La Liga (Spanish League) Prediction Thread 2023/24

[len01]

Pepe Reina extended his contract with Villarreal for another season while he is a 40y old player and if he really stays in Villarreal for the next season he can be one of the oldest players in La Liga.
Maybe Villarreal had to start seeking a young goalkeeper instead of extending his contract at this age.

there is a slight possibility that Villarreal keeps Pepe Reina because the performance of this goalkeeper is a little good even though he conceded several times but I still believe that at the age of 40 he can still keep the goal to defend Villarreal.
on the one hand maybe after this season Villarreal will soon replace Pepe Reina with a new player who is easier and has better talent.

[youdacapt]

Pepe Reina extended his contract with Villarreal for another season while he is a 40y old player and if he really stays in Villarreal for the next season he can be one of the oldest players in La Liga.
Maybe Villarreal had to start seeking a young goalkeeper instead of extending his contract at this age.

I think the dude just loves playing football and doesn't want to stop yet haha. and with a comfortable environment for him in Villarreal he has decided to continue playing for yet another season. I wonder though, why he has not opted to play in USA, SAUDI ARABIA OR China. One last pay uno haha

[JeromeTash]

Some people think that Gundogan is quite old so he can't make an impressive level of contribution to Barcelona. But I think the opposite here on this topic. Because if you watched even his last matches at Manchester City you must have seen how beneficial he was. For example he literally won the FA Cup title for his team by a big individual effort in the finale.

I think he can do so well in La Liga even at his age if he settles in well. We have 37-year-old Luka Modrić and 33-year-old Toni Kroos doing wonders in La Liga, So why not Gundogan? The Bigger issue is if he can blend in the Barcelona team as soon as possible

[lalabotax]

Ilkay Gundogan's decision to join Barcelona can be considered a wise decision because he still hopes to appear in Europe with a big team. Barcelona is a good team in the history of football, so joining Barcelona must be something good in a few seasons before approaching retirement.

Yes, I thought so too. It is undeniable that the older a soccer player gets, the dimmer his career opportunities will be. And right now, if he does move to Barcelona, that's a very good thing too. Barcelona is a big club in La Liga and he is in the championship team this season, and of course he can still join the UCL again. With his current abilities, with Barcelona, it is hoped that they will have each other or provide benefits for both parties. Barcelona is getting stronger because of Gundogan's ability and quality, and conversely Gundogan has also got a big club with a relatively high fee.

[Ayers]

Gundogan is going to join Barcelona but still, but nothing is clear and there is still a chance for Gundogan to join another team even if he signs the contract with Barcelona.
Because if Barcelona fails to register the contract of this player because of the financial issues he can join another team.

Do you really believe Barca will sign a player and not be able to register him? I see all these news update all the time and it's funny at this point. Last summer some sports newspapers like The Athletic really believe Barca will go bankrupt. How can people be that naive?
Barca registered all the players they got last despite all that the media reported, and now they have started reporting this summer again. They didn't sign Messi partly because they would not have been able to register him.
Barcelona will register all their players, every other thing they are doing is just a precaution.

So you are saying that Barcelona does not have as much of a problem as we think in terms of finance? I don’t think we can say that just because of what the weather is getting Gundogan as a free transfer. Yes, the salary amount is going to be there but it is at the end of the day a free transfer.

But anyway, I am positive that Barcelona is going to be able to get him on the team without too many problems. Unless of course, the player decides that he’s going to go to some other Saudi club where he is going to get paid a lot of money. And let’s be honest, the Saudi league can actually pay him a lot more money compared to what Barcelona can give him right now.

[Frankolala]

And let’s be honest, the Saudi league can actually pay him a lot more money compared to what Barcelona can give him right now.

Gundogan is a great player and deserves more from Barcelona. I think that these Saudi business tycoons have chosen to pump in huge funds into football investment and also they have bought some world classic players very expensive and this has made other superstars to think about an offer from the Saudis.

Barcelona are some how broke and the management is trying to make sure that they spend their funds wisely. This is why I wouldn't blame them on any decision taken by them. I hope that they can keep him or better still give him a new deal instead of letting him go because his contributions matters a lot in their team

[snipie]

Some people think that Gundogan is quite old so he can't make an impressive level of contribution to Barcelona. But I think the opposite here on this topic. Because if you watched even his last matches at Manchester City you must have seen how beneficial he was. For example he literally won the FA Cup title for his team by a big individual effort in the finale.

