Liverpool have 2nd sewn up - EPL 2018/19

Dendoncker deal done

The Godin thing appears to have been a ruse by his agent to negotiate a better contract with Atleti. Bugger.

ooof thats not any way to treat a club with utds history and market capitalisation

i'm not even sure Dendoncker's's 1st team, this window has been awesome

So not only will Spurs be the only team in the top 5 European leagues not to sign anyone, we're also on course to be the first PL club ever to not sign anyone in the Summer transfer window since it was introduced in 2003

#newwayofworking

On the plus side I don't think we're going to let anyone go.

on the neutral side tbh

the plus side would be the twin temptations of sissoko and aurier out

fuck, everton have been busy today

andre gomes, yerry mina, bernard all anounced in the last 15 minutes

no united news apart from tim fm going to fulham for the season ;_;

Fuck we've got Evertong on Saturday

Zouma as well, blimey.

what does an everton starting 11 look like now?

what they can still only start xi? oops

think they just might survive rooney leaving

Everton Wolves is just going to be 22 complete strangers on the pitch wondering wtf they're supposed to be doing.

loool

Pretty sure about 7 of our starting line will be last season's squad

Seems like we've rather panicked after the defeats by Blackburn, Rennes, Valencia and Cammell Laird U17s but better this than sacking Silva.

Any news on whether Burnley are going to get the signing of Tommy Robinson over the line? #DeadlineDay

— RTB (@RichardTheBurns) August 9, 2018

I hope I haven't just unmasked Calzino here.

10 out of 10

lool! Ain't it the truth!

Although a loan initially, LFC set to get £20m when Danny Ings deal becomes permanent next summer. £18m with extra £2m bonuses. Also secured 20 per cent of any future sale.

— Chris Bascombe (@_ChrisBascombe) August 9, 2018

how do Liverpool pull off this kind of shit?

Revised prediction

18 Newcastle
19 Southampton
20 Cardiff

lol that's £32 m from the Ward and Ings sales in this window, one pretty duff goalkeeper and a so so championship striker. Liverpool will be exporting "Premium Quality" sand to Saudi Arabia next.

xp Would expect Palace to be in the mix now Jordan Ayew's joined them

board to Jose: drop dead

Jose Mourinho was told by Manchester United that the club would only sign a world-class defender of the calibre of Real Madrid’s World Cup winner Raphael Varane rather than compromise with a lesser light, despite the manager’s demands otherwise.

United would have paid £100 million for Varane but the World Cup winner was never available and as the options were put to them over the course of a transfer window there were too many good reasons to ignore them. It means they go into their first game against Leicester City at Old Trafford on Friday night without signing the centre-back Mourinho has asked for during pre-season.

The club believe they have delivered over the course of the last two windows on the agreed targets with around £73 million invested this window in Fred, Diogo Dalot and goalkeeper Lee Grant, as well as the £35 million cash committed for the fee for Alexis Sanchez in January.

It was around five hours before the deadline that United were linked with Atletico Madrid’s veteran Diego Godin, the club cited as having made an approach for the Uruguayan. In reality an intermediary had contacted United a few days earlier asking whether they would be interested in Godin. United said they were happy to be kept informed. The next and final conversation was the intermediary telling United that Godin has signed a new contract.

Yerry Mina was offered by Barcelona to United and a number of other clubs before the World Cup finals for €11m in an attempt by the Spanish champions to get their money back on a player they signed in January. Post-World Cup finals it was not the price being quoted for Mina but the structure of the agents’ fees being proposed that made the club uncomfortable. United felt paying them would set a damaging precedent set that could prove a problem in the future.

Mina was regarded by United as very far off the level that they wanted in a centre-back – and certainly not in the category of Varane. The Colombian’s standout performances at the World Cup finals, including England, marked him out as a specialist player, one for certain opponents whose threat would come in the air, but there were concerns about his all-round game.

The offer of signing Jerome Boateng, the 29-year-old Bayern Munich defender, was the easiest to reject. By United’s calculations he had simply missed too much football through injury over the last three years – playing no more than 19 league games in each season. United are wary of buying from Munich since their expensive misadventure with Bastian Schweinsteiger. To a lesser extent they feel that Owen Hargreaves also came to them in 2007 with the basis of what would become effectively a career-ending injury.

Harry Maguire was a genuine target although no progress was ever made with Leicester, and while it has proved impossible to change minds the softening of the club’s stance over time with Riyad Mahrez has given United some encouragement that it could be a long-term project. There was no offer made at any point for Toby Alderweireld at Tottenham Hotspur, another one whom United felt that in the long-term would not materially improve their five centre-back options.

How Mourinho reacts from now will be dictated to some extent by results but the key objectives at the turn of the year have all been fulfilled as far as the club are concerned. The signing of Fred from Shakhtar Donetsk to give energy to the midfield, was a long-term project with serious negotiations starting in Kiev in February. Signing Sanchez when he became available was another. Mourinho wanted a third-choice homegrown eligible goalkeeper –Grant was signed. The United manager also wanted Marouane Fellaini re-signed on a new contract.

The centre-back discussion has only become an issue this summer, and the club have felt that the options open to them have not warranted the investment they would have required.

xp feels like the club is just taunting imago now, signing a relegation jonah like ayew

alderweireld absolutley improves utd or am i just wearing my spurs shades

it's certainly a provocative assessment of their current backline from Man U

i think the long-term bit is key, from what i'm reading there's a boardroom concern that jose just wants to splurge on short term fixes that won't leave united any better off when he inevitably storms off in a huff. not sure how many good years tobes has in front of him though - surely he'd be dece for at least another 3 years or so?

Saying 'only of the calibre of Varane' is ludicrous when £100m could get you CB comfortably better than Jones or Smalling plus at least one fullback (and they really need those).

Obviously Alderweireld improves us, but paying over 50m for a a 29-year old that's available for half that amount that in a season's time doesn't make much sense

Jose's bought two CBs for a total of 70m-ish over the last two seasons. I can see why Woodward was reluctant to splash out on another

The left-back situation is bizarre though. We were never even credibly linked with one

Toby would cost you 50m and 7.5m per year on salary = 75m for a 4 year contract, with hardly any resale value. Ie. madness.

Blind could've stayed as LB and we'd still be better off than we're now.

big season for luke shaw tbh and i'm keen to see dalot in action

we're gonna win the league

uh

think youll find its already sewn up there buck

wait is this an actual live free epl game on sky 1

jesus this is horrible

Typical United

lump lump lump

puke football

mout

bullshit. It hasn't been good, but it's not long ball

Maddison playing well

theres a three match ban for fred anyway

It's the first game man. Leave something in the tank

fri night i have no idea how to pace for this

bad offside calls itg

ref having a laugh if thats not at keast yellow