I think Babbs referenced this in another thread. We need the bigger teams to take points off City. I wouldnt be at all surprised to see West Ham get something tomorrow. I think Pellegrini is an excellent manager and he has made some good signings. It might be a little early being first game to take points off the favourites but i think West Ham will certainly be top 8 or so come the end of the season.
The Ev have done some decent business. United could be looking over their shoulders at Wolves and Everton this season.
Not buying the Everton love in. They have lost Zouma and not replaced him, they have only 2 centre backs, 1 of which is always injured. They lost their best midfielder and signed one they already had. For me it all depends on Kean, I know nothing about him but as a rule top clubs don't generally let promising 19 year olds stroll out the door and they're didn't appear to be a stampede to get him. If he is shit and I suspect he will be then they're fucked, they have bought too many players in each of the last 3 years, they surely can't afford to add to the growing list of expensive failures.
Seen a stat today that said Liverpool were outspent by ALL Premier League clubs and 13 of the 24 Championship Clubs.
Swiss Ramble put a thread on Twitter today about Arsenals transfer window which as is always the case with him was very good but there was one piece of information that I thought was really interesting. Most transfer fees are paid in installments,but I never knew that clubs generally get most of the money up front by selling the debt to a third party.
That is quite interesting, selling debt is usually an expensive way of getting your cash up front, we used to use them for collections and you'd lose maybe 10% up front but you might get some of it back when the financer received the full amount of the debt. Different scale altogether here but similar principles I'm sure. It's a murky business to get caught up in.
My sources have us spending £1.75 million and Norwich spending £3.75 million. If we were to look at net spend as well, we're at a £29.25 million profit, and Norwich are at a £2.40 million deficit. But at the end of the day I suppose we don't really know as all the fees are undisclosed until we get to see accounts next year.
Well, the way I seen it was that he was being used as part of a deal for Neymar. He's been poor for Barca but you'd imagine he'd be worth in or around 50 million in any potential deal. The fact he's gone on loan to Bayern means Barca will have to offer cash instead of Phil. I don't think they have the money on hand that PSG are asking for. Unless PSG want other Barca players, heard they want Samedo but he won't leave. Barca could get a good loan fee from Bayern either.
It coujd either be Barca clearing some salary off their books in order to be able to afford Neymar. I think the lad is vastly overrated but obviously he's a very good player, I've just never seen anything there to resemble a Messi or Ronaldo.
It could be. He was on huge wages alright. I think they've got a 20 million loan fee for Coutinho and Bayern have an option to buy. They could sill pull off Neymar but it's going to take some effort, particularly with a pawn like Coutinho not involved. As for Neymar, you're spot on. He's a very good player but not even near the same bracket as Messi and Ronaldo. Makes you wonder what Messi would go for in this market.
Liverpool are set to land a major windfall as a result of Philippe Coutinho's move to Bayern Munich. The former Reds star is on the verge of completing a switch to the German giants after Barcelona confirmed a deal has been agreed. The loan move with an option to buy will see the Anfield club land the entirety of the €20m (£18m) loan fee as a result of money they are still owed by Barcelona for the purchase of the Brazilian, according to Sport Coutinho moved to Barcelona back in January 2018 after five years at Anfield in a deal worth a total of £142million. But it included a number of clauses and it is reported Coutinho's premature departure from the club after a tough 18 months will see the Reds land an extra chunk of the fee. The deal for Coutinho will see Bayern cover his €12m wages and have an option to buy for €120m at the end of the year-long loan spell on June 30. I'd put all my life savings on Bayern not going ahead with this deal next June, not a shadow of a doubt.
I doubt Barca have any expectation of Bayern making the deal permanent but they get him off the wage bill for a year and will be hoping he performs to a level where other teams will shell out big money for him. I've said it before though,you need to be careful when you're buying a player from a Klopp team because you can't be sure how much of what you're seeing from an individual can be replicated outside that system.
I'd agree with that on certain positions, mainly Bobby and the midfield 3. The rest are fairly compatible with most modern systems. In Phil's case I think it all comes down to Messi. No other player in the world dictates the style and tactics like he does. For someone like Coutinho it must be like learning to play football all over again, every natural instinct he has needs to be replaced with "where is Messi?". If you shoot or pass to anyone but him it's a mistake unless it results in a goal. The games I've seen him for Brazil he has still looked an excellent player. I think some people forget how good he was, he is almost a joke figure in places but he was nominated as one of the league best 3 players not so long ago. It's a smart move for Bayern, use the wages they would have paid Sane, improve the team, keep fans happy and go get Sane next year for cheaper if he recovers properly or buy Phil if he tears it up.