Topic: THE NON-LIVERPOOL TRANSFER THREAD

[MNAA]

And Ronaldo remains one of the most recognisable figures in world sport. Juve buying brand recognition.

Juventus recruitment strategy has been silly and stupid for some time. Good enough for them to win the league but not for Europe

[Drinks Sangria]

Allegri is desperate to win the Champions League.

Agnelli? Allegri hasn’t been at the club for some time (and apparently been having English lessons for over a year).

Interesting if they are indeed looking to offload Ronaldo. Giving him that contract at his age was always reckless. See also Ramsey, Aaron. As many have said IF Ronaldo did push them towards a CL title then maybe it would be worth it. But they had other goal scorers consistently delivering in Serie A so really what was the point? I genuinely think Agnelli fixated on that incredible overhead kick Ronaldo did against Juve and was prepared to pay him whatever he wanted, for a then 33 year old.

At 35 now you can only imagine PSG or a Qatari club paying him what he’d be looking for. He’s actually hilariously been linked to Barça this morning. Just looking at a list of Juve’s squad puts them in my mind as one of the worst positioned of all the traditional European super clubs to ride out the covid troubles.

Ronaldo - Massive wages are an albatross around the club’s neck. Still an excellent player but not producing numbers that couldn’t be achieved for a lot lot cheaper elsewhere.

Buffon - Big wages for a second choice keeper and probably retiring after next season.

Dybala - Utterly puzzling attempts to sell last summer and now in line for a big new deal after an excellent season. They should keep and build around him.

De Ligt - Been a slight disappointment and another apparently on stratospheric wages. Needs time but could be in the offload pile if he doesn’t improve.

Higuain - Fair play to the guy every time people write him off he comes back with goals. Still, big wages and poor resale value at his age and declining numbers.

Rabiot - Massive wages and they want rid.

Ramsey - See Rabiot but add ‘obscene’ in front of wages. They are desperate to offload and he’s really done nothing there so far.

Bernadeschi - A player that represents Juve’s problematic and backward thinking. They secured him for a sizeable but justifiable fee for a young high potential player who’d produced the numbers he had. Now after an indifferent start they’re looking to offload rather than develop a player who I think could become elite level, if given the game time.

Douglas Costa - Been an alright signing but another expensive one on decent wages and at his age and with declining numbers it makes sense to try and get a good fee for him.

Demiral - Looked imperious before a bad injury. Again been linked wit moves away and similarly to Bernadeschi it would surely be stupid to sell a player who is good enough for lots of first team minutes now whilst still having potential to improve.

Cuadrado - Still useful despite what his time in England suggested.

Bentancur - Consistently linked away but I would think will stay. Excellent young player who they should start to build around.

Chiellini, Danilo, Sandro they will all keep for one reason or another. Bonucci too despite his indifferent return.

All in all a mess. Of their own creation. Will be fun to see what happens.

[El Lobo]

Good post

And you’d hope looking at certain clubs (Juve, Barca, Real, Chelsea, Man City and United, Arsenal) that Liverpool fans would be extremely happy with how we’re being run.

[Chris~]

Juventus will be fine in the long run unless the Agnelli families other business are really badly hit as well. They can just get Jeep to up their sponsorship if need be to cover any financial issues and spend there way out of the problem.

[Andy82lfc]

Yes Ramseys wages are obscene, I think at times like that you have to take your hat off to the agent, how the fuck anyone thought he was worth anything near that amount is baffling. He produced nothing but short sparks in the PL, don't know what they were smoking in Turin when they signed that deal. I always imagine the star players of 40 years ago must be gutted at seeing the amounts paid today, even for the shitest players in the league.

[Barefoot Doctor]

Douglas Costa - Been an alright signing but another expensive one on decent wages and at his age and with declining numbers it makes sense to try and get a good fee for him.

Being strongly linked to United as a Sancho alternative. He's obviously a good player on his day but I wouldn't be worried at all if they got him instead of Sancho.

[Nobby Reserve]

Being strongly linked to United as a Sancho alternative. He's obviously a good player on his day but I wouldn't be worried at all if they got him instead of Sancho.

I'd be delighted if they got him instead of Sancho.

[IanZG]

Yes Ramseys wages are obscene, I think at times like that you have to take your hat off to the agent, how the fuck anyone thought he was worth anything near that amount is baffling. He produced nothing but short sparks in the PL, don't know what they were smoking in Turin when they signed that deal. I always imagine the star players of 40 years ago must be gutted at seeing the amounts paid today, even for the shitest players in the league.

