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The 2023-2024 Football Thread
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People did exactly the same with Mbappe and Kane when Mbappe won the world cup with France in 2018 at the age of 18. He had only been an international for 1 year because he got his international debut with France when he was 17. One year on he is a world cup winner.
The thing is, Yamal and Mbappe have achieved in their teens at international senior level what two of the worlds best footballers, Messi and Ronaldo could not. Messi's first trophy of note at senior level was the Copa America in 2021 when he was 34 and then the World Cup the following year in 2022 when he was 35. Ronaldo's only trophy on note is the Euro Championship in 2016 when he was 31.
But here is thing, are both of them just super teens? because look at Mbappe, world cup winner at 18, got to a 2nd world cup final at 22. He is now 25. By the time Messi was 25 he had won 4 Ballon D'Or. Will Yamal be able to achieve the same? I do not think so.
As the current World Cup champions I assume Spain will be considered the favorites but as current Euro holders I am sure England will give it their best shot.
Man United have made a bad decision in buying Leny Yoro from Lille because he made it very plainly clear to the media that his dream move would be to Real Madrid and that he wanted to play for Real Madrid even though he knew there was interest from United as the following news article shows.
www.mirror.co.uk
Now it transpires that he is very close to signing for United for a huge transfer fee that no other team was prepared to pay, not even the mighty Real Madrid.
www.bbc.co.uk
This is why I say it's a bad decision because it was clear from the offset Yoro was not interested in becoming a United player and he's only done so because of money. As the great Sir Bobby Charlton once said in an interview when asked on his views about United players and the amount of money in the game, his reply was it takes more than just money to be a United player and he is right.
Leny Yoro makes transfer decision after clarifying stance on Man Utd move
Manchester United are still attempting to seal a deal for Lille prodigy Leny Yoro, although the sought-after centre-back is believed to have his heart set on joining Real Madrid
Now it transpires that he is very close to signing for United for a huge transfer fee that no other team was prepared to pay, not even the mighty Real Madrid.
Manchester United: Lille's Leny Yoro set for medical ahead of £52m move
Leny Yoro, 18, could become Manchester United's second signing of the summer transfer window.
www.bbc.co.uk
This is why I say it's a bad decision because it was clear from the offset Yoro was not interested in becoming a United player and he's only done so because of money. As the great Sir Bobby Charlton once said in an interview when asked on his views about United players and the amount of money in the game, his reply was it takes more than just money to be a United player and he is right.
Yes and no.
Obviously, this is true.
However, what is also true is that Kane has shown a degree of (commendable) loyalty to a single club - by staying with that club (Spurs) for years - in a way that is considered rather unusual nowadays, and clearly values such loyalty over the grubby and greedy pursuit of short term interest that many of his peers have pursued.
Whilst you’re right about added context. The single club argument went out the window when he joined Bayern. If he doesn’t win a notable trophy before he hangs up his boots it will be a permanent stain on his record. Unfair or not.
Also seems to short-sighted to be chasing a Madrid transfer at 18yrs old. History has shown you will rarely play. Therefore if you care about your football you’d be biding your time. Even Mbappe had to be patient.Man United have made a bad decision in buying Leny Yoro from Lille because he made it very plainly clear to the media that his dream move would be to Real Madrid and that he wanted to play for Real Madrid even though he knew there was interest from United as the following news article shows.
Leny Yoro makes transfer decision after clarifying stance on Man Utd move
Manchester United are still attempting to seal a deal for Lille prodigy Leny Yoro, although the sought-after centre-back is believed to have his heart set on joining Real Madrid
Now it transpires that he is very close to signing for United for a huge transfer fee that no other team was prepared to pay, not even the mighty Real Madrid.
Manchester United: Lille's Leny Yoro set for medical ahead of £52m move
Leny Yoro, 18, could become Manchester United's second signing of the summer transfer window.
This is why I say it's a bad decision because it was clear from the offset Yoro was not interested in becoming a United player and he's only done so because of money. As the great Sir Bobby Charlton once said in an interview when asked on his views about United players and the amount of money in the game, his reply was it takes more than just money to be a United player and he is right.
His mentality and/or the advice he is getting suggests he might be a problematic transfer on and off the pitch.
They days of an employee being loyal to an employer just because they paid you a wage has long gone. Employee's now look for so so much more. What employee benefits do they get, how many days holiday do they get, does the employer contribute to a pension scheme, is the employer flexible when it comes to problems/issues or even sudden problems/sudden issues in an employee's life. Does the employer treat their employee's to meals, celebration parties, special events, stuff like that.
