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The 2025-2026 Football Thread
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Plus, Palace get to avail of his footballing services and enjoy the benefits of his remaining at the club - his skills, leadership, experience - for the first half of the season, rather than be stripped of all of their impressive playing assets.
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Ederson leaving City is a bit of a surprise. It seems like only yesterday that he and Allisson were rated the top 2 in the world by some margin
Ederson has been slipping for a bit, and city didn't suffer at all with Ortega between the sticks. Since Pep and Txiki took over, they've been very good at replacing players before their expiration date, but last season showed signs they hung on to some of their older core too long.
I don't think Donnarumma's style of play is a great fit for Pep's system, but I guess we'll see. A penny for James Trafford's thoughts, though.
Harry Amass going out on loan to Sheffield Wednesday. Utd is apparently paying all of his wages and costs to help out with things. Take good care of our lad.
I don't think Donnarumma's style of play is a great fit for Pep's system, but I guess we'll see. A penny for James Trafford's thoughts, though.
Harry Amass going out on loan to Sheffield Wednesday. Utd is apparently paying all of his wages and costs to help out with things. Take good care of our lad.
Good on United. The club knows what it feels like to be in such a situation (Munich) with clubs around the country helping them out.
Ederson maintained his No 1 spot for Brazil well after I think Alisson eclipsed him in form, but those positions are surrounded in federation politics. He is still good, but I agree that he has been suffering a gradual decline for awhile now.
Donnarumma is definitely a shift in style - and Id agree less of a good fit for Man City IMO. he's not going to dribble around like Ederson did. As for Trafford, I guess it comes with the territory - big pressure, little room for mistakes, and small windows to prove yourself. If he is to succeed at this level he's going to have to either keep fighting for the role or demand a move.
Marc Guehi is allegedly furious over the failed move to Liverpool, and he is rumored to be set to refuse any future contract offer at Palace, which would mean either they sell him in January or he goes for free in the summer.
It’s all talk and rumor, of course. But plausible. For his sake, I hope he holds his tongue in public and just keeps playing. I wasn’t happy with Isak’s ‘strike’ and social media broadside (if he can do that once he can do it again).
I guess not all players can be models of professionalism like James Milner. 🤣
It’s all talk and rumor, of course. But plausible. For his sake, I hope he holds his tongue in public and just keeps playing. I wasn’t happy with Isak’s ‘strike’ and social media broadside (if he can do that once he can do it again).
I guess not all players can be models of professionalism like James Milner. 🤣
My money (all puns intended) would be on a January sale.
Completely agree.
However, while it is clear that Marc Guehi will not take the sort of drastic (and disgraceful and irresponsible) steps that Isak did (I also read that Isak is belatedly trying to re-build some burnt bridges with Newcastle supporters and - one assumes - former team-mates), I have read reports that he intends to resign the captaincy to signal his fury at the abruptly curtailed move.
Agree.
Rumour is Guehi was in tears which is understandable if he was already in an LFC jersey. I wouldn't sign a new deal either but i'd put my head down and just play until the Jan window and ask my agent to get me out.
Meanwhile Newcastle issue a blunt departing statement re-Isak sale, not even acknowlegding his contributions to the Carabao Cup win, and not offering a thank you.
Safe to say no love lost.
Meanwhile Newcastle issue a blunt departing statement re-Isak sale, not even acknowlegding his contributions to the Carabao Cup win, and not offering a thank you.
Safe to say no love lost.
It’s all our fault. Because we signed Igor Julio who had gone to Palace for a medical, Palace felt they didn’t have enough cover to let their captain go.
Given their European games I think he might stay until the end of the season if it looks like they might win the conference. Who knows.
Given their European games I think he might stay until the end of the season if it looks like they might win the conference. Who knows.
“Guehi was in tears”. I think one thing we tend to forget about professional footballers is that despite their incredible talent and sometimes vast wealth, they are often little more than children. Some of them still are children. Think of what you were like at 25, I was turned down for promotion around that age: I glared at the chair of the panel whenever I saw him for the next 20 years.
For clarity I’m not suggesting you were criticising Guehi in any way, I’m just using your post to make a point that sometimes our expectations of these young men are incredibly high.
I do hope Guehi behaves professionally as he has done so far. Me, I’d make Glasner a cup of tea in a Liverpool mug and spit in it.
