Madonepro
macrumors 68000
And then Liverpool go after Yan Diomande and Victor Munoz (and get), both playing at the WC
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The 2025-2026 Football Thread
- Thread starter Scepticalscribe
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Lord Blackadder
macrumors P6
It’s not always a bad idea. 😉
EDIT: I should also add that these are not purchases made on the back of a WC performance; the interest clearly stems from previous research. My comment was referring more to something like Real Madrid buying James Rodriguez after his fantastic WC 2014 campaign. He was (and is) an excellent player, but in reality he overperformed at that tournament and Real Madrid took a career-peak performance and thought that was his baseline going forward, which turned out not to be the case.
Also WC performances need to be taken in the context of international football, which is genuinely different than club football in so many ways.
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Sal09
Suspended
@Scepticalscribe can we please setup the new thread now that PL fixtures are out.
Madonepro
macrumors 68000
As has been mentioned a few times now. The new thread traditionally starts around the time that the ‘Community Shield’ takes place.
Sal09
Suspended
In general, - and here I want to point out that I don't "own" the thread - I tend to prefer to start a new season's thread around a week or so before the Charity Shield, which traditionally kicks off the new season, and which - this season - occurs on the 16th August, with the actual fixtures for the season commencing the following week (actually, commencing with Arsenal playing newly promoted Coventry on the evening of 21st of August).
Thus, normally, I would envisage starting a thread for the new season at the beginning of August.
However, this year, we have the distraction of the World Cup (a competition, that, for a variety of doubtless well known reasons, - not least that it is too large, too long, too corrupt, too greedy, too hot, and, far too likely to lead to catastrophic, or, at the very least, serious, injuries for key players in our club teams - I am doing my utmost to ignore with averted eyes, pinched nostrils and grinding molars).
Nevertheless, I won't deny that I am keeping a reluctant - but beady, bespectacled - eye on transfer rumours, stories, and tall tales now that the transfer window has actually opened.
Personally, to be perfectly honest, I think that it is a bit too soon to start a thread for the season of 2026/2027.
However, if others consider early August too late to start a thread, (even though that is what we have traditionally done, and that is when - around a week to a fortnight before the Charity Shield - that is the time that I have always considered the new season to be upon us), I think that a case could be made to start a fresh thread very shortly after the World Cup Final, which, if my reading is correct, is scheduled to take place on 19th July.
pachyderm
Suspended
Madonepro
macrumors 68000
Um, no! I like tradition. Unlike ‘angry’ emojis it creates warmth and nostalgia.
Just like at School/College/University you have a break between years, to recharge one’s batteries and spark the fire for the upcoming year.
And who doesn’t like a holiday!
Sal09
Suspended
I was tempted to start the new thread to piss off few folks in here but that’s not my style.
Plus for me i think it has to be you who should take the lead again and start the thread.
Anyways maybe speak to you at the end of next season hopefully celebrating Arsenal again.
We won the league at Anfield
We won it at the Lane TWICE
Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford
No one can say the same
Mikel Arteta's army, we're Arsenal through and through
We'll sing it in the North Bank, and in the Clock End too
Allez, Allez, Allez, Allez, Allez, Allez, Allez, Allez, Allez
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Alphazoid
macrumors 65816
I worry we’re gonna struggle early next season.
Rice looks absolutely rinsed. I really hope Zubimendi finds form again to carry us…might even need Norgaard/MLS
Thankfully Saka and Eze haven’t been starting, and Saliba + France have rarely needed to get out of second gear
Raya benched, Ecuador/Hincapie out, Havertz/Germany out, Gyok/Sweden out
Hopefully Brazil, England, and Norway next.
Rice looks absolutely rinsed. I really hope Zubimendi finds form again to carry us…might even need Norgaard/MLS
Thankfully Saka and Eze haven’t been starting, and Saliba + France have rarely needed to get out of second gear
Raya benched, Ecuador/Hincapie out, Havertz/Germany out, Gyok/Sweden out
Hopefully Brazil, England, and Norway next.
