Summer 2023 Transfer Thread

[Carvalho Diablo]

2 hours ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

That Florentino Luis stats looked rather good on some YouTube video I watched. How many hundreds of millions will he cost.

Said it before but Florentino Luis spends too much time sprawling around on his arse, rashly diving into ugly tackles.

[Kevin D]

Henderson really is a slow fucker-offerer.

[Bobby Hundreds]

1 minute ago, Kevin D said:

Henderson really is a slow fucker-offerer.

I can see this transfer going sideways!

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

3 hours ago, Ronnie Whelan said:

This. Money talks in the dick swinging contest that is professional football.

 

I mean Tonali left his boyhood club for Newcastle. At least, he could say he wanted Champions League football and wanted to play in the Premier League bla bla bla. Yeah right, leaving a great club like AC Milan for Newcastle. Give me a break.

 

Only players that you would think would be guaranteed not to go there would be players worried about not making their national team or players who have a burning desire to win the biggest trophies rather than getting four times their salary. A good proportion would put professional pride of playing for a world famous club like us over going there. 

 

I think there is a real threat that this league will be ultimately admitted into European competitions and could become the biggest league in the world in terms of player quality down the line. The FA and the government let the Trojan Horse in, in terms of Saudi ownership of the Geordies and I don't really have much faith in UEFA being much better in terms of making sure the Saudis don't get in to our competitions, especially if a lot of top players go there and they get thrown a huge pot of money. You can bet they get the world cup in 2030 over the South American bid or the joint Spanish/Portuguese one.

The part in bold sums up everything that is wrong with football these days.

 

Also apart from that a great post. If the Saudis have a long term plan to take full control of European football, including having their own teams play in the PL or a European Super League or whatever, I have no doubt they will succeed. The PL, UEFA and not least FIFA are all following the money, and if

the Saudi pay up they will all obey orders.

 

Question is if the Saudis have such a long term plan or not, as the objective is clearly sportswashing, and doing a complete takeover/integrasjon may not be required and/or may cost more than the benefit.

[Carvalho Diablo]

1 minute ago, Kevin D said:

Henderson really is a slow fucker-offerer.

He's making a huge mug out of himself.

 

Whether the deal goes through or even if it collapsed and he stays, Henderson has permanently tarnished his otherwise flawless character, regardless of what some of you nasty fuckers dare to say about our skipper's on-field qualities.

 

Forza the Hetton-le-bum hole.

[Strontium]

3 hours ago, Scott_M said:

I don’t think anybody can be ruled out from leaving.

 

Saudi’s turning Hendo’s head is like the way The Joker turned Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight - even the most noble seem  is corruptible. 

 

Two-Face and No-Pace

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

3 minutes ago, Carvalho Diablo said:

He's making a huge mug out of himself.

 

Whether the deal goes through or even if it collapsed and he stays, Henderson has permanently tarnished his otherwise flawless character, regardless of what some of you nasty fuckers dare to say about our skipper's on-field qualities.

 

Forza the Hetton-le-bum hole.

Captain Unflushable.

[Carvalho Diablo]

Just now, VERBAL DIARRHEA said:

Captain Unflushable.

The cistern has failed.

[an tha]

1 hour ago, 3 Stacks said:

The good thing about Fabinho and Henderson leaving from an on pitch standpoint if it happens is that the technical level of the midfield increases. There's no one there right now who you look at and say "we can press him and he'll shit himself". So that's cool and I hope whoever else comes in, we can say the same.

 

But you need some kind of continuity. There's a reason teams don't just do 5 out 5 in at a position group in one summer. Is it bad for the long term? No, but you will probably not be good for a while and the only reason there will be so much turnover is because we'll be forced to. That's not a good position to be in. 

 

Ordinarily I would agree with you, but this is for my money different, it is outside of the norm.

 

The midfield has become absolute scrap, a black hole - that has destabilised the team and kills us going both ways.

 

Henderson and Fabinho are for me at the absolute heart of what has gone wrong and simply need to be ripped out of the unit for it to have any hope of functioning properly again.

 

My belief is that this opportunity that has fallen in our lap to do so right now represents one that is simply too good to miss.

 

There is concern from some about continuity, leadership, example setting, familiarity with tactics and so on - my view is that these things are being overstated and that our midfield will function better and as a result we will function better as a team without these two.

 

The others who have left from this area of thr park are irrelevant.

 

I feel Thiago will be relatively key in opening months of season (if we can get him out on the park of course) in being the provider of the continuity people worry about and taking on some of the leadership responsibilities, but I still feel we will be fine regardless.

 

[Colonel Bumcunt]

If the Diaz story has been printed, it suggests that his reps have done some work in the background and said he's interested.  It's too random a target, and I don't think anything is random so far with the Saudi targets.  

 

The Saudis are really pulling a pretty decent league together in one summer.  Basically transplanting a league from Europe into their own.  And they'll probably be competing in the CL within a year as 'guests'.  

[Carvalho Diablo]

Irony. This is where Fab and our glorious skipper should be.

[3 Stacks]

19 minutes ago, an tha said:

Ordinarily I would agree with you, but this is for my money different, it is outside of the norm.

 

The midfield has become absolute scrap, a black hole - that has destabilised the team and kills us going both ways.

 

Henderson and Fabinho are for me at the absolute heart of what has gone wrong and simply need to be ripped out of the unit for it to have any hope of functioning properly again.

 

My belief is that this opportunity that has fallen in our lap to do so right now represents one that is simply too good to miss.

