It seems we actually paid only 86p for Pogba while his agent took the other £89 million - http://www.skysports.com/football/n...-on-paul-pogbas-transfer-to-manchester-united
It is more likely that we paid Juventus £89m and then paid his agent another £89m. I suppose the only silver lining is that it is the GGs money. The GGs viewed the deal as " a statement of intent" and must have alreeady recouped their money from commercial deals etc. They are now after Bale and/or Griezman - money no object. The premiership is so awash with money that clubs here must live in abubble compared to the rest of the world. Shame that the quality of the football has not matched the money. Juventus yesterday showed that they play at a level higher than anyone here.
Nothing will come from it - is merely a smokescreen for FIFA firing their ethics chiefs http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/39868118
Pogba must be pissed! lol. If anything, I think football is really cyclical. I remember a decade ago when English teams dominated and Italians were nowhere to be found. Italian teams are still crap but Juve has really stepped out of the poor league just like Bayern.
I actually think it is beneficial to your European chances sometimes if you play in a league that is uncompetitive. As you can rest players domestically, and there isn't so much pressure on the team week in week out to win. Juves team is very strong defensively, but it's not on a paper a team of superstars in the same way Real or Barca's is. Most of their midfield and attack where, to put it bluntly rejected by more powerful clubs in Europe. Quadrado Chelsea sold for not cutting it, Mandzukic was let go by Bayern and Atletico for being to goal shy, Kheidiera was sold by Real as He wasn't good enough to play, same with Higuain who was to hit and miss infront of goal at Real. You could even add in Dani Alves who Barca seen as to old, even though that was probably an error on Barca's part. They even took an ageing Evra off our hands. Many may laugh, but I genuinely don't believe that Juventus team would be the best side in England if they played in the PL. They'd certainly be competitive, but I don't think they'd win the title. I think it's a lot easier to perform well in Europe when you dominate against such poor opposition domestically every week.
I think it depends on squad size like you say, it's far easier to rest in a weaker league, as Italy now is, than in a highly competitive one like the PL. However, if they could play their first team every week and stay injury free they'd win the league at a canter, that Juve side is miles better than anything the premier league can offer.
This applies to most leagues in Europe to a greater or lesser degree. Seria A has 3 or 4 strong sides, the same in Spain, Germany and France. I watch a great deal of La Liga on TV and believe me, even down to the middle reaches of PL, ours is a much, much more competitive league. That level of competition added to the fact that PL teams do not benefit from a winter break and that (plus the fact that we do not operate a competitive 'B' league structure) is why UK teams will always struggle to complete in major European competitions. It isn't a question that our teams are not good enough.
This. Also the Spanish and German FAs are more than happy to help their teams out by re-jigging domestic fixtures during times of heavy fixture congestion when playing in European Competition. For example, in Spain, their FA would move Sevillas fixtures from Saturday kick offs to Monday kick offs when they had Thursday night games in the Europa League. So they got 5 days between fixtures instead of 3 etc, But our FA are beholden to Sky, and refuse to change games if they are televised. There is no way a team in Spain would face the fixture congestion United have had to endure in recent weeks,.
Not much the FA could really do when we've had midweek fixtures for about the last two months. Can't move a league fixture to Monday evening when we have another fixture the same Thursday - only three days rest either way you do it, particularly if we have to travel in Europe. The cups are the big problem - the extra fixtures from the LC mean when we don't have EL fixtures we have to catch up on our league fixtures in midweek, so there's no way to spread it out like they can in Spain.
You could say that about probably 5 teams in the PL. Chelsea have pretty much had that luxury with no European football and that is why they are top. Liverpool are the weakest of the top 6 man for man, and would be atleast 10 points worse off if they had European football for me. They'll do well to finish anything better than 6th next season with the squad they have. Juventus are a very good side, and would be up there in the PL, but let's not get carried away here. With the demands of the PL having to battle for every win you get they would struggle both domestically and in Europe to perform as well as they do now. It's easy when you play dross every week, the wins come easy, and you go into European games high on confidence as your used to winning, and feeling a lot fresher. All you have to do is look at that Roma squad that is their closest challengers it's a who's who of PL rejects. The players Real Madrid have for example are on a completely different level to that of Juventus. Probably only the Goalkeeper and maybe Alves would get a game at Real. They are a good side, but I wouldn't put them on a pedastool as a great squad of players.
That last line is where we disagree. They are a great side. I fully expect them to give Real a game and I happen to think they'll win.
They will give Real a game as they will set up to give them a game, but if they went toe to toe with Real, they would get ripped to shreds.
Yeah I think so, I would actually like to see Juventus win it, as its the last chance for a lot of their players. But Real for me just have that extra gear that other sides don't have. When it really matters with that midfield and attack I think they will find the gaps in Juventus's defence. Ronaldo is so clinical when he gets the chances too. It's going to take an heroic defensive performance for Juventus to keep them quiet.
On their day Real Madrid can have a vary porous defence - several times this season they have leaked goals in important games. The same can be said of Juve, so it ought to come down (obvs) to who scores the most rather than who has the more solid defence - a great attacking game in prospect..