"and can slot in at right-back if required" - close season transfer banter 2014

Reckon Henry was lukkin 2 pick sum tips off Jody Craddock

The unexpected star of the World Cup finals, Colombia’s James Rodríguez, has signed for Real Madrid for a reported £63m.

The 23-year-old follows the signing of another key midfielder from the World Cup, Germany’s Toni Kroos who joined for a bargain £20m, and will be given the No10 shirt which was last worn by Mesut Özil.

He passed a medical in the Spanish capital on Tuesday morning and has agreed a six-year deal at the Bernabéu. Real Madrid will present him to the fans in their stadium at 7pm BST.

The announcement had been expected this week but had been delayed as Real and Monaco struggled over the small print in the €80m deal with Monaco’s owner Dmitry Rybolovlev holding out for €85m, according to L’Equipe.

Monaco were keen to sign Diego López in part exchange but the goalkeeper did not want to leave. Real are expected to sign the Costa Rica goalkeeper Keylor Navas for £8m as their No1 after the European champions agreed to meet the release clause in his contract at Levante

Have Atleti signed a keeper yet?

yeah, Oblak from Benfica

thx

i was hoping lopez or casillas would arrive to troll RM. Really intrigued to see what Simeone does with 'em next season considering his team has been somewhat gutted.

http://i60.tinypic.com/33f6syf.jpg

Aw yeah, I'm made up about Borini; I was flicking through some classic World Cup pictures just now and realised I totally see him when I look at Ghiggia in the snap above. Hopefully he stays now and gets the chance to do a Henderson.

btw For future reference I've set up the Fantasy Football leagues for 2014/15:

• 297097-79958 for the regular Serie ILF
• 297097-79972 for the ILF Zingari head-to-head league

Stoke City FC ‏@stokecity 30m
#WelcomeBojan #BienvenidoBojan

Arnautovic / Diouf / Odemwingie / Bojan will be interesting.

Could free up Crouch to reunite with Redknapp.

lol I was actually going to compare Bebe to Bojan earlier, in the sense of prolonged unmerited careers at top clubs. Might be a decent thread idea even.

well that's not a good comparison to start with

Considering this the grabbag thread for all things footy: http://instagram.com/p/qw_Jxzrj-p/

ironing a t-shirt? C'mon son

At first I thought that was some clever Puma product placement. But if there's any product placement going on in that clip it's prob from Zlatan himself.

Morphy Richards, guys.

Who's the fellow in the painting? I think I saw a Machiavelli portrait like that once. Either way it's ... incongruous.

Cultural Leonesa's new kit:

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/07/22/1406051077817_wps_1_Cultural_Leonesa.jpg

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2701777/Spanish-sides-unveil-new-kits-inspired-tuxedos-octopus-tentacles-pint-beer.html

holy fuck. are those all legit?

Para adquirir cualquier producto oficial de la Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa tienes que ponerte en contacto con administrac✧✧✧@culturalydeportivaleon✧✧✧.e✧

Lugo apparently have 5 kits for this season. here are the 4th and 5th

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/07/22/1406051281647_wps_5_CD_Lugo_Twitter_CDeportiv.jpg

thread title is a winner but "if that's not a bullshit story I'll eat a broomstick" is p good too.

West Brom 1-0 Sacramento: Craig Gardner sent off on his debut as Graham Dorrans scores from the spot to hand Baggies victory
Craig Gardner sees red for second bookable offence on Baggies debut

slotting in nicely

Woodward says United will not be put off spending what it takes to secure the players of Van Gaal’s choice. “Of course it’s in our capabilities,” he said. “You guys think about the money in a way that I don’t."

hollow laugh

Lampard to NYCFC on $7.8 million a year, wow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V8VnP1nHXw

<3

Tottenham Hotspur ‏@SpursOfficial 1m
We are delighted to announce that we have reached agreement with Swansea City for the transfers of Ben Davies and Michel Vorm.

Tottenham Hotspur ‏@SpursOfficial 45s
The transfers will also see Gylfi Sigurdsson return to the Welsh club where he spent time on loan in 2012 & we wish him well for the future.

Was the next tweet "ENJOY FABIANSKI LOL"?

fucking hell twp and jonesy being taught how to play football, who knows where this could lead

he's not just teaching them football. He's teaching them to love again.

outing myself as a lurker oh hi

maybe idk gonna check out this whole euro futbol for real idk idk

as you were lads

no capitals - check
non-banter banter - check
vaguely irish cadence - check

YOU'RE IN

Always remember that the English football pyramid has some awesome clubs with incredible history outside of the top division VG. In England some of the third tier clubs are bigger than many European first division clubs and the 2nd division is far more unpredictable than the premiership. Just saying like! Anyway whatever you are into, good for you because you are a brilliant poster.

ben davies

nothing like replacing one kinda ok but really a bit shitty british lb with another

levy knows

one was once the most expensive transfer of all time so

Srsly gonna need a Life and Times of LvG at ManU thread. It will be glorious.

On Vorm: is he cashing in for three years benching at Spurs btw?

Nothing about this Vorm transfer makes the remotest bit of sense. Is Fabianski really meant to be an upgrade on him? Were there really not any other takers?

Vorm was shit last year is the secret

Ian Ladyman @Ian_Ladyman_DM · 1h
Van Gaal confirms 3-4-3 is the way #mufc will play this season. Says also squad lacks "balance". Says "we have four number tens".

Ian Ladyman @Ian_Ladyman_DM · 1h
Van Gaal: "we can switch to 4-3-3 when the other system doesn't work. But if we play that we have 3 strikers on the bench. That's not good"

don't suppose anyone saw the friendlies last night b/w Man U & LA Galaxy

I turned it on at around 50min mark, it was 3-0 ManU. Final score: 7-0
idk if Man U are suddenly great or LA Galaxy are super shit

lvg

lamela scored twice last night :)

I read that as 'Ismael' and thought 'not likely'

Jack Sullivan ‏@jsullivanwhu 14m
VERY BAD NEW REGARDING AC, TORN LIGAMENTS IN ANKLE... OPERATION TOMORROW WITH TOP SURGEON IN USA... WILL BE PLAYING IN 4 MONTHS

Matt Spiro ‏@mattspiro 5m
QPR have matched Dinamo Moscow's €7m bid for Mathieu Valbuena (L'Equipe). Marseille & France playmaker to be reunited with @Joey7Barton ?

Get French Football ‏@GFN_France 1m
Mathieu Valbuena has finally rejected Dynamo Moscow according to @lequipe. More to follow. #OM

boner time i think we can all agree

(probably just for the agent using us as pawns but still)

I don't understand. How can Valbuena to QPR for €7m even be a discussion point?

in what way, here, there or everywhere? its too ridiculous to waste much time on I'd guess.

Anywhere. And yet they picked up Remy for something similar iirc. Valbuena's even better though.