I'd love to see Gerrard leave Liverpool. I'd be suprised to see him move before the year was over, though.
My friend, don't you get upset that Real Madrid is stealing players from your hometown team? I prefer Mascherano over Gerrard since Gerrard would be cup-tied for CL this season. The CL title is more important than La Liga or anything. I would not be too excited if he could not help.
i would not like 2 see stevie G leave. i wasnt upset about owen, neither was the rest of anfield, he wasnt up 2 much last season, gerrard would be the best addition to real's squad i could think of, he would bring some drive to the midfield, stopping the laackluster performances
Gerrard is a world class player -- England's best player by far, I'd say -- but where would he play? If Beckham can play close to how he was playing at the beginning of last year, he won't get benched. If Helguera can find his form and solidify the midfield and help out the defense, like we know he can, he won't get benched. Figo and Zidane are playing very well, and are more creative/offensive players than Gerrard, who's a more industrial, straight-to-goal player -- Figo and ZIdane won't get benched. Theoretically we could play Figo-Beckham-Zidane across, with Gerrard and Helguera behind them, with 3 defenders. Then that would mean a defender would sit (if everyone's healthy, that could be a problem), and would also mean that Gerrard wouldn't be able to go forward as much as he is able to, which doesn't use all of his ability. If we got him... ---------------Casillas Woodgate------Samuel----------RCarlos ----------Helguera----Gerrard Figo--------Beckham-----------Zidane -----------------whoever -------------Ronaldo
no, he is england best player by far! wateva position. what cant he do? he's got evrythin in his locker, he's da onli reason anfield sells out on a saturday. last season after liverpool had a crap game (v often) the crowd would boo the team, but sing gerrards name. id say we wre more of a 1 man team dan barca las season, and thats sayin summit. the onli other player liverpool fans could have sympathy for was carragher! altho im sure thata stil for his coin throwning antics didnt ya jus luv dat here's gerrard doing what he does best on a player i think we all know before:
After: o how i luv that, that is how a tackle should be made , if onli i could post the video clip were u could here paddy screach
Well, as primarily an England fan I've wished for a long time that more English players would move abroad, to broaden their footballing experience. I didn't think they'd all end up at Real Madrid though Although I'm not sure Gerrard is the right player for Real. What Real need is another Makelele. A proper holding midfielder who will sit in front of the back four and defend, freeing the 'galacticos' of any defensive responsibility. Vieira would have been good, but Gerrard is no longer the player Real want. He started his career as a very defensive player, but now he wants to get forward all the time. This change has made Gerrard a much improved player, but it has also made him unsuitable for Real. Assuming Real do make a move for him (although I'm not convinced they will), are they planning to make Gerrard a defensive midfielder again? Would Gerrard be happy with that?
Perez still eyeing Gerrard Real Madrid president Florentino Perez insists that Steven Gerrard would fit in perfectly with the rest of the galacticos at the Bernabeu. The Spanish giants have been in the market for a new midfield enforcer since Claude Makelele's controversial departure to Chelsea last summer. Los Meringues tried to lure Arsenal skipper Patrick Vieira to the Spanish capital last month, but their attempts were unsuccessful although they did manage to land Gerrard's former Liverpool teammate Michael Owen. http://msn.foxsports.com/story/3006724
Caution over 'homegrown' ruling Europe's leading clubs today reacted cautiously to a UEFA proposal to limit the number of foreign players in major leagues. Following a two-day meeting of the European Club Forum, set up two years ago to improve dialogue with UEFA, over 100 clubs called for more discussion before agreeing on quotas for homegrown players. Under UEFA's plans, the size of first-team squads would be limited to 25 players of whom one third - either seven or eight - would have to be developed domestically. The recommendation is due to be put to next year's UEFA congress in April, with the new system in place by the start of the 2006-7 season. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=309704&cc=5901
Re: Caution over 'homegrown' ruling We should be okay in terms of Spanish players... Salgado Helguera Casillas Pavon Bravo Raul Guti Morientes Cesar Mejia Celades Portillo
Re: Caution over 'homegrown' ruling Can they do that? Would it be a violation to European Union's law?
