Delph in awe of Pep - says he has learned more in 3 weeks than he has in his whole career

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36874837

He used to play for Leeds and Villa so thats not too shocking.

 

 

Martial's ex wife (I know)

 

He's 20 and has an ex wife? yikes.

and at least 2 kids !

He used to play for Leeds and Villa so thats not too shocking.

 

 

 

He's 20 and has an ex wife? yikes.

 

french are very relaxed to dating, so probably has about 5 ex wives lol. they pass each other around like a pack of haribo. gotta love the french nonchalant ways, should be more like that in UK. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36891857

 

Africa will get an additional two World Cup finals places should the tournament be expanded to 40 teams from 2026, says Fifa president Gianni Infantino.

Infantino proposed the expansion from 32 teams before he was elected by world football's governing body in February.

Africa is currently allocated five places at World Cups.

"My proposal has been 40 teams and if that happens then my proposal has been to have at least two extra places for African teams," said Infantino.

The move would not come into effect until 2026 with the format of 32 teams already confirmed for Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.

The Fifa boss is still set to be interviewed by ethics investigators after allegedly breaching its code of ethics.

The allegations relate to a possible conflict of interest when using private jets laid on by a World Cup-bidding country; that he filled senior posts without checking people's eligibility for the role; and billing Fifa for mattresses, flowers, an exercise machine and personal laundry.

If there is sufficient evidence then a full investigation could be opened and he could be suspended from his role for up to 90 days.

Higuain to juve is done

Delph in awe of Pep - says he has learned more in 3 weeks than he has in his whole career

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36874837

 

Not surprising when Delph has done piss all so far with his career.

Juve pay £75 million for Higuain ? football has gone mad. He's good, but he's not that good. That is almost world record money.

They will still have £15 million to play with when Pogba moves to United.

Gael Clichy is apparently 31 today, how the f**k did that happen?

Gael Clichy is apparently 31 today, how the f**k did that happen?

 

Well every twelve months stretching back to 1984.... 

I'm getting an odd feeling of déjà vu...

Liverpool have £33m bid for Joao Mario rejected by Sporting Lisbon, reveals Portugal midfielder's father

Is that the number 10 from the Euro 2016 squad? If so I'm stunned

Me too. Wijnaldum. Firminho. Coutinho. Lallana. How many attack minded midfielders do they want.

Joao Mario's more of a combative centre mid, isn't he? I wouldn't play him behind the striker (or maybe wide) like the four names above.

That Higuain fee is obscene!

Football is just, f**king....insane right now. It fascinates and disgusts me in equal measures

That Higuain fee is obscene!

Football is just, f**king....insane right now. It fascinates and disgusts me in equal measures

This kind of money in the top tier is killing the lower tiers, and when you kill the lower tiers, you kill the soul of football in a country.

Loads of clubs are becoming insolvent. They're in a catch 22 where they need to spend to have a chance of being competitive, yet they can't afford to spend.

The Premier League don't give a f**k about English football. The only contribution they make to lower tiers and grassroots initiatives are the parachute payments to relegated teams.

In the Premier League, you have Manchester City bankrolled by Middle Eastern royalty and us bankrolled by a Russian mogul.

Meanwhile, Sunderland can't even afford the £5 million to buy their first choice right back, loanee DeAndre Yedlin from Tottenham, and are working on securing another loan instead.

No wonder, barring extremely unusual events like Leicester winning, the usual suspects occupy various sections of the table.

By the way, let's not treat Leicester like a pauper team. Their success was in part possible due to being bankrolled by Thai moguls.

The number of English owners is low because they can't match the riches of the foreign sugar daddies.

As a result, most of the owners don't give a damn about English football.

The American leagues have a socialist approach which would do English football good if it were practical (it's not). They have salary caps (total for the team so that if you spend a lot on one player you have to spend less on others) and salary floors (to prevent owners from colluding to institute a very low cap). These, and a host of other things, are negotiated by the players union.

Some American sports have a hard cap that you can't exceed no matter what, and other sports have a luxury tax such that you can go over the cap, but then you have to pay a penalty that gets redistributed among all the other teams and toward grassroots and other initiatives. The luxury tax is very high if you go over by a lot - up to 450% of the amount in excess. It hasn't stopped a handful of teams from choosing to violate the cap anyway, but it's better than nothing.

