Rival Watch

[Swarbs]

My view is that they will probably sell him at the end of August (this summer 2017!) to a foreign club. Despite what Wenger is saying.

Almost certainly, same as Fabregas, Nasri and RVP.

Not surprising they are insisting they won't sell him though. With Arsenal not having any European qualifiers to play he won't be cup tied until after the window closes, so they can hold him until midnight on the 31st with no problems. That has the benefit of weakening any rival who signs him, particularly if he goes to a PL club, as he won't have a pre season with his new team.

The player is obviously done with the club but Wenger is adamant. How they allowed him to run down his contract is beyond me. Wenger is a genius, I guess!

What were they supposed to do, tie him to the desk until he signed?! Always thought those types of comments are bizarre - the contract runs down by itself over time, that's how time works!

If a player doesn't want to sign a new contract then what do you expect the club to do differently? Sell them immediately? You'd never hold on to a single player that way.

 

[Swarbs]

Sure. The foreign clubs are fully aware of how loaded the english clubs are. Premiership clubs just go out and get their man (and their budgets are massive).

Fair play to them for realising it. A rare and inimitable commodity in a seller controlled auction is worth what the buyer is willing to pay for it, economics 101.

After all, what would you do if you were selling your house and the estate agent brought Rooney or Lukaku around on a viewing? If they start looking around going "wow, this is just what we are looking for, we really need this house, no other house meets our needs like this one", would you not stick the price up another 50% (at least!)

 

[Swarbs]

JT. Captain, Leader, Legend.

He may be gone, but his influence remains...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40714188

 

[Christiansmith]

JT. Captain, Leader, Legend.

He may be gone, but his influence remains...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40714188

He must now be very popular with the chavs' management, wiht their popularity dropping in China like a stone. Who is bothered about a following of hundreds of millions?

 

[cytrax]

With Arsenal not having any European qualifiers to play he won't be cup tied until after the window closes, so they can hold him until midnight on the 31st with no problems. That has the benefit of weakening any rival who signs him, particularly if he goes to a PL club, as he won't have a pre season with his new team.

I very much doubt that they are micro managing the situation to that great detail, Swarbs. Even without pre-season, he'll be back up and running come October. No one wins the league in September.

What were they supposed to do, tie him to the desk until he signed?! Always thought those types of comments are bizarre - the contract runs down by itself over time, that's how time works!

If a player doesn't want to sign a new contract then what do you expect the club to do differently? Sell them immediately? You'd never hold on to a single player that way.

Arsenal have a track record of letting players give them the run around. How else do you explain why their two top players are into the final year of their contracts? So yes, Arsenal's method is always backward which effectively weakens their profile when it comes to competing for talents. They charge the most for tickets, so what do they do with all that money if they can't compete with rivals on salaries? Not saying players are not greedy, but the buck stops with the club with how the manage that relationship.

 

[glazerfodder]

According to David Levy, transfer spending is 'unsustainable' - this from the man asking £50m for the likes of Walker and Dier.

 

[Chief]

According to David Levy, transfer spending is 'unsustainable' - this from the man asking £50m for the likes of Walker and Dier.

To be fair to Levy, the word spending is the key.

If idiots like City want to spend £50million on half decent full backs then who can blame him for getting that price out of them?

 

[Christiansmith]

According to David Levy, transfer spending is 'unsustainable' - this from the man asking £50m for the likes of Walker and Dier.

I thought JM was very brave in talking about the ridiculously high prices paid by some clubs Not a great vantage point to make these types of point.

When he's bought Pogba and Lukaku at nearly £200m. Just like beauty, VFM is in the eye of the beholder.

 

[Swarbs]

To be fair to Levy, the word spending is the key.

If idiots like City want to spend £50million on half decent full backs then who can blame him for getting that price out of them?

This is true, although Spurs' business model does depend on selling player for over inflated prices in order to balance their books. So it's a bit like Rooney claiming it is unsustainable for fans to pay £50 for a ticket to watch him play, whilst happily pocketing the £250k a week those ticket prices paid for.

As with Mourinho's complaints about an overinflated transfer market, I think this is just Levy having sour grapes. Clubs are now using the same tactics against him as he used to use, massively overpricing any half decent players and stirring up competition for bid for them. So now he can't afford anyone Spurs need to avoid slipping back down the table next year.

 

[Christiansmith]

JT. Captain, Leader, Legend.

He may be gone, but his influence remains...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40714188

Why would a player post such gratuitously offensive messages, to a whole nation? He didn't explain why he had posted those. The racism was obvious.

And his apology reeked of insincerity as he said he had "great respect for the chinese people". Oh yes? hate to think what he would have posted if he didn't have any respect!

 

[cytrax]

To be fair to Levy, the word spending is the key.