I think he can do so well in La Liga even at his age if he settles in well. We have 37-year-old Luka Modrić and 33-year-old Toni Kroos doing wonders in La Liga, So why not Gundogan? The Bigger issue is if he can blend in the Barcelona team as soon as possible

Gundogan made a contract with Barcelona for two years + one optional year, where he insisted if Barcelona fails to include him with the team because of their fair-play issue, then he could move out of the team by August 12, 2023, yet Barcelona accepted this clause. If that mean one thing is how important is the player for Barcelona. Gundogan helped a lot Manchester City to win titles and I believe he still can play good football in Barcelona.

[Google+]

Ilkay Gundogan's decision to join Barcelona can be considered a wise decision because he still hopes to appear in Europe with a big team. Barcelona is a good team in the history of football, so joining Barcelona must be something good in a few seasons before approaching retirement.

Ilkay Gundogan can be expected to be able to provide a balance for Barcelona's midfield players next season. Barcelona no longer have senior players in midfield after Busquets stopped renewing his contract, so Ilkay's arrival at Barcelona is one to look forward as the best alternative for the balance of the game.

Joining ilkay Gundogan to Barcelona was predicted beforehand because he had good communication with Xavi and the decision he made was of course the best decision for his career. I think Xavi has got a really special player because since Xavi failure to bring Messi back to Barcelona this season it seems the fans are starting to get frustrated with Xavi's next move but after managing to get Ilkay Gundogan it seems Barcelona fans are quite happy with the improvements Xavi has made in the transfer window. Well Gundogan will be Xavi regular for next season and he would be a perfect replacement for Sergio Busquets because Gundogan own quite the perfect character for the position. So, in this case, I see a pretty good progress for Barcelona in the hands of Xavi because he was able to choose quality players to bring in to improve their strength for next season. We will see a pretty perfect Barcelona midfield next season because De Jong, Gundogan and Pedri are allegedly going to be ideal partners for Barcelona next season. So, will Barcelona quality next season be in doubt, of course not, because they are almost perfect with a squad of star players for next season, either in Laliga or the Champions League.

[Velvet78]

This time we will be seeing a new team being added among the ones which are joining the Champions League. Real Sociedad are also going there together with the usual four teams in the La Liga. As Sevilla had a really poor season in the La Liga they focused on the Europa League and won the title. In the meantime Real Sociedad benefited from the chance to get the last spot in top 4.

Villarreal were also in this fight for a while but after starting a bad form they started to fall behind Real Sociedad. I really think Real Sociedad deserved this. Because they have been really impressive during the season. For some time they were even ahead of Atletico Madrid by a quite big point gap. 

I think when you consider Sevilla getting Europa as well, they will have 5 teams this time around. They will have the usual top 4 places, but then also Sevilla as well, so they will have 5 teams going there. I think not all starts at group stages, fourth doesn't right? In any case, they will be there in name until the group stages as well so a total of 5 teams is for sure.

I think it's quite important to realize that when you are handling a league that is getting this much success, you should think you are doing something right. I know that it will not be simple to compare Premier league and La Liga against each other, but I gotta say it's sometimes obvious to me that La Liga overall is better, even if City might be better than all else.

Technically La Liga teams seem more impressive to me in the Champions League. Real Madrid by themselves are already carrying the La Liga as they have won the most amount of Champions League titles. They are far ahead of any other team there. Barcelona also had really bright times there and Atletico Madrid were much better than now in the past.

English teams have newly started to get more titles in the Champions League in the recent seasons. But they will need to work harder than that to get ahead of Spanish teams' successes.

[AndySt]

So you are saying that Barcelona does not have as much of a problem as we think in terms of finance? I don’t think we can say that just because of what the weather is getting Gundogan as a free transfer. Yes, the salary amount is going to be there but it is at the end of the day a free transfer.
But anyway, I am positive that Barcelona is going to be able to get him on the team without too many problems. Unless of course, the player decides that he’s going to go to some other Saudi club where he is going to get paid a lot of money. And let’s be honest, the Saudi league can actually pay him a lot more money compared to what Barcelona can give him right now.

According to an insider, Fabrizio Romano Gundogan has already signed a contract with Barcelona for two years with an option to extend for another season. Yes, he could have earned money of a different order in Saudi Arabia, but obviously he decided to continue his career at the highest level, because with all due respect to the Saudi Arabian championship, La Liga and European tournaments are tournaments of a much higher order and level.