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Apple fanboy
macrumors Ivy Bridge
Rice was playing right back. Hardly his natural position to be fair.
Silencio
macrumors 68040
Where did Spurs find all this money to wildly overpay for new midfielders? Now they've added Fernandez and Tonali on top of the market fees. Did they secretly hire Ed Woodward to take over their transfer department?
I wonder what Man Utd's actual plan in the transfer market is/was. Seems like more targets from outside of the PL are in store if the rates set by Spurs and city are going to be so inflated. Nmecha from Dortmund looks like an interesting target to me, as a versatile midfield player. Tchouaméni makes sense if Real are willing to part with him to enable their own engine room rebuild. Guess we'll see, but now the price they paid for Ederson looks like a real bargain.
I wonder what Man Utd's actual plan in the transfer market is/was. Seems like more targets from outside of the PL are in store if the rates set by Spurs and city are going to be so inflated. Nmecha from Dortmund looks like an interesting target to me, as a versatile midfield player. Tchouaméni makes sense if Real are willing to part with him to enable their own engine room rebuild. Guess we'll see, but now the price they paid for Ederson looks like a real bargain.
daneoni
macrumors G5
Tonali and Van Hecke are good signings. Fernandes i'm less sold on considering he failed to stop his being relegated
Spurs's biggest advantage for a top 4 finish will be lack of European distraction and the return of their injured players
I suspect they'll usurp Chelsea or Villa
Spurs's biggest advantage for a top 4 finish will be lack of European distraction and the return of their injured players
I suspect they'll usurp Chelsea or Villa
Not sure that West Ham's relegation woes can be laid at the (quick, graceful, and gifted) feet of Fernandes; their problems went far deeper than that.
daneoni
macrumors G5
Still don't think he's worth 85m, in fact i think Summerville is arguably a better player
Apple fanboy
macrumors Ivy Bridge
I think they are both excellent players. I’d rather keep them both but realise that’s not realistic.
Yes we were relegated, but if you look at our points we played much better in the second half. Starting the season with Potter and if I’m honest it took Nuno a while to learn his best team.
If the season started in January we would have been 7th.
Madonepro
macrumors 68000
Fulham have appointed Alvaro Arbelo as their new manager.
www.bbc.com
That we have a former Real manager is positive, his lack of experience worrying. If he manages to pull off bringing some young players from RM as well as bringing through academy players, we could be on for a good start.
Fulham appoint Alvaro Arbeloa as Marco Silva's successor as head coach
Fulham appoint Alvaro Arbeloa as their new manager on a three-year contract, succeeding Marco Silva who left for Benfica.
www.bbc.com
Alphazoid
macrumors 65816
Saliba out for 6mths. Timber a doubt. Rice ran into the ground. Saka carrying something. Trossard sold (granted Tzolis in)
Our title defence is looking impossible.
Our title defence is looking impossible.
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I read this with considerable concern.
It seems that he suffered - a flare-up - of this injury during the French semi-final defeat.
Timber's injury record has long been a cause for concern.
Grim.
Not new, unfortunately.
Well, yes.
Impossible, no.
Very difficult, yes.
Much will depend on this transfer window, and who we are able to buy.
pachyderm
Suspended
pachyderm
Suspended
I also think that Saliba's injury - and the fact that he had to leave the pitch early in the game - was a significant factor in the subsequent defeat of France in the WC semi-final.
Actually, while I have been following the World Cup only distantly (for a variety of reasons), I have been keeping a close eye on the form and health of Arsenal players on international duty.
For example, Gabriel Jesus has never fully recovered - by this, I mean that, as a player, he has never been quite the player he had been prior to his injury - from the injury he sustained during the previous World Cup.
Apple fanboy
macrumors Ivy Bridge
Rice and Saka have both had injury concerns at this WC.