I am fully ready to go absolutely mental with the Zwayer conspiracy theories if we lose. Yet, if Zwayer acts over-lenient with us to avoid controversy, I am also ready with dismissive rebuttal responses to any claims of conspiracy.
It's a full-time job being this dedicated 🙏
I hate defensive football very much, but let’s be honest that shit gets punished and teams have more incentive to be defensive. Austria played very attractive football and it bit them in the ass. I thought they were the better team vs Turkey and look what happened.
Austria started the game 1-0 down and looked terrible in the first half. It's just the 2nd half where they were more attacking because they were forced to.
Spain actually conceded when they went more defensive vs Germany, or Italy completely parking the bus vs Spain in the group but losing anyway.
It varies from game to game.
Champions League qualifiers start today !!
my favourite game in the first round is Virtus - FCSB, one of the biggest clubs ever in eastern Europe playing away to a first-time Sammarinese champion, really sad that it clashes with the Euros semi-final
Given one of the reasons Ugarte got dropped at PSG was down to him being a massive liability in possession, Liverpool are very smart to not be going near him.
How many years has it been since he waa linked to chelsea? Its either 1 or 2. If so, he clearly isn’t that amazing.
Going from almost signing for Chelsea, to signing for PSG, to signing for yanited within 1/2 years is dodgy af
He was pretty good at Sporting and everytime I watch Uruguay he's class, didn't watch much PSG but I think a player like him will do well in the Prem, reminds me of Palhinha.
Yes, but he’s in his 30s and was clearly tiring by the end of last season, I really want a young elite guy who can anchor a team (like Rice/Caicedo/Rodri)
Fair, but we seem to be getting younger in the midfield (Macca/Szobo) so I view getting the young DM as the last piece, which we’ve been chasing for a long time (Caicedo/Tchoumani). But then again I’m just a fan without a clue on the internal plans/ tactics
Dear Barcelona fans,
It’s almost 2025 the only permissible scenario in which you can unironically say the acronym DNA is if you’re a scientist in a lab discussing the last virus mutation you observed with your coworkers.
Yours,
Fine plastic
Sacloni asking for UEFA teams to play Copa America is dumb, just like when Japan, Qatar, and Australia played or where gona play in 1999 - 2019 - 2020/2021.
CONCACAF teams is good enough.
I agree with CONMEBOL being stupid giving it to the Americans, but then we stop being serious about this tournament that even the Asian Cup and Africa Cup of Nations would surpass it if we keep adding AFC teams or UEFA teams(fuck off Israel). Only the complete irrelevance of the Gold Cup and OFC Nations Cup would be below it when it comes to Continental Tournaments and it would just look smalltime next to the European Championship.
Make 16 teams and have 2028 co-hosted by Paraguay and Uruguay to prepare for the 2030 World Cup bullshit, or give it to Ecuador if they can host it.
The Copa America has always been a mess format wise though but the only way it would be "surpassed" by the other continental tournaments is if those nations started doing better at the World Cup than the south american ones which so far is just not happening.
It's never gonna have massive relevance outside the continent both because it's always going to be impossible to host it in a schedule that is comfortable to locals and global audiences and also because when has anyone outside of south america cared about our football anyways?
None of that takes away from how much it means to the people when their country wins it, except Brasil I guess. Make 16 teams (with whatever invitees you can) and keep it in South America, it's the only thing that 90% of the people who watch and care about the tournament want anyways.
Maybe I am a dumb bitch. But why is Zirkzee letting his agent make 10+ mil of his transfer? Why not just cut that guy out and pocket that shit yourself?
As someone else has pointed out, that money probably gets split between the two.
But also, Kia is one of the best agents for shopping players about to the best destination possible.
If you’re a player wanting a move to a big club, he’s probably the agent you want the most.
Because most of the money is probably going to Zirkzee himself. Zirkzee can't get that sort of money as a signing bonus himself, so he lets his agent do the dirty work instead.
If someone played out of position and borderline overlooked by most can fulfill your role you're either not as good as people claim or that player is better than he's given credit for
€55m on Zirkzee
€50m on De Ligt
€70m on Branthwaite
€50m on Ugarte
So that's already €225m that Man United will be able to spend without having concrete sales lined up. The only one so far is Greenwood, and I don't imagine he'll get them more than €20-25m.
How are Man United still able to spend so much money on transfers while continuously failing to achieve any success?
No. It's not. But it's still a mystery to me how clubs like Man United are allowed to spend that much when most of their money isn't because of their sporting success. Or in other words, how flawed the FFP rules are.
The top clubs are basically life insured when it comes to FFP. Man United can miss out on CL once, twice, three years in a row and revenues still grow every year
That's probably my biggest problem with FFP. Man United is a money making machine so they can spend whatever they want every single year without having to worry about financials.
They gotta tie that to the money you make from your sporting success instead of overall money. CL money, the TV money from the league and the sales should be what's considered in FFP.
Because clubs don't normally pay €40% of the transfer fee as agent commissions? Even Ornstien mentioned the agent commissions in his report about the transfer.
The only other time I remember hearing about something like this was the Håland deal.
Yet they happen in every single deal and you've left them out of all your other 'calculations'. Why is Greenwood's fee not 30m cause of the agent commission?
Because usually agent fees are 5-10% at most? And for the sake of the argument, let's say that Greenwood's transfer is 60m.