If a club agrees to sell a player, terms have been worked out, prices have been worked out, wages have been worked out then in my opinion the club should honor the sale regardless of the situation it puts them in because these are people's lives they are messing with. If Palace Steve Parish did not tell his manager what he was doing then that is a problem between Parish and the manager NOT with the player.
It is an absolute disgrace what Palace have done to Guehi, to get to the stage where they are basically telling him to get down to Liverpool for a medical and then pull the plug at the last second. To be honest I hope he does not act professional and causes the club a lot of trouble because the club should be taught a lesson that they cannot treat players in that way.
How would you feel if a company came in and offered you a multi million pound contract for your services but you were needed in one month but to leave your employer your contract says you need to give 6 months (your in a high position). Your employer is very sad to see you go but allows you to leave with only a months notice instead of the 6. The last day of the month, your all set to leave and your employer say's they cannot let you go because an employee on the same team as you has gotten ill and is now off work and they need you to stay. You tell your employer that they agreed to let you go at the end of the month but your employer says 'sorry, you now need to stay, we ae going to have to hold you to the terms of your contract which is 6 months'. The other company says they needed you in a month but as that can no longer happen they are removing their offer of employment. Are you honestly going to tell me you are going to act professional at losing a multi million paid job because your employer refused your movement at the very last minute. Hell no your not, your going to be the most disruptive employee ever.
It is an absolute disgrace what Palace have done to Guehi, to get to the stage where they are basically telling him to get down to Liverpool for a medical and then pull the plug at the last second. To be honest I hope he does not act professional and causes the club a lot of trouble because the club should be taught a lesson that they cannot treat players in that way.
How would you feel if a company came in and offered you a multi million pound contract for your services but you were needed in one month but to leave your employer your contract says you need to give 6 months (your in a high position). Your employer is very sad to see you go but allows you to leave with only a months notice instead of the 6. The last day of the month, your all set to leave and your employer say's they cannot let you go because an employee on the same team as you has gotten ill and is now off work and they need you to stay. You tell your employer that they agreed to let you go at the end of the month but your employer says 'sorry, you now need to stay, we ae going to have to hold you to the terms of your contract which is 6 months'. The other company says they needed you in a month but as that can no longer happen they are removing their offer of employment. Are you honestly going to tell me you are going to act professional at losing a multi million paid job because your employer refused your movement at the very last minute. Hell no your not, your going to be the most disruptive employee ever.
That would seem to be the best possible option.
While I have some sympathy for Guehi, I also have considerable sympathy for Glasner.
He is the person who would have been blamed - by the sort of fans with the proverbial goldfish sized memory - and subsequently among the first to be fired - if and when things went wrong.
Bear in mind that Palace have already lost Eze (to Arsenal) this summer, and this practice of asset-stripping - almost cannibalising - well run clubs of their best players is, regrettably, an all too well established practice.
Remember, too, that they had just won their first major trophy (their FA Cup victory over Manchester City) - and also defeated Liverpool in the Charity Shield - and thus, have qualified (if controversially) for one of the European Leagues (the Conference League, even if they should have been permitted to compete in the Europa League), and will need to preserve what they can of the team that has performed so well last season, and starting this one.
Moreover, the intended move happened far too late - I would argue, unfairly late - for Palace to have been able to find an adequate replacement for Guehi.
Furthermore, I would also argue that had Liverpool signalled their intentions and negotiated (seriously) earlier in the summer, not least by offering more than £35 million for Guehi (given that Spurs - a legendarily tight-fisted club in the transfer market - had made an offer of £70 million last January) - rather than expecting, and hoping for - a last minute rushed purchase, as Guehi is entering the last year of his contract - Palace would have been able to respond better, not least by recruiting someone appropriate who might have been able to fill the yawning gap left by the planned departure of Guehi.
Now, I have read that Palace had been eyeing Ousmane Diomande (from Sporting) as a possible replacement, but an injury to the player put paid to that, while a frantic search for other suitable replacements failed to yield a suitable name in the time and circumstances available.
Glasner was behaving responsibly as a manager, protecting the assets of the team he managed in order for the team to perform as best they can this season, and he had every right to do that, and to make the strength of his feelings known to the senior staff and owners of the club.
Had Guehi departed, not only would there have been a yawning gap in his position, but Glasner would also have resigned, such was his outrage, leaving Palace in a weakened position at the close of the transfer window.
While I detest the state run model of club ownership, on this occasion, I do have some slight sympathy for Newcastle.
