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The 2022-2023 Football Thread

Scepticalscribe said:
West Ham had the choice of cashing in now on the value of Declan Rice - given the fact that the team had collected a trophy, along with his excellent performances, his value had obviously increased - or, forego the largest transfer deal in British history, and allow the player to depart on a free transfer - when they would proceed to pocket precisely nothing - a year later.

Are you seriously expecting me to believe that the club would have preferred the latter option?
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I think you need to reread my post.
Not what I said.
I said we would have preferred him to stay at the club by signing a new contract and being our club captain for the next 10 years or whatever.
As that wasn’t (sadly) going to happen, we stated we would let him leave for £100 million plus a player or £120 million.
In the dnd you got him for a Baffin price of £105 million.
I think he is worth more than that.
 
Apple fanboy said:
I think you need to reread my post.
Not what I said.
I said we would have preferred him to stay at the club by signing a new contract and being our club captain for the next 10 years or whatever.
As that wasn’t (sadly) going to happen, we stated we would let him leave for £100 million plus a player or £120 million.
In the dnd you got him for a Baffin price of £105 million.
I think he is worth more than that.
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He is worth what the market - buyer and seller together - have agreed to pay, which is a British record, and further confirms - as if such confirmation was needed - the stratospheric rate paid for some (what are assumed to be) top players, many of whom do not work out well.

In one way, it - such a price - is a compliment, a recognition, of his quality; in another, it is almost a millstone, for it puts pressure on the player to justify the cost of his purchase.

He is an excellent player who served West Ham well, and he, himself, made clear that he wished for this move - this tansfer - to take place.

Actually, I remember those table quiz questions: Who was the first £1million transfer, etc?
 
Scepticalscribe said:
He is worth what the market - buyer and seller together - have agreed to pay, which is a British record, and further confirms - as if such confirmation was needed - the stratospheric rate paid for some (what are assumed to be) top players, many of whom do not work out well.

In one way, it - such a price - is a compliment, a recognition, of his quality; in another, it is almost a millstone, for it puts pressure on the player to justify the cost of his purchase.

He is an excellent player who served West Ham well, and he, himself, made clear that he wished for this move - this tansfer - to take place.

Actually, I remember those table quiz questions: Who was the first £1million transfer, etc?
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Teddy Sheringham I believe.

I suspect Rice won’t be the most expensive British player by the end of the summer.
 
Apple fanboy said:
Teddy Sheringham I believe..
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No.

Trevor Francis.

(An answer I remember from table quizzes).
Apple fanboy said:
I suspect Rice won’t be the most expensive British player by the end of the summer.
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Agreed.

Actually, I shudder when I think of Mudryk, (perhaps we dodged something, there...) and shudder even more when the thought of Nicolas Pépé crosses my mind.
 
Reading what @Apple fanboy has put in his posts it has got me thinking. It could be argued that Rice is at the peak of his value right now and as such West Ham want to capitalise on that because the risk is if West Ham do not have a season like the one just gone, Rice's value could plummet therefore they put a not so good offer before him which they know he will refuse and thus put him out to transfer with a very high value put upon him.
 
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As with all contemporary transfers its usually a dance between the buyers and sellers. The seller will slap on as much value to maximise ROI (Brighton is the biggest example currently) and the buyer will want to pay as little as possible and delay the outlay as much as possible.
Eventually either a compromise is reached, or one party walks away, or a third party swoops in.

All are equally innocent and villainous because they're ultimately after their own interests and spin their own narrative.

The market has gone potty and i think all these players are massively overpriced. Some regulation has to come in quickly.
But in a year where Real Madrid spent £115m one player and Chelsea spent £107 on another. Rice for £105m weirdly doesn't even look out of place. Which is crazy.

