The following is a list of the highest paid players for 2023 and as we can see, all of them are filled with big names. In first place, of course, there is Ronaldo who took steps to join one of the Saudi league teams, namely Al-Nassr and he received a large fee of 200 million euros plus 60 million off the field. Meanwhile, Messi, who has chosen to join one of the teams in MLS, namely Inter Miami, is in second place with a fee of 135 million euros. The rest of the list of highest paid players is still filled with other star players. Talking about these two GOATs, of course the difference is almost 2x and I think if Messi agreed to join Al-Hilal last summer he would certainly occupy the first position as the highest paid player. But the decision to join Al-Hilal failed and Messi wanted more what his family needed and in the end he chose to enjoy life in MLS.

But which club would be willing to accommodate Paul Pogba if he was unable to play football due to a 4 year ban? it's very difficult and even though he can maintain his body with regular training of course any club would have doubts because during that long time they didn't see Paul Pogba's progress in official competitions. So, for Paul Pogba's career at any club it seems like it has been closed for a long time. I think his career is over, it will be a bad memory for him and we should forget one of the talented midfielders who ended his career in an unsporting way.

Here it is possible that there was interference from Erik ten Hag which made Casemiro so tired and I also can't blame Casemiro because he is the captain of the Brazilian national team. He had to give everything for his country in the world cup qualifiers and that's why he pushed his situation too hard and didn't pay attention to what he was suffering from.

Now Manchester United is faced with a difficult situation because they don't have a good defensive midfielder like Casemiro, but it looks like Erik ten Hag will rotate his players again this time and Amrabat will likely replace Casemiro who is injured in the next match. Against Sheffield in the EPL and Copenhagen in the UCL are 3 important points that Manchester United must secure.

From the start, perhaps I was one of the many people who regretted Marseille's decision to appoint Gennaro Gatuso as their new coach because we all know that the results they obtained were not always consistent and because of that he was often fired by his previous team. This will be a challenge in itself for Marseille and I also doubt that Gennaro Gatuso can win against Nice. We know that Nice recently surprised people, especially their victory over PSG. I agree that the result could be a draw but the worst possibility is that Marseille will lose when they play away to Nice.

I thought that having the best striker in the world at the moment would give Norway a chance to win against Spain but it seems I was wrong. Even with one of the best midfielders in the EPL like Martin Odegaard, they were unable to score 1 goal. This narrow defeat meant that Norway had a lot to learn, especially since the opponent was a strong team like Spain and it was not easy even though they had quite promising players. Gavi's only goal saved Spain from a draw and it was quite a shame that EURO 2024 had to be missed without Erling Haaland with Norway, because this player is always hungry for goals and of course is expected to be the top scorer but it seems that is too soon for him.

Anyway, congratulations to Spain and Scotland from group A who qualified for EURO 2024.

Saudi Arabia is smart in taking advantage of existing opportunities and even though they failed to get Lionel Messi last summer, at least one of the GOATs and several other European star players are connected with the Saudi league. We know that with the influence of several names, these players can increase their exposure rapidly and what they have invested in will definitely work out according to what they want.

With unlimited money, they are able to buy big teams in Europe's top leagues and I think Saudi Arabia should do this gradually if they have the opportunity to own these clubs. The latest news is that Manchester United has rejected an offer from Qataris and this could be a golden opportunity for Saudi Arabia if they want to acquire Manchester United, but the owner is quite difficult to convince.

It seems this is just moral support being given to Paul Pogba and Rabiot has done the right thing for his teammate. However, Pogba's actions in this doping case clearly violate the rules and he will still be punished with a very long playing ban. Cases like this have often happened in the past but for some reason Pogba actually did this and maybe he has lost his passion for playing football due to frequent injuries. But that's also not something that should be justified and I think he should accept the consequences. For Juventus, they should be ready to let Pogba go later.

