Lets Talk Football

Champions League 2023

Manchester City FC took Istanbul... Congratulations!

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"Population don't imitate art, population imitate bad television." W.A.
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Agree @honeykid
MacAllister at 35 is daylight robbery. He is 24, so just entering his prime. Gives our midfield the much needed push. Still need one more midfielder.


Thuram is a great candidate for us. At his age, he has shown enough potential. But it seems like the club is going to do the same mistake with him, what they did with Enzo & Bellingham. Wait & let his price swell.
I am not really pleased with the JWP rumours. Hope it's just a false thing.


Looks like Glazers are not keen on letting go of the club. Uncertainty is not great for your club.


Elsewhere, was nice to see West Ham lift that cup. Don't feel th same for City. Didn't want them to win.


Bellingham's transfer it looks like Madrid's midfield is set for years.


Lastly, interesting to see Saudis throwing insane money at players. Older ones to be precise. I doubt they will get players in their prime, cause European leagues & competitions still have the prestige. But can see 30 years flocking to them.

I agree with most of your post @WrinkledMind. In fact, the only part I don't agree with is JWP which, anyone who's been on this thead for many years, will know I'm a big fan of and I'd still happily have him at United. I think he'snbeen constantly underrated/underestimated throughout his career. I think every midfield needs a disciplined, hardworking and consistant player and if you can get one with JWP's temprement and technical ability (not to mention dead ball prowess) then so much the better. While I'd rather have a Caicedo to play alongside Casemiro, I'd take JWP quite happily as a squad player who can play there. The main downside is that you'd have to pay the British tax which, even with the 'should sell' relegation benefit may well still be too much for a player of his age. Though if you get the person who did the Mac deal you could end up with the player and them paying you.

For all the heat about the Glazers selling, at no point have they come out and said they are. Merely that they're looking into it. I'd still rather take the Ratcliffe deal just so we aren't a sportwashing tool for a nation state, but today's news leads me to think that's not going to be the case and, considering that the Glazers don't care who they sell to (IMO) the money being offered is probably more than the current club is worth?

Yeah, it was a shame City won, but they are the best team in Europe whether they won the cup or not. Best team in Europe for the last couple of seasons.

I don't know if it's the offiicially stated aim or just what 'those in the know' have been told, but from what I heard, what they want to do is become the place players go to away from Europes top 5 leagues.

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Everything at Celtic is stalled til a new manager can be put in place.



Rumours persist that Dermot Desmond is right keen on Brendan Rodgers returning. Obviously concerned if BR takes the job will he then again jump ship the first time another EPL offer comes along calling, after his acrimonious exit for Leicester City, halfway through the season in 2019.



Personally, I'd be interested in seeing Knutsen getting the opportunity, given the work he has done with Bodo/Glimt in Norway over the past 5 years or so.

Bayern have made a move for Kane.


@honeykid I know you need a midfielder & probably a GK, but Kane would be perfect for you lot. Gives you four to five good years.
But can you afford him, or more importantly will Levy sell him to you?


Kane prefers to be in England for that record, that he hopes to break.


I don't think you are getting the Nigerian from Napoli anyways. This would be a great move instead .

I get the hesitancy from United about Kane (because they don't want ot deal with Levy) but it feels as if they've built him into this bogey man I don't think he is. He is money. Offer him £80m and see what he says. If he says £90m then give him £90m and shut him up. I get that they don't want to be waiting until the end of August to see if he'll do the deal, but if you do it now, you can leave it to Kane to push from inside as well. He's got 1 year left. Does Levy want to wait and see if he can get them into the CL this season (he probably won't. He didn't this year and you had an average United, Newcastle are going nowhere and no Liverpool or Chelsea) and let him go for free, where he might go to United anyway or Chelsea? Or take the 80m-90m now? Levy's history tells you he'll go for the money, but if he doesn't, then at least you've tried and he can explain to the owner why they don't have £80m for a player in his last year.

I agree we're not getting Osimhen, he's just too much for United atm. I read today that we're looking at Mbappe, which is ridiculous and, if true, we're looking at him the same way I look at Drew Barrymore, with a great deal of desire and zero expectancy. Also, let's face it, while he's an excellent player, he's not what United need right now either.

We could do with a midfielder and a keeper, but we're going nowhere without a striker who can get 30+ a season unless we do it the old fashioned United way and spread the goals around, but that requires another 3 or 4 players to get double figures every year to make up for that lack of goals upfront. I'm sure EtH also wants a(nother) right back, but Arsenal seem to be getting Jurrien Timber now who, from what I understand, would be a good fit and EtH already knows. Unless we get a keeper EtH likes and can play with his feet, then we'll have another season not playing the football he wants us to play. I don't know how many years he has left on his contract, but if this summer's a bust and next summer goes similarly, I can see him looking elsewhere like Jose did.

So far, the off season is going as expected/feared and I suspect that last years work (where we did better than I thought we would) will be wasted because we won't get the summer right. Which would mean it's like every other summer since Gill and Ferguson left.

The Mount deal seems to be back on and, while he's probably an upgrade, it's not what's needed (while it's not great in midfield we can get by with that we have for another season, IMO) and I've not been sold on him for a couple of seasons now, but that could just be that Chelsea is a basket case? Because he looked good before that. Should it happen, it really makes me think that a striker isn't coming. If we have £100m and are spending half of it here (and possibly the other half on a keeper?) then even if we have the top figure I've heard (£150m) we're not getting the striker needed for that and we'll struggle to sell well (because we have for the last 10 years and I see no reason that would change) so we may well not get the required funds to make it up.