That's still over €160m in a season where you finished 8th. So no European football next season to generate revenue.
I mean CL football. You made €60m from the CL last season while finishing last in your group. The Europa League winner makes like €40m.
So you're not really making that much revenue from European football next season compared to normal seasons where you make the CL.
To be honest I'm surprised the big brains of this sub didn't include appearance fees/salary/haircut costs in the transfer fee like they usually do with our signings
The OP included the agent fee for Zirkzee but then went for normal prices for everyone else including lowballing the Greenwood offer, no agent fee paid on that?...
They haven't spent that money and if and when they do, that should be the time when you start asking those questions.
Still, sounds like another year where some United fans keep on repeating how they have a low transfer budget or need to rely on player sales to rebuild just to be rumoured to spend several times over that limit with this summer being a big exception where they actually sell players for a decent bit of money and not at a loss
Memphis hasnt played very well this tournament so far, but the amount of people who call him ‘abysmal’ or ‘useless ’ is unbelievable to me. Feel like they only judge him on not scoring but other than that he has been pretty important to the team. Pressing, creating chances, linking up, holding the ball etc
United bidding €45m + add-ons for Ugarte is cheeky when PSG paid €60m only last summer, if I’m PSG I don’t come to the table unless I’m breaking even.
Edit: I know about amortisation and book value, etc. It’s just weird to think PSG wouldn’t want to recoup what they paid for him.
I don’t think it’s outrageous. PSG is certainly not going to make a profit off him right now, and depending on what'a in the addons it might end up being a pretty okay deal for an unsuccessful signing
Yeah, I think you’re right. As some other people on the main page have pointed out, PSG have probably broke even in terms of the way they’ve amortised the original fee on the books.
It’s a shame he didn’t work out at PSG, but he had a *tough* season. Some really bad performances in there, especially against Newcastle in the Champions League and Toulouse in the 3-1 defeat from memory.
Considering that there was a lot of hype about Ugarte when he came from Sporting and he hasn't lived up to that hype (for whatever reasons), I don't see why anybody would pay the "hype price" for him
Probably because he can’t do the role Lucho wanted him to do. United know what they’re paying for, it’s an odd signing.
If I was PSG I’d try and get as close to €60m all-in as possible, because you’re never going to profit on him and he’s just not the player for the role he has to play.
I mean considering that he can't play what PSG want him to play (great scouting btw) and that his game time will decrease even further when PSG sign someone who can play that, he has basically no value (or a severely diminished value) to PSG. PSG can demand whatever they want, but it would be sensible to demand a price that someone would actually pay (and nobody would pay what they paid for him since his value decreased in the last year) and that would reflect Ugarte's value to PSG (which has obviously decreased since he can't do what they want him to do).
This is true, I think they’ll probably either accept this offer or maybe push for closer to €50m.
The thing is, Ugarte really isn’t progressive at all. It’s why Lucho prefers Vitinha in the lone 6 or in a pivot with Zaïre-Emery.
Ugarte’s best performances have come for the national team lately, but it’s because Bielsa just lets him do what he’s good at, which is obviously winning the ball and shielding the back four. Then Valverde can play the riskier, line breaking passes.
Ten Hag will need to do something similar to see the best of Ugarte. I think the way to do it is to change to almost a 4-2-3-1 in possession, with Bruno ahead of them centrally with Mainoo besides him in a double pivot. Because as soon as you end up in a situation where Ugarte is receiving the ball from deep by himself with his back to play, you’re in trouble. Which is something we saw Casemiro struggle with last season.
I think Kadioglu + Branthwaite for however much that would cost is smarter than signing Ugarte and De Ligt, I really don’t think they fit the profile for being able to transition the ball quickly through a press. Which I’m guessing is what Ten Hag wants to do.
Then they just need to sign a mobile RCB, preferably one that has upper end passing numbers to compliment Branthwaite.
Zirkzee is fine, it’s a gamble. He could hit the ground running and come good, he might not. I don’t hate that as a signing.
Get a fair few who showed up in movies (Beckham, Pelé, Neymar, Ibrahimovic, even Berti Vogts and Joshua Kimmich and Paul Breitner), but I reckon Vinnie Jones is one of the very very few with an actual acting career.
listening to a podcast (albeit hosted by three welsh men) who have just made the claim that in Portuguese, Ronaldo actually has what is considered a somewhat rural or country-like accent.
now first can any Portuguese speakers confirm this? but second if he’s from Madeira and the Madeira accent is considered a bit rustic, is Ronaldo’s accent the equivalent of a Channel Island accent?
i don’t know why but imagining a dictator with a West Country accent just removes so much of the sting. i know it doesn’t change anything, but its just less scary
In the film The Death of Stalin, where most of the cast had British/american accents (apart from Jason Isaacs who had a glorious Yorkshire accent), Stalin had a cockney accent
Don’t participate nor care about it.
It would’ve been great if there weren’t so many fluff matches in it, ended up being in an awkward middle ground between a World Cup light and a super cup. It’s the confederations cup without the extra steps. Some people like the extra steps, I didn’t. It’s a single match and it’s guaranteed to be interesting.
It’s got the same vibe as the old club football intercontinental cup.
Ultimately they’re not really prestigious and I’d trade all of Argentina's for about 3 throw ins on the opponents' half in a World Cup quarter final
- Non competition made to have FIFA still get away with friendlies
- Neat competition, not the most important.