Given his conduct over the summer, Isak didn't exactly cover himself in glory, and neither did his agent.
This is true.
Yes, I must reluctantly concede that the hurt of rejections (professional, and perhaps, personal) at that age tend to linger, remaining unforgotten.
And yes, I, too, have been there, done that, and bought and worn that particular (psychologically scratched, rather than scarred) t-shirt.
They are; but they also are expected to live up to these expectations.
In some senses, while there are enormous expectations - and pressures - on them, they also live lives of extraordinary privilege, and some find any set-back very difficult to handle.
Agreed.
Actually, my sympathies lie entirely with Glasner; he acted appropriately - and professionally - to preserve the team that he is expected to manage.
Rather, I blame Liverpool (for not treating the negotiations seriously, or treating Palace with respect - I am willing to wager that had Liverpool offered £45-50 million earlier in the summer, and not a derisory £35 million at the last minute, and thereby allowed Palace the time to find someone fitting to fill the position of the departing Guehi, the deal would have gone through), and I blame the chairman of Palace, Steve Parish, who sanctioned the deal without having cleared it first with his manager, given that the team had already been weakened by the departure of Eze.
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I’m probably biased but I don’t think Liverpool behaved badly. The talk has been there all summer so CP have had time to prepare and if it wasn’t us someone else would have come in for him. Glasner should have said to Parrish at the beginning of the window that Guehi was a red line.
The only person who should take the blame for the Guehi debacle is the chairman Steve Parish. What Liverpool did is what clubs do all the time with clubs that need money from the sale of players, they will put in very very late low bids in the hope the selling club with take it because the players value could go down in the next transfer window and that is going to happen with Guehi because come January he will only have a few months left of his contract before he becomes a free agent and no club is going to spend big on him in the January transfer window.
Palace do not have the financial means to spend big like many of the other teams in the premier league do, they need to nurture players so they become excellent players with a very good price tag to match. So missing out on £35 million for Guehi could hurt Palace in the long term, especially if he refuses to be sold in the January transfer window and instead see's out his contract and leaves on a free. what if Palace do not have the season like they did last year, teams will not be looking towards Palace to buy players like they did this year.
If the manager was adamant that Guehi was not to be sold then it's either a case of failed communication between manager and chairman or it's a case of the chairman ignoring his manager and sell a player the club needs the money for to help strength the team further in the year.
Palace do not have the financial means to spend big like many of the other teams in the premier league do, they need to nurture players so they become excellent players with a very good price tag to match. So missing out on £35 million for Guehi could hurt Palace in the long term, especially if he refuses to be sold in the January transfer window and instead see's out his contract and leaves on a free. what if Palace do not have the season like they did last year, teams will not be looking towards Palace to buy players like they did this year.
If the manager was adamant that Guehi was not to be sold then it's either a case of failed communication between manager and chairman or it's a case of the chairman ignoring his manager and sell a player the club needs the money for to help strength the team further in the year.
Just read an article that says in the Grimsby v United game, Grimsby fielded an ineligible player because they failed to register him in time for the game. The article states that whilst the FA have fined Grimsby, United have 5 days to appeal. I am assuming they can appeal the game and have it played again or ruled a win in their favor. It appears a huge majority of people are saying it would extremely embarrassing for United if they were to put in an appeal.
Now you football fans, if this had happened to your club, you get knocked out of a cup competition by a team who fielded an illegible player which would normally result in a void game, would you want your team to put in an appeal to have the game replayed or ruled in your favor or would you just say 'oh well, it is what it is, let's move on'.?
Now you football fans, if this had happened to your club, you get knocked out of a cup competition by a team who fielded an illegible player which would normally result in a void game, would you want your team to put in an appeal to have the game replayed or ruled in your favor or would you just say 'oh well, it is what it is, let's move on'.?
No, not badly, but they are not entirely without blame, to my mind.
Not necessarily.
Given that Palace had already sold Eze, - and further sales do not seem to have been seriously contemplated or entertained until quite late - it is entirely possible that Glasner was blind-sided by the unilateral (and very late) decision of the chairman to sell - or, more to the point, cash in on - Guehi.
