In all honesty I don't know - I can imagine there will be times when the player doesn't need to know. He has a contract, what right does he have to know of interest elsewhere. However making it public invites speculation and comment. It is designed to unsettle the player, build some momentum towards making him want to leave. Again I don't know where the line between illegal and legal is here, but I think it is poor practice. And I would if it were Spurs.
How many bids get made these days that are kept private? The media are all over it, it's almost impossible to do business without anybody else knowing. Anyway, looks like Filipe is off back to Atletico for 15M. Thought it was a pointless signing at the time but i think we've done well to get 15M back. Looks like his replacement will be Rahman from Augsburg, anybody seen him play? I knew absolutely nothing about him until we were linked with him earlier in the window.
Of course. No one can argue that. Its a snide tactic, all clubs do it though. "Oh Whoops, I accidently said out loud we are bidding for so and so in front of this known journalist, hope he doesnt leak it". Its not however, tapping up, and is not against any rules, is the point I was making
Obviously not in this instance unless it was a massive double bluff but have the times the selling club are the ones to leak the bid in order to drive a bidding war and drive up prices.
Indeed, there is that too. Not uncommon at all for a club to say "Oh look we got an offer of £20m for dick boy surpeme, any one want to better it?"
I see nothing wromg with that though. The player is their "asset" so if he's being sold, why not get the best price. The rules should be there to protect the selling club. The buying club can always walk away.
I agree, I think the point he was making though was that both the prospective buyer and seller have been known to leak info. Both are cynical ploys to get what they want, the buyer wants to unsettle the player and the seller wants to get as much cash as they can for their asset. This is football.
You've got a good memory if you can remember what I said in reference to some United friendlies a few years ago...cos I can't!! Same old adage, if you win friendlies it's good prep for the season, if you lose them it doesn't matter because they are meaningless! Pretty much every fans' reaction.
Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel says he has no intention of leaving Stamford Bridge. The 28-year-old Nigerian, the Blues' second-longest serving player behind captain John Terry, is currently in the United States preparing for his 10th season with Jose Mourinho's side. "I want to stay and the manager wants me to stay," he told the club website. "I've got two years here and I'm happy. "I like to be somewhere where I have developed friends and family. It's like my family here and every day I come to work it is like coming in to see my family." Bod will be pleased.....
He isn't terrible, just never lived up to the hype. All the **** we went through signing him, and the court case with man United etc He is a mediocre player. And definitely a weak link when looking at our squad, along with Ramires.
He is mediocre. Such a terrible player. Isn't strong, isn't quick, lazy, dwells on the ball, has no fight and more reactive than proactive. Chuck him in a tony pulis team with 11 men behind the ball and he's okay. In a team like ours where teams if they do attack us which is generally on the counter Mikel is the worst DM you could ever get.
I want someone like the Gerrard of old to sit next to Matic in that spot. Someone who will get about, box to box. Will defend, but also has a good eye for starting attacks. Matic does a good job of most of this, but he doesnt get forward enough, which is fine, because thats not his role. I want someone who will run. Vidal would have been perfect. Instead we are spending all summer replacing departing players like for like, and signing back up players to replace perfectly adequate younger players we sold in this last 2 summers. I know we owned the league last year, but City, United and Arsenal all appear to be improving immensely, where as we have stood still.....not a good sign.
Absolutely. And to think Vidal has only gone for 25m. We did that on Cuadrado alone (who i dont think will make it, too skinny and divey. Doesn't have that strength and can't flop around as the PL doesn't allow it). Even now there are a few candidates that we could get: Henderson (people probably won't agree with this) Pjanic Matuidi Koke Luis Gustavo? even Yohan Cabaye would have been alright Verrati Alex Song Any of those is an improve on the deadly duo of Mikel and Ramires. Ideally we would have got Kroos,Pogba, Rakitic,Modric or Vidal but that aint ever going to happen
BobbyD - I've been wishing for Verratti for a long time. Young, excellent player (a bit naughty at times) but would be superb. Aren't PSG struggling with complying with FFP at the moment. Perhaps we could be kind enough to help them by taking Verratti off their hands? Could let both Mikel & Rambo go then. Interesting that (almost) everyone seems to think that Mikel is an "average player". Seems to wind most fans up and lots struggle to see his value. Last season was the first time since joining us that he hadn't made at least 35 appearances. Whichever manager we had in place (and we've had a few), they all seemed to have valued him for what he does/is. We haven't done too bad performance or trophy-wise during that period either, so he can't have been all bad. Clearly does a job for us.