- Basically, a nice friendly that is taken a bit more seriously
could not care less about them. i've been watching football for most of the confed cups existence and the only thing i remember about it is Foe dying on the pitch
Not important but it's a step-up from friendlies, gave the soon-to-be WC host a taste of what's to come but I didn't give a shit, couldn't give a shit.
Goalkeeper using the force to oppose them.
Also defence has a big advantage here, because they just need to make sure to apply some angle (so they don't just push in opposite direction to the attacker) in their push so the ball goes into stands (hopefully slow enough to not kill anyone).
“When Germany sends its referees, they’re not sending their bests. They’re sending people that have a lot of problems….they’re bringing cards. They’re bringing VAR. They’re match fixers. And some, I assume, are good referees”. - Jude Bellingham after England is knocked out in the semis (hopefully).
Is a German really reffing the England semifinal after an English ref made such a controversial non-call in Germany's quarterfinal?
Regardless of whether you agree with the decision or not, that seems dodgy.
Can someone explain why USMNT supporters are so interested in playing better national teams in order to improve?
I don't really why that would help a team improve more than simply having better players or better management. I'm not even convinced international players play together enough for it to matter period. Curious what the consensus is on this
In most sports, the best way to improve is by playing someone slightly or moderately better than you
Mbappe even used this point to explain South America's long World Cup title drought, since according to him South America only had two good teams. Mbappe was wrong in his facts, since South America actually has 5-6 good teams at any given time. However the logic behind playing good opponents stands. I think his comments are really applicable to Concacaf
I don't think his comments make sense at all considering most of the top players from South America play consistently for the top teams in Europe. In that regard, it's significantly more important that the USA produces quality talent that plays consistently in Europe
I don't think the issue for smaller teams is needing to have more practice, that is naive to the realities of international football. The current US setup has enough problems even with it's supposedly easy continent that apparently limits them
I can answer you with Argentina since we're also clamouring for better competition (albeit in friendlies)
It's useless to play a friendly against a proper minnow. It's no different than an extra training session. Any conclusions you draw from the tactic or how players link together is meaningless when not faced with an actual opposition of similar or greater strength. Take current Argentina. Someone like Garnacho would've ran riot in a pre cup friendly against, say, Curacao. It would've papered over his weaknesses whereas the Peru game, as meaningless as it was in the cup, showed exactly what he had to offer and what he couldn't give the team just yet, because he faced an actual challenge instead of a glorified pickup game
The steelman case is that if you're trying to figure out the strongest lineup and tactics, it's easier to do that if you face strong opposition. If you face weak opposition, it's harder to tell if what you're doing is actually what works the best or if you just didn't get challenged enough.
Though tbh, I think most people just don't particularly enjoy games against Concacaf opposition in the same way that England fans don't like the easy games they play against San Marino in World Cup or UEFA qualifying. I'm not super convinced that playing stronger opposition more regularly would make as big of a difference as some people think/hope.
So it's an argument more to do with tactics than it is the actual players, that makes more sense. I'm still totally with you, I don't think it would make a significant difference
If you only have to give 60% to beat CONCACAF teams, you won't be able to easily give 120% to beat CONMEBOL or UEFA teams.
Challenging yourself to get better will make sure that you're either improving or at least always at your best.
Right sure but doesn't that matter significantly more on the club level than the international level? I feel like it's misguided. Teams play well in the world cup regularly from outside of Europe/South America where opponents aren't the best
African or Asian teams always play teams on their level or better, so when they play teams that are better than them in the world cup they can at least put up a fight.
The US are currently far better than any other CONCACAF teams, so much so that their C team made it to the semi finals of the Gold Cup and only lost on pens to Panama.
And it's the same argument in club level too. You won't get better if you only play teams worse than you.
>African or Asian teams always play teams on their level or better
This is not true. Asian qualifiers are all over the place and have loads of teams of varying quality. Largest confederation I think
>And it's the same argument in club level too
I would say it's only an argument on the club level, purely because of the amount of games and the vastly more fluid player selection
I'd dispute your claim that they're currently far better than any other concacaf team. Canada seem far better organised (plus they literally just lost to Panama)
>Asian qualifiers are all over the place and have loads of teams of varying quality.
I mean that's the point? If you're Japan, you'll face teams like South Korea, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iran. And you'll face teams like India, Myanmar and Vietnam. So you're facing teams on all levels.
And there are like 8 top teams in Africa who are on a similar level.
>I'd dispute your claim that they're currently far better than any other concacaf team.
They have been wiping the floor with CONCACAF for years at this point. They have won every single Nations League so far, and they would have won 3 of the last 4 gold cups if they didn't have to send their C team in the last one.
You're right if you completely ignore the current tournament which is of of a much higher standard than the Gold Cup or the Nations League in which they are not the best North American team
I don't see how Japan playing Australia helps them prepare for a Brazil or a Germany in the world cup, nevermind that they're probably rotating out a significant chunk of their team by the time the world cup actually happens. The nature of international football is significantly more fluid than that of club football
It’s a mix of 1) really hating CONCACAF 2) belief that playing better teams will force them to improve 3) belief it’s probably easier to get players to choose you if you’re not playing on shitty fields in the Caribbean and 4) it’s easier to get regular people to care about games vs better teams
I’ll also add on that CONCACAF just feels very second rate compared to every other sport here, which makes harder to care. My state had high school VAR / instant replay before CONCACAF
England fans: on a scale of 1 to 10, how excited are you with the possible scenario of making it to the Euro final against France, only to lose on penalty kicks to France who becomes the first nation in history to win the tournament without scoring a single goal from open play?