[X-ray]

Gundogan made a contract with Barcelona for two years + one optional year, where he insisted if Barcelona fails to include him with the team because of their fair-play issue, then he could move out of the team by August 12, 2023, yet Barcelona accepted this clause. If that mean one thing is how important is the player for Barcelona. Gundogan helped a lot Manchester City to win titles and I believe he still can play good football in Barcelona.

Im not sure about that since the key point in manchester city was also on KDB and haaland. Lewandowski is far from haaland which has been making almost 40 goals in a season. I think that the chance for gundogan to help barcelona to win UCL was quite small.
He is not an amazing player like messi which was able changing the club a lot with the come of him. Manchester city has got kovacic as a replacement for him.
Kovacic has been winning UCL so many times more than him. I think that the gone of him from manchester city to the barcelona is not a big problem at all. Pep has found good player to replace him.
I hope gundogan will be lucky enough in barcelona

[makishart]

Pepe Reina extended his contract with Villarreal for another season while he is a 40y old player and if he really stays in Villarreal for the next season he can be one of the oldest players in La Liga.
Maybe Villarreal had to start seeking a young goalkeeper instead of extending his contract at this age.

A bit surprised to see he was still interesting to extend his contract even though his age can be considered as very old age right now. It's amazing to see how he is really comitting to be a good keeper for villareal even though his age was old.
I hope so but let's see what's gonna happen until the end of season. Villareal has interest to recruit ajax's goal keeper but it has been suffering big problem in his transfer from ajax

https://www.football-espana.net/2023/05/10/villarreal-identify-la-liga-stopper-as-their-new-first-choice-keeper-for-next-season

That's why villareal has no choice other than keeping reina even though he was very old now as a football player

[BlackBoss_]

Pepe Reina extended his contract with Villarreal for another season while he is a 40y old player and if he really stays in Villarreal for the next season he can be one of the oldest players in La Liga.
Maybe Villarreal had to start seeking a young goalkeeper instead of extending his contract at this age.

Recent years, we are witnessing a new milestone in modern football when some players can play at their 40s and even have positions in their national teams. Pepe, Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Buffon (Parma) and Ibrahimovic just retired weeks ago.

A bit surprised to see he was still interesting to extend his contract even though his age can be considered as very old age right now. It's amazing to see how he is really comitting to be a good keeper for villareal even though his age was old.
I hope so but let's see what's gonna happen until the end of season. Villareal has interest to recruit ajax's goal keeper but it has been suffering big problem in his transfer from ajax

https://www.football-espana.net/2023/05/10/villarreal-identify-la-liga-stopper-as-their-new-first-choice-keeper-for-next-season

That's why villareal has no choice other than keeping reina even though he was very old now as a football player

It depends on him. Pepe Reina is a goalkeeper from a generation of Gianluigi Buffon and we see Buffon is still continuing his career with Parma. Pepe Reina does not have a good position as a main goalkeeper for Villareal but it's not bad if he decided to continue this career. Such players might not be able to contribute too much with they playing time but their experience and professionality in training are very helpful for young goalkeepers.

[rendravolt]

Pepe Reina extended his contract with Villarreal for another season while he is a 40y old player and if he really stays in Villarreal for the next season he can be one of the oldest players in La Liga.
Maybe Villarreal had to start seeking a young goalkeeper instead of extending his contract at this age.

A bit surprised to see he was still interesting to extend his contract even though his age can be considered as very old age right now. It's amazing to see how he is really comitting to be a good keeper for villareal even though his age was old.
I hope so but let's see what's gonna happen until the end of season. Villareal has interest to recruit ajax's goal keeper but it has been suffering big problem in his transfer from ajax

https://www.football-espana.net/2023/05/10/villarreal-identify-la-liga-stopper-as-their-new-first-choice-keeper-for-next-season

That's why villareal has no choice other than keeping reina even though he was very old now as a football player

In my opinion there is no other reason to extend Pepe Reina's contract because his contribution as a goalkeeper made Villarreal finish in 5th place in the standings last season which made Villarreal also get a place in the European league. This is a pretty good achievement because for the 21/22 season Villarreal can only play in the conference league. So it's not surprising that even though at the age of 40, Villarreal still places its trust in Pepe Reina to become Villarreal's goalkeeper until next season. I think Villarreal will have to forget about the Ajax keeper and look for other options in the winter.