Think the likes of Ramsey are part of the reason why we'll see more and more players run their contracts out.

[El Lobo]

I'd be delighted if they got him instead of Sancho.

I don’t think they’ve got any interest in another AM/winger. I think they thought they saw an opportunity to pick him up on the ‘cheap’, the market hasn’t gone how people thought so they’re now trying to put out that they’re interested in other players. It remains to be seen how keen they are to save face as to whether that’s done now.

[Drinks Sangria]

I always imagine the star players of 40 years ago must be gutted at seeing the amounts paid today, even for the shitest players in the league.

Off topic but you’re not wrong. It was more than 40 years ago, but my Great Grandad, now passed, played for England in the 40s/50s and was considered one of the best centre halves in the game during that time. He even almost became the most expensive footballer of all time when his club rejected an offer of £30k from Hull City in the late 40s. He earned a pittance until he went to Colombia to play in Bogotá in what was a kind of tabloid sensation at the time. Basically following big money he’d never have earned in England. That got him blacklisted from the national team too by the FA. This did mean he avoided being part of the 1950 World Cup debacle. For context and perspective, in Colombia he earned £60 a week and had a signing on fee of £2000 which was seen as obscene at the time.

I distinctly remember when I was very young in the mid 90s he used to balk at the wages of the modern players. Imagine now.

[idontknow]

Off topic but you’re not wrong. It was more than 40 years ago, but my Great Grandad, now passed, played for England in the 40s/50s and was considered one of the best centre halves in the game during that time. He even almost became the most expensive footballer of all time when his club rejected an offer of £30k from Hull City in the late 40s. He earned a pittance until he went to Colombia to play in Bogotá in what was a kind of tabloid sensation at the time. Basically following big money he’d never have earned in England. That got him blacklisted from the national team too by the FA. This did mean he avoided being part of the 1950 World Cup debacle. For context and perspective, in Colombia he earned £60 a week and had a signing on fee of £2000 which was seen as obscene at the time.

I distinctly remember when I was very young in the mid 90s he used to balk at the wages of the modern players. Imagine now.

Some impressive commendations on his wikipedia page - Billy Wright, Stanley Matthews, Tom Finney. 
Will have to read up more, and about what happened in Colombia, don't know much about that.

[Drinks Sangria]

Some impressive commendations on his wikipedia page - Billy Wright, Stanley Matthews, Tom Finney. 
Will have to read up more, and about what happened in Colombia, don't know much about that.

He lead a very interesting life! In Colombia my great grandma got pregnant with my Nan, and they decided after a few short months they didn’t want to bring up their children in Colombia. A shame in some ways and you’d wonder why they didn’t think of that before, but I suppose they weighed up the risk before going and it didn’t quite work out.

He actually ended up with alzheimer’s in his later years, no doubt in some ways could be connected to heading the heavy leather casing ball. Top lad he was though.

[MNAA]

Being strongly linked to United as a Sancho alternative. He's obviously a good player on his day but I wouldn't be worried at all if they got him instead of Sancho.

Read that on Athletic. That would be a significant downgrade from Sancho. If true, that is going to be hilarious

[MNAA]

Off topic but you’re not wrong. It was more than 40 years ago, but my Great Grandad, now passed, played for England in the 40s/50s and was considered one of the best centre halves in the game during that time. He even almost became the most expensive footballer of all time when his club rejected an offer of £30k from Hull City in the late 40s. He earned a pittance until he went to Colombia to play in Bogotá in what was a kind of tabloid sensation at the time. Basically following big money he’d never have earned in England. That got him blacklisted from the national team too by the FA. This did mean he avoided being part of the 1950 World Cup debacle. For context and perspective, in Colombia he earned £60 a week and had a signing on fee of £2000 which was seen as obscene at the time.

I distinctly remember when I was very young in the mid 90s he used to balk at the wages of the modern players. Imagine now.

Wow. Sorry if I missed it being mentioned ... who is your Great Grandad?

[rebel23]

'Sell, sell and keep on selling' will be Real Madrid's mantra this summer as they need to offload a number of players on their books in the hope of bringing in close to 200 million euros.'

https://www.marca.com/en/football/real-madrid/2020/08/13/5f350857268e3e74058b4571.html

[MNAA]

Some impressive commendations on his wikipedia page - Billy Wright, Stanley Matthews, Tom Finney. 
Will have to read up more, and about what happened in Colombia, don't know much about that.

