Official FOOTBALL Thread

[sh15uya]

94M€ 

10M€ / year 

kaka must be frustrated now

and now who ? Ribery ?

[Tuffty]

Dammit. No use in me pretending like we're not gonna miss him. Proven 20+ goalscorer and has the skills to match, of course I'm gonna miss him. Sure he was an egotistical, preening twat at times but he was our egotistical, preening twat. You'd be a fool to turn down £80 mil for a player who seems like he doesn't want to play for the club anymore. Farewell Ronaldo, you've been a fantastic addition to the team and the fans will always appreciate the effort you put into the team.

Madrid are idiots though. 2nd highest team in La Liga last season to concede goals and what do they put money into? The attack. Makes sense.

So with £80 mil supposedly in transfer fees (I don't think it will go straight to our debt as suggested), who could be our next signing? Ribery would slot in nicely in Ronaldo's position but at £65 mil? Not at that price. We need another prolific goalscorer, Benzema seems to be the favourite but I wouldn't mind seeing Aguero or Villa in a Utd kit. As an aside I've always been a fan of Ashley Young, get him in!!

At least now with Barry gone to City and Ronaldo to Madrid, the transfer season's biggest potential bores are over and done with. It just got exciting again!

[chaz9891]

Tevez has rejected a 5 yr contract offer from Man Utd and now City are favourites to sign him.

[francesc]

Arsenal to sign Matuidi is nearly completed

[shurastriker]

Madrid are idiots though. 2nd highest team in La Liga last season to concede goals and what do they put money into? The attack. Makes sense.

lmao you are so right, i was thinking the same thing... apparently they are going to use the "who scores more goals in 90 minutes" tactic.

[Tuffty]

"Of course the club can pay £80m for me. Or more. I think I'm worth more. Everyone says 'no' but I say 'yes'. Somebody will have to evaluate me"

Oh dear....

So Benzema's off to Madrid as well huh? Strange. When we, supposedly, come asking Lyon, they and Benzema have turned us down, reportedly on the grounds that "he's invaluable" or "he wants to play at Lyon so he can secure a spot in the French national team for next year's WC". But Madrid make an enquiry, and he's only too happy to join them for the same reason? Total BS if you ask me. I don't fault players wanting to play in certain leagues for personal reasons or otherwise, but I'm trying to place myself in the mindset of a pro footballer here and I can't understand why you'd chose Madrid over Utd. Last time I checked, Madrid achieved nothing of worth last year, going out in the 2nd round of the CL. Whereas Utd, successive league titles, club world champions and even got into the CL final in the past two years. Whenever I hear a player say they're joining Madrid because of their belief that they can challenge for the top prizes in football, I can't help but laugh. Perez says he wants a European League where the "best" teams in Europe can play each other on a weekly basis. Surely by "best" he means the richest clubs. Because honestly, if we're talking about quality, Madrid would be nowhere near that league.

Tevez, seriously, just shut the hell up right now. Don't know if you guys have heard, but Tevez has been on a verbal rampage against Utd and Ferguson describing his time there as "hell" or that if he joined City and scored against Utd, he would personally run to the touchline and scream into Feguson's face. And here's the best one, he says that if he joined City, the Utd fans would understand, as it was the team that forced him out. Uh, no Carlos. Utd made a public statement before you said this claiming that they would meet your offer of £32 mil yet you turned it down. Hardly sounds like you were dragged out kicking and screaming now does it?

Also, Owen?!?! When I first heard, I thought they chopped off my arm, sold it off and used the money to fund Liverpool's new stadium. But you never know, could be a good move. If they keep him injury free that is, which is a challenge in itself. If he even scores a few goals, he would be value for money (free transfer after all). Utd also signed Obertan, left winger from Bordeux. Never heard of him til now so I can't possibly comment. Papers today claim that Utd are interested in getting Ibrahimovic which is just.....lol....no. No way is it happening, and in no way do I want him as he's the most overrated player in the planet. I've yet to see a good performance. You think Berbatov in lazy?

Other news? Terry's head is apparently turned at joining City who it's reported was willing to pay him £300,000 a week. For a defender. Ludicrous. Liverpool are supposedly struggling to keep a hold of Alonso and Mascherano. And....that's as much as I know

[champloofan]

Liverpool needs to hold on to Alonso for sure. I can't imagine not rooting for him- he's one of my favorite Liverpool players.

