But there is always room for surprises and Newcastle United is one of those teams that I thought would not be able to make it into the top 4 of the Premier League table and yet here they are. But now I would again think that there chances to repeat that or to play a great Champions League season are also relatively small. They are still so unknown to me. I hardly know any of their players, but the transfers of Sonali and Barnes are two transfers that demonstrate their ambitions for the next season.

This is all about the difference in pressure in those pre season games. They all know that nobody will tear them apart in the press when they lose a preparation game against a weaker team. It doesn't matter. The mental condition also doesn't matter because nothing is at risk unless they would lose a game like 0-7 against some second league team from I don't know where, but that usually doesn't happen. This will be about the start against Liverpool, that is when the pressure goes from 10% to 100% and everyone will see whether they are ready to make up for the embarrassing last season.

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The emphasis should be put on can fit. Last year we have seen an unprecedented player lottery run by Chelsea. I think the headlines were that never before did a club buy so many players during a single transfer window and spent so much money. They can now add that never before did a club fail so hard after buying so many players and spending so much money... 

Pochettino doesn't have an easy job, but he has a job that offers him some ways to excuse failures. He can say that building a whole new team can't be done within a single year. The standard sentences we know from coaches. I am excited about the first week of the season and of course I will have a closer look at what Chelsea will do.

Withdrawal from the EPL? What are you referring to here? The question remains an unanswered for now and I guess it is cumbersome to go through those statutes and find out what they grey areas are and what the legal no-gos are. There will be regulations for clubs breaking out of the reigning associations and build their own competitions, but that is what I would expect from a legal framework of the UEFA.

If the financial incentive is high enough, it could soon be the clubs instead of the single players wich will consider competing international tournaments if they are allowed to as per the rules or if a noteworthy number of clubs agrees on discussing any alternatives further.

Juventus Turin is still bound to decisions that are yet to be made by Barcelona and Madrid about the Super League. How they are intertwined there and what the dependencies are, I don't understand that, but Juventus Turin revoking their decision to not take part in this Super League format does not mean that they won't take part in any other Super League format.

I am definitely not one of those who'd say that Atletico has no chance because that's wrong, Atletico has a chance as much as any other team has a chance to win a game against Manchester City. But the relative strength of the two teams has shifted significantly over recent years and yet the game has to be played. But if that games was repeated many times, I would say that Manchester City would win significantly more games than they tie or lose against Atletico considering their present state.

Atletico a few years ago was the most inconvenient and nasty team to play against because of their attitude and their quality. There was an evil, yet effective synergy between their attitude and their quality. But do you think that they still have that quality? The attitude might be the same, but the quality isn't. That's what I can tell from my point of view.

I think it has to do with David Raya, the keeper from Brentford. Bayern Munich was trying to get him and he, as per reports, decided to instead go to Arsenal. That's bad news for Bayern, but also for Yann Sommer if he is afraid to be sitting on the bench when Manuel Neuer returns and now he has the chance to go to Inter Milan, but understandably Bayern won't let him go until they have solved the goalkeeper question for themselves. They are certainly acting according to better be safe than sorry in this case. Since Neuer had some problems with his recovery, it is not possible to go into the new season with Neuer as the goalkeeper and only one substitute player who is not experienced. This could come to a poor result for Sommer.

Interesting that Bayern Munich still decided to take Yann Sommer with them on that Asia trip. I thought that the transfer to Inter was about to be finished, but wasn't quite the case before they lifted off for Japan. But the transfer is still a goal of both clubs and Sommer has an agreement with Inter if everything else can be clarified, too, and the 4 million Euro shouldn't be the problem for Inter. I wonder what is taking so long when the transfer fee is so low, it can't be Inter trying to negotiate for a lower fee than that...

I can't come up with a single reason why Mbappe would end up playing for Manchester United. Who was the last player of that category that ended up playing for Manchester United? To be exact there are really only two options that are in line for an Mbappe transfer and that is, as you mentioned, Manchester City and then Real Madrid. Every other club is not what Mbappe wants and also will not surprise is with some magical offer acing out the offers from the two aforementioned clubs. He will either go to La Liga or the Premier League, which means that any good club from another league is out. In La Liga Barcelona will never be able to do it, which leaves Real Madrid only, which is his preferred club as he has said in the past. In the Premier League it is City only in my opinion as it is the only team that has this extra class that Mbappe is looking for.

No I mean a different concept for a Super League from a founder outside of Europe. Last time there were a few European clubs that wanted to found a Super League that would have been in competition with the UEFA Champions League. I understand when the UEFA says that founding a competing association while being a member of the UEFA will not go without consequences.

But what happens when the new Super League does originate from within Europe, but from an association outside Europe that is not associated with the UEFA whatsoever? I am not into the statutes of the UEFA association and whether it is fixed that clubs will be sanction if they join an association that is founded outside of Europe, but this would be a case study that is worth looking into because the Saudi investors aren't fooling around. I suppose everyone agrees that this is not about buying Ronaldo and Benzema and that's it.

I brought this up because I said that clubs like Juventus have some power as well as the UEFA raises incentives for clubs to consider other options when the UEFA is too hard with their decisions.

Yes Atalanta Madrid... I am joking around here. It is Atletico and not Atlantic Madrid lol.

