Latest posts of: Velvet78

Simply De Gea didn't want to accept any cut in his salary and there was a disagreement between him and the team. Otherwise there was no reason for De Gea not to extend for a couple of more years. Because his performance was still at an impressive level. Manchester United must also be confident to replace him with a solid goalkeeper that they don't seem very sad.

Onana is indeed their priority now. He still has 4 more years on his contract though. His market value isn't much but I assume Inter wouldn't be very keen on selling him right away for a cheap price. But Manchester United are a rich team so they would be ready to sign him by paying some more money.

After 18 years it would be a really special moment for Ramos and Sevilla both to reunite again. However there are some Saudi Arabian teams like Al-Ahli and Al-Ittihad after him on one hand. As Ramos is 37 years old now I'm not sure if he would like to return to Sevilla now. While he is becoming a free agent I think it is the best for him to go for making more money for a couple of years in Saudi Arabia.

After that he can just retire. Ramos can still show a decent performance I assume but I have big doubts about whether he is still competitive for achievements in European football.

Quote from: Adams0001 on June 30, 2023, 06:26:29 PM

Quote from: Velvet78 on June 30, 2023, 08:13:42 AM

If I compare between Bayern Munich and Dortmund, I think I'm more interested in Dortmund. Because after all, Bayern Munich only has a record as a club that really dominates the Bundesliga by winning consecutive titles. But in fact, Bayern Munich also quite often get great players from Dortmund. Also about Dortmund, even though Dortmund often sell key players and star players, but Dortmund has always managed to build a team well. The proof is, Dortmund has always managed to challenge Bayern Munich in the title race and because of that, I think Dortmund is a very unique team. Because no team can produce great players every season like Dortmund and also be willing to sell them, it's like a tradition that only Dortmund seems to have.

You can't compare Dortmund to Bayern Munich because Munich are the best club in the Bundesliga, they are in the top every season in the league and even perform well in the Champions League but last season their performance was very weak, and they too are in the best club in the world, last seasons Dortmund try there best to win the league but they can't, and now they need some players because they sold their best midfielder in Dortmund to Bayern Munich.

I'm not the one who made that post, it is @hahay. It seems like you have quoted the wrong person.

I wonder what Bayern Munich's plans are about signing a centre-forward these days. They made their first offer for Kane but it was way lower than the amount Levy wanted for him. Considering that the first offer was around 75 million euros or so it doesn't seem like Bayern Munich are keen on spending 100 million or above for Kane.

Honestly I started to think that they won't pay that much for him and instead they will go for cheaper alternatives.

İsmail Kartal is a name who became champion with Fenerbahce in the Super League two times. Both championships were many years ago though but this can still be a sign for Fenerbahce to put an end to their longing for being champions in the league. Whoever manages the team he won't have a comfortable work to do for sure of course.

Especially Galatasaray have been doing a really impressive work and they are likely to maintain this look by new season as well. İsmail Kartal needs to work harder than Jorge Jesus to bring the title to his team. Otherwise he might be next to get sacked after completing one season.

Nunez of course deserves another shot. Liverpool signed him for a really big amount of money. They can't give up on him after only one season. It is the truth that he hasn't been very impressive with his finishing skills since he joined Liverpool. He was amazing while he was playing for Benfica. It looks like he needs more time to reach that level.

Nunez is normally capable of competing with Haaland and Kane both for being the top scorer in a season. After Firmino's departure the expectation from him will be higher than before. He will have more chances to prove himself to the team as well. Hopefully we can see his real performance by the beginning of new season.

Manchester United didn't want to intervene for Kim Min-jae unlike my expectation. Because they could have entered the race with Bayern Munich by paying more money before his release clause becomes active. At worst they would cause Bayern Munich to pay more money to sign him in the end. It doesn't look like Manchester United prioritize a centre-back transfer.

Of course after the Mount signing they had better focus on signing a striker. Rashford should be left winger mostly and they can do a great work in a much more consistent way with a solid striker addition. After Bayern Munich's poor offer for Kane I wonder whether the Red Devils would offer an improved version of that amount - 75 million euros was the offer by Bayern Munich.

I don't feel like Liverpool and Mbappe thing will get real soon. Real Madrid have already been on the line to sign him and he is also keen on signing for them. I don't see Liverpool winning a race to pay more money for him either. Because Real Madrid wouldn't refrain from offering the same. Liverpool should look for some other players as a result.

Real Madrid will be signing Mbappe sooner or later. The president Perez doesn't want to rush anything for now. But if PSG make a statement like they are selling him now then things can change quickly. The same thing is valid again if Liverpool or some other team make an official offer suddenly.