Interestingly, most of the business so far has been between EPL clubs which has caused European clubs to raise an eyebrow in jealousy.
Perhaps the EPL clubs are starting to realise that its better to spend crazy money for someone with EPL experience, rather than pay through the nose and gamble on someone who hasn't kicked a ball in England (Mudryk, Pepe, Antony etc)
 
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daneoni said:
As with all contemporary transfers its usually a dance between the buyers and sellers. The seller will slap on as much value to maximise ROI (Brighton is the biggest example currently) and the buyer will want to pay as little as possible and delay the outlay as much as possible.
Eventually either a compromise is reached, or one party walks away, or a third party swoops in.

All are equally innocent and villainous because they're ultimately after their own interests and spin their own narrative.

The market has gone potty and i think all these players are massively overpriced. Some regulation has to come in quickly.
But in a year where Real Madrid spent £115m one player and Chelsea spent £107 on another. Rice for £105m weirdly doesn't even look out of place. Which is crazy.

Interestingly, most of the business so far has been between EPL clubs which has caused European clubs to raise an eyebrow in jealousy.
Perhaps the EPL clubs are starting to realise that its better to spend crazy money for someone with EPL experience, rather than pay through the nose and gamble on someone who hasn't kicked a ball in England (Mudryk, Pepe, Antony etc)
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What you've written exposes why football is and will forever be a business because in business you look for quick returns on your investment and when that is applied to football it means EPL bosses are looking for EPL players because it will take them less time to fit it than non EPL player therefore they are making quick returns on their investment than if they had to wait a season or two for a non EPL player to get up to standard. Gone are the days where EPL managers saw potential in a player and nurtured them into fitting into the team and the league. Now EPL bosses want ready made EPL players so they can hit the ground running and of course selling clubs know this so they instantly put a few million on the players value just because they are an EPL player.
 
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laptech said:
What you've written exposes why football is and will forever be a business because in business you look for quick returns on your investment and when that is applied to football it means EPL bosses are looking for EPL players because it will take them less time to fit it than non EPL player therefore they are making quick returns on their investment than if they had to wait a season or two for a non EPL player to get up to standard.
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There is truth in this, at least when shelling out to pay stratospheric sums of money.
laptech said:
Gone are the days where EPL managers saw potential in a player and nurtured them into fitting into the team and the league. Now EPL bosses want ready made EPL players so they can hit the ground running and of course selling clubs know this so they instantly put a few million on the players value just because they are an EPL player.
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Not necessarily.

Rather, they won't command the same sums; you can still buy "potential" and the very best managers will have a sharp eye out (plus armies of scouts and computer models) for such people/players.
 
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daneoni said:
As with all contemporary transfers its usually a dance between the buyers and sellers. The seller will slap on as much value to maximise ROI (Brighton is the biggest example currently) and the buyer will want to pay as little as possible and delay the outlay as much as possible.
Eventually either a compromise is reached, or one party walks away, or a third party swoops in.

All are equally innocent and villainous because they're ultimately after their own interests and spin their own narrative.
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True, alas.
daneoni said:
The market has gone potty and i think all these players are massively overpriced. Some regulation has to come in quickly.
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I agree, but doubt that it will happen.

There will have to be some sort of crash, first.
daneoni said:
But in a year where Real Madrid spent £115m one player and Chelsea spent £107 on another. Rice for £105m weirdly doesn't even look out of place. Which is crazy.
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Crazy, yes, agreed.
daneoni said:
Interestingly, most of the business so far has been between EPL clubs which has caused European clubs to raise an eyebrow in jealousy.
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Fascinating point.

daneoni said:
Perhaps the EPL clubs are starting to realise that its better to spend crazy money for someone with EPL experience, rather than pay through the nose and gamble on someone who hasn't kicked a ball in England (Mudryk, Pepe, Antony etc)
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Ouch.

Pépé still gives me shudders, and I suspect that we may have dodged the proverbial bullet with Mudryk.
 
