[Cheezdoodles]

With the transfer window opening up,we are entering silly season.

Some rumors: Ibrahimovic leaving inter, Eto leaving Barca and Kaka is allmost certain to join Real Madrid.

RM bought back Negredo today, for €5 mill. Probably the best deal of the season(gotta love buyback clauses), as the man aged 23 has managed to score 19 goals in for little almeira. He could very well become a excellent world class striker in the future, but rumours has it he will be used as a bargain chip with Liverpool (xabi alonso) or Valencia (to sweeten a Silva and\or Villa deal)

As a Real Madrid fan im personally very exited about Perez second Galacticos era. Think there will be a lot of interesting signings this season!

Im very curious as to what kind of players Man City will manage to buy. Seems like they have a hard time managing to make themselves attractive for world class players, even with all their cash.

[Mariner]

Originally Posted by Ostepop

As a Real Madrid fan im personally very exited about Perez second Galacticos era.

Why would you get excited about having lots of superstar players but not winning anything for a few years? That's what happened last time!

[Cheezdoodles]

Originally Posted by Mariner

Why would you get excited about having lots of superstar players but not winning anything for a few years? That's what happened last time!

Under Perez, RM took home 2 spanish league titles and 1 CL (2002).

Granted, thats not particularly good, considering that RM had won the CL in 1998 and 2000 prior to Perez, with much less spending.

Im exited because i hope Perez will not do the same mistakes as last time

[infinity4]

Kaka' is now Real Madrid player.

I think Kaka' actually wanted to play for Real Madrid. He rejected Man City deal in January for this move. He is saying he wanted to stay but I think he is lying.

[slider]

What's this I keep reading about Kaka's problems with his knee(s)?

I'm most interested to see what happens to Ribery and Benzema. Two fantastic players IMO. I'd love them to end up in the EPL. Just not at any of the following clubs:

Man Utd
Liverpool
Chelsea
Man City

[Cheezdoodles]

Benzema has stated that he wants to play in spain, and barca is looking keen.

Eto looks to be moving away, having reportedly held talks with Man City and Lyon (who are also wanting trezegoal). Also looks like Barca is trying an Eto + cash for ibra swap.

[Mariner]

Ibrahimovic: For me, an enormously overrated player. Plenty of skill but usually little end product as he tends to overplay. Still decent, but not quite the superstar he considers himself.

Trezeguet: I can't say that I've ever understood quite why he has such a good scoring record as he's never played particularly well in any game I've seen him in! However, you don't get a scoring record like his without doing something right, so perhaps I've only seen him have off-days.

Similarly, Benzema hasn't looked up to much on the couple of occasions I've seen him play. Lots of people seem to rate him highly and obviously he's still very young so perhaps I've just not seen the best of him yet?

I do think Ribery looks to be a very good player - I understand Manyoo, amongst others, want to sign him?

[mcsven]

Holy shit!

[Gerry]

Originally Posted by mcsven

Holy shit!

Yup. So that takes Real Madrid's spending to around £140M so far this week (Or €165M).

Real Madrid (sorry Ostepop) are a horrible club. But then Ronaldo is a horrible (but gifted) player. They're a perfect fit.

You should see the wages the Spanish press are alleging he'll be on.

[Cheezdoodles]

Why are they horrible?

Its not like they have rich owners. RM is owned by their fans. They are however the club with the highest revenue in the world, this is their transfer budget, if they wish to spend it at world class players, instead of buying up and coming talents, or raping U18 players across europe like the english clubs do, its no worse.

Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool, Barca, Arsenal, Milan, Inter. They all buy their players. Its not like they have significantly more homegrown players than real. Everybody buys players, some choose to buy talents, some buy half decent players, some clubs buys world class players. Its just different mindsets in achieving the same results. I understand you just lost your biggest star, if your a man utd fan, but lets be objective here, they arel no more horrible than anyone else.


On another note:
Spanish fotball wages are less expensive in real terms than in England, there is a big difference in taxation, so real madrid only has to offer 1 mill for every 1.5 million in wages in english.

Also, RM's business model is smart as hell, they own 50% marketing rights on all players. Becks earned an estimated € 300 millfor the club, Zidane sold 1 million Real Madrid T-shirts in a couple months, earning his transfer fee back. Cr9, Kaka, etc will certainly bring alot of sponsorship and marketing inncome.

[slider]

Speculation is rife that RM won't be too outta pocket with the set up they'll have over Ronaldo merchandising.

Still I was shocked to see the news this morning.

I expect Man U to make a concerted effort on Ribery now; although he doesn't seem too keen.

It certainly is Silly Season. I'm gobsmacked.

