rule pass from David Silva to a winger who cuts it across for often Sterling to finish at the back post. Those are more direct, simple goals and I would love to see them return
People think of City as Team Pep Cutbacks and that is not inaccurate, but they will also throw crosses in there, especially from the top of the box when they are being frustrated in their preferred game plan (a thing that I, a Spurs fan, have seen more often recently than we should really deserve). I am always happy when that happens, because they're heading towards players like Jesus, Silva, Sterling or Gundogan who certainly won't challenge defenders for them in the air and also don't have the preternatural sense of movement to make some of them work anyways that Aguero had.

Haaland both has that sense of movement and is 6'4" and physical, so I think I will find those plan B crosses a hell of a lot less amusing now.

Additionally, it's worth noting that Dortmund have not been a pure countering or counter pressing team while he's been there. They like possession and playing (overplaying very arguably) in and around the box, so Haaland is not inexperienced in those sorts of scenarios. At Dortmund I've seen his ideas and instincts with those quick one-two type things to be pretty good honestly, but his execution is not all there in terms of weight of passes and such. If Pep can help sharpen him there then he's basically a complete player.

Pep can also work with a good traditional striker, he hasn't had the opportunity at City but he certainly did not halt the Lewandowski train at Bayern. I think this is annoyingly going to a be an absolute home run and anyone who convinces themselves otherwise is just being cute.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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For a player of his size, Haaland has scored shockingly few goals with his head in his career. He did score five this year so he could be adding that to his game.

Headed goals over the last three years total: Haaland 8, Sterling 8, Gabriel Jesus 6.
 

teddykgb

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For a player of his size, Haaland has scored shockingly few goals with his head in his career. He did score five this year so he could be adding that to his game.

Headed goals over the last three years total: Haaland 8, Sterling 8, Gabriel Jesus 6.
This is true but I think his size and speed means teams have to respect the option more which may make more space for others. But I wouldn’t expect him to become a huge aerial threat. He’s just not someone you can leave alone and know you can still win the header like Sterling or Jesus or Foden.

I agree completely with JH that City will often resort to playing diagonals from the top of the box when the lock can’t be unpicked. These are shorter crosses that I’d expect Haaland can attack to at least make a back line uncomfortable if not score a bunch. Right now they’re practically turnovers he’s 100% correct that teams like Spurs and even Soton this year have laughed us off inviting that pass again and again
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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This is true but I think his size and speed means teams have to respect the option more which may make more space for others. But I wouldn’t expect him to become a huge aerial threat. He’s just not someone you can leave alone and know you can still win the header like Sterling or Jesus or Foden
Yeah, just being a problem for CBs that has to occupy a lot of their attention is very important and he is definitely that.

My guess is that he will have an adjustment period where he gets some criticism, people will start asking whether he fits the system, there will be comparisons to Ibra at Barcelona, etc. But as long as Pep and him stay on good terms and can ride out that bedding-in period together I think he will end up smashing it at City.
 

Mighty Joe Young

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Rumour has Phillip Coutinho has signed with Villa. This is kind of surprising given that the guy he is effectively replacing - Buendia - is probably better. I think someone else mentioned that Gerrard should be intimately familiar with working two attacking mids into the same lineup
 

67YAZ

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Rumour has Phillip Coutinho has signed with Villa. This is kind of surprising given that the guy he is effectively replacing - Buendia - is probably better. I think someone else mentioned that Gerrard should be intimately familiar with working two attacking mids into the same lineup
Hmmmmm…we’ll have to see what the deal looks like, but I would be very leery of tying up a lot of the wage bill in Countinho as he ages.