If idiots like City want to spend £50million on half decent full backs then who can blame him for getting that price out of them?

Levy is part of the problem. He has been for years. I am sure that there is nothing he would love more than £120m bid for Harry Kane. He profits directly from that ridiculous market but complains when he is on the receiving end.. he should just shut his mouth.

 

[Christiansmith]

Great story developing, showing the domino effect with transfers.

None of these clubs apparently wanting to sell their star player. The sequence is:

PSG grab Neymar from Barcelona who then grab Coutinho from the RS who in turn grab Keita from Leipzig.

So PSG> Barcelona >RS> Leipzig? Reflecting their respective financial power.

My feeling is that if Neymar goes, leaving £160m burning a hole in Barca's pockets then the Brazilian at the RS is a goner. They won't be able to resist an offer of £85-90m from the Spanish and their season is over before it's even begun.

 

[cytrax]

Great story developing, showing the domino effect with transfers.

None of these clubs apparently wanting to sell their star player. The sequence is:

PSG grab Neymar from Barcelona who then grab Coutinho from the RS who in turn grab Keita from Leipzig.

So PSG> Barcelona >RS> Leipzig? Reflecting their respective financial power.

My feeling is that if Neymar goes, leaving £160m burning a hole in Barca's pockets then the Brazilian at the RS is a goner. They won't be able to resist an offer of £85-90m from the Spanish and their season is over before it's even begun.

In that equation, Barca would be the ultimate winner. They have enough depth to handle loss of Neymar however great he is. Plus if they get their hands on Coutinho, they will do just fine. I also think Liverpool can absorb the loss of Coutinho if they do the deal early and get a replacement or two.

I actually think that Neymar would be an idiot to go to France. Unless he wants an easy life with fat payday, of course. But why else would you leave Barca for France? My guess is that for the money PSG are will to pay, Barca would literally bite their hands to offload Neymar.

Overall, football is somewhat becoming a sham with money laundering mechanics.

 

[Bodinki]

Neymar would be an idiot to go to France. Unless he wants an easy life with fat payday

Yeah, what kind of idiot would want that! pfft

 

[Swarbs]

In that equation, Barca would be the ultimate winner. They have enough depth to handle loss of Neymar however great he is. Plus if they get their hands on Coutinho, they will do just fine. I also think Liverpool can absorb the loss of Coutinho if they do the deal early and get a replacement or two.

I actually think that Neymar would be an idiot to go to France. Unless he wants an easy life with fat payday, of course. But why else would you leave Barca for France? My guess is that for the money PSG are will to pay, Barca would literally bite their hands to offload Neymar.

Overall, football is somewhat becoming a sham with money laundering mechanics.

Or he wants to be the biggest name at PSG, potentially winning them their first CL, rather than always being seen as Messi lite.

The way Barca play him he will never score the goals needed to win a Ballon D'Or. He's used more to feed Messi and Suarez than actually lead the line himself. So he can either wait around for Messi, and arguably Suarez, to retire, or he can try and make his own name somewhere else.

 

[Christiansmith]

In that equation, Barca would be the ultimate winner. They have enough depth to handle loss of Neymar however great he is. Plus if they get their hands on Coutinho, they will do just fine. I also think Liverpool can absorb the loss of Coutinho if they do the deal early and get a replacement or two.

I actually think that Neymar would be an idiot to go to France. Unless he wants an easy life with fat payday, of course. But why else would you leave Barca for France? My guess is that for the money PSG are will to pay, Barca would literally bite their hands to offload Neymar.

Overall, football is somewhat becoming a sham with money laundering mechanics.

Who wants to have 500k/week and be the main star of a super rich club? And idolised into the process?

Neymar if he is as good as he and others think, then dragging PSG whose spending has no limits into the very top tier could make him the Ballon D'Or he aspires to be.

 

[cytrax]

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[HRH Custard VC]

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[glazerfodder]

"Listen, Studge has been absolutely brilliant in pre-season so far," Lallana told the Telegraph. "You couldn't put a price on him.
"He is a world class player. He has come back from the summer looking absolutely brilliant, so fit. He is going to be a massive player for us this season. I can feel it.
"He is looking really sharp and to have him firing on all cylinders would be like having two new signings if we can keep on the pitch and get him scoring goals."
....................5 minutes later ...........injured, again.

 

[Stan]

"Listen, Studge has been absolutely brilliant in pre-season so far," Lallana told the Telegraph. "You couldn't put a price on him.
"He is a world class player. He has come back from the summer looking absolutely brilliant, so fit. He is going to be a massive player for us this season. I can feel it.
"He is looking really sharp and to have him firing on all cylinders would be like having two new signings if we can keep on the pitch and get him scoring goals."
....................5 minutes later ...........injured, again.

He's probably the best striker England have but he's another Saha who could have been a France legend. Shame really.