[Cheezdoodles]

Seems like ribery will be heading for RM sooner than Man Utd.

Apparently Zidane and the bad weather in england is a persuasive argument.

Tbh, i dont want to see Ribery in Madrid, id much rather see David Silva on the left wing. He is a better team player, allmost as quick and good to dribble, but much better passer\crosser. Ribery's strenghts and skill level is pretty much like Arjen Robbens, no point in signing him, thought he might be a little less injury prone.

Looks like Barca and RM are battling it out for David Villa.

RM are also in talks with Raul Albiol. Looks like Valencia is going to get raped, just like Juventus was when they got demoted.

RM and Chelsea are apparently both after Maicon aswell. I hope they get albiol, gotta try to get as many good spanish players as possible. No point in signing foreign galacticos, if there are domestic ones that are avaliable.

Glad to see that they are gonna sign some defensive players, going by Valdano. All they need is a good left back and central defender like Albiol, and the first 11 rivals any team in the world on paper at least.
Casillas
Ramos-Pepe-XXXX-YYYY
---------Lass------------
CR-----Kaka------Robben
---------RvN\Higuain----

I hope they will manage to play well together on the pitch.

A problem last galacticos era, was that the work ethics of the team was terrible.

Thankfully fotball has evolved from then, and both Kaka and CR9 (CR is not yet signed, but im quite certain the deal will go through, all parties involved make lots of money on this deal, and im certain the Agent, who is in line to make €10 mill, along with Man Utd are all keen on seeing this transfer come through. (Ridiculous, im sure any good stock broker would have managed to cut CR9 the same deal, and they take a lot less %). ) has better work ethics than the real Ronaldo and most of the others galacticos.

Im very curious as to who Man Utd will sign, now that both tevez and CR are leaving, and Villa is not keen on moving to England, rumours has it Benzema and Eto is on the shortlist, so is Valencia.

Benzema is a very interesting player, when i see him play its like seeing a young Ronaldo (the real one). At 21\22 he is one of the most talented young strikers in the world, i dont think he will get the same insane acceleration and pace Ronaldo had in top form, but then again, Ronaldo in top form is imo the best striker the world has ever seen.

[chavvdarrr]

I think RM deserves Ronaldo and vice versa.
Ronaldo is gifted but too selfish, who wanna bet that this season will be disaster for RM in CL ?

[Cheezdoodles]

Raul Albiol has signed for Real Madrid today, pending medical.

A world class left back, and the first 11 is starting to look pretty decent.

---------Casillas---------
Ramos-Pepe-Albiol-XXXX
---------Lass------------
CR-----Kaka----Robben
---Higuain---RvN----

This is starting to look good. A lot of pace in the midfield and attack, Lass isn't slow, Cr,Kaka,Robben are all extremely quick, higuain is very fast as well, RvN is slow but hey, maybe Perez will manage to get Villa, but its looking as if valencia is keen on keeping him.

[Need 2 Know]

I would just like to add me 2 cents into this,

* Kaka and Ronaldo at Madrid excellent move, still don't think they will be the team to knock Barca off, give Madrid a full season with those players and come back to me.

* David Villa should goto Barca with Etoo going to Man City - Etoo is demanding to much in the form of Wages. I also think Barca need a strong Centre Half like Vidic.

* Liverpool have just recently been taking to the cleaners with the Price they paid for Glen Johnston.

Oh and who do we feel fills the gap R7 left at Man Utd.

[Cheezdoodles]

I agree, barca needs someone in defence.

I really hope Villa ends up at real, but its looking as RM has found other targets, after valencia changed their asking price twice (after real madrid met it) and recently decided to sell, while reports suggests that barca are still very keen.

Im not so sure you need villa thought, like Eto he is not much of a head player (better but not good), what has been barca's weakness for a while, is the lack of aerial challenge, which is evident when barca is playing against good strong defending teams like Chelsea. I think there are better players out there for you, there are a few world class strikers with more physical and aerial presence that can score goals in the same amount as villa and eto.

Aside from Torres, liverpool has generally overpaid for every player they have bought. I absolutely lol at the prices PL clubs pay for average PL strikers.

Im very curious about who man utd will replace aswell, with the loss of tevez and cr7 they will need reinforcements. Im curious if man utd will spend big or go with youngsters.

Also, what the hell is Man City doing? I dont understand the players they buy. So far they have spend a lot of money for average players. While its obvious that the biggest stars arent keen on signing for man city, there are a lot of world class players out there that play for average clubs that certainly could be presuaded. If they keep signing average players (aside from robinho, havent seen him in man city, btu in top form he was awesome at real) they will not suceed..

