Vesper

well that is (in pounds at current FOREX) almost exactly £500K PW (£500,154.81 PW to be precise) that is only £150K or so PW more than STERLING is pulling in now Is Vini Jr worth £7.8m more per annum in gross pay than Raheem? HELL yes IMHO. For perspective, Barca, at then end, was paying Messi (all payouts included) up to £122.6 MILLION per year. And that 4 year peak was from 4 to 7 or so years ago, so, inflation-adjusted, that is around £153m to £161m per year (on a 4 year rolling basis range) into today's money. Plus, he got a (in todays pounds) a £113.7m signing bonus. That is a total inflation-adjusted payout, over just 4 seasons, of around £743.1m!! Just over ONE BILLION USD, inflation adjusted. For FOUR YEARS of football. And some wonder why Barca is in the mud financially, lol, and that is not even counting those insanely shit multiple monster transfer fees they were paying out for other players, which were likely around another 1+ billion usd, inflation adjusted. PLUS the insane salaries for many of them.

biggest names out there with rumblings Vinicius Junior Rodrygo Bradley Barcola Morgan Rogers Xavi Simons

bollocks, the Lib Dems are some of the most pro-immigration pols in the UK https://www.libdemvoice.org/liberals-for-immigrants-77029.html

oh so now the open homophobia comes flowing out and pro tip, I am a cis-gender married lesbian, my wife is a cis female

as I already showed above, that chart by the RW xenophobic Centre for Migration Control is based off a disingenuous massaging of the data

You really are a typical RW dull knife. The data was misrepresented and therefore not valid. Go back to rubbing one out with your Farage doll.

Blair, the neoliberal 3rd Way centrist is a now a lefty???? LOLOL That is gaslighting at an olympian level.

Exclusive: Chelsea make plans to sign Barcelona star Ronald Araújo as Levi Colwill replacement https://www.football-espana.net/2025/08/09/exclusive-barcelona-Chelsea-ronald-araujo Barcelona are about to lose Inigo Martinez to Al-Nassr, but his exit will not enough for the club to solve their registration problems. As a result, there are chances for another big player to leave before the end of the summer, and as it turns out, it could be another central defender that moves on. Barcelona have been ready to sell one of their senior centre-backs this summer, and prior to the news that Martinez would be going, it was going to be either Ronald Araujo or Andreas Christensen that would be moving on. And while it now seems that both will be staying, that may not be the case. A source has indicated to Football España that Chelsea are preparing to make a concrete move for Araujo before the end of the summer transfer window. The Blues, who won the Club World Cup last month, were told this week that Levi Colwill had suffered an ACL injury, and it has already been decided that they will seek a replacement. Chelsea regard Araujo, who was temporarily appointed as Barcelona’s captain this week, as a world class defender, and at 26, his signing would be in line with the transfer policy at Stamford Bridge. They are prepared to pay €50m to get a deal done, and there is a believe that the reigning La Liga champions would accept this – as it would allow them to ease their well-documented financial woes. As well as Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur are also showing serious interest in Araujo. Spurs see him as a key piece in their defensive rebuild, valuing his versatility and leadership qualities. Manchester United, who have a long-standing interest in the 26-year-old, are also monitoring the situation closely, but haven’t made a formal approach yet. Chelsea are expected to submit an official bid soon. Araujo’s future will likely depend on Barcelona’s stance and how the other interested clubs decide to act in the coming weeks, but given that Martinez is about to leave, it will be tricky for the Catalans to give the green light for a sale unless a replacement can be sorted quickly.

the way we have injuries, we should have a healthcare firm as sponsor Blue Cross/Blue Shield