 

There is concern from some about continuity, leadership, example setting, familiarity with tactics and so on - my view is that these things are being overstated and that our midfield will function better and as a result we will function better as a team without these two.

 

The others who have left from this area of thr park are irrelevant.

 

I feel Thiago will be relatively key in opening months of season (if we can get him out on the park of course) in being the provider of the continuity people worry about and taking on some of the leadership responsibilities, but I still feel we will be fine regardless.

 

Leadership and all that intangible stuff we'll be losing I agree is mostly irrelevant crap.

 

But when you get a bunch of new players playing together at the same time without any sort of references or continuity, that's when you get difficulties in adaptation from new signings, and ultimately, some failed signings.

 

On paper, there's a chance we will be much better in midfield next season, but we will also have to be very careful and patient.

 

 

[Carvalho Diablo]

4 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

Leadership and all that intangible stuff we'll be losing I agree is mostly irrelevant crap.

 

But when you get a bunch of new players playing together at the same time without any sort of references or continuity, that's when you get difficulties in adaptation from new signings, and ultimately, some failed signings.

 

On paper, there's a chance we will be much better in midfield next season, but we will also have to be very careful and patient.

 

 

You're spot on (for once) Stacksy, it does take time for new players to gel and link intuitively and instinctively...but it's a very, very low bar they're being asked to surpass.

[FrenchEyeGlass]

19 minutes ago, Colonel Bumcunt said:

If the Diaz story has been printed, it suggests that his reps have done some work in the background and said he's interested.  It's too random a target, and I don't think anything is random so far with the Saudi targets.  

 

The Saudis are really pulling a pretty decent league together in one summer.  Basically transplanting a league from Europe into their own.  And they'll probably be competing in the CL within a year as 'guests'.  

I agree, and also the wording from Joyce “50M is far below what would be required” gives the impression they the club do have a price in mind. 
 

Given Anthony and the like are going for 100M, Diaz is a 130M player minimum. If we aren’t soft that is what we will demand. 
 

I don’t think it will happen but I also don’t think it’s a non starter. Depends on rich Saudi blood really is. 

[Carvalho Diablo]

5 minutes ago, FrenchEyeGlass said:

I agree, and also the wording from Joyce “50M is far below what would be required” gives the impression they the club do have a price in mind. 
 

Given Anthony and the like are going for 100M, Diaz is a 130M player minimum. If we aren’t soft that is what we will demand. 
 

I don’t think it will happen but I also don’t think it’s a non starter. Depends on rich Saudi blood really is. 

Whilst it would make some sense to sell a left sided striker (where we have an abundance of talent) for big money, fuck that fucking shit.

 

Fuck it.

[Aventus]

How much money do the Saudis have? I know we've slagged off the blue mancs for shitting on FFP, but that's one team, spending a few billion. 

 

How much is it going to cost to build an entire league? Or even half a league. 

 

Getting ridiculous now. 

[Remmie]

There was an article on the BBC going through all the teams in the Saudi league and mentioning players you might have heard of. So far each team looks reassuringly pathetic overall and it seems they have a long way to go. 

[TheHowieLama]

46 minutes ago, Carvalho Diablo said:

Irony. This is where Fab and our glorious skipper should be.

 

Is that Alisson in a thong and ice bath?

[bossy]

Diaz going? Fuck off. Seen reports Fabhino is having a medical. 

[Mook]

I've got a feeling these transfers for Fabinho and Henderson are going to fall through. All these other players going over there seemed to happen with a quick shake of the money tree whereas these two are dragging on for whatever reason.

 

Would have really liked to have our work done before pre-season started but as usual, very little is straightforward.

[Dave D]

The Saudi league won’t take hold as the mass of players they are targeting will eventually (looking at you Grealish/Foden) fall foul of the religious laws. The whole football “package” that is on offer in Europes capitals simply can’t be replicated there.

 

It does seem we are seen as Open Season for hunting new players at the moment- wait until the focus shifts to City/United/Madrid/Barca- then we will see a committee formed in opposing it quick as you like 

[johnsusername]

If we sell ALL of our players then we'll make LOADS of money. 

 

And that's how we win. 

[Carvalho Diablo]

3 minutes ago, johnsusername said:

If we sell ALL of our players then we'll make LOADS of money. 

 

And that's how we win. 

 

[Jurgen Knows]

6 hours ago, Poor Scouser T said:

Saudis must have had the nod about CL entry. Otherwise whats the point in this spending, to play each other in Saudi?

More than 50% of the people in the Middle East regularly watch football. We closely follow European leagues and pay lots of money for tv subscription. Many fans travel to Europe to watch matches.  A strong league in the region can be very lucrative in terms of tv rights and merchandising/ticket sales.
 

I personally never attended a football match in Saudi Arabia in my life. Now I can see myself taking my sons there to watch matches. 

[Poor Scouser T]

2 minutes ago, Jurgen Knows said:

More than 50% of the people in the Middle East regularly watch football. We closely follow European leagues and pay lots of money for tv subscription. Many fans travel to Europe to watch matches.  A strong league in the region can be very lucrative in terms of tv rights and merchandising/ticket sales.
 

I personally never attended a football match in Saudi Arabia in my life. Now I can see myself taking my sons there to watch matches. 

Fair point. Think it may take more than a few 30+ year olds to make it competitive but suppose it is a start. At least gives it a boost and may kick something off. They must have an end game in mind because this is serious money splashing about.