[Gerry]

Originally Posted by Ostepop

I agree, barca needs someone in defence.
Aside from Torres, liverpool has generally overpaid for every player they have bought. I absolutely lol at the prices PL clubs pay for average PL strikers.

OK. Let's pick you up on this particular piece of nonsense.

Aside from Torres, as you most generously admit, let's go through a few more of those players that Liverpool have clearly overpaid for in the past.

Xabi Alonso £10.7M
Jose Reina £6M
Alvaro Arbeloa £2.6M (you should rate him since RM are keen on signing him)
Yossi Benayoun £5M
Javier Mascherano £18M.
Albert Rieira £6M
Including Torres that's a sizeable chunk of their first eleven right there. Chuck in Skrtel, Agger, Kuyt, as well as players like Bellamy, Crouch, Carson, Sissoko that have all been sold for a profit.

How hard did you laugh at Liverpool overplaying for players when you met them in the Champions League last year?

[Need 2 Know]

Originally Posted by Ostepop

I agree, barca needs someone in defence.

I really hope Villa ends up at real, but its looking as RM has found other targets, after valencia changed their asking price twice (after real madrid met it) and recently decided to sell, while reports suggests that barca are still very keen.

Im not so sure you need villa thought, like Eto he is not much of a head player (better but not good), what has been barca's weakness for a while, is the lack of aerial challenge, which is evident when barca is playing against good strong defending teams like Chelsea. I think there are better players out there for you, there are a few world class strikers with more physical and aerial presence that can score goals in the same amount as villa and eto.

Aside from Torres, liverpool has generally overpaid for every player they have bought. I absolutely lol at the prices PL clubs pay for average PL strikers.

Im very curious about who man utd will replace aswell, with the loss of tevez and cr7 they will need reinforcements. Im curious if man utd will spend big or go with youngsters.

Also, what the hell is Man City doing? I dont understand the players they buy. So far they have spend a lot of money for average players. While its obvious that the biggest stars arent keen on signing for man city, there are a lot of world class players out there that play for average clubs that certainly could be presuaded. If they keep signing average players (aside from robinho, havent seen him in man city, btu in top form he was awesome at real) they will not suceed..

I think that Villa will end up at Barca, I could be wrong but the deal could include Bojan being loaned out to Valencia if they do agree on a Villa sale. As for an aerial presence in Barca, I am not 100% sure if they need it as you clearly know a lot of Barca'a tactics are based on possession and that possession is based on the ground balls with shorts passes but you still could be right in their need for a big target man.

As for Man Utd, i think Fergie has something up his sleeve its not like 1 of the greatest managers not to have a few tricks up his sleeve. Lastly, Man City that team is trying to be the old Madrid Galacticos but are soon going to realize that they are not and never will be, in my opinion Mark Hughes is not the right man for Man City and would be suited better in Championship Club.

[Cheezdoodles]

Originally Posted by Gerry

OK. Let's pick you up on this particular piece of nonsense.

My bad, haven't paid good enough attention. I just seemed to have remember them paying a little to much for some striker and now johnson. I was 100% incorrect, (that great prices).

How hard did you laugh at Liverpool overplaying for players when you met them in the Champions League last year?

In general, i feel that a lot of the clubs overpay. Its not like a laugh about it, RM is the biggest offender of all.

I actually didn't have the "pleasure" of seing the Liverpool-RM match, saw RM-Liverpool, which imo was a terribly boring match, RM played poorly, and liverpool did just what was enough.

Ive started enjoying watching liverpool play lately, mostly due to torres. Any long through pass is interesting when somebody has his pace.

[Cheezdoodles]

Originally Posted by Need 2 Know

I am not 100% sure if they need it as you clearly know a lot of Barca'a tactics are based on possession and that possession is based on the ground balls with shorts passes but you still could be right in their need for a big target man.

This is exactly why i think they need it. In the chelsea match, Barca clearly struggled against such a good defending team. Their lack of aerial challenge severely hurt their ability to create chances. Aspecially in the first match, they mostly just passed the ball around, trying to find a way through, but largely failing to do so.

If they had a striker that posed a serious aerial challenge, they would have more options against chelsea. As we all saw, passing the ball into dangerous positions against a 9 man chelsea team in defence mode, is very hard. There are many accomplished crossers on your team,but your lack of aerial powers hinders you to score goals in this field.

I can see that Eto's personality is a downer on the team however, and replacing him with villa would be a good choice either way. Its going to be silly thought, if Laporta one day slams RM for spending € 60 mill euro for kaka, and a couple weeks later shell out close to 50 for Villa. Same age, both world class players, but Kaka has a ballon d'or and certainly has much bigger marketing worth.

