ADL confirmed only one of Lozano or James coming. It is more sensible. We realy need a striker. Allan seems to want to leave. We will have a lot of money. Insigne, Mertens, James will likely rotate for 3 spots with Younes as back-up. Not sure where Callejon fits. I think we will play 4-3-2-1 ???/Milik Insigne/Younes-JAMES/Mertens Zielinski/???-???/???-Fabian/??? Ghou/???-Kouli/Chiri-MANOLAS/Maksi/DILORENZO/Malc Mertt/Ospina
I don't think your owner will pay the asking price for Insigne. He's even worse than ADL He got 14 goals and 6 assist last season, which is on par with his usual 20+ goals + assist every season since Sarri's time. I don't like his most recent outburst especially as a captain but you should also remember Younes also tried to play punk with the club and tried to get his contract cancelled so he's no saint either. Basically, Insigne has a consistency problem, up and down in form but that's same with many players in our squad.
I am not getting the James Hype. His stats aren't that impressive. Only 14 goals + assist last season. I don't watch Bayern enough to make a good judgement but since Ancelotti wants him, I supposed there's a good reason for it. Are we still going after Lozano? Seems all the talk has stalled and again ADL's stupid insistence on image rights. It looks like we aren't going for any top striker so we will have slow-ass Milik and an ageing Mertens to lead our line next season.
Why is ADL such a prick? Why attack a loyal servant like Albiol and say he is doing us a favor leaving the club. It shows ADL did not want a defender and now he blames Albiol on having to spend. Why attack Manolas’ character publicly? What is in there for him other than piss off a player who has no control over his value? I also don’t get the rationale for James. It’s good for marketing but we really need a striker, good defenders and right wingers first.
Like judging a book by its cover... He has stats up there with the best in his position, the problem is the coach didn't like James so he has spent a lot of time on the bench. https://www.whoscored.com/Players/71182/Show/James-Rodríguez When James starts games and isn't being subbed on late, he has remarkable stats.
He's been disappointing because the team doesn't work around him, which doesn't suit him at all. He's a big pawn, he can't just be an addition to a great team but he needs to be the anchor that drives the team. If he comes here, he will need to be the focus point of our attacks or he'l fade into obscurity like at Bayern and RM.
So then if he goes down we are fcked ? I dont like the idea of relying on one player to string everything along for an entire season...
If you look at the numbers, frankly whenever and wherever James plays, he's world class. He's done it with 4 clubs, 2 of which were mega-clubs. How he hasn't stuck with a big club is absurd to me, and it comes down to coaches' preference of tactics/players. It has nothing to do with how he's performed. You can make the argument he was the best creative player in Europe last season. Honestly. And Bayern was in no way a side built around him.
created 8 chances today; ridiculous I think you've got a legit chance of signing him, personally. No bullshit.
James is a fantastic player and anyone that says otherwise knows shit. ADL is a cheap dumb ass. It would be a coup for Napoli and fantastic for Serie A.
I hope we can get James, although some new reports have just arisen, claiming that RM wants to include him in a deal for Neymar. I hope it's not true, because I think that could actually turn our to be a shit deal for both RM and us, though I do not care much for Madrid, ofc. As to DL's talk, I am okay with it to a degree. He definitely is a business person and he must know why he's been like that over and over again. I am sure Albiol knows DL much more than we do as a person, personally, so I think they both know the context of the statement. I personally didn't find it offensive to Albiol when I was reading it. He simply spoke the truth as we all know it and he probably knows that Albiol is not a pussy. What is about to happen is all but unnatural. The same thing applies to Manolas. DL simply spoke the truth, which is obviously still a very unpleasant thing for many people in our modern, plastic society. Does Manolas throw tantrums and do we want calm players? YES. Is he of a certain age and probably lacks any reasonable resale value? YES. Does he have a big salary? YES. The truth has escaped, and now it is roaming free. There isn't all that much that can be considered offensive in his recent interview, and I think that Manolas must handle such things easily if he wants to become one of us.
Why would he jeopardize a deal by speaking the "truth" publicly? I would have to watch / hear the comments in Italian to judge but on paper it sounds wrong.
From his point of view, he is not jeopardizing anything. We have talked about his business nature over and over again. He obviously has no intention to buy Manolas for more than he is worth, so basically he is perhaps trying to tell them openly to either be reasonable with him or screw off.
He is a moron. We are all happy Albiol is leaving as he is old and it forces ADL to go for Manolas. But you don't treat your respected star players like that when they leave. Marchisio was also not needed and left. Did Juve treat him that way or make similar statements? This is a typical ADL trait and it is pathetic.
I don't believe anything before they are in a light blue Nascar shirt. Not gonna get blue balls again
I'll see you all in the Rubentus forum where we will be discussing how we alter referring decisions this season, obviously only if we are being challenged for the title