Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

The 2013-2014 Football Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.
So Liverpool have upped their Lallana offer to £25m apparently, but SOTON still holding for £30m. £25m is already too much anyway, has English player tax written all over it.

SOTON are probably trying to put LFC off, and are within their right, but still you wonder if they'll ever get that kind of money for him again. And what good will holding on to an unhappy player do for your dressing room.

Interesting that LFC also signed Lambert. I suppose he gives 'Pool something different up front but the man is 32. Has one season left in him at best surely.
 
Last edited:
I think it's a decent enough signing for Lambert and Liverpool.

Liverpool are in the CL now and ideally need a proven goalscorer to backup SAS. Lambert will get you goals, can play up front or in more of a supporting role. He's only going to be a squad player, so 2 seasons sounds about right

Lambert knows he hasn't got that many more seasons in him, in fact in some of Southampton's games he's been a sub as cover for Rodriguez. He gets to play for the club he supported as a boy (eh Robbie?), gets to play for a bigger club and CL football. Why not go out on a high?
 
Lambert is a low-risk deal, some quick depth-building at low cost. It follows that he is not, however, a long-term solution as a third striker (nor is Iago Aspas). Liverpool have a lot of work to do this summer to build the squad for Champions League campaign.

Lallana at £30m sounds crazy. Almost as crazy as FIFA's ethics investigator refusing to examine new evidence of corruption in Qatar's World Cup bid. He's already spent £6m putting together a hokey report that will probably clear Qatar of any wrongdoing. Rotten, rotten to the core. :mad:
 
Well, Southampton claim they don't need to sell, and if you're a new manager coming in, ideally you'd want him to stay, or have a decent transfer kitty, and £30m is a decent chunk of change. You could buy just over half an Andy Carroll for that! ;)
 
We'll have to see how it plays out. FSG seem keen to buy English players when possible; they've had their fingers badly burned before, however, so will they persist? Surely a continental equivalent to Lallana can be found for substantially less? I wouldn't be against bringing Lallana on as long as FSG don't strain the finances too much for him. We still need defenders!

In other news:

USA 2-1 Turkey (I was traveling this weekend and didn't get a chance to comment)

The first half gave us a decent idea of what USA will look like in Brazil and despite scoring things look grim - our attack and midfield look OK, but our defending was abysmal. We cannot afford to give opponents that much time and space in the final third. Klinsmann needs to get the defense sorted out very quickly.

We should have run out 2-0 winners against an aggressive but ultimately toothless Turkey (their finishing really let them down) but Timmy Chandler made a bad mistake late on and we gave up a penalty (which was taken well by Turkey).

Altidore worked really hard and did everything right except for his shooting. I think Sunderland has destroyed his confidence when it comes to taking shots. Dempsey was cool, very Berbatov-like (in both good and bad ways). They compliment each other pretty well but there isn't quite enough quality there without the Dutch League-version of Altidore.

Bradley's chip and Fabian Johnson's shot for the first goal was world-class.
 
Last edited:
Lallana is more flexible, he can play wide, Cesc plays almost exclusively in the middle or up top (at Barca anyway, where out-and-out strikers are not really important). And is Cesc willing to live outside London? Probably not.

EDIT David Villa has signed for new MLS outfit (and Man City property) New York City FC. Frank Lampard is rumored to be close to signing as well. NYC FC will be playing their inaugural season in 2015. A big-money, prefabricated club that is sure to attract a big following of overdog plastic fans. Good for the league? Only time will tell.
 
Last edited:
Cox Orange said:
Look at the picture, former national team keeper and Hoffenheim keeper Tim Wiese. Disgusting.
http://www.gmx.net/themen/sport/fus...m-wiese-comeback-torhueter-moeglich#.A1000019
Click to expand...

it really shows what a clueless character he really is.

with 32 he could have still had 6-7 professional years ahead of himself if got of his high horse and looked for a less known squad.
A year ago it could have been easy for him to simply join a 2. league team fighting for promotion and get back into the first league within 1-2 years. He still was a good keeper despite being benched.

who will sign him now ?
 
Looks like 'Pool have thrashed out an agreement with Emre Can. Although the same thing was said with Konoplyanka.

And Fabregas is headed for the exit at the Nou Camp.
 
It is interesting that the Konoplyanka deal simply evaporated and has never been heard of since. Obviously the club subsequently found targets (like Can) it thinks to be superior.

The Fabregas affair is a tad puzzling...if Chelsea aren't interested and nobody else is (at least publicly), where is he going to go?
 
Lord Blackadder said:
It is interesting that the Konoplyanka deal simply evaporated and has never been heard of since. Obviously the club subsequently found targets (like Can) it thinks to be superior.

The Fabregas affair is a tad puzzling...if Chelsea aren't interested and nobody else is (at least publicly), where is he going to go?
Click to expand...

Would've been a good fit to return to the Emirates. But the arrival of Ozil and revelation of Ramsey means Wenger will likely turn up his nose at the prospect. Even though he shouldn't.

As for Chelsea, he's not a Mourinho player to me but Mou may realize his mistake with Mata and try to fix it with Fabregas but thats highly unlikely. So we're left with Liverpool (he's a london boy), City (he's a london boy but they have money) or United (he's a London boy but guaranteed first team football and compatriot in Mata)
 
Kariya said:
Would've been a good fit to return to the Emirates. But the arrival of Ozil and revelation of Ramsey means Wenger will likely turn up his nose at the prospect. Even though he shouldn't.

As for Chelsea, he's not a Mourinho player to me but Mou may realize his mistake with Mata and try to fix it with Fabregas but thats highly unlikely. So we're left with Liverpool (he's a london boy), City (he's a london boy but they have money) or United (he's a London boy but guaranteed first team football and compatriot in Mata)
Click to expand...

United on paper makes the most logical sense, but it's rumored that Van Gaal isn't interested in him. Or maybe Woodward is too busy trying to sign a sponsorship deal for the official Man Utd spirulina partner in Greenland or something.
 
Silencio said:
United on paper makes the most logical sense, but it's rumored that Van Gaal isn't interested in him. Or maybe Woodward is too busy trying to sign a sponsorship deal for the official Man Utd spirulina partner in Greenland or something.
Click to expand...

If Cesc wants to play in London it complicates matters for him because nobody in London really seems to want him and I can't see him in a Mourinho side at all. Unless you count QPR as a possible destination...London-based, wheeler-dealer manager...hmmm. :D

If he's willing to live elsewhere Man City have the strongest hand (i.e. most money) but probably the least need for him as well. Man Utd can't guarantee Champions league play in the future and he certainly won't get it next season with them, though they may also be willing to pay a high price to offset that. Liverpool just don't seem interested at all, possibly because defenders and strikers represent more urgent needs at the moment.

Wherever he goes, he will not be cheap.
 
i think Emre Can can be a good fit for liverpool if can adopt to the english play. He is excellent in a number 8, energetic,box-to-box position in the midfield, but is also competent in other positions and great as a backup for nearly all positions on the left part of the field as well.
For his age(20) he is quite calm

he can't quite turn in a small spot which very likely was the case for Bayern not triggering their buy back clause
also with Thiago the competition in the central midfield became more fierce.

edit: Also in the press there were even some rumours about Müller being unhappy about his position in the Bayern squad
which sure delighted van Gaal, making a transfer not so impossible anymore ;)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back