In my experience if an employer treats an employee to any or all of the above then the employee(s) tend to be very loyal to the employer. Granted there are always exceptions to this but for the most part employee's are very loyal when their employer treats them right. But if all the employer does is the bare minimum the law requires then they should not expect employee loyalty.
Still to this day to me, only 5 players standout being loyal to their club, Matt Le Tissier (Southampton), Steve Bull (Wolves), both of them effectively ending their long footballing careers at their club then going on to play a year here and there in non league football, Then you have the famous Man United class of 92' who a number of them stayed their whole career at United, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville.
Now it's a case of offer any player a good wage and they will join that club, stay until their contract ends and then move on to a club with them hopping to pay them more in wages.
edit: word error, used employee instead of employer in the second sentence.
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I don’t agree. Lots of players are loyal. Also moving on does not always come down to money. Often it’s to do with their chance to win trophies or to get an international spot (or keep it).
I don’t think you can judge every player so harshly.
Well, I don't think that one can really argue that the single club argument "went out the window" when Kane (eventually, finally, belatedly) left Spurs.
After all, he had already spent the vast majority of his career with Spurs - and is one of the closest to the "single club for most of his career" style players in the current game (still) playing at an elite level (for this is something that - I suspect - may be a lot more prevalent in the lower divisions); departing for Bayern - after well over decade with Spurs - in the hope of winning a trophy doesn't negate the argument that Kane clearly values loyalty and longevity.
Yes, I know that the current game prizes success (and the sort of greed that leads to trophies, recognition, and success), and a sort of brutalist expression of ambition on the part of players (and yes, I am perfectly aware that the duration of a player's football career tends to be quite short), but I have always thought it rather depressing that relegated clubs are so thoroughly ransacked of playing talent that it resembles a crude fire-sale, while the subsequently assembled relegated team often bears so little in common with its immediate predecessor that it can hardly be recognised other than the fact the players wear the team kit, while other, well run clubs, (Southampton used to be one such) can only (barely) survive by selling on talent that they have carefully nurtured, and are little more than nurseries, rather than teams that can realistically challenge for a trophy.
Come on!!! do you really have to take my post so literally???. You know I am not talking about EVERY player. Please be sensible here.
Laptech, this is how you concluded your post:
Quote:
Still to this day to me, only 5 players standout being loyal to their club, Matt Le Tissier (Southampton), Steve Bull (Wolves), both of them effectively ending their long footballing careers at their club then going on to play a year here and there in non league football, Then you have the famous Man United class of 92' who a number of them stayed their whole career at United, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville.
Now it's a case of offer any player a good wage and they will join that club, stay until their contract ends and then move on to a club with them hopping to pay them more in wages.
End quote
So Apple fanboy’s response was entirely reasonable. He took your assertion at face value. If you meant something else, or not quite what you posted, then that’s not Apple fanboy’s fault.
Quote:
Still to this day to me, only 5 players standout being loyal to their club, Matt Le Tissier (Southampton), Steve Bull (Wolves), both of them effectively ending their long footballing careers at their club then going on to play a year here and there in non league football, Then you have the famous Man United class of 92' who a number of them stayed their whole career at United, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville.
Now it's a case of offer any player a good wage and they will join that club, stay until their contract ends and then move on to a club with them hopping to pay them more in wages.
End quote
So Apple fanboy’s response was entirely reasonable. He took your assertion at face value. If you meant something else, or not quite what you posted, then that’s not Apple fanboy’s fault.
Well if you wrote what you meant the response would probably be different. I just disagree with what you wrote. 100’s of players spend their entire career at one club. Not just 5.
I don't begrudge any player doing what they need to do to get paid. Careers are short and unpredictable, they should absolutely take care of themselves and their families first and not get overly sentimental about their employers. The game has changed from 30-40 years ago, and only the fans have the luxury about romantic notions about their clubs.
As for Yoro, Real thought they had a sweet deal for him out of that same misplaced loyalty. I'm very pleased that United stepped in and made an offer that better suited both Yoro and Lille. If Yoro develops as expected and his heart really does lie in Madrid, United can turn around and sell him at a tidy profit down the road. I also like this signing much more than being held to ransom by Everton over Branthwaite.
I'm much happier seeing United pursue younger players with more upside, and also identifying targets that appear less obvious on the surface such as Zirkzee and Ugarte. Equally telling will be how they sell in this window. The Kambwala and Greenwood deals look good — will see if they can get a decent payday for surplus players like Lindelof or McTominay or Casemiro.
As for Yoro, Real thought they had a sweet deal for him out of that same misplaced loyalty. I'm very pleased that United stepped in and made an offer that better suited both Yoro and Lille. If Yoro develops as expected and his heart really does lie in Madrid, United can turn around and sell him at a tidy profit down the road. I also like this signing much more than being held to ransom by Everton over Branthwaite.
