News: Team captains are the best players - OTT [R]

BREAKING: Virgil van Dijk has been ordered to train alone after telling Southampton he wants to leave this summer, per @adamleitchsport pic.twitter.com/ypC3Rhb7RP

— B/R Football (@brfootball) July 21, 2017

 

That will show him.

 

Van Dijk will still win in the end, if he gets what he's after. Pellegrino's comments are pretty interesting and he appears to be handling this as well as can expected, under the circumstances.

www.bbc.com/sport/football/40682751

 

DEAL DONE: Chelsea have signed Álvaro Morata on a 5-year contract for £58m + £12m add-ons from Real Madrid. 🔵🔵🔵 pic.twitter.com/U4zfHSqhaY

— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) July 21, 2017

 

******** Madrid!!!

 

Just in case there were any doubts...

www.espn.co.uk/football/real-madrid/story/3161030/zinedine-zidane-puts-an-end-to-cristiano-ronaldo-speculation

There may be doubts about his choices or real ability as a coach (great Real team and all), but from a man management perspective alone, Zizou has proved the perfect guy to manage this Real team. He's got the respect and clout to deal with not only the players, but with Perez also, which in itself is remarkable. And then you look at his results: it was partially expected with the team at his disposal, but still hats off to the guy...

 

Can't wait for the Ronaldo rumors to return next summer.

 

There was no doubt Ronaldo was going to remain a Real man.

 

Pool turn down a £72mil bid for Coutinho from Barca.

www.bbc.com/sport/football/40679205

More than Barca's approach for Coutinho itself, this is interesting because it begs the question of Barca bracing themselves for Neymar's departure. They don't plenty of cash aging around of reports and the money they'd get from the Neymar sale would make them big time players on the market. To be continued I guess...

 

Mendy to Monaco at 58 mill euros.

 

Oxlade-Chamberlain is being targeted by Chelsea according to Skysports. Underused by Arsenal and in the last year of his contract, he could be had for relatively cheap. Would be a good addition for Chelsea, who after a slow start in their transfer business, are coming on strong of late.

 

So, these Neymar rumours picking up steam big time. Along with Sanchez in a double signing?!?

So, if Neymar joins, Verrati could seriously be in play. Especially now he's with Raiola. This might be a fascinating August for the muppets.

 

Neymar being sold could mean trouble for quite a few teams, with the sending power Barca will have. Verratti could be one of their first acquisition as well.
Raiola may have great relations with us but he's known primarily to get players what they want and it's Barca in Verratti's case.
Barca will be able to address just about all their issues and coud come out real nice when it's all over. Would be doing Prem teams a big favor if they could get Coutinho away from Pool as well.

 

Neymar is done. He's paying the release clause "himself" due to an agreement to promote some Qatari interest or other.

 

I would go for Dembele 80-90 m and Verrati 90-100 m plus Dybala 100 m if funds are available.

 

I as in Barca.

PSG are not selling to them.

 

If not Fabino for 40-50 m, Wiegl for 40-50, Goretzka for 40-50, Dahoud for 40-50, two of those.

More than one way to do business, essentially what we should have done rather than buying Valencia, Owen and alien French dude.

 

If they can do Verratti, plus Dybala or Dembele, it will be a good start. They really should get a CB in there as well.
Not sure that Barca are completely out of the picture for Verratti, now that Raiola is in the game. He probably sold him that he could make it happen for him, if that's what he wants. And a Neymar move will be a game changer in any ways.

 

We needed the money for financial crisis liquidity crunch. That's the one time where the Glazers LBO hurt us. Along with RM getting interest free loans from Santander and Caja Madrid as the Spanish economy was unraveling.

Being cash-rich in 2009-11 could buy you a lot; being cash-rich now is not so useful.

Juve are going to make them pay €140m or so from Dybala.

That + €80-90m for Dembele is the entire Neymar money spent.

 

What would be interesting is if PSG put Verratti on the market for non-Barca clubs.

More likely though is them selling the likes of Matuidi, Aurier, AdM and Lucas Moura.

Are there still takers for Moura @benni...

 

Nope

 

Arsenal have been offered Rafinha by Barca.

www.skysports.com/football/news/11670/10956520/barcelona-midfielder-rafinha-offered-to-arsenal

Barca obviously needing to raise some funds.

 

HT: Bayern Munich 0-3 AC Milan

Exciting times for Milan fans 🔥 pic.twitter.com/FbderlRBLd

— B/R Football (@brfootball) July 22, 2017

 

All of the pro Morata pish and revisionism that is saturating the UK press is just cringeworthy.

 

Mendy to City for £52mil is done...

www.bbc.com/sport/football/40691689