[Need 2 Know]

Originally Posted by Ostepop

This is exactly why i think they need it. In the chelsea match, Barca clearly struggled against such a good defending team. Their lack of aerial challenge severely hurt their ability to create chances. Aspecially in the first match, they mostly just passed the ball around, trying to find a way through, but largely failing to do so.

If they had a striker that posed a serious aerial challenge, they would have more options against chelsea. As we all saw, passing the ball into dangerous positions against a 9 man chelsea team in defence mode, is very hard. There are many accomplished crossers on your team,but your lack of aerial powers hinders you to score goals in this field.

I can see that Eto's personality is a downer on the team however, and replacing him with villa would be a good choice either way. Its going to be silly thought, if Laporta one day slams RM for spending € 60 mill euro for kaka, and a couple weeks later shell out close to 50 for Villa. Same age, both world class players, but Kaka has a ballon d'or and certainly has much bigger marketing worth.

Looking at today's market on big target men -
1- Emmanuel Adebayor (on and off to much for me)
2- Zlatan Ibrahimović (overated)
3- Drogba (attitude problem)

Cant see any of these going to Barca at the min so for the min Pep and his team are going to just adjust their tactics when facing an oppenent like Chelsea again. I would also agree with the speculation about Laporta slamming Madrid for the spending but as you know in todays football world money talks. Looking forward to the El Clasico games next season, I cant see another 2-6 win for Barca again.

[Gerry]

Originally Posted by Ostepop

My bad, haven't paid good enough attention. I just seemed to have remember them paying a little to much for some striker and now johnson. I was 100% incorrect, (that great prices).



In general, i feel that a lot of the clubs overpay. Its not like a laugh about it, RM is the biggest offender of all.

I actually didn't have the "pleasure" of seing the Liverpool-RM match, saw RM-Liverpool, which imo was a terribly boring match, RM played poorly, and liverpool did just what was enough.

Ive started enjoying watching liverpool play lately, mostly due to torres. Any long through pass is interesting when somebody has his pace.

Well kudos for the intelligent reply. I'll reign in my belligerence a tad now . Not too sure who the striker you're thinking of is. Babel maybe? (although calling him a striker is generous).

Real Madrid certainly over-pay for players, and the crux of the matter is that they do so because they can afford to. Paying 10-20% more than another team is willing to forces the issue and ensures you get the players you want. The Johnson signing you could certainly argue was overpriced, but then it was the going rate. It's not as if other teams weren't willing to pay it - sometimes you just have to put your hands in your pocket to get the player you want. I think people will be surprised by Johnson next season - he's a player that's made great strides in the last two years and he's now got his big chance to make a name for himself. We'll see.

[Gerry]

Originally Posted by Ostepop

This is exactly why i think they need it. In the chelsea match, Barca clearly struggled against such a good defending team. Their lack of aerial challenge severely hurt their ability to create chances. Aspecially in the first match, they mostly just passed the ball around, trying to find a way through, but largely failing to do so.

Barca certainly did struggle against Chelsea at times, but then they did create enough chances to bury the game in the first tie and simply didn't take them. I think it would be a mistake for them to buy a classic "target" man and change their style of play accordingly - but perhaps buying a forward who provides more of a threat in the air would be a good idea.

Drogba would be an obvious candidate as he's (allegedly) available. Can't see him in a Barca shirt though - just doesn't seem right to me. The fact he wouldn't be able to play in any CL group games would be a slight problem as well.

[Cheezdoodles]

I agree, there are no likely canditates, and villa is a good buy, i would rate him higher than eto, with much better morale. I guess its the only probable buy in attack for barca, but it wont gain them much aside from morale.

PS: i didn't mean that barca should change tactics, just that replacing somebody with eto, with the same talents that also poses a serious aerial threat would add them a lot more options in attack, but not loosing any. Sadly, there aren't many of those players around.


Saviola was sold yesterday for 5 mill euro from RM to Benfica.

CR officially signed.

Sure hope we get Alonso from liverpool.

-----Casillas----
Ramos-Pepe-Albiol-New guy\marcelo

-----------Xabi - Lass----------
CR --------Kaka------Robben
----------Higuain--------

Then swap out robben, add in RvN for heading power and run 442 with cr and kaka running freely like figo and zidane in the glory days.

With a new left back aswell, i think this would give barca a run for their money.

[Need 2 Know]

So whats the update on the Transfer market today,

I see that Ronaldo has been officially announced as a Madrid player, Man City have offered Eto'o a ridiculous salary and that the Carlos Tevez affair is still unsettled.

Any other gossip ?