The league is called El Dorado (there’s a wiki page). A breakaway league from FIFA in the 50’s. Di Stefano was there before he went to Real

[rafathegaffa83]

'Sell, sell and keep on selling' will be Real Madrid's mantra this summer as they need to offload a number of players on their books in the hope of bringing in close to 200 million euros.'

https://www.marca.com/en/football/real-madrid/2020/08/13/5f350857268e3e74058b4571.html

With so many teams looking to dump salary and raise money through sales, who is going to be doing the buying? The natural buyers aren't interested.

 I think there will be plenty of loan moves happening later in the window. But teams committing themselves to splurges are taking on a ton of risk.

[Drinks Sangria]

Wow. Sorry if I missed it being mentioned ... who is your Great Grandad?

Neil Franklin, he wasn’t a household name in the way Matthews was, and to be honest it wasn’t until years after he passed that I really knew his story, I was only 4 when he died. I’ve got some of his England caps framed and I remember asking my mum why we had a hat on the wall in the dining room 

According to the Guardian, Utd’s Sancho alternatives are Dembélé, Coman, Matondo and Almada. Dembélé we know is made of papier-mâché but would be a potentially brilliant signing if he can stay fit. Which he can’t seem to do. Matondo is still raw and you’d imagine would want to continue his development rather than most likely sit on Utd’s bench.

Coman I can’t see Bayern selling. And Almada, my only knowledge comes from YouTube but he looks an electric talent. He’s getting linked with Leeds heavily though, probably due to Bielsa and someone more clued up would have to tell me how he’d qualify for a permit, given he’s not capped at senior level.

[Flaccido Dongingo]

When are midfielders going to get wise to Juventus' clear strategy of paying them big wages and signing on fees to sign on a Bosman, only to try to offload them a year later?, the players themselves are well compensated financially, but fucking hell, Ramsey would have been better off staying at Arsenal, he'd have got an improved contract, and been a mainstay in their side, he's a very good player, and were he a couple of years younger he'd fit in well in Klopps Liverpool

[IanZG]

When are midfielders going to get wise to Juventus' clear strategy of paying them big wages and signing on fees to sign on a Bosman, only to try to offload them a year later?, the players themselves are well compensated financially, but fucking hell, Ramsey would have been better off staying at Arsenal, he'd have got an improved contract, and been a mainstay in their side, he's a very good player, and were he a couple of years younger he'd fit in well in Klopps Liverpool

Honestly, if it's anywhere near the money that was being mentioned when Ramsey was signing there, then you might as well sit on the bench for a year and have them sell you elsewhere. Plus, they' probably pay a percentage of your wages to get rid later...

[Red Cactii]

Juventus recruitment strategy has been silly and stupid for some time. Good enough for them to win the league but not for Europe

Their recruitment quality has fallen off a cliff since Marotta left; they were bringing in young italians for decent prices to supplement a few smart bosman moves. More recently they’ve upped the wages they’re paying across the board and it’s starting to bite now.

[rafathegaffa83]

Celtic have bought Albian Ajeti from West Ham for £4.5m. West Ham paid £8m for him last summer

[plura]

Agnelli? Allegri hasn’t been at the club for some time (and apparently been having English lessons for over a year).

Interesting if they are indeed looking to offload Ronaldo. Giving him that contract at his age was always reckless. See also Ramsey, Aaron. As many have said IF Ronaldo did push them towards a CL title then maybe it would be worth it. But they had other goal scorers consistently delivering in Serie A so really what was the point? I genuinely think Agnelli fixated on that incredible overhead kick Ronaldo did against Juve and was prepared to pay him whatever he wanted, for a then 33 year old.

At 35 now you can only imagine PSG or a Qatari club paying him what he’d be looking for. He’s actually hilariously been linked to Barça this morning. Just looking at a list of Juve’s squad puts them in my mind as one of the worst positioned of all the traditional European super clubs to ride out the covid troubles.

Ronaldo - Massive wages are an albatross around the club’s neck. Still an excellent player but not producing numbers that couldn’t be achieved for a lot lot cheaper elsewhere.

Buffon - Big wages for a second choice keeper and probably retiring after next season.

Dybala - Utterly puzzling attempts to sell last summer and now in line for a big new deal after an excellent season. They should keep and build around him.

De Ligt - Been a slight disappointment and another apparently on stratospheric wages. Needs time but could be in the offload pile if he doesn’t improve.