It looks like we might've seen the last of De Gea too, as he becomes a free agent. There are arguments for and against, but it feels like a bit of a sad way to leave after such service. It may well be time to move on, but I will miss him and I'm sure there'll be plenty of goals after which there'll be comments akin to "De Gea saves that"

All the while I see Liverpool are looking at Dominik Szoboszlai who you can apparently get for £60m because of a contract clause which expires tomorrow.

Don't know much about Szoboszlai, but the people who follow the Bundesliga say he is like KDB, but still raw.
Well if he reaches even half of the Belgian's ability then this would be a good signing.


Would have preferred a DM, since Fabinho has been rubbish for a while now. But I will now pray for him to reclaim his form, & hope the young Bajcetic (who was good last season) comes back well from injury.


Apparently we stepped back from Mount deal after hearing the wage demands.
He should be a good signing, but I agree @honeykid that you have other important needs.
Also looks like the takeover is not getting resolved.


On a side note, Emery is building quite a side at Villa. Pau Torres is a coup. Tielemans is a smart signing, & apparently they are looking at Ferran Torres too.
Definitely the team to look out for this coming season.

I've heard pretty much the same. If it means anything (and I think it means little but can be a pointer) in Football Manager he usually turns into a top player.


I get that, but I wonder if with these two around him he'll look something more like the player he was a few years ago. It does look like Klopp is trying to do something different with this new midfield. Maybe a younger, more athletic version of the Thiago variation?


As I've said from the start, they've never said they're looking to sell. Just that they're looking at options. I hope this isn't the case and Ratcliffe gets it soon (just because I prefer that to a sportswashing nation state) but I'm starting to think that it was just a way of upping the share price and increasing their wealth (and pushing up the club price) that way.


Yeah, I'm a big fan of Emery and thought the way he was treated while at Arsenal was ridiculous. He's not perfect by any means, but he's a top coach and, like most coaches most of the time, if the owners get out of their way and let them do their job (with the required funds for that club) they'll perform well.

Sad to hear Tom Cleverley has retired from football due to injury at 33. I don't know if he became the player many thought he would become, but he's still got 1 Premier League medal more than the vast majority of those people.

Saudi team makes $1 billion offer for soccer star Kylian Mbappé..

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Hopefully:

Mbappe > Saudi Arabia
Kane > PSG
Kolo Muani > Spurs

None of that will happen.

I really hope Mbappe tells them where to shove it.

Mbappe & Kane hold all the cards in this situation. Both can play out this season, & then sign for free.
It doesn't matter how brave or angry PSG or Spurs' hierarchies try to be. They can do diddly squat now.


We know Mbappe will only go to Madrid. For him it's following Ronaldo's path & having a chance to win the Ballon D'Or, & Barca & Madrid are ideal for that since they lobby for their players when it comes to these awards.


On a side note, really impressed with Dominic 'I can't say his last name'. & Lavia will be a good addition.
It will be a season of transition for us.

I still think it's highly unlikely for all sorts of reasons, but I can see that Kolo could go to Spurs if Kane agrees to move, which he might if he can go to United/City/Bayern because I don't think he'll want to be seen by the Spurs fans as anything other than a hero and leaving on a free, when the club have agreed to sell him, could spoil that. Spurs would be flush and they'd have to buy someone, Kolo is as hot as anyone right now and may be tempted if nothing better came along. I've seen he's next on the list for United if they can't get Hojllund or £60m.

Has anyone been watching the Women's World Cup?

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Only bits and pieces. I was watching Italy/Sweden this morning and it was good until the Swedes scored 3 in about 5 minutes. You could see Italy just crumble. I started the 2nd half but I needed breakfast and it didn't look like Italy were going to get back into it.

England games haven't been great, better against Denmark, but the wins are all that matter. Once the knockout stages start I'll probably watch more regularly. Start times can be a bit of a problem, too, as it's on the other side to me.

The Germany-Colombia game was fantastic.

A little late, but 'Happy start of the Football Season' to my fellow footie fans in here. May your team achieve the success you desire, except for Manchester United, who I hope finish in the bottom half.
Sorry @honeykid I like you, but not your team

I don't think you're going to get your wish @WrinkledMind but I don't think we'll be finishing top four this year. Is that enough to satisfy you? And don't worry about it, the same is true for me as well. Like you, not your team.

It looks like Harry is off to West Ham for £30 million. That's not bad business in terms of what we're getting (obviously not in terms of how much we paid) but when you pay £80+ million for a player who you thought was too expensive at £50 million the year before that kind of thing will happen.

I saw that United are looking at Jean-Clair Todibo from nice. I don't know anything about him at all but I'm guessing they look at him as a backup. Also seen Pavard's name mentioned, which might be a good buy if we can get him at the right price as a rotational player I think it work really well.

The Hojlund injury is a concern and the last thing you need when moving club, especially at a young age and in a new league. I just hope it's not too long and that the expectations won't have grown out of control by the time he does get on the pitch. From what I understand he's very raw and if we get 15 goals out of him in the first season we'll be lucky. I'm really hoping he proves everybody wrong and starts knocking them in quite regularly or that he provides a really good foil for those on the wings to do so and get some product out of Sancho and Anthony which would be just as good, if not better, for the whole team than an out and out Striker who gets 20-25 goals a season.