Moreover, given the spectacles of exceedingly poor, disrespectful and unprofessional behaviour we have witnessed over the course of this past summer from several players, not only do my sympathies lie entirely with Glasner, but it was very telling that he had to threaten to submit his resignation in order to emphasise how strongly he felt about this putative transfer, and equally telling that while some may attempt to excuse (or explain away) the atrocious behaviour of some of the players, as they sought to engineer exits from clubs, some remain surprised that a manager would feel sufficiently strongly (and sufficiently committed to - and loyal to - the well-being of the club) as to threaten resignation when the club attempts to sell a key player over his head and against his wishes.
Clubs always put in low bids, but, by doing so on this occasion, Liverpool - to my mind - were trying to be too clever by half. Above all, they signalled that they were not really serious (if they were serious, they would have submitted a bid of £40-45million, a bid that the selling club would have to give serious thought to), and that this was not an especially urgent transaction.
If they were really serious about buying Guehi, they would have concluded a deal swiftly, and come to a mutually acceptable resolution with the vendor club. Instead, they assumed that Palace (having already sold Eze) would readily accept their offer.
Makes me wonder if Amorim would have resigned if United had sold Bruno for £100 million because it's been said that Amorim did not want Bruno to be sold.
Why put in a serious bid if you think you can get away with a cheeky low bid? This happens all the time in the business world and football is a business is it not?
Would Liverpool have submitted "a cheeky low bid" to a club deemed to be equally (or, almost equally) successful and wealthy? In other words, would Liverpool have submitted "a cheeky low bid" to Manchester City, or Arsenal?
I very much doubt it.
By submitting such "a cheeky low bid", - and virtually at the last minute, at that - Liverpool signalled, firstly, that they were not serious, (especially when you take into account the stratospheric sums that they had already shelled out for some of their other signings during the current transfer window, such as those for Wirtz, Ekitike, Kerkez, Frimpong, not to mention the dramatics of the Isak transfer saga), and secondly, that they viewed their interlocutor - Palace - with an almost casual degree of contempt.
That doesn't make it either laudable or acceptable.
I have to say I have none...while Isak's behavior was unquestionably poor, NUFC's response, if anything, sadly validated it. 1) bringing in a replacement who was also going on strike at another club and having zero problems with that hypocrisy whilst still crying foul about Isak. 2) managing, with all their age, resources, and experience, to be just as childish and petulant as a 22 year-old footballer in the way they responded publicly. We also don't know what happened behind closed doors, for whatever that is worth either way. Neither party comes out looking good though, let's be clear. I don't think Liverpool put a foot wrong publicly but they are being painted as cruelly poaching an essential player from NUFC (which is, like it or not, something that happens every single transfer window at every level of the sport....they also just handed over a massive pile of cash for him as well, let's not forget how expensive this 'theft' was).
But clubs are ruthless and are, at times, perfectly willing to treat players as property to be bought, sold, retained, or jettisoned without regard to what is best for the player. The goals/needs of club and player do not always align. If this is an example of 'player power' though, let's not forget it is the clubs who employ the most suits, lawyers, PR/media people, and have the capital, all backed by billionaire owners or even whole countries. They still hold most of the cards, and always will.
I don't condone players going on strike or engaging in social media wars, it usually backfires, but from a player's point of view being 'professional' shouldn't always mean remaining silent and letting the club do whatever they want with you. The problem is that most players aren't articulate enough to present their case in a sympathetic light, or to the right audience. They are all very young, lacking in experience and often education, and often being influenced by people around them. And let's face it, we should all know by now that turning to the socials with any serious issue is just a rapid plunge to the bottom.
Newcastle duffed it in how they handled Isak. And then turned around and, without blinking an eye, immediately did unto Brentford what Liverpool had done to them. And so it goes.
At the end of the day, on a certain level, it's not as big a deal as it's being made out to be. Isak is the most expensive Premier League signing ever, and there's almost zero chance he'll be the best Premier League player of all time, so I look forward to years of people using the transfer fee to beat him with every time he underperforms....another Andriy Shevchenko [remember when 30 million was an incredible fee?!?!?] Paul Pogba, or Darwin Nunez etc. etc. Nothing new there.
Oh, I agree pretty much completely with you re the Liverpool and Newcastle saga, and am underwhelmed by the conduct and behaviour of Isak, not just as a footballer, but as a human being.
What is to stop him treating Liverpool in a similar manner?
And yes, I am of a sufficient age to remember well the case of Andriy Shevchenko.
Best Premier League player of all time? Not even the best player in his current team!
Good luck when Real Madrid or PSG come knocking on his door!