Szoboszlai is a really talented playmaker and his performance at Leipzig this season was impressive as well. His main position is attacking midfield but he can play on both wings at the same time. Leipzig had him on the right wing mostly for the season we have left behind. It didn't matter for him anyway as he was productive.

This will be a really decent signing for Liverpool. Since Mane's arrival there has still been something missing there. Diaz's arrival has been really great but it was still not enough exactly. If Szoboszlai adapts here quickly he can strengthen the attacking line a lot.

Lazio have made a big progress by this season as well. They finished the 2021/22 season at the 5th position. But they have improved their success rate by collecting 10 more points and finishing as the 2nd. Roma and Lazio have been the teams I have been following closely to see which one will be more successful. Lazio are better for now.

Roma board have been hoping for a big improvement with Mourinho in the Serie A. Unfortunately they couldn't do it again. Their main target must be to finish the league in top 4. Despite Juventus' punishment Roma still couldn't make it there. Roma project still continues with him as it seems. Let's see if they will prove me wrong this time.

Quote from: Jackl87 on June 29, 2023, 09:43:36 AM

Quote from: Velvet78 on June 29, 2023, 08:43:43 AM

No matter what Dortmund must be still in a very good position financially. After Bellingham's sale they have made a big amount of money. This is their priority in the end so I don't think they are still thinking about how they can lose their title chance like that. Yeah it was really unbelievable but they are still able to reach their main goals according to their vision.
As long as they make so much money in sales of their players it wouldn't be important for them whether they are champions or not. I assume the fans think the opposite but they must be also aware of Dortmund's policy already. Otherwise Dortmund can easily build a squad that can be much more competitive for the league title to win.

We should not forget that Dortmund was basically bankrupt in the early 2000's because they made so much debts with stupid transfers in the years before that. Then Jürgen Klopp became the coach of Dortmund and then they started to rise again and they won the Bundesliga two times with him and they even made it into the final of the Champions League.
In the last few years it became their business model to buy young talents and then sell them again for high amounts of money.

Of course those were really hard times for Dortmund. But it seems like they have learned their lesson from that as we don't see such unnecessary transfers. They are only focused on reasonable transfers in which they can make a big profit. Sometimes things don't go exactly as they imagine as well of course.

For example Haaland could have been sold for a much higher amount of money considering that he is a very special striker. At least the same thing didn't happen with Bellingham. They need to be more careful with release clause cases while they are signing such talented players.

Ancelotti's staying at Real Madrid is good news for the team for sure. Otherwise they were going to need to find a solid manager like him as well. I have heard that Florentino Perez has plans to bring back Zidane to the job after Ancelotti's departure next summer. But I have serious doubts about this because of Zidane's attitude these days.

You must have heard that he is more interested in managing France now. However it doesn't seem very possible while Deschamps has a contract until 2026. I wonder if he is still determined to wait for that long without managing any team. Returning to Real Madrid can be superb for them considering the successes they achieved with him.

Quote from: zuzie on June 30, 2023, 02:06:13 AM

Quote from: Velvet78 on June 29, 2023, 11:31:31 PM

There is finally an agreement for Mason Mount between the Red Devils and Chelsea. It must be good news for Chelsea as well considering that they were already prepared to sell him for the amount they would like. 60 million pounds is a really great amount for him and Chelsea can use this money for a solid transfer of them this summer.

They have sold Havertz for quite a high amount of money as well as you know. All of these departures shouldn't be for nothing. Boehly and Pochettino should be able to take the right steps in the transfer market. Because there is a big hole to fix in the team. Transfers are the starting point to deal with their problems.

Yes finally Manchester United will get their first target player and Chelsea made the right decision because Mason Mount contracts will end in 2024
Of course Chelsea don't want Mason Mount to go for free while he is a talented young player of course many teams want it. On the other hand Chelsea began to find a replacement for Mount, one of which was Gabri Veiga from Celta de Vigo, so Chelsea are looking for a cheaper one?

Actually they have a lot of money in the budget to use for a solid midfielder transfer. Gabri Veiga isn't a bad player of course and his performance was really solid this season. He scored many goals in addition to his contribution with assists. He is only 21 years old as well. However I still can't be sure if this would be the best move for Chelsea.

There are better alternatives in the market. They have made a lot of money in Mount and Havertz's sales you know. If they don't want to use it for another striker transfer then they can use it for a solid midfielder. Making the team very young is making them turn into Arsenal as well.

It is difficult to understand Arsenal about that Havertz signing for a big amount of money indeed. But I'm considering that he would be able to play in his natural position at Arsenal whenever he is in the lineup. Because that was how he impressed other top teams while he was playing for Leverkusen before. But he started to be less effective at Chelsea.