Higuain - Fair play to the guy every time people write him off he comes back with goals. Still, big wages and poor resale value at his age and declining numbers.

Rabiot - Massive wages and they want rid.

Ramsey - See Rabiot but add ‘obscene’ in front of wages. They are desperate to offload and he’s really done nothing there so far.

Bernadeschi - A player that represents Juve’s problematic and backward thinking. They secured him for a sizeable but justifiable fee for a young high potential player who’d produced the numbers he had. Now after an indifferent start they’re looking to offload rather than develop a player who I think could become elite level, if given the game time.

Douglas Costa - Been an alright signing but another expensive one on decent wages and at his age and with declining numbers it makes sense to try and get a good fee for him.

Demiral - Looked imperious before a bad injury. Again been linked wit moves away and similarly to Bernadeschi it would surely be stupid to sell a player who is good enough for lots of first team minutes now whilst still having potential to improve.

Cuadrado - Still useful despite what his time in England suggested.

Bentancur - Consistently linked away but I would think will stay. Excellent young player who they should start to build around.

Chiellini, Danilo, Sandro they will all keep for one reason or another. Bonucci too despite his indifferent return.

All in all a mess. Of their own creation. Will be fun to see what happens.

Don’t disagree with generally but quite ballsy to say that they could get someone in to score 35 goals a lot cheaper (replacing Ronaldo). As you said he didn’t produce any great numbers that couldn’t be replicated by someone else?

Not sure how many 35 goals per season players there are available at all? Is that ever bar Messi and Ronaldo a guarantee?

[idontknow]

He lead a very interesting life! In Colombia my great grandma got pregnant with my Nan, and they decided after a few short months they didn’t want to bring up their children in Colombia. A shame in some ways and you’d wonder why they didn’t think of that before, but I suppose they weighed up the risk before going and it didn’t quite work out.

He actually ended up with alzheimer’s in his later years, no doubt in some ways could be connected to heading the heavy leather casing ball. Top lad he was though.

Sounds like a great man as well as a great player.
Edit: Sounds like we would have had him here if he was playing now.

[idontknow]

The league is called El Dorado (there’s a wiki page). A breakaway league from FIFA in the 50’s. Di Stefano was there before he went to Real

I'll have a look, thanks. I knew Di Stefano went there, Millionairos, and that no-one knows how many goals he scored, but that's all I've ever known.

[PeterTheRed ...]

'Sell, sell and keep on selling' will be Real Madrid's mantra this summer as they need to offload a number of players on their books in the hope of bringing in close to 200 million euros.'

https://www.marca.com/en/football/real-madrid/2020/08/13/5f350857268e3e74058b4571.html

Someone will get a great bargain in Luka Jovic.

[MNAA]

Neil Franklin, he wasn’t a household name in the way Matthews was, and to be honest it wasn’t until years after he passed that I really knew his story, I was only 4 when he died. I’ve got some of his England caps framed and I remember asking my mum why we had a hat on the wall in the dining room 

Thank you for sharing. You’re too modest. Franklin may not be as famous as Matthews but he was quite well known ...

[Sangria]

Sounds like a great man as well as a great player.
Edit: Sounds like we would have had him here if he was playing now.

According to all accounts, Franklin was a ball playing CB, my favourite type of player. Used to get lots of criticism for his preference of not just getting rid of the ball, but instead picking his pass or even dribbling up field. From the sounds of it, if he'd played for us, he'd easily get into our all time side.

[Sangria]

Don’t disagree with generally but quite ballsy to say that they could get someone in to score 35 goals a lot cheaper (replacing Ronaldo). As you said he didn’t produce any great numbers that couldn’t be replicated by someone else?

Not sure how many 35 goals per season players there are available at all? Is that ever bar Messi and Ronaldo a guarantee?

Depends. If you're talking about Man Utd, James Milner (if he signed for them).

[So… Howard Philips]

According to all accounts, Franklin was a ball playing CB, my favourite type of player. Used to get lots of criticism for his preference of not just getting rid of the ball, but instead picking his pass or even dribbling up field. From the sounds of it, if he'd played for us, he'd easily get into our all time side.

I first got interested in football in about 1963 and my dad would talk about Franklin and John Charles in wonder that they'd actually gone to play in hot countries.