The 2 mobile striker formation with Watkins and Ings is really effective twist, the kind of thing that really unsettles current back-4 formations who are used to the single striker. But it puts a ton of stress on McGinn, who has been awesome all season…but Villa need a rotation option to put with the Scot so as not to run the man into the ground. If he plays out the last couple matches if this season, McGinn will be almost exactly at 12,000 minutes over there last 4 years in the EPL alone - cup ties and a Scotland duty put him over 15,000. Time to start watching odometer.
 

swiftaw

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Hmmmmm…we’ll have to see what the deal looks like, but I would be very leery of tying up a lot of the wage bill in Countinho as he ages.

The 2 mobile striker formation with Watkins and Ings is really effective twist, the kind of thing that really unsettles current back-4 formations who are used to the single striker. But it puts a ton of stress on McGinn, who has been awesome all season…but Villa need a rotation option to put with the Scot so as not to run the man into the ground. If he plays out the last couple matches if this season, McGinn will be almost exactly at 12,000 minutes over there last 4 years in the EPL alone - cup ties and a Scotland duty put him over 15,000. Time to start watching odometer.
This is exactly the kind of signing that a club like Villa should steer clear of. He will provide some fabulous moments but he will break down and other sides will exploit him physically as he ages. He will pull out a piece of magic every three or four games, just enough to stoke the debate of whether his subpar defensive contribution is worth it, he will block exciting youngsters from making their way into the first team, and he will eat up the wage bill. He is Tantalus’ grapes. Avoid. #evertonfan #seenthismovie
 

the1andonly3003

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This is exactly the kind of signing that a club like Villa should steer clear of. He will provide some fabulous moments but he will break down and other sides will exploit him physically as he ages. He will pull out a piece of magic every three or four games, just enough to stoke the debate of whether his subpar defensive contribution is worth it, he will block exciting youngsters from making their way into the first team, and he will eat up the wage bill. He is Tantalus’ grapes. Avoid. #evertonfan #seenthismovie
Isn't this really a 2-year deal before he moves to the MLS, South America or Ligue 1?
 

coremiller

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This is exactly the kind of signing that a club like Villa should steer clear of. He will provide some fabulous moments but he will break down and other sides will exploit him physically as he ages. He will pull out a piece of magic every three or four games, just enough to stoke the debate of whether his subpar defensive contribution is worth it, he will block exciting youngsters from making their way into the first team, and he will eat up the wage bill. He is Tantalus’ grapes. Avoid. #evertonfan #seenthismovie
Agree with all of this. Buendia is also four years younger, plays the same position, and they just signed him last year for a big fee.
 

Kliq

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Lewandowski is at 312 career goals in the Bundesliga, behind only Gerd Muller at 365 career goals, so those interested in Muller's legacy will appreciate Lewandowski's desire to move.
 

Zososoxfan

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Barca came to terms with the player about a month ago, but the scuttlebutt I read that made sense to me was that Barca would still need for the Lewa-Bayern situation to get sorted out, and many expected the Barca deal to merely be posturing. Frankly, it still may, but this sounds different.

Assuming Lewa really wants out, and assuming Bayern are willing to let him go and recoup some fee, this will likely cost Barca (E)40M+. Since Barca are still under La Liga luxury tax penalties (they obviously have a different name, but you get my point), they'd have to offload some serious weight (read: Frenkie de Jong, Ansu Fati, and/or Gavi). I love love love FDJ but it might be time for him to move on for both him and the club if Pep is enamored and stumps up the fee. I think it's unlikely that Ansu goes, since he's young and his value is down due to injury.

Gavi is an interesting one, as everyone has seen the real promise there and he's definitely worth a lot on the market, but 1) there's a lot of projection there still, and 2) it might be duplicative to have him and Pedri in the same side. I mean sure, we could be looking at the next Xavi-Iniesta pair, but as good as Pedri is he's different from both Xavi and Iniesta, and Gavi is nowhere near that level yet.

15 years ago, the club bet on their La Masia products and it yielded the club's best period of all time. Selling Gavi to make room for Lewa certainly makes them better for next year and likely the year after that too, but it's the polar opposite of Laporta's last reign as president. I could give a history of the decision-making during that period as well, but suffice to say it wasn't obvious to Laporta or the rest of management that Pep's homegrown youth movement was the way to go, and they certainly had some degree of luck to have it all work out the way it did.

