The Ongoing Serie A, La Liga, All English Football, Champions League Thread - - - - - - - - - - Part 48

[Iceman]

In the mid tier teams where he belongs. He's an Everton player at best, all due respect to them.

Maybe he can meet up with the Ox. Although the Ox would probably struggle to get a game at Everton too if Sterling was there. t:

 

[DeadPresident]

Hah I'd say Oxlade-Chamberlain, while not as fast as Sterling is a better player simply because his decision-making in the final third is a little better. But it seems the Ox is going to Chelsea, although I think'll do a Fabian Delph and just bench warm to make up the English numbers.

 

[Mandon Knight]

Oxlade-Chamberlain will simply rot away at Chelsea, not that I think we (L'pool) need him either.

 

[Iceman]

Hah I'd say Oxlade-Chamberlain, while not as fast as Sterling is a better player simply because his decision-making in the final third is a little better. But it seems the Ox is going to Chelsea, although I think'll do a Fabian Delph and just bench warm to make up the English numbers.

Sterling showed a lot of promise in his last season at Liverpool and I remember when Ronaldo was beating every man and his dog with the ball at his feet but producing little end product. The first part is hard to teach (because most of the teachers themselves can't do it!) but the last part can be learned. Maybe Sterling is going to be one of those who isn't going to make that step up. All the fuss of moving to City hasn't helped him. He would have been better off continuing to learn week in week out keeping his surroundings the same till he was a more complete player (and then he'd be free to move wherever he wanted anyway).

 

[Mandon Knight]

Sterling showed a lot of promise in his last season at Liverpool and I remember when Ronaldo was beating every man and his dog with the ball at his feet but producing little end product. The first part is hard to teach (because most of the teachers themselves can't do it!) but the last part can be learned. Maybe Sterling is going to be one of those who isn't going to make that step up. All the fuss of moving to City hasn't helped him. He would have been better off continuing to learn week in week out keeping his surroundings the same till he was a more complete player (and then he'd be free to move wherever he wanted anyway).

I'm glad we got the money for him at the time and week in, week out, it looks like we got the better deal than City did.

 

[BlackFox]

It took Giggs 10 years to learn to cross a ball proficiently.

 

[Iceman]

I'm glad we got the money for him at the time and week in, week out, it looks like we got the better deal than City did.

You definitely did well financially to sell him when you did. I think his value has gone down in real terms a lot already, but the crazy transfer market inflation recently has probably helped City a bit there. I also think Coutinho at the price Barca is willing to pay should go (as good as he is). That sort of money might not be around again.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Just saw this, good start to the season for Mkhi.

 

[Iceman]

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41093101
Everton reject £25m bid for Barkley from Chelsea

Seems pretty low.

 

[B]

Chelsea are being connected with about 5 different players all of which seem to have some level of truth to them as well.

 

[Iceman]

If City get Sanchez then Chelsea probably need something more to compete.

 

[Iceman]

From Sky: Danny Drinkwater has handed in a transfer request and Arsenal have rejected a £50m bid from City for Sanchez.

 

[DeadPresident]

In this market £50m for Sanchez even despite his age and having only a year left on his contract seems rather low.

 

[DeadPresident]

Aurier appears to be moving to Spurs from PSG.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

In the mid tier teams where he belongs. He's an Everton player at best, all due respect to them.

You do know you finished just one place above Everton last season?

 

[Iceman]

In this market £50m for Sanchez even despite his age and having only a year left on his contract seems rather low.

Yeah, he's a gamechanger so I can't see anything happening at that price. It's insane that he was allowed to have just a year left on his contract though. There's a risk of losing him for nothing now if Arsenal don't agree to something. I can't see him signing a new contract. There's no reason to!

 

[DeadPresident]

You do know you finished just one place above Everton last season?

Very cute, but you know what I mean. If we finish within a position of each other again this season then refer me back to this post. I didn't mean it as an insult, which I hoped came across in the post, but in case I wasn't explicit enough I simply mean he isn't a player that you would depend on if you're trying to win the league or Champions League, which City are, but he's better than the mid table.

 

[Iceman]

Aurier appears to be moving to Spurs from PSG.

Yeah, apparently £23m.

 

[DeadPresident]

Yeah, he's a gamechanger so I can't see anything happening at that price. It's insane that he was allowed to have just a year left on his contract though. There's a risk of losing him for nothing now if Arsenal don't agree to something. I can't see him signing a new contract. There's no reason to!

Yeah it was rather irresponsible of Arsenal's board, they spent around £40m or so on him so if he goes on a free they would've pissed away his transfer fee and his wages for an FA Cup trophy and will be worse off after the club actually deteriorated during Sanchez's time.

 

[Iceman]

Yeah it was rather irresponsible of Arsenal's board, they spent around £40m or so on him so if he goes on a free they would've pissed away his transfer fee and his wages for an FA Cup trophy and will be worse off after the club actually deteriorated during Sanchez's time.

The board need a course on how these things work. They've benefited from Wenger and his scouts getting great value buys on young players with big potential in the past but that doesn't look like it's happening as much these days.

 

[Kaleb]

Very good central defender,believe PSg had also shown interest in him

 

[DeadPresident]

Pochettino has a solid record with youth so I'd hazard a guess at this kid being decent within two or so seasons.

 

[DeadPresident]

The board need a course on how these things work. They've benefited from Wenger and his scouts getting great value buys on young players with big potential in the past but that doesn't look like it's happening as much these days.

Yeah, they've gone from "surviving in CL spots seller club" to "how do we get off this sinking ship?" really fast. Honestly I'm not sure how this gets salvaged, Arsenal will be a poisoned chalice for as long as Kroenke and that board are there, only a masochist would take that job now and no player truly aiming for titles will want to go there after watching the likes of RvP, Clichy, Sagna, Nasri, and now Sanchez try and get away from the club because they don't take winning titles seriously enough.

 

[Iceman]

Yeah, they've gone from "surviving in CL spots seller club" to "how do we get off this sinking ship?" really fast. Honestly I'm not sure how this gets salvaged, Arsenal will be a poisoned chalice for as long as Kroenke and that board are there, only a masochist would take that job now and no player truly aiming for titles will want to go there after watching the likes of RvP, Clichy, Sagna, Nasri, and now Sanchez try and get away from the club because they don't take winning titles seriously enough.

Will anything change if they keep finishing outside of the top 4?

 

[DeadPresident]

Will anything change if they keep finishing outside of the top 4?

I'm not sure, at this stage the atmosphere of the club is so toxic I don't know if anything will change. The board is the problem, even if they swear to start investing properly, and managing the club attentively by appointing a DoF or something I'm not sure it's enough. It might be enough but it'll take time to rebuild everything.

I'd say if they keep finishing outside of top 4 they'd have to wait for the club's value to drop sufficiently and hope some Arab/Chinese/Russian billionaire comes and buys them out and goes the City/PSG route with them. At the moment it'll take a fortune to make Arsenal competitive again, and that's if Kroenke and his puppets even take it seriously.

If they fired Wenger and got Simeone/Unai Emery or whoever in they'd have at least had a shot because their squad is okay, but if they lose Sanchez in this window they'll have a squad of dregs left and no manager would want to come and pick up the pieces. To turn Arsenal into title competitors (under another manager, but this window, theoretically) I'd say their shopping list would've had to look something like this:

Mendy - £50m
Lacazette - £50m
Virgil van Dyk - £50m
Bakayoko - £40m
Draxler - £40m

Then they'd have a starting XI to compete with but they'd be up ****s creek after some injuries.