"We've momentum and we can't afford to lose it tbh"- The '13-'14 summer transfer window thread for PL and beyond

'...Suarez got the penalty last week. It was no penalty. Nobody touched him but he goes overboard. I can understand if they push the ball too far but when no-one touches him...'

I imagine the comedy value of Arsene Wenger buying Luis Suarez has already been mined on this thread but I haven't been paying attention tbh

Marca apparently bugging Levy's office now

Marca report that Bale met Levy for showdown talks last Wednesday in London, telling him: "You made me a promise. You promised me if we didn't qualify for the Champions League and a good offer turned up you'd listen to it.

"Well that offer has arrived and I want to play for Real Madrid. So keep your word and negotiate.

"I'm not interested in Manchester United or any other club. I only want to play for Real Madrid."

This is great:

http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/can-you-trust-marca-a-list-of-the-spanish-newspapers-biggest-fails/

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BQGgz-DCYAAr7hC.jpg

meanwhile, guess where jamie o'hara is

hmmn

rangers?

rangers rangers not 'rangers

lol roma indeed. osvaldo being linked with fulham, arsenal turning down roma's 6M bid for gervinho.

we've been in front against Betis twice, looking forward to a winless August :/

ik; phaseofplay is a coach who knows his stuff. i'd say bookmark his posts and dip in every now and again, but you'd need to register on rawk to be able to do that.

I've been trying hard not to tbh, dunno how much longer that's sustainable

ilf could probably do with boots on the ground tbf

Accy Stanley have signed Dean Windass's son, and if you can avoid reading paragraph five of this story in his dad's voice, you're a better person than I.

Bryan Hughes ‏@yozzer10 18 Jul

Dean Windass Soccer School next week 22nd to 26th July at Archbishop Sentamu Academy. £64 for for 5 days coaching. 10am until 4pm.
Retweeted by Josh Windass

Do we believe the Bale story?

The tone of The Guardian piece seems odd:

Bale has been left distraught...Bale recognises Real as one of the world's leading clubs... he has always dreamed of playing for the Bernabéu club... Bale is horrified by Levy's intransigence...Bale cannot believe that Levy is blocking what could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity...The situation has got under Bale's skin...

Reads like it's either lifted directly from Marca or his agent has been on the phone.

ibrahimovic and ferdinand are the only players among the 20 highest transfer fees who aren't from latin countries

Carroll?

Adjusted for inflation he's not in the top twenty.

he scores well adjusted for ability though

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/5037053/Nile-Rangers-bizarre-new-tattoo.html

Just the thing if you're up in court next month.

From the sidebar: Real to offer £20m plus Higuain for Suarez

It is understood that the father-of-one has spoken on the phone to Arsenal vice-captain and fellow Spanish speaker Mikel Arteta about both where his family would live were they to relocate to the capital and possible schools for his young daughter, Delfina.

His conversations with Suarez demonstrate the Uruguayan's growing desire to leave Anfield and become Arsenal's club-record signing.

see if you're gonna make stuff up do it like that imo

I suspect a combination of Madrid plus Bale's agent are the main drivers here (how much would an agent get from an £85m transfer anyway?)

The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity stuff is bollocks of the highest order.

Reads like a soap opera

Ive been away from coverage is this printed in credible papers in credible language

It's in the Graun and it's written in the language of a Dickensian orphan pressing his nose up against a Castillian window while weeping feebly.

do we think there's been a bid?

if so, do we think it's been:

£80m

or

£50m plus contreaeaeaeaooaw and di maria

because tbh it's nice having one of the world's best players but

cosigning garda's reaction to that graun bilge in advance

Gareth has been hurt and confused by Daniel's coldness these past few weeks. He had promised himself that he would never be hurt like this again, never let anyone close again, but how could he have known that the quietly confident football club chairman would have pierced his defences so completely, so tenderly, so devastatingly?

Even now, in the fog of wonder and promise brought on by this spanish billionare, Gareth knew that the dull ache and moistness in his loins was for Levy, and the excitement of wondering how he would react to this challenge. God! He would be magnificent.

A+ Sunday league goal from coutinho there. Sad that all I can think is if he keeps this up he'll be off ;_;

tbh getting in potential and them playing for a big move has been p fun and successful for us this past while, if one only accepts the sting

Think I'm still in the denial stage at this point, just about.

Thing is, even if you believe Levy made such a promise to Modric two years ago, there's no way he'd have been stupid enough to do so a second time with Bale.

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BQQhyzECAAAMorz.jpg

http://www.chartattack.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/prince.jpeg

Gareth Bale, earlier today

Oferta por Bale: 60 millones más Di María y Coentrao
El Madrid tasa al argentino en 30 y al portugués en 20. Levy no desea la marcha de su estrella, pero si no tiene más remedio quiere romper el mercado.

that's from AS which is slightly less useless than marca and is maybe even more ridiculous than the £81m offer

£25m for di maría would be quite achievable in this market, probably more and coentrao for at least £12m or so

i don't think di maría would want to move to tottenham which makes it redundant

sky aren't really running with any of these stories

Ji-Sung Park is leaving QPR for a return to PSV! Is he still any good?

no

:)

http://i.minus.com/ibeclhu4NJd074.gif

bale isnt thaaaat much a better player than di maria so thats a way better deal for spurs. di maria is still one of the top 5 best left wingers in the world for petes sake.

Di Maria is terribly inconsistent. Has he even had at least one full good season?

yes

rong

hes an excellent player, 'inconsistent' is every commentbox description for every winger but adm is not especially so, except for a pronounced spell the season before last

there are pretty much no other wingers who have both speed/technique/trad winger attributes and defensive aptitude like him, he can play as 433 winger, inside forward, the argentine carrilero (right side mid in 4312) and could probably play in a 442 too also

kind of like a more intelligent nani

he can't play as a central midfielder but then only maradona would try to do that

no