[Tuffty]

^ Strangely though Benitez seems to value him a lesser player than Gareth Barry, which is entirely wrong in my eyes as Alonso is a better player. The only thing that annoys me about him is he always tries to score those goals from the half-way line, even if the keeper isn't off his line It's like, uh no, you did it once don't think you can keep on doing it Not looking good though, Alonso apparently will have to put in a written transfer request which would suggest he's already set his mind elsewhere, be it Madrid or whoever else.

Man, City splashing the cash here. Tevez is set to be unveiled today, Terry still seemingly tempted to join them and now it's strongly hinted that they've made a £25m bid for Adebayor on a deal worth £170,000 a week. So thats, Tevez, Adebayor, Robinho, Bellamy..hmmm..how is Hughes going to make them happy? Could they challenge the Top 4 at all?

[champloofan]

Man City is looking scary next season, that's for sure. I heard Liverpool are looking into getting Ashley Young if Alonso is to go, which I think would be OK. Alonso is irreplaceable but I have been thinking Young would look good in a Liverpool kit. 

Alonso won LFC fans' player of the season honors and apparently does not want to make public his desire to leave. I wish it wasn't so.

[shurastriker]

Zlatan joining Barcelona and Eto'o to Inter... dammit!!!

[Tuffty]

^ Huge transfer news I think Inter getting Eto'o was the better deal. Don't rate Zlatan at all.

It's confirmed that Adebayor's money is now the color of sky blue as he joins City in an undisclosed deal. Santa Cruz must be thinking 'why the hell did I join?!'

[redux]

Well it's been a while since this place got any action isn't it? Not too surprised though as it's been remarkably quiet on the transfer front other than Real and Man City of course. Looked as though things were going to get really really out of hand early on rather than jsut really out of hand with the amount of money being splashed out for some players, seems toe have calmed down a bit now though...famous last words.

I'm not going to try and put my thoughts on every major transfer that's happened so far as there are way too many that I've missed since I was last here but I am hoping there'll be plenty more on the way too. No doubt I'll soon change my mind though and be saying how annoyed I am at some of the deals going through.Balague seems to think that Alonso is a done deal for starters.

[redux]

Okay double post, but who cares? As far as I'm concerned there's some major news even if others don't agree with me! 

Alonso gone...Aquilani in? Well I hope so, providing two things: He can stay fit and he can adapt.

I'm always wary of Italian plays due to their nature to *ahem* fall over, and I hope that he can show enough strength on the ball when he needs to. Obviously his ankle injury is a bit of a concern too, though as far as I'm aware this isn't a recurring niggle and hopefully is jsut a one off. Of course we haven't actually got ihm yet but I'm willing to put my neck on the line and say it's likely that we will as I'm sure there wouldn't be so much coverage if he was unlikely to agree personal terms; still it is the club he grew up with so you never know...

""He has good passing - the final ball is good - and he also works. If he can settle down properly in England he can be a very good addition."

Those were Rafa's words and they don't comfort me? Surely you wouldn't sign someone you're not sure can adapt? 

Is he what we're looking for to bridge the gap this year? Well unlike most football fans I'm a realist and so I'll say no. I know a little bit a bout him and I know that he does have the quallity to become a great player, my biggest concern is that England may not be his rightful place. I don't think Alonso going will effect us too much though; yes he was a great player for us and I lvoed him to bits but he only played a few minutes for us in ourr first three months and we did fine without him then. This was his best season with us and so at least we can say we got the best out of him before letting him go.

In truth though if we really do want to push on we need more than a right back and a midfielder; they're both great players that we've added but what we need is another striker. Wishful thinking I know, but Villa's name keeps popping up and obviously I'd love to see it happen. If it doesn't well I won't be annoyed or surprised but I do want a decent striker in the squad so that if he or Torres gets injured Gerrard can push up again with the role he had last year rather than drop off. It would give us the versatility we're craving.

Silva has been linked with us too and obivously it'd be great to see him here and up until last week he would have been my preferred choice. I knwo I'm being slightly conceited here by saying we get to choose one of them, its unlikely either will come. I'd just prefer to have the second stiker so we can mix things up again rather be stuck in a rigid formation and rely on Torres too mcuh in case he gets injured.