A firm salary cap wouldn't work in English football because there are competing leagues. Players can move to another league if an English club can't accommodate their salary demands.

A luxury tax system might be worth a shot though. Even if it prevents a few players in the richest teams from getting as much as they would without a luxury tax, there are many attractive things about playing football in England, so I'm not convinced that players would automatically jump to another country.

Sometimes I feel guilty for supporting a club that is among the leaders in creating that inequality. I support the club and the players (most of the time), and I think the fans are among the classiest, but I don't support the structure the club exists in.

I honestly would feel prouder of a lower mid table finish with all academy graduates on salaries well below the league average, than with such overpaid players. Such a scenario is purely hypothetical of course and has less chance of happening than of me winning the biggest lottery prize.

Edited July 26, 20169 yr by offside

This kind of money in the top tier is killing the lower tiers, and when you kill the lower tiers, you kill the soul of football in a country.

Loads of clubs are becoming insolvent. They're in a catch 22 where they need to spend to have a chance of being competitive, yet they can't afford to spend.

The Premier League don't give a f**k about English football. The only contribution they make to lower tiers and grassroots initiatives are the parachute payments to relegated teams.

In the Premier League, you have Manchester City bankrolled by Middle Eastern royalty and us bankrolled by a Russian mogul.

Meanwhile, Sunderland can't even afford the £5 million to buy their first choice right back, loanee DeAndre Yedlin from Tottenham, and are working on securing another loan instead.

No wonder, barring extremely unusual events like Leicester winning, the usual suspects occupy various sections of the table.

By the way, let's not treat Leicester like a pauper team. Their success was in part possible due to being bankrolled by Thai moguls.

The number of English owners is low because they can't match the riches of the foreign sugar daddies.

As a result, most of the owners don't give a damn about English football.

The American leagues have a socialist approach which would do English football good if it were practical (it's not). They have salary caps (total for the team so that if you spend a lot on one player you have to spend less on others) and salary floors (to prevent owners from colluding to institute a very low cap). These, and a host of other things, are negotiated by the players union.

Some American sports have a hard cap that you can't exceed no matter what, and other sports have a luxury tax such that you can go over the cap, but then you have to pay a penalty that gets redistributed among all the other teams and toward grassroots and other initiatives. The luxury tax is very high if you go over by a lot - up to 450% of the amount in excess. It hasn't stopped a handful of teams from choosing to violate the cap anyway, but it's better than nothing.

A firm salary cap wouldn't work in English football because there are competing leagues. Players can move to another league if an English club can't accommodate their salary demands.

A luxury tax system might be worth a shot though. Even if it prevents a few players in the richest teams from getting as much as they would without a luxury tax, there are many attractive things about playing football in England, so I'm not convinced that players would automatically jump to another country.

Sometimes I feel guilty for supporting a club that is among the leaders in creating that inequality. I support the club and the players (most of the time), and I think the fans are among the classiest, but I don't support the structure the club exists in.

I honestly would feel prouder of a lower mid table finish with all academy graduates on salaries well below the league average, than with such overpaid players. Such a scenario is purely hypothetical of course and has less chance of happening than of me winning the biggest lottery prize.

Got

Bored

Got

Bored

Heaven forbid you might spend more than 5 seconds on a post, which was btw very illuminating and thought-provoking on possible solutions to the raging inequality in British football.

Got

Bored

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End

Joao Mario's more of a combative centre mid, isn't he? I wouldn't play him behind the striker (or maybe wide) like the four names above.

His best role is actually behind the striker as he's very creative but you get the best of both worlds if you play him in centre mid as he's very good defensively and strong as hell, having him next to Kante would be a dream.

 

He looked good out wide for Sporting Lisbon but that was more down to their system than him being an actual winger. As evidenced in the Euros when he was played out wide for most of it, that was the reason why he looked so poor. Even still, he was one of the best players on the pitch in the semi's and the final. 

He was awful at the Euros, one of the poorest players I seen all tournament. I was baffled he continually got game time.

Mertesacker ruled out for "a few months" with a knee injury. 

 

Wenger getting his excuses ready for another failed title push already. 

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He is, called me a weird character earlier.

Clearly just a troll

^ Well you can't fault him for that.