I'm much happier seeing United pursue younger players with more upside, and also identifying targets that appear less obvious on the surface such as Zirkzee and Ugarte. Equally telling will be how they sell in this window. The Kambwala and Greenwood deals look good — will see if they can get a decent payday for surplus players like Lindelof or McTominay or Casemiro.
To both of you, my post is written correctly, you just have not read it correctly. In my post I refer to employee and employees. Football players are employee's and thus their designation as an 'employee' fits correctly within my second sentence:
This therefore has direct correlation to my next sentence where I use the word 'standout', implying that based on my second sentence referring to 'employee's' ergo meaning footballer's which implies 'many', out of that 'many' 5 stand out, hence the following sentence:
So again, there is nothing wrong with my post, both of you just misunderstood it.
If Kane had dug his heels in and joined City, he probably would've won two EPL titles and a UCL title by now. As it stands he is still in the wilderness.
Thierry Henry loves Arsenal but he knew in order to win the UCL he would have to leave. Same with Fabregas, RVP etc.
Heck you only need to look at Bale and Modric who were also Spurs players but went to Real Madrid and became some of the most decorated players in history.
Loyalty sometimes stifle's growth. And at some point you have to recognise it and move on albeit selfishly.
Most clubs aren't loyal to players anyway.
I do agree with your sentiment about teams being unfairly gutted. Bologna is the latest example. Get into the UCL and they've lost Zirkzee and Motta. Look set to lose Calafiori as well.
I do not begrudge them either BUT what does annoy me is when a player has clearly shown no intention of wanting to join a football club but then does so because they are getting paid a huge wage then they go on and say things like how much they love playing for the club, how much they love wearing the shirt and showing their commitment to the club...utter BS rank. Be honest about why joining a club. That is what I want to see from players. If they join a club just because of the money then say so, be honest and upfront about it. I'll have more respect for players that do that than those give the usual BS that they are playing for the shirt, kissing the badge etc knowing full well they do not mean it....disgusting.
Incorrect. I just don’t agree with it. Nothing to do with misunderstanding.
But that’s ok. We have very different opinions and that’s fine.
Kane's only transfer option was a low table team or abroad because the owner flat out right said that he will not allow Kane to move to a top rival club. I believe both City and United were ready to put bids in for Kane but then the owner/chairman came out with the interview saying there is no way he is allowing Kane to move to a top rival club and immediately both City and United lost interest because they know Spurs owner is a tough cookie and thus when he says he is not going to allow something to happen, it does not happen.
Now that I can agree with. Kissing the badge like you are a lifelong fan when you’ve been there 2 minutes and obviously came for the money!
Kane still held the cards though. He just needed to see out his contract and that would force Levy's hand because he would not let him go for free
But Kane showed 'loyalty' which strengthened Levy's hand. And again i argue to his own detriment.
That is probably what Yoro will do, he will score a goal, rush to the United fans and kiss the badge then fist pump in the air all the while thinking in his heading 'the more goals i score, the more good I look for Real Madrid'
Hey, Laptech!
I’m an editor at a magazine and I get paid to understand others’ writing and to correct it when it contains errors, or when the sentences are weak, rambling or otherwise unfocused.
I’m not suggesting your post earlier was any of the above specifically but you definitely failed to make yourself clear. If that failure had occurred in my magazine I'd have had to perform major surgery to your text after querying exactly what it was you intended to say. (I also correct the misuse of apostrophes like those that appear frequently in your posts.)
My assessment of that earlier post of yours, and the way you took exception to Apple fanboy’s entirely acceptable and sensible response to what you wrote, still stands. Just be humble enough to accept a little criticism when its entirely due after subjecting others to your own unwarranted criticism, and you’ll be the bigger man.
Now back to the football...
I’m an editor at a magazine and I get paid to understand others’ writing and to correct it when it contains errors, or when the sentences are weak, rambling or otherwise unfocused.
I’m not suggesting your post earlier was any of the above specifically but you definitely failed to make yourself clear. If that failure had occurred in my magazine I'd have had to perform major surgery to your text after querying exactly what it was you intended to say. (I also correct the misuse of apostrophes like those that appear frequently in your posts.)
My assessment of that earlier post of yours, and the way you took exception to Apple fanboy’s entirely acceptable and sensible response to what you wrote, still stands. Just be humble enough to accept a little criticism when its entirely due after subjecting others to your own unwarranted criticism, and you’ll be the bigger man.
Now back to the football...
Also...
Anyone else going to be super self-conscious about their posts now...?
Just me?
Google editor says you left out two commas...