Crushed hopes and dreams - Transfers, Rumors and Lies Thread

Theo, Dani and Vinicius snubbed Barca in a single summer. Enough said. PL for all the money still can't attract the very best. You'd think Neymar would leave for a PL club in the "league everyone wants to play in", but he went to PSG instead. Same with Mbappe who snubbed Pep even though they are oil rich as well.

Exactly. Theo, Vinicius, Odegaard, Dani etc didn't believe in Barca myth. See the amount of players they wasted from Arsenal. Did Song get a game? Vermaelen? Alves hates their board. Gomes, Arda, Alcacer, Denis Suarez all have become irrelevant going there. Meanwhile we have developed Marcelo, Varane, Asensio etc the right way. Higuain was also developed as an 18 year old and we didn't treat him badly. He just couldn't show up in big games which is the case even now. Funny seeing the hypocrisy of some RM fans when it comes to Farca.

 

The problem is going to be the B and the B joined the team because of the C. The first galacticos joined the team because we were already built to succeed. Part of the attraction is winning and playing with the best, and if we can't offer that and we can't overcome the transfer fee/wage issues, then surely we will have problems getting top players.

Worst of all is that we let seasoned world class talents already integrated into the team go, and kept the deadweight. We didn't have to spend a penny to keep the team competitive in the near and long term future but the ego's of Flo and Zidane were prioritized because they wanted credit for the bbC.

So it will be very difficult to sell this project to players when it is clear the team already peaked and is on the way down. And rebuilding is going to take a couple of years with no guarantees. As for all the young guns we are doing them a tremendous disservice - they are sitting around instead of playing, they're development is stagnating, and they are probably losing form by the day; all of which will make it all but impossible to perform in limited minutes and make a claim for more playing time when that time comes. Vicious cycle here.

 

Letting James go was not an issue as we simply did not play the number 10 role. I've said it before, there is no way we could have kept such a talented bench and our transfer activity was actually pretty sensible. The ONLY mistake was not signing a top quality forward to replace Benzema.

Who cares if Bale is injured, Isco rightly takes his place and it gives more minutes to Asensio. All our problems so far this season has literally been down to Benzema predictably being rubbish and Ronaldo unexpectedly following suit.

If Ronaldo was on form, we would have topped our Champions League group and probably be top of La Liga. If Ronaldo was off form but we had a striker that could strike the ball, we would have topped our Champions League group and probably be top of La Liga.

 

Not unless we kept James for the second striker role and had the above mentioned as backup.

 

James was bossing the midfield and controlling the game for Bayern last night in the 2nd half. Asensio is not at that level yet.
In any case, the team prefered Isco over James and the two are redundant players. Is really difficult to give continuity to both and to please them both in a team with the BBC up front as undisputed starters when healthy.
We also have Ceballos now who I hope will help us bring some much needed creativity back in the final third of the pitch.
Asensio IMO is still developing but lacks continuity and I am not yet clear how his career will pan out.
He is 26 btw not 27.

 

The downside is that one good player cost 100m whilst a genuine world class talent is at least 150-200m. If Dembele, Mbappe and Lukaku have somewhat mediocre seasons, maybe it will bring some sense back to the market.

If not, will be in a situation where we missed out on the likes of Jesus for relative peanuts and have to spend the equivalent entire value of a good club on one player.

 

I wish. Maybe someone (probably only one club) is stupid enough to pay 70m for Bale but no one is paying more than 30m for Benzema.

 

James would have actually fit in our current set-up of 4-3-1-2 behind the 2 strikers which is Isco's current role(4-4-2 diamond) but it was pretty clear he had no future at the club at the back end of last season.

 

The bad things about letting James go was not that he's gone. He had no place for Zidane

The bad things were that we did not replace his production

And that we practically gave away a world class player in an inflated market.

 

We brought in Ceballos. It's not realistic to expect the club to bring in another world class player to compete witch Isco.

 

James is not missed. He was never essential and his contribution can be made up for, Asensio, Isco and Ceballos are all already making up.

I love him as a player, but he was always a luxury. I would have kept him over Bale too.

We needed to keep Morata. That’s our mistake this summer. Keep him or replace him. We did neither. We are paying for it too.

 

I could be wrong but i’m pretty sure Goretzka is an attacking mid. Don’t think we need more of those. Competent 9 and we’re all set.

I thought I heard somewhere Werner’s buyout was 50m, if that’s true he should be our priority for that pricetag.

 

Eden Hazard has 'admiration' for Real Madrid but focused on Chelsea

'I am always very fine at this club. I still have two years of contract (left),' he said. 'When I feel the desire to leave, I'll leave. But, for now, I'm a Blue.'

'We know the admiration that I have for Real, but I'm at Chelsea. Every year, things were said about me but I stayed.

'In Lille, I was announced in Paris, but I stayed. And in Chelsea, people always said that I'm leaving, but I'm still here.'

http://www.espn.in/football/soccer-...ration-for-real-madrid-but-focused-on-chelsea

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...Hazard-admires-Real-Madrid-happy-Chelsea.html

 

Even without James we are still unclear if he will eventually become Bale or Ronaldo replacement in the coming years or if we would go for a new star forward/winger. Knowing Flo the second is the most likely scenario.

 

If Bale left and James stayed (as it should have been done), then he wouldn't have been a luxury.