Edit: Just reading now that Barca and Gavi are very close on a new deal with a buyout of approx. (E)$1B. Leaving up my Gavi comments anyway because who doesn't love a little egg/crow lol
 
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coremiller

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Barca came to terms with the player about a month ago, but the scuttlebutt I read that made sense to me was that Barca would still need for the Lewa-Bayern situation to get sorted out, and many expected the Barca deal to merely be posturing. Frankly, it still may, but this sounds different.

Assuming Lewa really wants out, and assuming Bayern are willing to let him go and recoup some fee, this will likely cost Barca (E)40M+. Since Barca are still under La Liga luxury tax penalties (they obviously have a different name, but you get my point), they'd have to offload some serious weight (read: Frenkie de Jong, Ansu Fati, and/or Gavi). I love love love FDJ but it might be time for him to move on for both him and the club if Pep is enamored and stumps up the fee. I think it's unlikely that Ansu goes, since he's young and his value is down due to injury.

Gavi is an interesting one, as everyone has seen the real promise there and he's definitely worth a lot on the market, but 1) there's a lot of projection there still, and 2) it might be duplicative to have him and Pedri in the same side. I mean sure, we could be looking at the next Xavi-Iniesta pair, but as good as Pedri is he's different from both Xavi and Iniesta, and Gavi is nowhere near that level yet.

15 years ago, the club bet on their La Masia products and it yielded the club's best period of all time. Selling Gavi to make room for Lewa certainly makes them better for next year and likely the year after that too, but it's the polar opposite of Laporta's last reign as president. I could give a history of the decision-making during that period as well, but suffice to say it wasn't obvious to Laporta or the rest of management that Pep's homegrown youth movement was the way to go, and they certainly had some degree of luck to have it all work out the way it did.
Giving up on de Jong (just turned 25), Fati (19), and Gavi (will turn 18 soon) to spend 40m+ to sign an-about-to-turn-34 Lewandowski is a terrible long-term strategic move. I'm not even sure Lewa makes them better next year. Strikers have a long history of hitting the wall in their early-to-mid-30s.
 

Mighty Joe Young

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Read it and hope every word of it comes true.

I was most interested in this chart about difference in xG when changing leagues.

Tried linking the table at the bottom of the article comparing Haaland to City’s current “strikers” - they are superior in virtually every aspect accept , of course scoring goals. Looks like Pep had a busy summer ahead figuring out how to best utilize their new striker.

and the image of KDB, Grealish and Haaland all sitting on the bench because Pep is delicious - what’s that ? £1.2m a week?
 

blueline

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The first time I seriously watched Haaland was when he was at Salzburg and I was convinced he was headed to United. I was despondent watching him because it was clear he’d improve that sad sack of miscreants. It’s unbelievable to me that that player is going to join this City attack.
Yeah, truly unbelievable that Haaland is joining City. How do they manage to do it?
 

67YAZ

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Yeah, truly unbelievable that Haaland is joining City. How do they manage to do it?
“Hello. Would you like to play for the best manager in the world, lift trophies every season, and be paid am absurd amount of money to do it?”

the article kind of glosses how insanely good Haaland is at finding and creating space in the box. He’ll be fine operating against a parked bus even if there’s an adjustment period.

elsewhere I found an analysis that showed the only other player to so consistently outscore his xG is Messi. The sample size is considerable. Haaland is a historically good finisher.
 

bosox4283

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Also reports today that Mbappe has agreed personal terms with Real - although PSG are desperately trying to convince him to stay.

https://theathletic.com/news/kylian-mbappe-real-madrid-agree-personal-terms-with-psg-forward/LuOnVUZsA4wN/
Is Mbappe considered to be a striker? Like, is he Benzema's replacement in two or three years? In the meantime, will Mbpappe be competing with Rodrygo and Vinicius for playing time? Maybe Ancelloti will use Mbpappe to have a better rotation with Benzema, Rodrygo, Vinicius, and Mbappe.