[Andy82lfc]

Off topic but you’re not wrong. It was more than 40 years ago, but my Great Grandad, now passed, played for England in the 40s/50s and was considered one of the best centre halves in the game during that time. He even almost became the most expensive footballer of all time when his club rejected an offer of £30k from Hull City in the late 40s. He earned a pittance until he went to Colombia to play in Bogotá in what was a kind of tabloid sensation at the time. Basically following big money he’d never have earned in England. That got him blacklisted from the national team too by the FA. This did mean he avoided being part of the 1950 World Cup debacle. For context and perspective, in Colombia he earned £60 a week and had a signing on fee of £2000 which was seen as obscene at the time.

I distinctly remember when I was very young in the mid 90s he used to balk at the wages of the modern players. Imagine now.

Wow really cool that mate. He must have had some stories! I’m sure the thought of all the would be inheritance if it was today’s money would have crossed my mind once or twice 

[Drinks Sangria]

Wow really cool that mate. He must have had some stories! I’m sure the thought of all the would be inheritance if it was today’s money would have crossed my mind once or twice 

My uncle in particular passed down some amazing stories. My family got invited to a Stoke game in my mid teens (we’re all Liverpool mad but didn’t want to turn down the gesture) where a small award was given in his memory. There was a gentleman sat at our table who I couldn’t help but think I really recognised. When we finally got talking, it turned out he lived about 50 yards from my family in the same tiny village! He was named Dennis Herod. He’d played with my great grandad for Stoke almost 60 years previously. He was an absolute pleasure to talk to and clearly kept an eye on the game still (was probably mid-late 80s at this point) as he used Rio Ferdinand as a comparison, but said obviously it was a lot ‘harder’ back then. Not a bad player at all to be likened to.

The inheritance would’ve been nice  He did go on to manage in Cyprus for a couple of years in the 60s with APOEL and I’ve got some boss training gear he bought back from there with him stored away. He eventually went on to do the typical footballer thing and owned a couple of country pubs, though he was retired and starting to suffer from alzheimer’s by the time I was born.

I really appreciate everyone’s comments on this, it’s been nice to go over some of the memories (he bought me a Crewe Alex kit when I was about three and always talked football with me). I’ll stop diverting the thread off topic now!

[Barefoot Doctor]

Haha, Arsenal have launched an internal investigation into why they paid £72m for Pepe 

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/soccer-transfers/story/4158763/arsenal-investigate-72m-pepe-transfer-barcelona-start-hunt-for-new-boss

And yeah, brilliant stuff Sangria - great stories and definitely someone to be proud of.

[No666]

*snip*
 I’ll stop diverting the thread off topic now!

If I'd known there were these gems in here, I'd have ventured in more often.

[Agent99]

Haha, Arsenal have launched an internal investigation into why they paid £72m for Pepe 

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/soccer-transfers/story/4158763/arsenal-investigate-72m-pepe-transfer-barcelona-start-hunt-for-new-boss

I'm not part of the investigative team but I'm sure the final report will show that Lille wanted a certain amount and Arsenal agreed to pay it.

[JackWard33]

Christ that Willian deal is horrendous for Arsenal

I know we think Edwards is a genius and he is but a lot of his competition is just moronic

[aw1991]

Poor Pepe. Yes, they overpaid, but 8 goals and 10 assists in his debut season in a new country is a good return, especially in a weird side like Arsenal

[LFCEmpire]

Christ that Willian deal is horrendous for Arsenal

I know we think Edwards is a genius and he is but a lot of his competition is just moronic

Yeah I am glad we no longer or have never done these types of deals. What is Willian banking? 200k a week?

[Andy82lfc]

Christ that Willian deal is horrendous for Arsenal

Why is it? I haven't read the terms but he's a great player, one of their best off an on the past few seasons and on a free too. I thought it was a bit of a steal. Is the sign on £30m or something?

[El Lobo]

Why is it? I haven't read the terms but he's a great player, one of their best off an on the past few seasons and on a free too. I thought it was a bit of a steal. Is the sign on £30m or something?

It’s a £37 million outlay (plus undoubtedly a hefty signing on fee) for a 32 year old winger. Which is odd when they’ve got Saka and Pepe in the same sort of position, plus potentially Martinelli depending how they play. Especially odd when you consider the CBs and CMs they have. Plus Joorabchian getting another of his clients a big contract there, considering his links with Edu and other higher ups there, has got to be disconcerting for Arsenal fans.

Of all the clubs you’d think would be wary of giving big, long contracts to older AMs you’d think Arsenal would be the one.