¡Hala Juve! - The 2018-2019 Other Players (and Teams) thread

This young guy was only supposed to take the ceremonial opening kick-off. Good thing it wasn't on Valladolid's pitch or they'd still be trying to dig him out.

 

Taxi for Moanio

 

When the fixture-list came out I thought Man Utd might at least have a chance to stay close Man City for the first 8 matches. This was the only difficult match on paper, and even it was at home where they've owned Spurs of late.
So much for that...

Difficult to see where Moanino goes from here. PSG won't be interested. Beyond a return to Inter Milan I don't see any doors opening any time soon in club football. That leaves the Portugal NT but Santos seems to have that position locked for the next 4 years.

 

Inter are the only realistic option for him, he is a busted flush.

 

never see mourinho so weak at home. he really past his time

 

no one want manu now. maybe wenger?

 

What happened last night was even sweeter.. lol!

 

So apparently Madrid are about to sign Mariano from Lyon while Sevilla already had an agreement for said player. Something about a pot and a kettle... Madrid fans were getting their undies in a bunch after we basically did the same thing with Malcom. Saying insta classics of hilarity now like “Florentino conducts business like gentleman and would never do something this unethical” or “A shitty move from a shitty club” or something to that effect.

The level of amusement these last few days with madrid fans has been too much. It’s nice of you to join us again from all the way up your high horse Madrid, welcome, same room as usual?

 

Well even though the press may call it a "hijacked deal," like our swoop for Malcolm, unlike the Malcolm deal, where we had no financial interest in the player, Real Madrid had just sold Mariano a year before, and they retained both a percentage (35%) of his future sales, and also the right to match any offer (though their match is lower due to it only needing to make Lyon net the same amount). So, if anything, it might be more like what they did with Morata (use contractual right to buy him back then sell him for even more), and perhaps what we tried to do with Deulofeu (use contractual right to buy him back, however, we did not make much profit when we sold him).

The weird thing is they have now committed a bunch of money 26M to a player who they let go for just 8M last season, and could have gotten an extra 12M for had they just let Sevilla buy him. But will he play? Will his value improve if he sits on the bench? Does he offer a good alternative to Benzema in case of injury or poor form? Maybe they should bring Jese back too.
https://www.sport-english.com/en/ne...-block-sevillas-move-for-mariano-diaz-7006299

 

I was aware of the buy-back-clause. But like they said when we “hijacked” Malcom; “It’s not illegal, but it’s unethical towards the club who alreay had an agreement with the club”. It’s about being gentlemanly and fair. Even though Sevilla have reacted pasively, the fans are furious at both Madrid and the Sevilla board’s passive reaction. Just because it’s your right legally doesn’t make it “right” ethically, if you get what I mean.

Oh well. I don’t know too much about Mariano except that both Depay and Fekir outshine him at Lyon. So they basically bought Lyon’s third best player to be their number 9? I realize Depay and Fekir aren’t your typical strikers, but still not quite the “galactico” signing. Also, lol @ bringing back Jese.

 

Ajax just qualified for the CL by drawing 0-0 at Kiev tonight. Despite being overwhelmingly dominating they were unlucky, hitting the post once and the crossbar another time. Aside from that Huntelaar couldn’t finish anything tonight, he could have had a hattrick with some more precision.

As a reault of thier qualification Ajax will surely keep de Jong, who was great tonight, especially in first half when he was in midfield, he’s so damn good and will fit Barcelona like a glove. Can’t wait till we get him next year. For those worried about how we could possibly replace Busquets need to look no further than Frenkie. If Busquets can mentor him for a season or two that’d be amazing.

 

He won't end up in Barca especially if he has a great season next summer, Barca will be far behind in their pursuit. Most likely City or Paris will pip Barto.

 

You may be right, it would be nice if Barca could agree to terms with Ajax now by making a downpayment to be completed next summer, either agree on transfer fee now (and pay part of it up front), or pay something for a right of first refusal which allows Barca to match any other offer. Of course if Rabiot is available for free on a Bosman maybe he becomes more attractive than paying over 50M for de Jong (not saying I prefer Rabiot just thinking about how Barto and crew might act next summer)..

 

Agreed. We need to make some type of deal with Ajax for de Jong next summer. Right now I can’t see a better potential replacement for Busquets. With that being said, I hope we stay away from Rabiot. He has nothing on de Jong imo, inferior talent and inferior character. Guardiola will surely try to get him next summer, he’s the type of player he likes. PSG would go after him only to ******** with us.

