Football 17/18

[Hugh Jass]

32 minutes ago, Dan R said:

I think is a shame.

Plus I don't want Barca to come in with a mega bid for Coutinho...

Mbappe or Dybala would make more sense.

[jyoung]

If Neymar leaves, I see no way Coutinho stays at Liverpool.

[Dan R]

Everything from Liverpool suggests Coutinho is happy where he is and is in no rush to leave, so I believe he'll stay. Still, with the kind of money Barca will receive from PSG it's all a bit uncertain.

23 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

Mbappe or Dybala would make more sense.

Mbappe is a very different player, depends if they want someone who can play more in the midfield.

[jyoung]

Meanwhile, Paul Clement has apparently come out and said that the Sigurdsson is off and he wants it done asap.

[Hugh Jass]

26 minutes ago, Dan R said:

Mbappe is a very different player, depends if they want someone who can play more in the midfield.

He could slot into the front three as a wide forward. He'd also be the sort of statement Barca will need to make after losing the third best (and marketable) player on the planet right now.

Coutinho would not be that statement, they were after him before the Neymar talk started.

[Hugh Jass]

19 minutes ago, jyoung said:

Meanwhile, Paul Clement has apparently come out and said that the Sigurdsson is off and he wants it done asap.

The fees being touted are insane.*

*I've said that more than once this window.

[CRW5252]

2 hours ago, jyoung said:

If Neymar leaves, I see no way Coutinho stays at Liverpool.

Coutinho replacing Neymar would be terrible for Barca. Neymar is a step above. 

[Gucci Piggy]

Read that some people were expecting the new Barca manager to play 2 strikers with Messi behind as a number 10, so Mbappé would make sense if that is his plan. I expected Mbappé to go to Madrid and Dembele to Barca, but I guess Barca will just go for whoever the best possible option is right now. Mbappé may see a guaranteed starting spot at Barca as a better move for him than Madrid. Saying that, he's a Madrid/Ronaldo fanboy, isn't he?

Hope they just snap up Coutinho, tbh.

[jyoung]

2 minutes ago, CRW5252 said:

Coutinho replacing Neymar would be terrible for Barca. Neymar is a step above. 

Yeah, obviously.

He's what, third best in the world? The best already plays for them and the second best plays for Real. Not like anyone is gonna be a step up on Neymar is it... Who comes close? They're not gonna get Bale or Griezmann or Sanchez. Hazard? Idk. Big blow for Barca in my opinion.

[Dan R]

1 hour ago, Hugh Jass said:

He could slot into the front three as a wide forward. He'd also be the sort of statement Barca will need to make after losing the third best (and marketable) player on the planet right now.

Coutinho would not be that statement, they were after him before the Neymar talk started.

I completely agree that Mbappe would be the big message to the world, and yeah I think Coutinho was seen as the more creative midfield influence to take over from Iniesta. It's just that the Catalan press has been pushing Coutinho to Barca so heavily that Barca might want to show they can still get their targets by any means. Will definitely be interesting to see what they do with the massive cash injection, silly season will just get even more ridiculous.

[thetime]

4 minutes ago, jyoung said:

Yeah, obviously.

He's what, third best in the world? The best already plays for them and the second best plays for Real. Not like anyone is gonna be a step up on Neymar is it... Who comes close? They're not gonna get Bale or Griezmann or Sanchez. Hazard? Idk. Big blow for Barca in my opinion.

The big injection of money is just what Barca need, they are a fading team. I don't think Barca are loaded like the other big guns, so 200m to reinvent the team could be just the ticket.

[CRW5252]

7 minutes ago, jyoung said:

Yeah, obviously.

He's what, third best in the world? The best already plays for them and the second best plays for Real. Not like anyone is gonna be a step up on Neymar is it... Who comes close? They're not gonna get Bale or Griezmann or Sanchez. Hazard? Idk. Big blow for Barca in my opinion.

Sanchez, Hazard, Mbappe, Dybala, Aguero, Aubameyang are at least possible imo. All of them would be better than Coutinho.

[Wooderson]

Lee Trundle is better than Countinho.

[CRW5252]

I can see PSG selling one of their top players to make up some of the money they spent on Neymar. In a similar way to how Ozil ended up at Arsenal. 

[jyoung]

Just now, CRW5252 said:

I can see PSG selling one of their top players to make up some of the money they spent on Neymar.

If that player is Verratti, clubs would and should throw money at him. Can't see it though.

[pink_triangle]

3 hours ago, Hugh Jass said:

FFP was a noble idea, but it has been completely botched by being so vague that the biggest clubs (who it was supposed to curtail) can find ways around it. As said above, all it has done is stop another Abramovic/Mansour investing billions into some no hopers (say West Brom for example) and challenging the elite.

I don't think it was a noble idea. It was always about the big teams feathering their own nest.

[pink_triangle]

Neymar to PSG makes perfect sense to me. After a couple of years introducing himself to elite European football, he must now want to take the responsibility of being the main man somewhere. He can only do that by moving.

[Hugh Jass]

2 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

I don't think it was a noble idea. It was always about the big teams feathering their own nest.

Poor choice of words on my part. I meant that ensuring teams live within their means is a good idea. Just a shame the big clubs co-opted it to suit their own needs.

[pink_triangle]

55 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

Poor choice of words on my part. I meant that ensuring teams live within their means is a good idea. Just a shame the big clubs co-opted it to suit their own needs.

I'm not sure living within your means is necessarily a good thing as it protects those with the most means at an arbitrary time when the rule comes in. As a neutral I think the premiership has been better for Chelsea and city not living within their means. It wasn't great when Man U and arsenal were trading the league title.

[jyoung]

[The Nal]

I like Lamps on the telly. Nice to listen to someone whos actually won things sitting beside Gerrard on the panel. Rio was getting lonely propping it up. 

[jyoung]

28 minutes ago, The Nal said:

I like Lamps on the telly.

I'm probably biased but I rate Lamps and I think he can hold his own on screen. Just hope this doesn't prevent him from getting back involved with Chelsea in the future as I'd like to see both him and JT take roles at the club in the next few years.

[The Nal]

6 minutes ago, jyoung said:

I'm probably biased but I rate Lamps and I think he can hold his own on screen. Just hope this doesn't prevent him from getting back involved with Chelsea in the future as I'd like to see both him and JT take roles at the club in the next few years.

Lamps is a City man

 

[jyoung]

17 minutes ago, The Nal said:

Lamps is a City man

[TheGayTent]

Lampard is West Ham - always was, always will be. 

The fat c**t