Source: https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11667/12984402/casemiro-manchester-united-awaiting-updates-after-brazil-midfielder-suffers-injury-scare-on-international-duty

Problems keep coming for Manchester United and now their defensive midfielder, Casemiro, is reportedly suffering from an ankle injury. Casemiro suffered an injury during the World Cup qualifying match between Brazil vs Venezuela and he was forced to continue playing until he finally experienced severe swelling before being replaced by another player. I think Casemiro is overreacting and if he was in pain he should have asked the trainer to replace him earlier. Casemiro also did not train with Manchester United and is currently still waiting for further news. I think he should be able to think that if he gets seriously injured then the team he plays for will also suffer a loss and here Manchester United is again feeling the impact of losing Casemiro.

Even though Sancho can attract the interest of several big teams out there, looking at his immature attitude sometimes makes teams who want to recruit him worry that he will repeat the same attitude. Sometimes I think why he came to Manchester United if in the end he didn't accept the existing rules and if he continues to be selfish like this his career might fade faster. But if he wants to change his attitude in his new team, that will be a positive thing for him, after all, he is still young and has a long way to go in his career.

If we look at developments so far without any positive news, we can assume he is ready to leave Old Trafford and wherever he goes, hopefully he can find his best performance again like when he was still a Dortmund player.

Seeing the odds that Atletico got in this away match makes me wonder whether they will win again? because the odds are very big for Atletico and I quite doubt they can win easily. Maybe we will see these two teams attack each other and Celta Vigo will definitely take advantage of their home advantage so that Atletico cannot steal points from them.

However, that doesn't apply if in the first half Atletico was ahead by more than 1 goal because we know that Atletico's level of productivity has been very high so far. Moreover, their striker Alvaro Morata is on fire and currently he has collected 5 goals with Atletico. I am very sure that Alvaro Morata will score another goal in this match and of course he doesn't want to lose to Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham who is currently at the top of the temporary top scorers with 8 goals.

Last season I bet on Marseille to win Ligue 1 because they were able to maintain consistency for weeks until they had a significant distance from PSG. I also thought that maybe last season PSG's dominance would end with Marseille winning, but it seems my prediction was wrong and Marseille were deadlocked in maintaining their victory and in the end PSG got rid of them again. Betting on PSG is the right choice as Ligue 1 champions every season and even though they are currently quite struggling there are times when they can make a miracle return to the top.

Maybe if Sancho goes to Juventus, he will still get a decent salary and maybe he will still get fame, although not as much as now. But if he goes to Barcelona, maybe he will get everything he wants, but getting a decent salary is impossible because this club has even cut salaries for some of its players. If Sancho is willing to get fame and titles, of course that will be a good thing for his career at Barcelona, but if he still wants a decent salary then he has to go to Juventus with all the problems that exist at the club every season. It is not easy to determine Sancho's fate at the moment and if he is more open and willing to apologize to Erik ten Hag then he will still be a Manchester United player.

It's true that we still have the same thoughts regarding Manchester United's unexpected mistakes, but we don't need to worry about this because after all, Manchester United will definitely still do the same thing in the match against Copenhagen later. There is no guarantee that as hosts, Manchester United can beat their opponents and even if they can win, of course they cannot concede. If Manchester United still frequently concede goals, it means they are not ready for the competition because this makes their opponents more confident in beating them.

We know that for Galatassaray it is impossible to beat Manchester United but they managed to do it in the previous match. Likewise, Copenhagen must be very confident because Galatasaray can beat Manchester United, why not Copenhagen? So that's what the results of the match will look like.

If the news about the salary increase is true then it will be a very pleasant thing for Joao Felix. The reason is that currently his salary per season is only 400k euros, but that is also the wish of Joao Felix himself who wants to cut his salary at Barcelona. We can calculate how much he receives per week and it is even very small for football players in Europe. That's a disproportionate amount for a player as talented as Joao Felix and despite the joy of being able to play for Barcelona, this needs to be updated in terms of the salary he is paid. If we compare it with the current highest salary in Barcelona which is held by Frenkie de Jong who earns 400k per week, that is a very big gap. It is clear that this is a very big difference and Barcelona's financial management must give appreciation at least to players who also have a significant impact on the club.

Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CyRgyALoeSm/

Source: https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1713588191192662189

It seems that it is not too late to bring in a new coach and this time Augsburg has just announced its new coach for this season after previously sacking Enrico Maassen. The new coach is Jess Thorup who has previous experience coaching several teams in the Danish Superliga. Maybe we also rarely hear his name because so far he has only coached clubs from Denmark such as Copenhagen and Genk. However, it has been 3 years since he has not found a job and now he can finally start coaching again after being appointed by Augsburg. Of course, Augsburg wants its experience to help provide the best results and of course Ausburg doesn't want to be at the bottom of the table forever. We know that Augsburg is always closer to the relegation zone and the presence of this coach is expected to provide a new soul to the squad.

But in my opinion, Verona is still one of the teams that will give surprising results and often this team seems to have more enthusiasm when facing opponents who are much stronger. I think Napoli's chances of winning are still high but that doesn't make them win completely easily and I'm pretty sure Verona will make it difficult for Napoli this time. Verona is currently closer to the red zone and they have the same points as Genoa, therefore they must at least get points if they want to continue to survive. Apart from that, I will not bet on Napoli and will bet on the result of over 2.25 goals with odds @1.59 because usually Verona will score a goal first before being equalized or reversed by Napoli.

Bournemouth and Sheffield are two teams that have never won so far and I think the chances of these two teams getting closer to the relegation zone this season. Even so, Bournemouth probably have a better record with 3 draws which saw them collect 3 points and Sheffield is so bad with only collecting 1 point from one draw and the rest they lost. In the next match, maybe Bournemouth will have the opportunity to add 3 points against Wolves next week, especially this time they are the hosts and for Sheffield, maybe this will be a match that can do wonders for them because it is against Manchester United.

Sheffield must be able to take advantage of the poor results achieved by Manchester United so far and even though in the previous match Manchester United won dramatically, in fact they still had a very difficult time scoring first. Sheffield must force Manchester United to lose points and they must take advantage of the opportunities that exist to take the lead first and then defend fully. I know it's a bit difficult but Sheffield will have to try because they haven't had one so far.

We know that Ronaldo is a person who is ambitious about everything and as long as he hasn't won the Saudi League title with Al-Nassr, of course he doesn't want to leave that soon. During his time with European teams, Ronaldo always won the title he wanted and now it is Al-Nassr's turn to wait for Ronaldo's magic to win the Saudi League title after last season they failed to do so. It is also possible that the ACL title will also be his next target and will be paired with the Saudi League title and that is still possible considering that his contract with Al-Nassr is still sufficient to do that. I think the right place for him to return home after this long journey is back to Sporting Lisbon where he started his career. If he returns there he can still play in the Champions League.

I think it will also be difficult for Dortmund to stop because they have good relations with several top European teams, so when the offer comes and when the team is willing to fulfill the agreement offered by Dortmund then they must be willing to let go of their talented players. I know things like this will only hinder a team from winning the title but sometimes players have full rights to determine their future. These talented players definitely want to play at a club that has a bigger chance of winning titles and also the influence of the environment at the new club can determine their move. I think there is no solution to this problem because each party equally benefits from various sides.

Talking about luck and mentality, of course these are two different things. Luck is possible for all teams and there are many unexpected things throughout the competition. But in terms of mentality, I think it still belongs to Real Madrid. We know that the king of the Champions League often makes the impossible come true and we have certainly seen it since then when Real Madrid were able to win the UCL title against Atletico in 2014. Since then their mentality has continued to grow and the results are up to now they can still surprise people with results that should not happen. This mentality continues to inherit the current generation of Real Madrid and it will be an important strength that other teams rarely have.

Apart from all that, Manchester City is still the favorite because they have better depth than all the teams. Bayern Munich and Real Madrid will always try to win their title back and for Barcelona they are the longest team after last winning this competition in 2015 and of course they will also be aiming for the same thing.