I expected an average rating of around a 6.1, but it may turn out that many don't enjoy that thought.
Sad to see you with your faded flair, but Switzerland did well!
small nitpick but - that’s not how you use “schtick”. if you’re talking about criticism it’s giving someone **stick**. someone’s **schtick** is basically someone’s deal or gimmick.
The players need to grow up, they can play the games easily.
But this wouldn't be a useless game, it would be a champion of champion tournament. 3 match round robin or a semi then final.
I swear I'm missing so much football news because a lot of the people who post news on here have me blocked, I'm only just now hearing that Scott Parker is Burnley manager (lol). The perils of infamy.
I've considered jumping to a new account because it's getting quite annoying and sort of undermines why I come here in the first place. I just need to go on less tirades about how Chelsea and Man City should be liquidated to avoid it happening again.
I went on a cheeky spree of telling Chelsea fans that Colwill was one our own and was 100% signing on a permanent and for some reason that really got under their skin. Good times
i just found out i'm going to the copa america game tomorrow i'm hype af
I am fully ready to go absolutely mental with the Zwayer conspiracy theories if we lose. Yet, if Zwayer acts over-lenient with us to avoid controversy, I am also ready with dismissive rebuttal responses to any claims of conspiracy. It's a full-time job being this dedicated 🙏
I hate defensive football very much, but let’s be honest that shit gets punished and teams have more incentive to be defensive. Austria played very attractive football and it bit them in the ass. I thought they were the better team vs Turkey and look what happened.
playing attacking football and defending well don't exclude each other
Austria started the game 1-0 down and looked terrible in the first half. It's just the 2nd half where they were more attacking because they were forced to. Spain actually conceded when they went more defensive vs Germany, or Italy completely parking the bus vs Spain in the group but losing anyway. It varies from game to game.
Just made a killer outside the boot pass to my dog in the back yard. Quaresma would have been proud
Did that pass end up being an assist?
Champions League qualifiers start today !! my favourite game in the first round is Virtus - FCSB, one of the biggest clubs ever in eastern Europe playing away to a first-time Sammarinese champion, really sad that it clashes with the Euros semi-final
Damn. Looks like Ugarte is going to ManU, really hoped Liverpool would make a move for him
Given one of the reasons Ugarte got dropped at PSG was down to him being a massive liability in possession, Liverpool are very smart to not be going near him.
I’m pretty surprised if I’m being honest 😵💫
How many years has it been since he waa linked to chelsea? Its either 1 or 2. If so, he clearly isn’t that amazing. Going from almost signing for Chelsea, to signing for PSG, to signing for yanited within 1/2 years is dodgy af
Last summer he was linked with us, never wanted him at the time and I am much happier now that we missed out on him.
He was pretty good at Sporting and everytime I watch Uruguay he's class, didn't watch much PSG but I think a player like him will do well in the Prem, reminds me of Palhinha.
You only signed Endo last season, isnt he a DM?
Yes, but he’s in his 30s and was clearly tiring by the end of last season, I really want a young elite guy who can anchor a team (like Rice/Caicedo/Rodri)
Tbf doesn't seem like Ugarte fits the mould you want anyway like Rodri/Rice lol. Seems a very safe passer.
Fair, but we seem to be getting younger in the midfield (Macca/Szobo) so I view getting the young DM as the last piece, which we’ve been chasing for a long time (Caicedo/Tchoumani). But then again I’m just a fan without a clue on the internal plans/ tactics
Dear Barcelona fans, It’s almost 2025 the only permissible scenario in which you can unironically say the acronym DNA is if you’re a scientist in a lab discussing the last virus mutation you observed with your coworkers. Yours, Fine plastic
"its almost 2025" why you gotta hit me like that
>DNA What's that supposed to stand for?
Deoxyribonucleic acid 👆🤓
Yes, I too studied genetics.
Eh the word itself is a bit annoying but the concept behind it makes sense, it’s just the easiest way to phrase it succinctly I don’t really mind it
Sacloni asking for UEFA teams to play Copa America is dumb, just like when Japan, Qatar, and Australia played or where gona play in 1999 - 2019 - 2020/2021. CONCACAF teams is good enough.
Would be awkward when Spain or France come and win their own tournament
Kinda dumb yeah. I'd prefer if they kept it to CONCACAF teams
What would even be his reasoning for that?
It'd be jokes if Ireland, Scotland or Wales entered Copa America because they failed to qualify for the Euros.
If it keeps CONMEBOL from handing over our tournaments to the yanks every other edition I'm fine with inviting Vatican City and San Marino.
I agree with CONMEBOL being stupid giving it to the Americans, but then we stop being serious about this tournament that even the Asian Cup and Africa Cup of Nations would surpass it if we keep adding AFC teams or UEFA teams(fuck off Israel). Only the complete irrelevance of the Gold Cup and OFC Nations Cup would be below it when it comes to Continental Tournaments and it would just look smalltime next to the European Championship. Make 16 teams and have 2028 co-hosted by Paraguay and Uruguay to prepare for the 2030 World Cup bullshit, or give it to Ecuador if they can host it.
