Krmencik rumors starting to pick up again; sounds like Bordeaux has made the most concrete overtures although Sampdoria is now getting involved as well. I think either would be a great destination. Plzen refused to sell in winter to ensure Champions League money, which they got, so they should be more willing to negotiate now. The full list of interested clubs this summer in the latest articles were: Sampdoria, Empoli, Leeds, Reading, Bordeaux, Rennes, and Mönchengladbach
France or Italy would be a good league for Krmencik. I am glad it also looks like he will leave Czech. He likely won't have a better year than he did, and he is still young. Needs to continue to refine his game. We need some defenders to step up too.
No big moves for any defenders on the horizon unfortunately. It's really unfortunate since we are starting to see some exciting prospects break through in the attacking side of things. Kaderabek and Theo are good, although they also prefer the same side, but I still like putting one on the left and one on the right compared to Novak (fine going forward, but a defensive liability IMO). Suchy is fairly solid and Brabec & Kalas are okay, but there is just no depth or outstanding quality in the middle. The best move for our defense this summer would be if Soucek moves to Italy, he has potential to be a good defensive midfielder. That would at least help with covering our shaky defense and linking up with the emering attacking trio of Jankto, Barak, and Schick. In terms of style of play I think Krmencik would fit better in England or France compared to Italy. I would personally prefer Bordeaux or Rennes on the list of clubs because they are clubs that are good enough to actually play with some initiative against most opponents within their league.
Ondřej Čelůstka renewed his contract with Antalyaspor for an additional 2 years. It's always amazed me that a defender with so many minutes played in Turkey, Germany (although it was 2. BL), and England never got much chance at the national team.
To be fair, It's easy to be garbage at Sunderland because the club is garbage or at least seemingly always battling relegation (I think they are now in the English 3rd tier?). Depth on the right side is the bigger issue although I think in Turkey he frequently has played center back.
I'm interested to see what happens with Roman Macek this summer, I kind of forgot exists during a rather lacking year on loan last season but there were some headlines with photos of him and Ronaldo. It is almost certain Juventus will loan him out again, but at 21 I think he needs to have a breakout season wherever he ends up to not be labeled a complete flop.
I actually saw the same photo and wondered the same thing. Hopefully he doesn't wind up back in Czech.
I also really hope it's not Serie B again honestly, so many of those clubs are in constant financial crisis in that division and from what I've seen the level of play is generally quite poor and worse than 1. Liga (well, compared to the top teams at least). Preferably a recently promoted team or maybe the Championship if he can't find top flight options. The only club I've seen for him so far this summer was Lugano (Swiss) inquired about him in June, which isn't very exciting. That seems to have been rejected though.
Sounds like Skalak to Millwall is getting close. I think the Championship is kind of his level, so good move.
Vydra rejected Leeds, initial reports say it was money but he's now telling the press it was because he didn't want to make a lateral move to a team that finished below Derby. I'm inclined to think it was definitely money, the negotiation went on nearly a month and he missed a lot of preseason during it. I suspect his agent will be busy, as it seemed earlier this summer that Derby would prefer to cash in on him rather than keep him (Leeds were going to play something like 12 Million GBP).
I can't believe Vydra still isn't in the premier league. He is becoming the next Ross McCormack. Consistently performs in the championship, but no one is willing to give him a chance in the premier league. I'd like Vydra at Villa. We are in the market for a new striker, and have wealthy owners.
He is prolific but inconsistent in the Championship, and unfortunately for him the perception is that he isn't proven in the Premier League. Aston Villa would maybe be good fit, since it is a big budget Championship side with a lot of history (I guess so is Leeds although more distant). Reports are that he wanted 50k/week from Leeds, that's a lot for a non-Premier League contract.
Oh boy 50k is a lot. I don't think any championship will go for that. That is a massive gamble and will hurt a lot of clubs in terms of FFP.
Skalak to Millwall is done, good move for him. He can have an impact at that level, but doesn't have the consistency for the Premiership.
I like Skalak. I think he is well suited for the championship. He lacks the skills currently for the premier league, but he can perform in the championship. I am really curious how Millwall will do this season. Last season they looked like they'd be relegated, then hit some ridiculous run of form midway, and almost snuck into the playoffs.
I don't follow the English game too closely, but sounds like the perfect team for him then. He has always struck me as a player that can have very good stretches then seemingly disappear. I feel Vydra rumors have just entered silly season since the Leeds deal fell through.
Jakub Brabec is going on loan from Gent to Rizespor in Turkey. He's going to a smaller club (recently promoted) but from a league standpoint similar quality, I actually think Turkish league maybe a bit better quality from top-to-bottom. Belgium is a bit like our league, a few big clubs (though their big clubs are bigger) but most of the rest are provincial teams with tiny budgets.
While I still predict that Jan Matousek will wind up at either Slavia or Plzen this window, international interest seems to be picking up from 2 Italian teams (Sampdoria and Frosinone), one of the big Danish teams and possibly still Werder Bremen who expressed an interest after their preseason match with Pribram. Sampdoria and Werder Bremen both have fairly established pipelines from the Czech league so I'm most inclined to view them as serious contenders. Frosinone is basically Pribram with tougher competition, and there is absolutely no reason for a Czech player his age to go to Denmark. From the one interview I saw the player seems to be pretty level-headed so far about the sudden hype, but it's only growing as there are now more or less daily updates on Denik Sport and other domestic sites about the "Fight for Matousek" and even a few headlines calling him the Czech Mbappe. Media hyperbole aside, from the 30 minutes I saw of him last week, definitely an extremely promising young player player with a lot of athletic ability, can look like a star even on a not very good team like Pribram (although they seem to be doing right as far as youth development lately).
Vanek had a good game for his team in Russia today. Came on as a sub,and scored two goals. Maybe his breakout year?
I forgot about Vanek (although he's at Ufa so he's close to being in Siberia), thought he was always solid but not spectacular at Plzen. I guess if his success continues it would be a re-breakout year since 2013 was his breakout season at Jablonec. He even made a few national team appearances back then.
Kaderabek is attracting interest from Roma and Napoli. I think the Roma rumor popped up earlier this year. https://isport.blesk.cz/clanek/fotb...-je-aktivni-as-rim-a-neapol-s-ancelottim.html Pribram accepted Slavia's increased offer, so he's staying domestic for the time being. The deal also included a loan back to Pribram for the first half of the season.
Vydra to Burnley is very close, so it seems his decision to walk away from talks with Leeds in hopes of Premier League worked out. I don't know enough about the club to say how well he'll fit. Pokud to vyjde, bude to pro @vydra_92 velmi dobra volba. Konkurence je vsude, ale Burnley je stabilni, dobre rizeny klub s vybornym manazerem (Sean Dyche - the ginger Mourinho), ktery ma silnou pozici. https://t.co/oGeR5i6pD4— Karel Häring (@KHaring75) August 7, 2018
Burnley's striker situation isn't that great so he'd definitely get some chances there, and they have a good manager. They also typically play with two strikers. I think Burnley would suit Vydra.
#BrentfordB have signed Czech winger Matej Majka from @ACSparta_CZ on a two-year deal He has signed for their u-23 team. It's something.