Just seen. £34mill, farcking Hell! I said in the under 21 Euros that he looked really good but was probably out of our reach because of CL football. He must've had a brilliant season in the league to be worth that much, though. I really hope this doesn't mean they sell Modric!
Yeah he did, but to be fair Sociedad as a whole had a great season. £34m is still a hell of a lot for him though, I'd rate Illaramendi at around the £20m mark but clearly Real see him as Xabi's heir and to be fair, there aren't many players you can say that about. Plus, as I mentioned with Sociedad's impressive campaign, qualifying for the Champions League means they wouldn't have been desperate to sell a star asset heading into a huge and exciting season for them so Madrid had to pay big bucks. Hopefully Real won't have enough left to even bother persuing Bale this season, especially as they've already forked out £25m for Isco and they re-signed Dani Carvajol for about £6m too. Speaking of re-signing players with buy back clauses like Barca and Madrid tend to do, anyone think it's wrong? It really screws over the initial buying club, you could argue and say more fool the buying club for agreeing that sort of deal but I suppose they have no choice, either accept the buy-back clause or don't get the player they feel they need. I remember Madrid doing it with Negredo when he was at Almeria, after his impressive campaigns, they re-signed him for £5m and flogged him to Sevilla in the same window for about £12m-£15m. It's just another way Real (and Barca) exploit their power in La Liga. Totally wrong in my opinion.
Real are currently under investigation by the E.U. commission over state funding. Namely, the neat, and highly profitable, little trick they pulled with their property swaps with the Madrid Council. Whether it comes to anything is, of course, another matter.
Apparently we're very keen on Benteke but £20m is our max, which to me is a fair price - probs not what Villa are looking for though. We're also looking for a 'wing forward' which says Chadli to me. Twitter reporting that it's a done deal - so basically, we're not close
I found out yesterday from a mate of my old mans, that Swindon manager Kevin Mcdonald didn't turn up for training or a match (cant remember which). Sky sources are now confirming that he's leaving, which I thought would be the case. Part of the same rumour is that Sherwood and Ferdinand are going to be taking over. - Which again highlights this partnership we seem to have formed, and might explain why lots of our players have been heading down to the county ground on loan, or on permanent transfers recently. Also not forgetting the friendly which we have with them too...
The tapping-up that Real have been, and continue to be, engaged in of Bale is utterly outrageous. If Chelsea or United acted like that, even our FA, as weak as it is, would be forced to step in and say "enough is enough!"
I joked about this the other day. Just in case things I post on here do come true...Charlotte Thorstvedt will message me on Facebook and ask if I want to join her for a drink. I'm waiting!!!
O/T: Always wonder why some people choose to believe social media rather than traditional news sources. Says something about the human condition but I'm not clever enough to work out what it is!
Only person I've ever unfollowed on twitter. Complete twat just says things to wind people up then argues with them
Because experience tells that the 'traditional news sources' are just as capable as coming up with absolute crap?
I've always hated him. Don't find any of his TV funny, and his films are even worse. An undeserving and immature little scrotbag.
Same as mate. I used to like him, but nowadays he's got far too big for his own boots and he comes across as a total ****.
Talking of paper rubbish the story in the People (mirror) about Adebayor and Benteke is just an old story to fill space. It says Eden Hazard is trying to convince Benteke to choose Chelsea over Spurs although no actual quotes or anything. Looking at strikers available is Benteke the best we can realistically hope for now? The way things are going it looks highly likely we will be starting the season with just Defoe and Adebayor which I suppose is better than last season (marginally, going on Adebayors form). I side with the people on here saying give Adebayor another chance. I know he was a lazy so and so last season but if you look at strikers available to us he can be easily as good or better than than them. If we had of signed Villa and Benteke then I would have said get rid but as things stand I say keep him.
I reckon HBC is talking about Ozzie. I know, on the Chav board, he likes to portray himself as a bruising keyboard warrior with barely two brain-cells to rub together, but if you met the bloke you'd understand that he's actually a softly-spoken and highly sensitive art-loving accountant with a stature problem. I think he stands a mere 5'4" tall, but it's hard to tell because I have never actually spoken to him when he hasn't been wearing his specially built-up boots (they add at least 2" to his overall height). Also, his black thick-rimmed spectacles are not exactly the kind of thing you would expect a cage-fighter to wear. Oh, and he collects stamps and goes bird-watching with his best mate, Nigel. And he's got ginger hair. If there is any kind of lesson to be learned it has got to be: never judge a book by its cover.
Genuine top class strikers are rarer than rocking horse ****, and priced accordingly. Look at what United had to pay for a 29yr old. Whether Benteke is the real deal, or not, remains to be seen. Obviously, if he is, then £25mil is cheap. You can see why Villa have priced him the way they have. Look at what some idiot paid for Carroll
I was in the same bar as him in about 2002 and walked past, and he made some rather loud and ****ty comment about me when I walked past to please his sycophants, so I turned around and asked him if Stephen Merchant had written that one for him or if that was his own material because it wasn't remotely funny. Unsurprisingly, he didn't have a comeback. Nobody was there to write him one.