[shurastriker]

all-around midfielder. XABI ALONSO brings first-class playmaking skills, veteran like experience and vision for the game to Real Madrid... LOOOOL that chairman plays hard O_O but i still wondering WTF they are gonna do without defense? play the i can score more that you strategy? gimme a break, i'm a Real madrid follower but seriously i don't like this.

btw i'm interested in what Rooney and Owen can do playing together in Manchester since i think both are very good forwards.

[Tuffty]

No joke, I have a friend who think Real can dominate for years to come under the principal that they will score more goals than the opposing team. Come on, they say the same about Man Utd, but I can admit that's never gonna happen! Once I pointed out that Real conceded a goal against Shamrock Rovers however, he quickly shut up

Funny story about Aquilini. Someone phoned into a radio station here to discuss Aquilini and how he could play with Liverpool. And the guy was quite convincing, he talked about how he saw Aquilini had great vision, can exploit defences, great crosser of the ball. Even the radio host was impressed and he told the guy he must have been a very astute observer of Italian football. The 'expert' said no, he only has this opinion after seeing a montage of clips on YouTube Let's put it this way, I can knock a ball about in my back garden for a half hour, edit it, upload it to YouTube and people will think I'm the next Lionel Messi

Shame about the result today. What's the point in linesmen or a 4th official if they're not going to call a clear foul to the ref like Ballack made on Evra? How could the ref book Evra for that tackle against Ballack, in which he cleanly won the ball first, yet Ballack completely obstructs him and goes unpunished? *sigh* Having said that, why Evra is a 1st choice for penalty kicks I simply do not know. Even worse than Berbatov's pk last season.

[redux]

^ I always remember when we first confirmed the deal to sign Voronin; Sky Sports was saying how he'd agreed terms to join us at the end of the season blah blah blah while showing a clip of a player dribbling his way through another teams defence. Whoever he was seemed pretty impressive as he took on three defenders no problem, he got to the keeper but he managed to save the shot...Voronin went in for the rebound....On reflection though I suppose it was a fair clip to show considering how good bad he is.

Ballack fouled Evra, simple as, hell he even admitted it himself. In the referees defence though if you see the clip he did have his back turned so really it was the linesmans job to give the foul. Obviously I'm being completely biased here but you have to say that even after the challenege United still had the ball and were in a pretty good position so it was actually inadvertently good advantage play.

I didn't see a lot of the match as father dearest was kind enough ot put rugby on instead but I saw the penalties and deary me, I have no idea what Evra was doing. I actually can't think of a worse penalty that I've ever seen; Martins was pretty bad a few years ago for Newcastle but at least he can use the excuse that he used his weaker foot.

[Tuffty]

Gotta love pundits and sports columnists. In the space of 2 weeks, Arsenal have gone from no-hopers to champions elect with Spurs at a close second and the likes of Liverpool & Man Utd have gone from winning it, not winning it, winning it to definately not winning it after that performance and all this in the space of what, 2 or 3 games into the season? I realise this is their jobs and they have to go with the sway of the game but they do more 180 shifts than politicians for crying out loud.

Oh and nice work to the football holligans at the West Ham v Millwall match. Thanks to them I think they knocked back English football by about 25 years or so to the eyes of Europe. No wonder England can't get a shot at hosting the World Cup. I would call these people neanderthals, but seeing as they were a species who managed to survive through the worst ravages of the Ice Age, it implies that they're a species with intelligence and great adaptability. Something I think these thugs clearly lack.

What do you all think of the CL draw?

   
Group A

Bayern Munich
Juventus
Bordeaux
Maccabi Haifa

Group B

Manchester United
CSKA Moscow
Besiktas
Wolfsburg

Group C

AC Milan
Real Madrid
Marseille
FC Zurich

Group D

Chelsea
Porto
Atletico Madrid
Apoel Nicosia

Group E

Liverpool
Lyon
Fiorentina
Debrecen

Group F

Barcelona
Inter Milan
Dinamo Kiev
Rubin Kazan

Group G

Sevilla
Rangers
Stuttgart
Unirea Urziceni

Group H

Arsenal
AZ Alkmaar
Olympiakos
Standard Liege

Inter v Barca Messi! Cambiasso! Xavi! Stanković! Ibrahimovic......ok not him Should be a good match. I think we got the hardest draw of the English clubs. Travelling to Moscow and Turkey? Drawing against the Bundesliga Champions? Makes harder reading than Arsenal being drawn against AZ Alkmaar don't you think?

