Didn't RM do a similar thing with Dembele last year? Trying to pressure you into selling Modric, if not they'll bid for your targets.
I don't think so, as I recall we weren't really linked to Dembele until Modric was sold and we wrapped it up very quickly once we asked Fulham about his availability.
It was the players claim. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/aug/14/moussa-dembele-real-madrid-fulham
Corinthians have admitted that Paulinho is leaving imminently. "Besides the signings we also suffered harassment of the top clubs in the world on some of our key players," read a club statement from president Mario Gobbi Filho. "We make every effort to keep them, but we have to evaluate the good proposals and understand the goals and aspirations of life of each of our athletes. "With the imminent departure of Paulinho we trust in football other players that are being prepared for some time, as William and Edenilson, or even the newly hired Ibson." I've heard of Edenilson, but they don't appear to have a William in their squad. There's a Willain and he seems to be a young midfielder, so perhaps he was misquoted slightly.
I don't feel 100% right about the Paulinho set up. I'd go as far as to say that I don't think he's the right player for us and I've said before that I don't think AVB is the right coach for us. I think that we are living in a bit of a fool's paradise. All the names linked with us and our coach and top player seem all up for grabs elsewhere and we seem to have a very tenuous hold on them. Absolutely nothing is certain. I'm uneasy about the whole set up.
Christ TMT, a bit negative mate! How much of paulinho have you actually seen? Surely the club wouldn't be breaking its transfer record for someone ****e, would we?! Also quite amazed that you seem so unsure of AVB, too. Don't get me wrong, I was this time last year, but he's just got us our best points record in the PL in his first season. That's gotta count for something? Be positive! COYS!!!!
Roo, with bigger teams interested in both Paulinho and AVB it makes me think that the former will get itchy feet very soon if he comes to us. A current Brazilian international coming to North London doesn't sound quite right to me. Others will urge him to leave like they have with Bale. Is a bulldozing midfielder who runs from one box to the other what we need? I'm not sure. Sorry if I sound negative. I wouldn't be negative with Klopp or Blanc and I hope we see either at WHL one day.
Klopp or Blanc would be n demand too so you would have the same problem. Harry was in demand (by the red tops) for the England job. Jol was wanted by Ajax while at spurs. It's only the **** managers that aren't in demand, we could go back to Gerry Francis and Christian gross if you'd prefer? Pauly scored the winner last night?
Ok so he scored the winner but that alone doesn't make him right for us. No I don't want to go back to Gross or Francis,Hoddle,Ardiles or any of those mediocre managers we had back then. Torres scored winners but that doesn't make him right for Chelsea does it? Just a bit concerned that's all.
Assuming we get him, I think he will be an excellent signing. He is leaving his home country and almost certainly speaks very little, or no English. To have a manager who is respected, and speaks your native tongue, will help him settle in greatly. The other thing that sounds an exciting possibility is a, hopefully, fully fit Dembele, Paulinho, and Bale all running at a defence. Should be enough to scare the **** out of anybody!..
I just can't see the use in worrying about 1 in demand manager while wanting 2 other in demand managers and not wanting a not in demand manager.
I actually saw Maghoma play for our reserves once or twice and was surprised we let him go. Was one of our better prospects at the time. Good to see him progressing now.
Paulinho looks quality from what I've seen. It'll be an interesting midfield 3 to have if he does indeed join. We'll have a somewhat "powerhouse trio" which may not play the most beautiful football, but they'd certainly dominate the place if all 3 are on form (Paulinho, Sandro and Dembele that is). As for AVB, I'm still unsure on him. Yes the points record is great, but like someone said a couple days ago, you're not gonna talk to your grand kids or others about "reaching our maximum points haul", you'll talk about how you won cups or qualified for the Champions League and played against the likes of Bremen, Inter, AC and Real Madrid. I'd also argue the points haul was just a form of natural progression from last season, I said at the start of the season I felt our squad of players were very good despite losses of key players and so in theory, a record points haul would've justified the fact I felt we had a better squad. I'm not trying to take the credit away from AVB but I think it's a bit OTT (not saying you, but people in general) that people seem to think that it was just because of AVB we got the points we did. He's in charge of a good squad, he should be getting a good amount of points. I even read on Twitter from TWO guys that they'd rather lose Bale than AVB, which, in my opinion, is ****ing crazy. I appreciate standing by your manager and supporting him but there seems to be a crazy amount of love for a guy that hasn't really done much (well in my opinion anyway) to justify it. You'd think he'd achieved what SAF has done the way some bang on
you can't just heap praise on the players for a record points haul while dismissing the achievements of the manager. We've all seen what can happen to a good bunch of players with a **** manager and what happens with a good manager and a bunch of dross on the field.
I never said it was just down to the players. I said that many seem to credit AVB as the sole reason we achieved that points tally without considering the fact we have a good (dare I say great) bunch of players. If AVB or any manager achieved that points tally with Wigan, Reading etc then that would be a significant achievement for a manager. With us, it was more of an expectation to achieve the points we did. Our aim was Champions League football and we missed out narrowly, no one will remember a record points haul in the near future unless it leads to a league title or qualifying for the elite competition.
