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

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.

Sevilla said that Valbuena was asking for massive wages which they couldn't get near even though they could afford the transfer fee. QPR don't blink on wages. Is Granero still there? Taraabt?

I know it was only a friendly but...I'm in love with Ander Herrera

and the contrast to Moyes's pre-season exploits is pretty stark

unseemly imo

v v happy with Davies in, siggurdson out

what the hell are spurs gonna do with a FB that actually defends?

ruin

£27m for Schneiderlin can't be right. Drogba to Chelsea, I'm embarrassed for all concerned.

"More than £27m" if Southampton's asking price is to be believed. Can't see Spurs paying that unless they get similar money for Sandro.

he would be more of a Paulinho replacement right? didn't Wanyama typically play deeper than Schneiderlin last season?
don't think it will happen either way.

Eventually someone is going to find Etienne Capoue down the back of the players lounge sofa and have a lightbulb moment.

Capoue has been playing well in the friendlies

feel like there must be something unsavory about Capoue. he was pretty well regarded and already had a few france caps when spurs bought him, but the only other team interested in him was cardiff city iirc.

wtf tho I mean Sandro what's happening

Supposedly Levy thinks he'll never get a much money for him again. May be injury concerns, idk.

yeah he is going into final two years of his contract and there've been rumors they are far apart on a new deal, in part due to injury history

So looks like we're losing Lovren and Calum Chambers in the space of not very many hours at all. Regardless of what happens to Schneiderlin.

Still - war chest!

stoked for the jenkinson to west ham madness

Feel kinda bad, if that's not too patronising, about the way Saints have been pillaged for players this summer.

pillaged, tho?

a lot depends on whether it was poch improving players or maybe devising the best system, or whether it was/is a case of Southampton having an infrastructure in place in training, scouting, identifying available and affordable talent. if the latter, selling high each summer good and early will suit them for now

I'm gonna go ahead and put it on the record and hopefully I'm proved wrong, LFC's transfer business this off season has been catastrophically bad (i'm including Lovren @£20m and Remy in this although I'm not sure if they've officially signed yet)

not v inspiring for any club with aspirations to be sure

saying that, not a lot anyone can ever do if silly money is being thrown and players want to follow an inspiring manager out

kinda taking on an unseemly vibe now though... chambers (although clyne's there to replace) was surely retainable even just to sell higher next year, still no cork and fonte contracts, no kit deal looks shoddy business, idk

schneiderlin was poch's talisman so if they can't turn him round then koeman really does have a blank canvas to transplant his feyenoord work rather than maintain continuity. try and stay up without too much panic this season then rebuild properly next summer i guess (before liverpool come knocking again for ward-prowse, reed, van dijk etc)

I think Rodgers, like Pochettino, is a v v good coach/man manager but he should never be given the main responsibility for buying the players.

xp

agree but in weak mitigation it sort of wasnt the easiest 100m to invest given the top shelf sanchez/reus stuff remains unattainable

how might u have spent it? (besides rodriguez natch)

I liked the idea of spending the full £75m on Manuel Neuer

RB - Either Fabian Johnson (was available on a free, went to Gladbach) or Franck Béria of Lille (although he is 31)

LWF - Calhanoglu (went to Leverkusen for £14.5 (this would be my gamble purchase which I guess ended up going on Markovic)

CF - Lambert was an okay move @£4m (I almost had a rage blackout when I thought the fee was £9m)

I would have kept my powder dry and tried to make an over the top bid for a premium DM like Javi Martinez although I recognise that the chances of success are slim. Sebastian Rode would be good but Bayern had him tied up on a free long ago, shame we never played Sahin in his right position really.

I don't really see the need to reinvest all £100m straight away if the right targets aren't available tbh.

Most of the players we've bought have played in the league before which theoretically is a bonus. But then again so had Adam, Konchesky, Downing, and Carroll.

The Javi Martinez bid was assuming that he's gonna be deployed either in defense or on the bench under Pep and would therefore be unhappy. Wishful thinking most probably given that even if the scenario materializes he'd have better offers.

It won't, but I kinda wish the saga of Ozil and the detectives could gain a bit of steam and last until the season starts.

I think the fact that it isn't a saga and nobody cares might count against it

Also that it only appeared in the daily mail

i thought i read about it in the telegraph

Quoting the Mail tho

what saga?

ozil accused of assault by a photographer. No action taken because of lack of independent witness. 2 of the investigating officers treated to Mezut's private box at the Emirates for an Arsenal game soon after.

nothing suspicious there at all.

assault *with a car* too

what would nicklas bendtner say

ps this saga happened in february, the daily mail basically have a hate campaign (for web hits) against ozil, waited til world cup - think the final? - to publish article etc etc

HE'S NICKIN' A LIVING!

Neil Ashton that is, Ozil's doing just fine imo