Edit: Eventual replacement for Benzema. Not next year. I presume Benzema has at least one more amazing season left in him.
 
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Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Is Mbappe considered to be a striker? Like, is he Benzema's replacement in two or three years? In the meantime, will Mbpappe be competing with Rodrygo and Vinicius for playing time? Maybe Ancelloti will use Mbpappe to have a better rotation with Benzema, Rodrygo, Vinicius, and Mbappe.

Edit: Eventual replacement for Benzema. Not next year. I presume Benzema has at least one more amazing season left in him.
In recent years at PSG he has mainly played as a wide forward on the left, sort of like Ronaldo when he was at Real Madrid, although sometimes as a CF with freedom to roam around. The problem is that Benzema is ensconsced at CF and LW is also where Vinicius plays.

Assuming Real keep their 4-3-3 one of them is going to have to play on the right. Mbappe is probably the better choice - he played on the RW a lot when he was at Monaco and he is more well rounded and two footed than Vinicius. But my guess is that it'll be Vinicius that gets displaced as you don't bring in a player of Mbappe's stature with that kind of fanfare and then ask him to play out of position.

I would not be surprised if Vinicius gets displaced, he struggles on the right, and in a year or two Real is bringing in a new RW and looking to sell Vinicius. A lot depends on whether Mbappe wants to play CF or not in the long term. My guess is not. Like Ronaldo, he'll want somebody else to occupy the CBs and make runs to open space, so that he can be the guy with more freedom to get on the ball and/or make runs into the box.
 

Kliq

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“Hello. Would you like to play for the best manager in the world, lift trophies every season, and be paid am absurd amount of money to do it?”

the article kind of glosses how insanely good Haaland is at finding and creating space in the box. He’ll be fine operating against a parked bus even if there’s an adjustment period.

elsewhere I found an analysis that showed the only other player to so consistently outscore his xG is Messi. The sample size is considerable. Haaland is a historically good finisher.
I don't think this is true, really. Harry Kane has outscored his xG in the EPL in four of the last five seasons (this season being the difference), including some pretty big gaps 30 goals on 25 xG in 2017-2018, 18 goals on 10 xG in 2018-2019, etc. Son has also outscored his xG for all five seasons we have data for it, including 21 on 14 xG this season. Tottenham's offense over the years has been pretty much counting on Kane and Son converting higher chances than expected.

Just looking at some other notable scorers; Salah has exceeded his xG every year but one. Benzema the same thing. Lewandowski as well. Maybe I'm just misunderstanding what you are saying.
 

Kliq

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Barca came to terms with the player about a month ago, but the scuttlebutt I read that made sense to me was that Barca would still need for the Lewa-Bayern situation to get sorted out, and many expected the Barca deal to merely be posturing. Frankly, it still may, but this sounds different.

Assuming Lewa really wants out, and assuming Bayern are willing to let him go and recoup some fee, this will likely cost Barca (E)40M+. Since Barca are still under La Liga luxury tax penalties (they obviously have a different name, but you get my point), they'd have to offload some serious weight (read: Frenkie de Jong, Ansu Fati, and/or Gavi). I love love love FDJ but it might be time for him to move on for both him and the club if Pep is enamored and stumps up the fee. I think it's unlikely that Ansu goes, since he's young and his value is down due to injury.

Gavi is an interesting one, as everyone has seen the real promise there and he's definitely worth a lot on the market, but 1) there's a lot of projection there still, and 2) it might be duplicative to have him and Pedri in the same side. I mean sure, we could be looking at the next Xavi-Iniesta pair, but as good as Pedri is he's different from both Xavi and Iniesta, and Gavi is nowhere near that level yet.