This is a golden opportunity for Havertz to bring back his better performances as an attacking midfielder. Arsenal would like to make sure he is really worth his transfer fee. It feels like Arteta will make him born again there and we will watch a way better player. I would really like to see the real Havertz there.

I'm curious about whether Inter can live up to the expectations from them for next season. Because they are the number one contenders for the league title according to bookies. After seeing the previous season in the Serie A it is really hard to believe in Inter that much honestly for now. Of course they weren't consistent and that was why they were out of a title race in the first place.

Maybe bookies are considering that Inter would maintain the current level and that would be enough to become champions in the end. But it is still early to make sure of it. Besides they are losing some players one by one recently. Dzeko, Lukaku and who knows who else will be leaving this summer. Di Maria is also leaving for example.

Quote from: Helena Yu on June 29, 2023, 08:41:23 AM

Quote from: seek3r on June 29, 2023, 06:22:31 AM

Looks like FC Bayern won the fight against Manchester United for Min-Jae Kim.

According to Skysports Bayern is paying around 50kk € for the release clause from his current contract.
His yearly salary will be around 10-12kk €.

Manchester United offer a same bid like Bayern Munich do, but Manchester United choose to sign Mason Mount and Onana because Mount is a good player from Chelsea, Manchester United will not reject this good moment. De Gea will leave Manchester United too, so they must find a good goalkeeper to replace him.

It's not Manchester United not interested with Min Jae, but they're know their priority. However Bayern Munich is never stop to strengthen their defense, they already have Upamecano, De Ligt, Davies, Hernandez, Pavard and Cancelo.

Manchester United offered the same amount? I haven't heard about such thing. They had a chance to offer a bigger amount of money while Bayern Munich were waiting on Kim Min-jae's release clause to be activated. That could have made the Red Devils be advantageous in this race. But they didn't want to intervene at the end of the day.

Yeah de Gea's contract is running out by tomorrow. I was expecting the Red Devils to extend with him but they didn't want to. At least Onana can be another solid goalkeeper they would have after a great journey with de Gea for more than 10 years.

Quote from: bering on June 29, 2023, 02:05:10 AM

Quote from: Velvet78 on June 28, 2023, 11:30:50 PM

Xavi has only one year left on his contract now. It looks like the board don't want to rush a new contract for him yet. Actually after winning the La Liga title I wouldn't have been surprised if the board offered a contract extension to Xavi. But interestingly there isn't any deal yet. Maybe they want to see whether there will be consistency next time as well.

I don't doubt their La Liga performance already now. But as for the Champions League it is really difficult to say a thing. Because the recent two years were really horrible for them. We need proof by Barcelona this time to start believing in them to do better than the recent participations.

If i am not mistaken Xavi has a contract until 2025 which mean he will be at Barcelona until summer 2025 and for time being Barcelona will rule out to talking about Xavi contract because this summer their focus is to buy new players and apparently Xavi has agree about that because his priority now is how to build Barcelona became an much better and performing well at Laliga and Champion league and maybe after end of next season contract extension will be discuss and Barcelona confident Xavi will be not leave and he will accept their proporsal and Xavi too will ensure he doesn't want to train other team besides Barcelona because he love this team so i think Barcelona fans shouldn't be worried about this because Barcelona will always be Xavi main priority

His contract ends by June 30, 2024 and this is the source for it: https://www.transfermarkt.com/xavi/profil/trainer/59876

Therefore this might be his last year at this team depending on the situation. He needs to maintain a satisfying level of success for the board to convince them to offer a contract extension. Winning the La Liga title twice in a row would be a point to start from. Besides I assume the board would expect him to be more successful in the Champions League rather than getting stuck in the group stage.

No matter what Dortmund must be still in a very good position financially. After Bellingham's sale they have made a big amount of money. This is their priority in the end so I don't think they are still thinking about how they can lose their title chance like that. Yeah it was really unbelievable but they are still able to reach their main goals according to their vision.

As long as they make so much money in sales of their players it wouldn't be important for them whether they are champions or not. I assume the fans think the opposite but they must be also aware of Dortmund's policy already. Otherwise Dortmund can easily build a squad that can be much more competitive for the league title to win.

Chelsea need to be much more active in the transfer market now. They even need to be the most active team among the top teams of the league. Because they have parted ways with many players in this transfer window. They will need to replace them with solid alternatives as soon as possible. They are in a rebuilding process in short.

Pochettino has a big responsibility to carry this team to the place where they need to be. Chelsea wouldn't target the league title for now of course. The first step will be to finish a season in top 4. They still need time to be able to fight for bigger goals after leaving a poor season behind.