[Razmirraz]

Apart from looking for new players to strengthen their squad, the 2023 summer transfer market will also be used by Real Madrid to find a new coach. The harmonious relationship that exists between Real Madrid and Ancelotti will end soon after the coach has agreed to coach the Brazilian national team, the 2023-2024 season will be the last season for Ancelotti to coach Real Madrid.
Real Madrid is busy looking for a new coach who can replace Ancelotti, Perez as president of Real Madrid already has three names to be appointed as the new coach of Real Madrid. Zidane, Mourinho and Xabi Alonso are candidates to succeed Ancelotti.

The three names chosen by Perez are highly qualified to replace Ancelotti, Zidane and Mourinho are great coaches and have won various titles. Meanwhile, Xavi Alonso played a great role in boosting Leverkusen performance in the 2022-2023 season. Coincidentally, Alonso contract with Bayer Leverkusen also expires at the end of the 2023-2024 season, so Real Madrid can bring in Alonso for free.

[Docnaster]

People are already Habingering gundogans deal to be one of the best for Barcelona. It speaks more about how we see football. Gundogan is indeed a vibrant player,  who still has a lot to offer even at that age. But the question is, will he fit into xavi/ Barcelona's style of play??
Gundogan didn't play often for Pep Guardiola ( for important reasons like age factor) gradually,  the club adapted to De Bruyn which then withdrew attention from Gundogan. But Gundogan was still doing well when ever he is featured in a game.  This was because he enjoys Man City's pattern as a team. And he's she didn't affect him due to this pattern. factors like oo much Dependency/ pressure will be high on him in Barcelona and I doubt he will yield the outcome has expects.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

you are right that Man City might allow Gündogan to leave City because he is indeed quite old. so that Man City has the goal of releasing Gündogan and trying to find young players who have better talent to be able to bring Man City to the defending champion in the champions league.
I know maybe Guardiola has another new dream to keep winning the treble again in the new season so he sells several players who are not performing well to welcome next summer.

They have a policy to free their players who no longer want to play for them and Gundogan is their captain with lot of contributions for their club success in the last 6 years. It is fair enough and is like of recognition and respect of Manchester City for Gundogan to allow the player moving to Barcelona. It is a happy ending for the player and is helpful for the club reputation on how they treat their legendary players too.

Gundogan has good part of his career in Manchester City because he had little injuries during the time in Eithad. It is different than his last seasons in Dortmund with some injuries and he missed many matches with Dortmund.

The three names chosen by Perez are highly qualified to replace Ancelotti, Zidane and Mourinho are great coaches and have won various titles. Meanwhile, Xavi Alonso played a great role in boosting Leverkusen performance in the 2022-2023 season. Coincidentally, Alonso contract with Bayer Leverkusen also expires at the end of the 2023-2024 season, so Real Madrid can bring in Alonso for free.

Xabi Alonso still needs more time and in the Europa League semi finals against AS Roma, he shown that he lacked of ability to use alternative players to change tactics and change the match conditions. He needs more time to sharpen his tactics philosophy and flexibility to win titles. He is not a good coach for Real Madrid at the moment.

Zidane did not show any interest to manage a club after he left Real Madrid some seasons ago. He only aimed at France national coach position that is hold by his ex-team-mate Deschamps. He will not take the coach position in Real Madrid.

Mourinho looks to be a best candidate for Real Madrid. He has good successful career and in the past two seasons, he got good achievements in AS Roma with limited resources and so far in this summer, he has yet stated about his future.

[bering]

Pepe Reina extended his contract with Villarreal for another season while he is a 40y old player and if he really stays in Villarreal for the next season he can be one of the oldest players in La Liga.
Maybe Villarreal had to start seeking a young goalkeeper instead of extending his contract at this age.

A bit surprised to see he was still interesting to extend his contract even though his age can be considered as very old age right now. It's amazing to see how he is really comitting to be a good keeper for villareal even though his age was old.
I hope so but let's see what's gonna happen until the end of season. Villareal has interest to recruit ajax's goal keeper but it has been suffering big problem in his transfer from ajax

https://www.football-espana.net/2023/05/10/villarreal-identify-la-liga-stopper-as-their-new-first-choice-keeper-for-next-season

That's why villareal has no choice other than keeping reina even though he was very old now as a football player