15 years ago, the club bet on their La Masia products and it yielded the club's best period of all time. Selling Gavi to make room for Lewa certainly makes them better for next year and likely the year after that too, but it's the polar opposite of Laporta's last reign as president. I could give a history of the decision-making during that period as well, but suffice to say it wasn't obvious to Laporta or the rest of management that Pep's homegrown youth movement was the way to go, and they certainly had some degree of luck to have it all work out the way it did.

Edit: Just reading now that Barca and Gavi are very close on a new deal with a buyout of approx. (E)$1B. Leaving up my Gavi comments anyway because who doesn't love a little egg/crow lol
I know Lewandowski is aging; but I don't really understand the logic in transfer fees that much if someone who has scored 76 league goals over the past two seasons is only worth 40 million, or around that mark. I know paying for youth is what leads to the bigger transfer deals, but Lewandowski is still so clearly at the top of his game, you would think 2-3 more seasons of that kind of performance would be worth more than that.
 

Zososoxfan

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I know Lewandowski is aging; but I don't really understand the logic in transfer fees that much if someone who has scored 76 league goals over the past two seasons is only worth 40 million, or around that mark. I know paying for youth is what leads to the bigger transfer deals, but Lewandowski is still so clearly at the top of his game, you would think 2-3 more seasons of that kind of performance would be worth more than that.
I tend to undervalue transfers, but TM has him at (E)$50M and I just don't think Barca can pay market rates right now, hence why I guess (E)$40M. That said, I agree with you and I'd peg his value closer to (E)$60M--i.e. worth more to Bayern than Barca at that number, and I ultimately think he stays unless Lewa shoots his way out.

Edit: Story planted by Barca says their max is (E)$35M, so 40-45M is pretty darn close to the settlement point, if such exists.
 
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Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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I know Lewandowski is aging; but I don't really understand the logic in transfer fees that much if someone who has scored 76 league goals over the past two seasons is only worth 40 million, or around that mark. I know paying for youth is what leads to the bigger transfer deals, but Lewandowski is still so clearly at the top of his game, you would think 2-3 more seasons of that kind of performance would be worth more than that.
There are very few players who have ever been sold for more than 30m over age 30 its basically a list of poor transfers. Lewa is a total monster and famous for his conditioning and work ethic but you're still taking a pretty huge risk with a nearly 34-year-old player who is also changing teams and leagues.

I think the other factor is that he'll want big wages and probably a three year deal so you're likely committing maybe something like 60-70m in wages and signing on fees to the player over three years. If you pay 50m in a transfer fee on top of that, the guy is costing you 40m a year for three years, which is a huge amount for any club. And those might be three years where the wheels completely fall off.
 

67YAZ

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Report that PSG are now offering Mbappe €1m per week, €100m signing bonus, input into coaching & transfer decisions, and some kind of ownership role.

Maybe it’s true, who knows during silly season. More likely PSG are sweetening the pot but are leaking outrageous tales to show their fans that they did everything possible. LOL.
 

Pesky Pole

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Do you think PSG's owners care or even know that the club has fans, let alone that they feel they have to placate them somehow? :)
The counterpoint is that they are Qatar sovereign wealth owned and they could care less what they spend. They want to have him referred to as "PSG star Kylian Mbappe" at their lavish spectacle World Cup this winter. It's silly money so impossible to know their real motivation.
 

Zososoxfan

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I just discovered capology.com, which seems like it's been missing from the football business consumer-level landscape. I love me some Transfermarkt, but this has some nifty and helpful UI. That said, I wish they did some int'l consolidated data sets, as opposed to having everything by league, but it's still doable with many tabs open simultaneously.