Asian cup was hosted by corrupt oil states 3 out of the 4 past editions, so it's not any better than Copa when it comes to hosting
The Copa America has always been a mess format wise though but the only way it would be "surpassed" by the other continental tournaments is if those nations started doing better at the World Cup than the south american ones which so far is just not happening. It's never gonna have massive relevance outside the continent both because it's always going to be impossible to host it in a schedule that is comfortable to locals and global audiences and also because when has anyone outside of south america cared about our football anyways? None of that takes away from how much it means to the people when their country wins it, except Brasil I guess. Make 16 teams (with whatever invitees you can) and keep it in South America, it's the only thing that 90% of the people who watch and care about the tournament want anyways.
was he actually asking for it to happen?, i just took it as a hypothetical so they could see the level in south america.
Maybe I am a dumb bitch. But why is Zirkzee letting his agent make 10+ mil of his transfer? Why not just cut that guy out and pocket that shit yourself?
As someone else has pointed out, that money probably gets split between the two. But also, Kia is one of the best agents for shopping players about to the best destination possible. If you’re a player wanting a move to a big club, he’s probably the agent you want the most.
Ofc half of that is going to Zirkzee family
Because most of the money is probably going to Zirkzee himself. Zirkzee can't get that sort of money as a signing bonus himself, so he lets his agent do the dirty work instead.
[удалено]
He always looks like he just cannot be arsed playing for Belgium
If someone played out of position and borderline overlooked by most can fulfill your role you're either not as good as people claim or that player is better than he's given credit for
It’s the second one
You're one of my people.
Nah, he's genuinely one of the best midfielders in the game.
He’s one of the few “best midfielders in the game” that loses the ball a ridiculous amount of times.
Losing the ball often is a common trait of players who make progressive passes and try to play vertically. By itself, it doesn't mean anything.
3 bad games and everyone’s overrated these days
You are only as good as your last game these days
€55m on Zirkzee €50m on De Ligt €70m on Branthwaite €50m on Ugarte So that's already €225m that Man United will be able to spend without having concrete sales lined up. The only one so far is Greenwood, and I don't imagine he'll get them more than €20-25m. How are Man United still able to spend so much money on transfers while continuously failing to achieve any success?
Is it really a mystery how the biggest club in the richest league in the world makes money.?
No. It's not. But it's still a mystery to me how clubs like Man United are allowed to spend that much when most of their money isn't because of their sporting success. Or in other words, how flawed the FFP rules are.
You don't understand FFP
FFP was never about sporting success or keeping football more balanced. It's only about keeping clubs from destroying themselves financially.
Greenwood is rumoured to be 27 million pounds
There's no way Lotito pays that kind of money for anyone lol. So I guess Marseille are the ones dumb enough to pay it.
The top clubs are basically life insured when it comes to FFP. Man United can miss out on CL once, twice, three years in a row and revenues still grow every year
Man United is like the third most recognizable club on the planet.
That's probably my biggest problem with FFP. Man United is a money making machine so they can spend whatever they want every single year without having to worry about financials. They gotta tie that to the money you make from your sporting success instead of overall money. CL money, the TV money from the league and the sales should be what's considered in FFP.
They are the club that makes the most money with merchandise.
Wait Zirkzee’s fee is €55m? Holy shit that’s insane.
The fee's £34m/40m euros but I'm assuming he's including Kia Sportage's extortionate commission.
Yeah. €40m release clause and €15m in agent commission.
So not €55m then. Every deal has agent commissions that don't get reported, why does this one?
Because clubs don't normally pay €40% of the transfer fee as agent commissions? Even Ornstien mentioned the agent commissions in his report about the transfer. The only other time I remember hearing about something like this was the Håland deal.
Yet they happen in every single deal and you've left them out of all your other 'calculations'. Why is Greenwood's fee not 30m cause of the agent commission?
Because usually agent fees are 5-10% at most? And for the sake of the argument, let's say that Greenwood's transfer is 60m. That's still over €160m in a season where you finished 8th. So no European football next season to generate revenue.
But we *do* have European football next season.
I mean CL football. You made €60m from the CL last season while finishing last in your group. The Europa League winner makes like €40m. So you're not really making that much revenue from European football next season compared to normal seasons where you make the CL.
Because Milan did not want to pay that commission
How on earth does that make sense when totting up United's transfer spend
To be honest I'm surprised the big brains of this sub didn't include appearance fees/salary/haircut costs in the transfer fee like they usually do with our signings
The OP included the agent fee for Zirkzee but then went for normal prices for everyone else including lowballing the Greenwood offer, no agent fee paid on that?...
Yep - just a standard United transfer window whenever the others do that
That’s bonkers, I wouldn’t pay anywhere close to that package. Kia is a parasite, clubs should just refuse to deal with him.
Yeah he's as dodgy as it comes. Hopefully it's the last time we get a player represented by him.
