General Football Thread - Any other business

FIFA have tried to but their attempts haven’t gone very well

 

Actually Ihattaren was rated way higher than Gravenberch. Mo recently acknowledged he has only to blame himself for how things went. You will have trouble to find a Dutch footy fan, who doesnot regret how Mo lost control over his life after his dad's death. He's still young and I really hope he gains control over his life and get back on track football wise. I want to see again, what made me enjoy him, despite playing for a competing club.

 

Basically, it's another huge sign of how exponentially the market for prepubescent young players is becoming.

Agents and agencies are targeting players at younger and younger ages by the year and it's extremely dangerous. Youth development is supposed to be a holistic, stable, long-term process and that's arguably entirely incompatible with the way agents/agencies act because the business is short-term by nature. Agents are there to target deals and transfers that bring in as much near-term revenue as possible, and as much as they claim they always act in the best interest or the client, we know full well they don't.

They'll push for transfers of players, regardless of whether it makes sporting sense for the player, often moving them hundreds of miles away from their home, their friends and their stable environment etc. The way things are heading, there'll be a genuine trading market for 8/9 year olds before long.

This is also compounded by the increasing short-term nature of academies themselves. The exorbitant wealth of the league has lead to clubs focusing more heavily on recruitment than development itself, with big academies appointing recruitment specialists in senior academy positions ahead of experienced development specialists. It's about a year old, but there's a good article about this issue here.

There are already far too many transfers of players in their young

 

I suspeft ultimately they will be a course correction but it might be too late or correct so dramatically a lot more short term damage is done fixing it.

 

I would ban clubs making direct payments to agents. Make any agents/intermediaries only paid directly from the players.

 

Something needs to be done. Agents' power and influence out of control.

 

In theory but I think it mainly be dealing with keeping clubs financially stable further down pyramid at first.

 

Players will just demand higher wages to cover it. And if they don’t get that and it’s not UEFA or FIFA wide it makes other leagues more attractive which the PL will fight very hard to stop.

 

Manchester United's under-21s and U18s set to be housed in temporary cabins in the players' car park as no plans were made for their inclusion in the revamped training complex. (The Athletic)

 

NEW: Netflix set to bid for Champions League rights as UEFA eyes £4.4billion a year earnings from club competition TV rights https://t.co/3OX6KO9hhb

— Martyn Ziegler (@martynziegler) October 8, 2025

 

🔺 NEW: Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has given Ruben Amorim three years to prove himself a “great” coach, saying success in football could not come “overnight”

Read the full story by @dominicoc ⬇️

— Times Sport (@TimesSport) October 8, 2025

That will be interesting to see if it lasts,

 

They'll get relegated if he's serious.

 

Egypt have qualified for the World Cup becoming the 18th team to the secure their place.

 

🚨 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: Manchester City’s long-awaited verdict on the 115 Premier League charges could finally arrive this month.

Premier League claims City:

• Gave false information about their revenue and sponsorship deals.

• Didn’t fully disclose payments to players and… pic.twitter.com/Yn12x9MXf7

— The Touchline | 𝐓 (@TouchlineX) October 8, 2025

This might have a big impact. .

Could affect their players getting called up for squads if there a large punishment and/ or a huge backlash.

 

🚨 𝗡𝗘𝗪: Barcelona are set to rejoin the European Club Association as they withdraw from the Super League project.

🗣️Nasser Al-Khelaifi (ECA president): "Today, I welcome back a special guest. Sometimes friends can disagree, that is normal – but they always come back together… pic.twitter.com/WSBDXSFwOy

— The Touchline | 𝐓 (@TouchlineX) October 9, 2025

 

Sir Jim Ratcliffe has criticised Manchester United’s academy and says he wants youth production at Carrington to help improve finances at the club.

Manchester United have a great history of producing young talent and they have had an academy product in every first-team matchday… pic.twitter.com/ZaVl9PliB9

— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) October 9, 2025

as we all know technically you don’t.

 

Despite the fact the timing of this is hilarious because the youth players at Carrington are the best they've been in years, how does he expect academy production to improve when he keeps slashing budgets?

 

🤷‍♂️ "Good, keep him fit for United, screw England!"

We took to the streets of Manchester to hear people's thoughts on the international break - and the fact that no #MUFC players made Thomas Tuchel's England Squad once again 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🔴 pic.twitter.com/CM2Jh1CsJH

— Stretford Paddock (@StretfordPaddck) October 9, 2025

 

The guy totally missing the point. They not good enough to play for England if they are fit or not. And if not good enough to play for England they not good enough to play for Utd.

 

Algeria have become the 19th team to have qualified for the World Cup.