Without worrying about making this post too fancy with formatting, here are some things that jump out to me. The list of players making weekly wages in excess of (E)$400K/week are as follows (all numbers in Euros):

1. Messi - $1.2M (!!)
2. Neymar - $1.1M (!)
3. Bale - $653K
4. Mbappe - $617K
5. Ronaldo - $602K
6. Hazard - $600K
7. Griezmann - $577K
8. Ramos - $524K
9. KDB - $467K
10. Benz - $461K
11. Lewa - $442K
11. De Gea - $438K
12. Alaba - $432K
13. Busi - $432K
14. Marcelo - $422K
15. Kroos - $422K
16. Sancho - $408K
17. Alba - $400K
18. Oblak - $400K
19. Varane - $397K

So a few things to talk about with just this list. First and foremost, the PSG frontline is straight up madness. Like, mind-boggling. Flabbergasting. Staggering. I cannot use enough superlatives here...speechlessness is a completely valid reaction.

Real Madrid has 3 absolute disaster deals on here in Bale, Hazard, and Marcelo. However, Bale and Marcelo come off the books this year. Man United also has some serious woof going on with DDG--he's signed for another season too. Barca don't get to laugh too hard though, as they're paying out the nose for aging vets Busi and Alba, along with footing a significant portion of Griezmann's wages to PLAY FOR A LEAGUE RIVAL.

PSG have 14 of the 15 highest player wages in Ligue 1 (Tanguy NDombele's 1/2 season loan from Spurs to Lyon being the other). All of those players are on $150K+.

Dybala is the highest paid player in Serie A at $260K (which expires this year). Vlahovic likely to inherit top spot at $250K. Far behind

Bayern have the top 10 highest wages in the Bundesliga--not as completely silly as PSG, but still absurd. All of those players are on $200K+.

Madrid have 6/8 highest wages in La Liga. So more spread out at the top than France and Germany, but still dominant.

Juve and Inter combine to have 13 of the 14 highest wages in Italy (Napoli's Koulibaly has a rich deal), and Juve have the 4 highest.

In the EPL, United have 4/5 highest, and the 2 Manchesters combined have 11/14 at the top (Chelsea has the other 3).

If you look at the top 25 wages by league, it's interesting to me that EPL, Liga, Serie A, and even Ligue show a plateau of sorts where more clubs start appearing--EPL at around $220K with Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs, Serie at around $150K with AC, Napoli, Roma, and Lazio, and Ligue at ~$120K with Monaco and Marseilles. Spain is dominated by the Big 3, with only Sevilla cracking the top 25 once. But what I find most interesting is that in Bundesliga, after the Big 2, there's a huge dropoff in that it's the only league where the top 25 wages drops below $100K.

Once you expand to top 50 wages, I think it reveals even more. Generally-speaking across all 5 leagues, you see a glut of players with similar wages at this point. In the EPL and the Bundesliga, you see a fair amount of clubs make the list (e.g., Hoffenheim, Hertha, 'Gladbach in Germany, and LCFC, Wolves, and WHU in England). Spain, Italy, and to a lesser extent France are still dominated by a handful of clubs.

I have a newfound appreciation for Milan's campaign this year (which is hard to write as I'm a nerazzurri man), but they're 5th in wages (right next to Roma) and about half of Juve's spend.
 

coremiller

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 14, 2005
5,846
I just discovered capology.com, which seems like it's been missing from the football business consumer-level landscape. I love me some Transfermarkt, but this has some nifty and helpful UI. That said, I wish they did some int'l consolidated data sets, as opposed to having everything by league, but it's still doable with many tabs open simultaneously.

Without worrying about making this post too fancy with formatting, here are some things that jump out to me. The list of players making weekly wages in excess of (E)$400K/week are as follows (all numbers in Euros):

1. Messi - $1.2M (!!)
2. Neymar - $1.1M (!)
3. Bale - $653K
4. Mbappe - $617K
5. Ronaldo - $602K
6. Hazard - $600K
7. Griezmann - $577K
8. Ramos - $524K
9. KDB - $467K
10. Benz - $461K
11. Lewa - $442K
11. De Gea - $438K
12. Alaba - $432K
13. Busi - $432K
14. Marcelo - $422K
15. Kroos - $422K
16. Sancho - $408K
17. Alba - $400K
18. Oblak - $400K
19. Varane - $397K

So a few things to talk about with just this list. First and foremost, the PSG frontline is straight up madness. Like, mind-boggling. Flabbergasting. Staggering. I cannot use enough superlatives here...speechlessness is a completely valid reaction.