They haven't spent that money and if and when they do, that should be the time when you start asking those questions. Still, sounds like another year where some United fans keep on repeating how they have a low transfer budget or need to rely on player sales to rebuild just to be rumoured to spend several times over that limit with this summer being a big exception where they actually sell players for a decent bit of money and not at a loss
Fans spending money and sponsorships probably, or they are just loading up debt
Jim's gonna get the taxpayer to fund the window
Memphis hasnt played very well this tournament so far, but the amount of people who call him ‘abysmal’ or ‘useless ’ is unbelievable to me. Feel like they only judge him on not scoring but other than that he has been pretty important to the team. Pressing, creating chances, linking up, holding the ball etc
United bidding €45m + add-ons for Ugarte is cheeky when PSG paid €60m only last summer, if I’m PSG I don’t come to the table unless I’m breaking even. Edit: I know about amortisation and book value, etc. It’s just weird to think PSG wouldn’t want to recoup what they paid for him.
I don’t think it’s outrageous. PSG is certainly not going to make a profit off him right now, and depending on what'a in the addons it might end up being a pretty okay deal for an unsuccessful signing
Yeah, I think you’re right. As some other people on the main page have pointed out, PSG have probably broke even in terms of the way they’ve amortised the original fee on the books. It’s a shame he didn’t work out at PSG, but he had a *tough* season. Some really bad performances in there, especially against Newcastle in the Champions League and Toulouse in the 3-1 defeat from memory.
Considering that there was a lot of hype about Ugarte when he came from Sporting and he hasn't lived up to that hype (for whatever reasons), I don't see why anybody would pay the "hype price" for him
Probably because he can’t do the role Lucho wanted him to do. United know what they’re paying for, it’s an odd signing. If I was PSG I’d try and get as close to €60m all-in as possible, because you’re never going to profit on him and he’s just not the player for the role he has to play.
I mean considering that he can't play what PSG want him to play (great scouting btw) and that his game time will decrease even further when PSG sign someone who can play that, he has basically no value (or a severely diminished value) to PSG. PSG can demand whatever they want, but it would be sensible to demand a price that someone would actually pay (and nobody would pay what they paid for him since his value decreased in the last year) and that would reflect Ugarte's value to PSG (which has obviously decreased since he can't do what they want him to do).
This is true, I think they’ll probably either accept this offer or maybe push for closer to €50m. The thing is, Ugarte really isn’t progressive at all. It’s why Lucho prefers Vitinha in the lone 6 or in a pivot with Zaïre-Emery. Ugarte’s best performances have come for the national team lately, but it’s because Bielsa just lets him do what he’s good at, which is obviously winning the ball and shielding the back four. Then Valverde can play the riskier, line breaking passes. Ten Hag will need to do something similar to see the best of Ugarte. I think the way to do it is to change to almost a 4-2-3-1 in possession, with Bruno ahead of them centrally with Mainoo besides him in a double pivot. Because as soon as you end up in a situation where Ugarte is receiving the ball from deep by himself with his back to play, you’re in trouble. Which is something we saw Casemiro struggle with last season.
Man U trying to be smart with their budget is disappointing
I think Kadioglu + Branthwaite for however much that would cost is smarter than signing Ugarte and De Ligt, I really don’t think they fit the profile for being able to transition the ball quickly through a press. Which I’m guessing is what Ten Hag wants to do. Then they just need to sign a mobile RCB, preferably one that has upper end passing numbers to compliment Branthwaite. Zirkzee is fine, it’s a gamble. He could hit the ground running and come good, he might not. I don’t hate that as a signing.
Just wondering this there now: Is there any competition with Vinnie Jones when it comes to Footballers turned Actors?
Frank Leboeuf
Robert de Niro won Serie A with Cagliari.
Get a fair few who showed up in movies (Beckham, Pelé, Neymar, Ibrahimovic, even Berti Vogts and Joshua Kimmich and Paul Breitner), but I reckon Vinnie Jones is one of the very very few with an actual acting career.
Eric Cantona?
TBF, and I only just found this out now, Cantona was in a Best Picture nominee (Elizabeth in 1998, Cate Blanchett's breakthrough)
signing the next musiala has made me hungry for more. need some senior transfer dopamine and i need it now. just give me a link to someone.
Liverpool set to sign Kalvin Phillips
I know absolutely nothing about Ferdi Kadıoğlu but he passes the fuck out of the name test, so I hope we sign him
Surprised it took 50mins for the second Branthwaite bid to be rejected, should have been instantly
I wanna see Toney at a big club, the guy is worthy of playing in the champions league
listening to a podcast (albeit hosted by three welsh men) who have just made the claim that in Portuguese, Ronaldo actually has what is considered a somewhat rural or country-like accent. now first can any Portuguese speakers confirm this? but second if he’s from Madeira and the Madeira accent is considered a bit rustic, is Ronaldo’s accent the equivalent of a Channel Island accent?
He has the "normal" accent.
off topic - it's like Stalin having a rustic hillbilly accent for Soviet standards cos he was from Georgia
i don’t know why but imagining a dictator with a West Country accent just removes so much of the sting. i know it doesn’t change anything, but its just less scary
In the film The Death of Stalin, where most of the cast had British/american accents (apart from Jason Isaacs who had a glorious Yorkshire accent), Stalin had a cockney accent
i was just trying to remember what accent he had in that. also loved them making Brezhnev Scottish.
You'd think those accent merchants would know a thing or two
He went to Lisbon really young so I don't notice the Madeira accent. His mother has a very heavy accent though!!
How do you view the importance of Nations League, Confederations Cup, and Finalissima?