But this is again a game that ends in favor of Atletico Madrid, but how many people believe that in the next Champions League game Atletico Madrid will beat Manchester City?

These games are played for only one reason and that is to see the fitness level and the willpower to improve and to listen to the coach and turn the advice into action. Whether those games are won or not is at maximum a side effect it means anything at all.

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It is not so much about finding an easier league, but about finding a new place to play where he isn't immediately picked by everyone as the one to blame for mistakes and losses. This is his reputation at the moment and as soon as he makes mistake, it was his fault when the team loses the game. Manchester United is not the team where he is most likely to recover and play his best.

But "Manchester United turn down £20m Harry Maguire offer from West Ham" It won't be easy for him to find a new club as it didn't go unnoticed that he had a bad time and no club would want to pay too much for him now, but instead try to make use of the situation that Manchester United wants him out of the team. This could still take a couple of weeks until Maguire knows where his career will continue.

I believe that you raised a vital question here. With the competition that is now coming from the Saudi Professional League and also the investment fund involved, one risk of being too strict with clubs from European leagues could be that they in return threaten to support the foundation of a new Super League, for instance if it is originating from the Saudi Professional League or the investors backing everything that is flowing into the sport these days.

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The fine of € 20 million is tougher for Juventus Turin than the exclusion from the Conference League. I read that Barcelona is allowed to participate in the Champions League next season and I immediately thought that this is a different story if they had to exclude a huge club like Barcelona from the Champions League. Clubs also have some power over the UEFA.

It wasn't too be expected that early in the opening of the transfer window to instantly find a solution between Chelsea and Inter Milan. I thought that it is only normal for Chelsea to give it some time and see what other interested parties might show up and compete for the best price. But at the same time an offer over 25 million also proves that Inter Milan would like to keep Lukaku, but that they are not fully into keeping him. If there is an agreement for 25 million it is fine and if not then not. But 25 million is an amount clubs would pay for an average striker. This is why I think that he is not a priority for Inter Milan.

I am having a hard time calling any of these guys a victim. The reason why Lukaku left Inter Milan for Chelsea was money and then he couldn't perform there. Maybe he was too bad or maybe he didn't get a real chance, it doesn't matter. But what certainly worked out just fine is the monthly paycheck. He was never forced to leave Inter Milan and he could have stayed if he wanted to, but the money was too good and he decided to risk the place he had in the Inter team and failed to prevail in the Chelsea team. Victimizing him is wrong and he is not the only player who makes a mistake and later blames others for his own situation.

What you call a harsh reality could be a nasty deal between Juventus officials and the UEFA. I would really like to know if the same would have happened when Juventus Turin had qualified for the Champions League. I don't fully trust all of this. It was the perfect timing for the UEFA to demonstrate strength against a club who really doesn't care. Once they are banning a club from participation in the Champions League, I will shut my mouth and never repeat that I distrust this "agreement" because that is what it probably is - an agreement between Juventus and the UEFA.

For Maguire a change of the location, or the league to be more specific, would be the best way to move on for him. I think that his career is more or less over in the Premier League because it is the same people in the end who are watching him and who are giving him the bird if they see him making any mistakes. Minor mistakes will already be an issue because he has no room for error left, which is bad for a defender as the press will attack him as soon as he makes a small mistake.

To move away from Manuel Neuer is inevitable very soon. With the injury he had and now the negative news sometimes, he isn't becoming a second Luigi Buffon and plays for 10 more years. Bayern knows it but getting a new goalkeeper while not losing quality when you had Manuel Neuer is not possible. Neuer was the inventor of the 11h field player. No goalkeeper before him played it that way.

But the goalkeepers they had were seemingly not good enough for Bayern to keep them. They let Nubel go as well. But Ulreich isn't a bad keeper, though what if Neuer isn't available and Ulreich suffers from an injury. That is why this is an important position for them, too.

I am very skeptical about De Gea. He has tons of experience playing in the best league globally, but still there is a good reason why Manchester United wanted to get rid of him so badly. Bayern doesn't need a goalkeeper who is prone to making mistakes and who isn't as skilled with the ball as Neuer. De Gea won't come if he knows that he will be a standby player. But Neuer will try to become the number 1 again.

One advantage that De Gea has over Sommer is the height as Sommer was quite small and there was a lot of speculation going on whether Neuer would have defended some of the goals because he is taller, but apart from I think that De Gea is not a top goalkeeper.

But a club like Manchester City has an easier time to find a new player for an open position than other clubs. Manchester City has the money and is a club that is well established in Europe and young players thrive to play there, at least for as long as they can also have Guardiola as their coach. Still at first when Silva leaves it would be a loss because now they know what they got, but they could act fast and fix the issue within a few weeks.

But what do you mean by Barcelona controlled the game? The time that ball possession means many goals means winning games is over for quite a while in Barcelona. It was when they had all those superstars united ten years ago and they played their ball control game when the other teams had no chance to intervene and counter that strategy. But ball possession isn't the same as other teams now know how to play against it. Arsenal had more than double the number of shots and more than double the number of shots on target. There is something wrong about Barcelona's control if they have the ball 60% of the time but only half of the number of chances that Arsenal had.