Real Madrid has 3 absolute disaster deals on here in Bale, Hazard, and Marcelo. However, Bale and Marcelo come off the books this year. Man United also has some serious woof going on with DDG--he's signed for another season too. Barca don't get to laugh too hard though, as they're paying out the nose for aging vets Busi and Alba, along with footing a significant portion of Griezmann's wages to PLAY FOR A LEAGUE RIVAL.

PSG have 14 of the 15 highest player wages in Ligue 1 (Tanguy NDombele's 1/2 season loan from Spurs to Lyon being the other). All of those players are on $150K+.

Dybala is the highest paid player in Serie A at $260K (which expires this year). Vlahovic likely to inherit top spot at $250K. Far behind

Bayern have the top 10 highest wages in the Bundesliga--not as completely silly as PSG, but still absurd. All of those players are on $200K+.

Madrid have 6/8 highest wages in La Liga. So more spread out at the top than France and Germany, but still dominant.

Juve and Inter combine to have 13 of the 14 highest wages in Italy (Napoli's Koulibaly has a rich deal), and Juve have the 4 highest.

In the EPL, United have 4/5 highest, and the 2 Manchesters combined have 11/14 at the top (Chelsea has the other 3).

If you look at the top 25 wages by league, it's interesting to me that EPL, Liga, Serie A, and even Ligue show a plateau of sorts where more clubs start appearing--EPL at around $220K with Liverpool, Arsenal, Spurs, Serie at around $150K with AC, Napoli, Roma, and Lazio, and Ligue at ~$120K with Monaco and Marseilles. Spain is dominated by the Big 3, with only Sevilla cracking the top 25 once. But what I find most interesting is that in Bundesliga, after the Big 2, there's a huge dropoff in that it's the only league where the top 25 wages drops below $100K.

Once you expand to top 50 wages, I think it reveals even more. Generally-speaking across all 5 leagues, you see a glut of players with similar wages at this point. In the EPL and the Bundesliga, you see a fair amount of clubs make the list (e.g., Hoffenheim, Hertha, 'Gladbach in Germany, and LCFC, Wolves, and WHU in England). Spain, Italy, and to a lesser extent France are still dominated by a handful of clubs.

I have a newfound appreciation for Milan's campaign this year (which is hard to write as I'm a nerazzurri man), but they're 5th in wages (right next to Roma) and about half of Juve's spend.
I would take all that data with a grain of salt. Player salaries aren't officially publicly reported, and depending on sourcing you can get a lot of inaccurate data.
 

candylandriots

unkempt
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Mar 30, 2004
12,327
Berlin
I would take all that data with a grain of salt. Player salaries aren't officially publicly reported, and depending on sourcing you can get a lot of inaccurate data.
My sense of things from the Bundesliga at least, is that is mostly right - at least judging by the transfer fees that the second tier teams pay. After Bayern/Dortmund/Leipzig, €10 million is considered a reasonably big sum, €20 million is definitely newsworthy. Those numbers are not even on the radar in the EPL.
 

SocrManiac

Tommy Seebach’s mustache
SoSH Member
Apr 15, 2006
8,632
Somers, CT
Lots of smoke around Pogba back (Pogbackback?) to Juventus. If he flourishes in Turin again (under Allegri again) United fans are going to explode.

DiMaria to Juve as well, which…<sigh> He’s an absolute head case. Undeniably talented, but always the first one to see the red mist and do something completely asinine. Not a fan.