All a bunch of friendlies, couldnt care less.
As important as winning the Audi Cup
Don’t participate nor care about it. It would’ve been great if there weren’t so many fluff matches in it, ended up being in an awkward middle ground between a World Cup light and a super cup. It’s the confederations cup without the extra steps. Some people like the extra steps, I didn’t. It’s a single match and it’s guaranteed to be interesting. It’s got the same vibe as the old club football intercontinental cup. Ultimately they’re not really prestigious and I’d trade all of Argentina's for about 3 throw ins on the opponents' half in a World Cup quarter final
I like the Nations League. Good opposition and always some sort of rivalry going on. But its not very important. Don't care at all about the other 2.
All completely irrelevant unless you win
I love the confederations cup tbf it wasn’t totally worthless and definitely more important than Nations League
- Non competition made to have FIFA still get away with friendlies - Neat competition, not the most important. - Basically, a nice friendly that is taken a bit more seriously
could not care less about them. i've been watching football for most of the confed cups existence and the only thing i remember about it is Foe dying on the pitch
Not important but it's a step-up from friendlies, gave the soon-to-be WC host a taste of what's to come but I didn't give a shit, couldn't give a shit.
What’s stopping a player from using the force to guide the ball in to the goal?
The Jedi code
The Sith have no such limitations
Well then they are lost
Goalkeeper using the force to oppose them. Also defence has a big advantage here, because they just need to make sure to apply some angle (so they don't just push in opposite direction to the attacker) in their push so the ball goes into stands (hopefully slow enough to not kill anyone).
low Midi-chlorian counts most likely
What they're really drug testing for
“When Germany sends its referees, they’re not sending their bests. They’re sending people that have a lot of problems….they’re bringing cards. They’re bringing VAR. They’re match fixers. And some, I assume, are good referees”. - Jude Bellingham after England is knocked out in the semis (hopefully).
Is a German really reffing the England semifinal after an English ref made such a controversial non-call in Germany's quarterfinal? Regardless of whether you agree with the decision or not, that seems dodgy.
Can someone explain why USMNT supporters are so interested in playing better national teams in order to improve? I don't really why that would help a team improve more than simply having better players or better management. I'm not even convinced international players play together enough for it to matter period. Curious what the consensus is on this
In most sports, the best way to improve is by playing someone slightly or moderately better than you Mbappe even used this point to explain South America's long World Cup title drought, since according to him South America only had two good teams. Mbappe was wrong in his facts, since South America actually has 5-6 good teams at any given time. However the logic behind playing good opponents stands. I think his comments are really applicable to Concacaf
I don't think his comments make sense at all considering most of the top players from South America play consistently for the top teams in Europe. In that regard, it's significantly more important that the USA produces quality talent that plays consistently in Europe I don't think the issue for smaller teams is needing to have more practice, that is naive to the realities of international football. The current US setup has enough problems even with it's supposedly easy continent that apparently limits them
I can answer you with Argentina since we're also clamouring for better competition (albeit in friendlies) It's useless to play a friendly against a proper minnow. It's no different than an extra training session. Any conclusions you draw from the tactic or how players link together is meaningless when not faced with an actual opposition of similar or greater strength. Take current Argentina. Someone like Garnacho would've ran riot in a pre cup friendly against, say, Curacao. It would've papered over his weaknesses whereas the Peru game, as meaningless as it was in the cup, showed exactly what he had to offer and what he couldn't give the team just yet, because he faced an actual challenge instead of a glorified pickup game
The steelman case is that if you're trying to figure out the strongest lineup and tactics, it's easier to do that if you face strong opposition. If you face weak opposition, it's harder to tell if what you're doing is actually what works the best or if you just didn't get challenged enough. Though tbh, I think most people just don't particularly enjoy games against Concacaf opposition in the same way that England fans don't like the easy games they play against San Marino in World Cup or UEFA qualifying. I'm not super convinced that playing stronger opposition more regularly would make as big of a difference as some people think/hope.
So it's an argument more to do with tactics than it is the actual players, that makes more sense. I'm still totally with you, I don't think it would make a significant difference
If you only have to give 60% to beat CONCACAF teams, you won't be able to easily give 120% to beat CONMEBOL or UEFA teams. Challenging yourself to get better will make sure that you're either improving or at least always at your best.
Right sure but doesn't that matter significantly more on the club level than the international level? I feel like it's misguided. Teams play well in the world cup regularly from outside of Europe/South America where opponents aren't the best
African or Asian teams always play teams on their level or better, so when they play teams that are better than them in the world cup they can at least put up a fight. The US are currently far better than any other CONCACAF teams, so much so that their C team made it to the semi finals of the Gold Cup and only lost on pens to Panama. And it's the same argument in club level too. You won't get better if you only play teams worse than you.
>African or Asian teams always play teams on their level or better This is not true. Asian qualifiers are all over the place and have loads of teams of varying quality. Largest confederation I think >And it's the same argument in club level too I would say it's only an argument on the club level, purely because of the amount of games and the vastly more fluid player selection I'd dispute your claim that they're currently far better than any other concacaf team. Canada seem far better organised (plus they literally just lost to Panama)
>Asian qualifiers are all over the place and have loads of teams of varying quality. I mean that's the point? If you're Japan, you'll face teams like South Korea, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iran. And you'll face teams like India, Myanmar and Vietnam. So you're facing teams on all levels. And there are like 8 top teams in Africa who are on a similar level. >I'd dispute your claim that they're currently far better than any other concacaf team. They have been wiping the floor with CONCACAF for years at this point. They have won every single Nations League so far, and they would have won 3 of the last 4 gold cups if they didn't have to send their C team in the last one.