[shurastriker]

Oh and nice work to the football holligans at the West Ham v Millwall match. Thanks to them I think they knocked back English football by about 25 years or so to the eyes of Europe. No wonder England can't get a shot at hosting the World Cup. I would call these people neanderthals, but seeing as they were a species who managed to survive through the worst ravages of the Ice Age, it implies that they're a species with intelligence and great adaptability. Something I think these thugs clearly lack.

In south america we have the "Barras Bravas" which in reality are delinquent groups in football fans disguise... most people never think about going to the stadium because of those bad elements.

so FUCK YEAH groups are looking very good, i expect close calls in every of them and of course i'm looking forward for a Zlatan vs Eto'o just so Barça can cry out loud how they dropped a quality player in that bad way.

[Tuffty]

Zlatan's the kinda player who could lose you a title.

HOLY CRAP!!

Chelsea banned from signing players until 2011

 Chelsea have been banned from registering any new players for the next two transfer windows after FIFA found them guilty of inducing a French teenager to breach his contract with another club.

Gael Kakuta, 18, joined Chelsea from Lens two years ago but the French club lodged a complaint with the sport's world governing body.

Now FIFA's dispute resolution chamber (DRC) has ruled that Kakuta breached his contract with Lens and that Chelsea induced him to do so.

FIFA said in a statement: "The French club had lodged a claim with FIFA seeking compensation for breach of contract from the player and requesting also sporting sanctions to be imposed on the player and the English club for breach of contract and inducement to breach of contract respectively.

"The DRC found that the player had indeed breached a contract signed with the French club. Equally, the DRC deemed it to be established that the English club induced the player to such breach.

"As a result the player was condemned to pay compensation in the amount of 780,000 euros (£680,995), for which the club, Chelsea, is jointly and severally liable, and sporting sanctions were imposed on both the player and Chelsea in accordance with art. 17 par. 3 and 4 of the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players.

"A restriction of four months on his eligibility to play in official matches is imposed on the player Gael Kakuta while the club Chelsea is banned from registering any new players, either nationally or internationally, for the two next entire and consecutive registration periods following the notification of the present decision.

"Furthermore, Chelsea, has to pay RC Lens training compensation in the amount of 130,000 euros (£113,498)."

Chelsea have the right to appeal against the decision and take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.

It is almost certain that Chelsea will exercise that right and the club are expected to release a response to the guilty verdict.

Kakuta, a skilful left winger, is viewed as Chelsea's most promising young player. He ended his first season as top scorer in the youth side and was voted the academy's player of the year.

His second season was brought to an end in February by a double fracture of his ankle.

Chelsea have at least signed a number of their key existing players up on to long-term contracts, with Ashley Cole, John Terry and Didier Drogba all agreeing new deals recently.

Chief executive Peter Kenyon says the new deals were a key part of Chelsea's summer activity and hinted that England midfielder Joe Cole would be next to sign a contract extension.

"We've concentrated very hard this summer in retaining the players we have. Inevitably in a transfer window it is all about who you bring in but we shouldn't overlook who we have got," said Kenyon.

"If you look at Drogba, Terry or Cole, they are world-class players that could walk into any other team in Europe and I am delighted that we have retained them."

Kenyon is confident Joe Cole will be next. He has been out of action since January following knee ligament damage and his current contract expires next June.

"Joe is just back in training and we are all delighted to see that. We want - and he wants - to remain at Chelsea," Kenyon added.

Chelsea are not the first club to have been punished in such a way.

Roma were also given a ban for two transfer windows following defender Philippe Mexes' move from Auxerre in 2004.

Roma appealed to the CAS and had the ban cut to one transfer window.

If the same situation was repeated it would mean Chelsea being unable to sign players until next summer.

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_5535789,00.html

It would be funny if this ruling stuck, but I doubt it will.

[shurastriker]

WOW Chelsea have a good team but is not young anymore, i wonder if they can resist two years like that.