Side note: a Dutch tv pundit epically ended the post-match portion of the Ajax game broadcast by saying: “Blind is ecstatic, he’s finally in a team that is both fighting for the domestic title ànd is in the CL” followed by a glorious moment of silence like “yeah let that one sink in” Get wrecked United.

 

I really like this Ajax team. So young and already so composed. Even in a big match held in an intimidating atmosphere they just dribble and pass the ball out of dangerous areas without a problem.

That said, not quite sure if they are as good as they looked or if Dynamo is plain awful!?

 

Can’t say Dynamo is a top team of course, but they did make it as far as that point in their bid to qualify for CL. With that being said, Ajax has a history of being overwhelming favorites and yet somehow messing it up, especially against teams who have a more defensive setup. A lot like Barcelona in that regard as Ajax also play an attacking, fluid passing game. So it’s really credit to them for not only qualifying but also the manner in which they did; so dominating in both legs.

I can’t stress enough how much I would love to see de Jong here. If he were to go anywhere else like @Forzabarca suggeste I would be devastated. Guardiola will surely be lurking though.
Heck, if Lenglet doesn’t really work out I’d love to have both de Jong and de Ligt here. The latter is 19 and captain of this young, quality Ajax side. He plays and acts like one too, so composed and showing leadership skills at his young age. Most important of all, he’s one of the best centebacks I have seen at that age. Over at the RM forum they are creaming themselves over him saying he’s the best young CB talent since Varane and comparable to a young Ramos, which is saying a lot coming from them. That would be like us comparing a CB to Puyol.

 

Yeah, I'm worried about Pep poaching him from our inept Board too. I guess the best thing that can happen from a Barca POV is that Ajax don't advance from the CL group-stage, making De Jong theoretically available in the January window. That would even be better than him coming to Barca right now as I don't think he would get much playing time in the first half of the season (when the schedule is lighter) if he was with Barca. This could be his break-out season! But he needs regular playing time.

 

Problem with striking a deal now is that Ajax for sure rather have 70-80M€ rather than agree a lower sum now so they will hold out for next season and unless anything unexpected happens they might be getting what they want. Unless the player makes a stand it means Ajax will hold out for a much lucrative deal than striking something with Barca now. A tug war with PSG and City is more likely as he's Busquetsesque and they both have shown great interest in Busi. Its going to be very expensive summer next year, Questions is if he's worth it?

 

Our best hope seems to be that the player declares he wants to join Barca, we still pay a high fee but avoid a bidding war.

 

Well, the one thing working in our favor is the close relationship Barcelona and Ajax have shared ever since Cruyff came to the fore. Overmars being the director at Ajax and a former Barcelona player might help too. If it comes down to it I’d rather he go to City than to that Parisian shit club. Most pundits in the Netherlands agree that Pep will be Barcelona’s greatest hurdle to sign de Jong though I think PSG is maybe even a bigger problem due to theit infinitely deep pockets. Like some have said here before, de Jong is gonna have to come out and say he wants to join us, which I think he does.

 

Crazy Copa Libertadores story where Santos learned that their 0-0 away draw in the first leg was turned into a 3-0 loss to Indepiente, based on Santos fielding a player who got a red card in 2015, when playing in the Copa with River Plate, and not serving his full subsequent ban. Conmebol did not announce the revised score until 12 hours before the 2nd leg was played. The game was scoreless late and Santos fans grew more and more upset and ultimately the game was abandoned with 8 minutes left. Future Real Madrid player Rodrygo heard cursing CONMEBOL in a viral rant. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/45342196

As a result, Argentina has 3 in the quarterfinals already (Independiente, and Atletico Tucuman, plus the Racing Club v. River Plate winner) and Brazil has 2 Gremio, plus the Cruzeiro v. Flamengo winner). More could be added, 3 2nd leg games today and 2 tomorrow.

Meanwhile in final CL qualifiers, Benfica (with ex La Masia great Grimaldo at left back) are up 2-4 on aggregate with 3 away goals, and PSV are up 5-2 on aggregate; both look assured of going through, though only at halftime, and Salzburg has an early 1-0 lead at home but would lose on away goals if Red Star Belgrade could manage to equalize after a scoreless first leg in Belgrade.