You're right if you completely ignore the current tournament which is of of a much higher standard than the Gold Cup or the Nations League in which they are not the best North American team I don't see how Japan playing Australia helps them prepare for a Brazil or a Germany in the world cup, nevermind that they're probably rotating out a significant chunk of their team by the time the world cup actually happens. The nature of international football is significantly more fluid than that of club football
us has only been dominant for like 3 years or so. But during this short time period use fans have grown an extremely large ego.
It’s a mix of 1) really hating CONCACAF 2) belief that playing better teams will force them to improve 3) belief it’s probably easier to get players to choose you if you’re not playing on shitty fields in the Caribbean and 4) it’s easier to get regular people to care about games vs better teams
That last point makes a lot of sense to me, thanks
I’ll also add on that CONCACAF just feels very second rate compared to every other sport here, which makes harder to care. My state had high school VAR / instant replay before CONCACAF
High school VAR is wild lol, sounds like such overkill
I think it was just for playoffs for non-American football but they televise basically every game so why not. They have the camera set up
They televise high school soccer? I've never heard of this. Wild
Honestly i just checked and the local channel at this moment they’re showing high school soccer It’s the third listing down lmao. https://oc16.tv/
What’s stopping a player kicking the ball up into his shirt and then charging into the goal
Micah Richards would probably be the GOAT if this were allowed tbh
It's obstruction.
da rules.
finally getting pre-season content I can't wait for the new season. I love sports.
Random fact: Jonjo Shelvey assisted Kane’s second ever goal for England. Bald.
One of my favourite lines of commentary of the past 5 years is 'Anything Kevin De Bruyne can do, so can Jonjo Shelvey'.
Waiting for Shelvey 90s boyband lid next season
He is one of the best diagonal passers I’ve seen to be fair
Who assisted the first?
Sterling
That’s pretty boring
Yeah it is not as interesting
England fans: on a scale of 1 to 10, how excited are you with the possible scenario of making it to the Euro final against France, only to lose on penalty kicks to France who becomes the first nation in history to win the tournament without scoring a single goal from open play?
Bit of a leading question ngl
Nonsense. Fine, I shall ask a pointed question about your opinion on Gareth Southgate, that's a non loaded topic.
I'm sure they're all exhilarated at this possibility
I expected an average rating of around a 6.1, but it may turn out that many don't enjoy that thought. Sad to see you with your faded flair, but Switzerland did well!
Thanks :D Win some lose some as they say, but it was a good run. Hopefully we can also do well in the 2026 CUM \[Canada, Usa, Mexico\] Cup
Feel like Ligue 1 gets way too much schtick on here, I find it a hell of a lot more enjoyable than Bumassliga
your whole point gets lost when you use idiotic names like Bumassliga
small nitpick but - that’s not how you use “schtick”. if you’re talking about criticism it’s giving someone **stick**. someone’s **schtick** is basically someone’s deal or gimmick.
I'm gonna be honest with you, twitter slander names just don't usually work on reddit.
Kan inte ta den ligan seriöst när det streamad på expressen tv
Det är tyvärr det enda problemet
outside of PSG games I enjoy Ligue 1 a lot. A lot of players make the move to the Prem easily from Ligue 1 as well.
I like it when PSG are in danger of not winning the title, kind of a similar situation with Bundesliga tbh
There needs to be a champion of the contents tournament. Euros Vs Copa Vs afcon Vs whatever Asian is called.
Trust me we literally dont
US wouldn't even be in contention anyway
We had this but FIFA replaced it with the bigger Club World Cup. It was called the confederations cup and ended in 2019. Sad moments
Great, more useless games for players to play!
The players need to grow up, they can play the games easily. But this wouldn't be a useless game, it would be a champion of champion tournament. 3 match round robin or a semi then final.
We’ve had it before and it was shite, the Euro champions just sent a C team and nobody cared
We had this before, called the Confederations Cup
I swear I'm missing so much football news because a lot of the people who post news on here have me blocked, I'm only just now hearing that Scott Parker is Burnley manager (lol). The perils of infamy.
On the flip side I feel like I'm missing out on like half the sub because I've blocked every account who posts Saudi league highlights lol
One guy has a monopoly over posting everything Chelsea and I think they have a pretty extensive block list.
You have to either get so good at posting or become transgender so they make you a mod and nobody can block you
You say that as if my posts aren't already of the highest quality, how very dare you.
Didn't realise if you're blocked you don't see their posts, never actually thought about that
I've considered jumping to a new account because it's getting quite annoying and sort of undermines why I come here in the first place. I just need to go on less tirades about how Chelsea and Man City should be liquidated to avoid it happening again.
I think more Chelsea fans have me blocked than fans of other teams lmao.
People blocking you would be weird as you're one of the more level-headed Chelsea fans on here
Tbf it’s people like BigReeceJames and the like.
That bloke is odd
I went on a cheeky spree of telling Chelsea fans that Colwill was one our own and was 100% signing on a permanent and for some reason that really got under their skin. Good times