I was remember he has been reach to his top career when Reina was defend Liverpool for 9 season and indeed a bit surprised because he still able to play at high level of competition with his current age and Pepe Reina status currently as Villarreal main goalkeeper and last season he has been trusted by Villarreal previous manager Unay Emery and the current manager Quique Setién and his performance was quite stable although he is not young anymore and Villarreal doesn't have much option at that time because only Pepe Reina is an experienced goalkeeper and indeed they still have Filip Jorgensen as second goalkeeper but this player is too young and Villarreal seems doesn't dare to put their trust to him

[nara1892]

Apart from looking for new players to strengthen their squad, the 2023 summer transfer market will also be used by Real Madrid to find a new coach. The harmonious relationship that exists between Real Madrid and Ancelotti will end soon after the coach has agreed to coach the Brazilian national team, the 2023-2024 season will be the last season for Ancelotti to coach Real Madrid.
Real Madrid is busy looking for a new coach who can replace Ancelotti, Perez as president of Real Madrid already has three names to be appointed as the new coach of Real Madrid. Zidane, Mourinho and Xabi Alonso are candidates to succeed Ancelotti.

The three names chosen by Perez are highly qualified to replace Ancelotti, Zidane and Mourinho are great coaches and have won various titles. Meanwhile, Xavi Alonso played a great role in boosting Leverkusen performance in the 2022-2023 season. Coincidentally, Alonso contract with Bayer Leverkusen also expires at the end of the 2023-2024 season, so Real Madrid can bring in Alonso for free.

Of the 3 names you mentioned, they are people who are familiar with Real Madrid, Jose Mourinho had coached Real Madrid in the 2010 to 2013 season, Zidane is also a name that has even coached Real Madrid 2 times, while Xabi Alonso, although he has not once sat in the chair of Real Madrid coach, but he is a former player from the team nicknamed Los Blancos. Of the 3 names, 2 names are experienced coaches, and even Zidane is a coach who has successfully helped Real Madrid to win the Champions League title 3 times in a row.

People are already Habingering gundogans deal to be one of the best for Barcelona. It speaks more about how we see football. Gundogan is indeed a vibrant player,  who still has a lot to offer even at that age. But the question is, will he fit into xavi/ Barcelona's style of play??
Gundogan didn't play often for Pep Guardiola ( for important reasons like age factor) gradually,  the club adapted to De Bruyn which then withdrew attention from Gundogan. But Gundogan was still doing well when ever he is featured in a game.  This was because he enjoys Man City's pattern as a team. And he's she didn't affect him due to this pattern. factors like oo much Dependency/ pressure will be high on him in Barcelona and I doubt he will yield the outcome has expects.

In terms of play, I actually think about Barcelona's game pattern, which can be said in terms of the game, Manchester City and Barcelona have almost the same pattern of play, namely dominating the game. However, in my opinion, what Barcelona needs more from Gundogan is his experience, which is expected to help a lot when Barcelona have difficulty finding space. Especially now that Barcelona has good names in the midfield and it can be a good collaboration when their chemistry is created.

[makishart]

It depends on him. Pepe Reina is a goalkeeper from a generation of Gianluigi Buffon and we see Buffon is still continuing his career with Parma. Pepe Reina does not have a good position as a main goalkeeper for Villareal but it's not bad if he decided to continue this career. Such players might not be able to contribute too much with they playing time but their experience and professionality in training are very helpful for young goalkeepers.

Pepe has become an option for villareal. Villareal has no choice caused by it's failed to recruit a new goal keeper. I think that villareal is trying to find an alternative goal keeper to be signed in the summer. Reina may help the club for temporary and im sure villareal is focusing to find a new goal keeper for the team. His experience cannot make up for his age if he does not respond as quickly as a younger goalkeeper.. His stamina is not as good as a young player too.
His heart becomes even older and it was greatly affecting his body.

In my opinion there is no other reason to extend Pepe Reina's contract because his contribution as a goalkeeper made Villarreal finish in 5th place in the standings last season which made Villarreal also get a place in the European league. This is a pretty good achievement because for the 21/22 season Villarreal can only play in the conference league. So it's not surprising that even though at the age of 40, Villarreal still places its trust in Pepe Reina to become Villarreal's goalkeeper until next season. I think Villarreal will have to forget about the Ajax keeper and look for other options in the winter.

Yeah his contribution is quite a lot but villareal must consider his age. Ibra is 1 year older compared with pepe reina and he has been retiring from football. I think that pepe reina will be following it as soon as possible.
I do agree if villareal must looking at another potential club.