Wenger attacks Madrid for transfer rule-bending MADRID, Spain (AP) - Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger accused Real Madrid of ignoring the rules when it wants to sign a new player. Wenger said the Spanish powerhouse has sometimes made its interest known to the player before notifying his club, an approach which contravenes FIFA's transfer regulations. "The system is clear in the world of soccer and it should be the same for everyone. To make a signing, you have to first contact the club and then the player. And they (Madrid), sometimes, haven't worked like that," Wenger said in an interview with leading sports daily Marca published Tuesday. http://msn.foxsports.com/story/3011016
Re: Caution over 'homegrown' ruling It would not be a violation. The EU as it is is not an equal union. Being part of the EU does not permit members of ur population from moving into any other nation in the EU to work. The ability for citizens between certain nations to migrate and work into the others are actually separate agreements between several nations in the EU, which does involve EVERY nation in the EU. So the idea that a soccer player in Italy should have a right to play in France is actually not part of the EU legislation. Thus, they could limiet the number of non-domestic players. The problem is....if the requirement is 7 or 8....what team in La Liga doesn't have that many? I am pretty sure everyone does. Remember, ur 1st team consists of 25 players apparently and most teams have like 22 so u can add 3 youth domestic players and ur almost half way to the quota. Its basically like the 25 player list teams submit to Uefa for the European tournaments, Real always include 3 or more youth players to make the total 25. That means u really only need about another 5 from your first 22 to make the quota. If anyone can find teams in La Liga that would be affected by this pls list them, maybe I am just unaware of any. Teams in some other leagues could potentially have a problem with this rule but I would have to do some research to see who.
Re: Caution over 'homegrown' ruling Sorry REALFOREVER, but you aren't right. EU citizens are free to move between member states to take up employment and have the right to be joined by their family. The very famous Bosman case that change the sport in Europe is based in that right of all EU citizens. Bosman case http://www.liv.ac.uk/footballindustry/bosman.html "Bosman claimed that as a European Union citizen, he possessed the right to "freedom of movement" within the European Union if he wished to find work (then Article 48 of the Treaty of Rome). The transfer system prevented him exercising his right to freedom of movement and Bosman argued that the system should be changed so that players who were out of contract with their club could move to another club without the paying of a transfer fee." Like everybody knows Bosman won and UEFA and European leagues had to changes many rules, being a total revolution in the world of soccer. UEFA should be very careful, if they don't want to have another Bosman case. Maybe like they want to do a partial limitation they could have some chance of success, but it is a complex subject. http://www.uefa.com/uefa/news/Kind=32768/newsId=224586.html "UEFA is at the vanguard of the debate about possible ways of enabling homegrown players to have regular action in club first teams without violating European Union legislation on, for example, freedom of movement between different countries." Treaty of Rome http://www.hri.org/docs/Rome57/Part3Title03.html Article 48. Freedom of movement for workers shall be secured within the Community by the end of the transitional period at the latest. Such freedom of movement shall entail the abolition of any discrimination based on nationality between workers of the Member States as regards employment, remuneration and other conditions of work and employment.
Re: Caution over 'homegrown' ruling The key point is transition periods....there are separate agreements between nations who joined earlier. These transition periods is what separates nations who would join in the near future and ones that joined in the past. I forget the current agreement between several 'original' member nations concerning moving around for employment. Anyways, its a blur right now, but I have a professor friend who specializes in the EU. The idea is for eventually for all citizens to be equal, but in practicality that isn't true...thanks to these 'transition periods' When it comes to soccer...I think they would have trouble by this 'domestic' label....this whole idea seems far fetched unless domestic means players developed in their system....not really sure what they exactly mean by that. What is the exact point of this anyways? They concerned that an Italian team might consist of all French players?
Whoops, I see my original post is messed up because I picked on nations that were near original members...nevermind. There are no restrictions between nations who are no longer in transition, MadridForever is right on that. Restrictions could only put in place on ones in transition, I am guessing those would be recent additions. But since I don't know the length of the transition of periods nor which nations are in what parts of transition....the rest of u will have to figure this out urself.
Hmm....Depor or Real Madrid....might be a tough choice for Mascherano. Do you think he would start right away if he were to come to Madrid? He's still young and I'm not sure if you can compare the Argentinian league to the Spanish league...so I'm not sure how much he would adapt to the new league and a new team...
i dont think he would start right away, who over? if the whole team is fit i cant see him starting, especially not to begin with
marca is today reporting that carlos will recive his spanish passport in december, leaving options for another non-eu player in january, good news!
Okay, so if RC gets his Spanish passport in Dec., how many foreigner seats does that leave Madrid? I know Ronaldo fills one of them, but is there another one? If not, that means Madrid will only have one non-EU on the team, which is awesome!
Walter Samuel is the other foreign player, but he should get his EU passport next year if my memory is correct.