Meanwhile the Saudi Pro League juggernaut rolls on.
BBC reporting that Bobby Firmino has gone to Al-Ahli.
So that would be Kante, Firmino, Benzema, Ronnie, Ospina and Neves to name but a few.
And of course Stevie G is now there as a manager (lord help them all).
 
HandsomeDanNZ said:
And they've decided to do a quiz - name the 30 players that moved to Saudi.

The sportswashing league is getting a lot of press.
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No doubt the supposedly impartial BBC was paid via a multiple network of middle men to avoid connection to the Saudi league to find ways to promote the league and what better way to indirectly promote the league by creating a quiz involving the league.
 
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laptech said:
No doubt the supposedly impartial BBC was paid via a multiple network of middle men to avoid connection to the Saudi league to find ways to promote the league and what better way to indirectly promote the league by creating a quiz involving the league.
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More likely than such conspiratorial behaviour is merely the lazy journalism that such a quiz exemplifies. Print media did it for decades prior to its digital online perpetration. Endless lists of the 'top [insert subject here]...' for example. A lack of rigorous website editing allows all manner of second-rate content to appear. The BBC isn't the only offender, of course.

Mason Mount now a Manchester United player, it's been announced officially.

I find myself more and more tending towards a massive loss of interest in Premier League football as the business side of it reaches grotesque levels. Should Utd be taken over by the Qataris then I suspect I'll 'adopt' a lower-league club to invest my enthusiasm in rather than condone such bitterly disappointing 'market takes precedence' policies. Football fans are being profoundly let down by far too many in football. The BBC's '30 players who've moved to Saudi football' quiz is merely a sad consequence.
 
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wordsworth said:
More likely than such conspiratorial behaviour is merely the lazy journalism that such a quiz exemplifies. Print media did it for decades prior to its digital online perpetration. Endless lists of the 'top [insert subject here]...' for example. A lack of rigorous website editing allows all manner of second-rate content to appear. The BBC isn't the only offender, of course.

Mason Mount now a Manchester United player, it's been announced officially.

I find myself more and more tending towards a massive loss of interest in Premier League football as the business side of it reaches grotesque levels. Should Utd be taken over by the Qataris then I suspect I'll 'adopt' a lower-league club to invest my enthusiasm in rather than condone such bitterly disappointing 'market takes precedence' policies. Football fans are being profoundly let down by far too many in football. The BBC's '30 players who've moved to Saudi football' quiz is merely a sad consequence.
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With that in mind, get ready to see such quizzes as 'Top Saudi league goal scorer', 'Most expensive Saudi league transfers', 'Most expensive paid Saudi league player', 'Top Saudi league managers', 'Best Saudi league strikers', 'Best Saudi league defenders' and so on and so on. The BBC quiz is just the tip of the iceberg in my opinion.
 
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A few months ago when Ronaldo moved there some feeds started serving me with suggestions about the Saudi League and whatever club he went to.
One or two selections "don't care" "not interested" "bugger off" and they quickly took the hint.
I suggest everyone does the same when the time comes.
 
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OOOooooeerrr, De Gea is now a free agent as he has not agreed on a contract extension. There is speculation it is because United want to reduce his £375,000 a week wage and De Gea is not having it. The fact he is getting married could also be a reason because 'his soon to be wife' and child live abroad and his soon to be wife has made it publicly clear numerous times to the media that she wants De Gea to leave United and live with her and their child. The timing of the marriage is perfect because as a free agent he can now go wherever he wants and take his new bride and child with him.

 
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timber said:
A few months ago when Ronaldo moved there some feeds started serving me with suggestions about the Saudi League and whatever club he went to.
One or two selections "don't care" "not interested" "bugger off" and they quickly took the hint.
I suggest everyone does the same when the time comes.
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That’s the joy of not being on social media. No such feeds to reject.
But agree if we all ignore it so much the better.
I do feel for those that have gone for a massive payday, you have to question their ethics. It’s not like they were going to be paid minimum wage in a different league, or they haven’t already amassed millions.
 
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