but you have to amortise the profits, not use the gross sales totals

he is absolute pants 🤬

Geovany Quenda, Chelsea’s hot prospect who will not be at Stamford Bridge this season https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6540876/2025/08/10/geovany-quenda-Chelsea-future-analysis/ It took a little more than seven minutes for Chelsea men’s first-team squad to be welcomed individually onto the pitch during Wednesday’s trophy celebration at Stamford Bridge — and that was without 100 per cent attendance. Levi Colwill was absent after injuring his anterior cruciate ligament on Monday. There was also no Christopher Nkunku who, as was detailed in this week’s Transfer DealSheet, has been excused from the start of Chelsea’s shortened pre-season to explore a potential move away. Last to make their entrances to the celebration were Chelsea’s confirmed summer signings: Liam Delap, Joao Pedro, Jamie Gittens, Jorrel Hato and Estevao. The sight of them walking out one after another to join the new Club World Cup champions underlined that Enzo Maresca’s stacked squad is fast becoming the most competitive club environment in world football. Competition may become even fiercer before the transfer deadline on September 1, and particularly in the attacking positions. Chelsea have stepped up talks with Manchester United to sign winger Alejandro Garnacho, and informal discussions continue regarding RB Leipzig playmaker Xavi Simons. Even if further arrivals are dependent on departures — Nicolas Jackson and Tyrique George are also attracting suitors — it is already clear that Maresca will navigate this season with an enviable array of options in the final third. Another bright young attacker has already committed to testing himself at Chelsea: Sporting CP winger Geovany Quenda, one of the most exciting teenage footballers in Europe, will move to Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2026 in a transfer worth around €47.5million (£40m; $55m). Geovany Quenda, pictured in a pre-season friendly against Sunderland in July, will join Chelsea next summer (Gualter Fatia/Getty Images) The size of the deal reflects the strength of Chelsea’s belief in the potential of Quenda, who turned 18 at the end of April. He is the ninth-ranked player in Football Benchmark’s Golden Boy Index in partnership with Tuttosport, two spots higher than Hato and 21 places higher than the next Portuguese prospect, Braga winger Roger Fernandes. His breakthrough 2024-25 season yielded two goals and five assists, but more eye-catching are the numbers that highlight just how heavily involved he was: Quenda featured in all of Sporting’s 34 league games, starting 26 times and playing 2,253 minutes for a team that retained the Primeira Liga title and lifted the Taca de Portugal (Portuguese Cup) despite losing head coach Ruben Amorim to Manchester United in November. He also appeared in all 10 of their Champions League games, starting eight times. What comes next may be even more important — the arc of Quenda’s final season at Sporting will go a long way towards determining the level of momentum he carries with him to Stamford Bridge next summer, when he will further reinforce Maresca’s formidable wing rotation. Sources close to the player, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to The Athletic to protect relationships, indicate that Quenda knows the significance of the season ahead. His summer holiday after scoring three times in the group stage for Portugal in the European Under-21 Championship — punctuated by a rasping right-footed shot into the top corner against Poland that circulated widely among Chelsea fans online — consisted of a week spent with friends in the Algarve. Then it was straight back to work on a specialised fitness plan focused on muscle strengthening and injury prevention. Quenda has readied his body for a heavier load this season as Sporting balance three domestic competitions with Champions League participation. To do so, he will have to unseat Geny Catamo, who is the starting right-winger in the 4-2-3-1 system that coach Rui Borges has pivoted to since Viktor Gyokeres left for Arsenal. Last week, in the Supertaca Candido de Oliveira (Portuguese Super Cup) final against Benfica, Catamo started, with Quenda coming off the bench. Sporting lost 1-0. The 18-year-old’s presence in the squad had been in doubt. During Sporting’s title celebrations last season, and after their win over Benfica in the Taca de Portugal final, Quenda had worn a T-shirt referencing an offensive phrase that team-mate Ricardo Esgaio had allegedly said to Benfica captain Nicolas Otamendi in the final minutes of a fiery league meeting between the two clubs in May. Sporting defender Zeno Debast posted a picture of the T-shirt on social media. The Portuguese Football Federation handed Quenda a two-match suspension. Both players were fined and suspended after Benfica filed a formal complaint, but Sporting succeeded in postponing the punishments by submitting an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The ban is still hanging over Quenda’s head, complicating his task of regaining his starting spot in the early weeks of the new campaign. But in a press conference on Thursday before Sporting’s first league match of the season against Casa Pia, a 2-0 win, Borges sounded optimistic that the winger could make a leap. “He’s been doing fantastically well,” Borges said of Quenda, as reported by O Jogo. “He’s a kid who’s doing very well, unlike what happened at the end of last season, when he dropped off a bit, maybe because of everything that’s happened to him (with the transfer). We can’t forget that he’s an 18-year-old kid, and his performance dropped off. Quenda celebrates scoring against Estrela da Amadora in March (Patricia de Melo Moreira/AFP via Getty Images) “This year, he’s doing very well. He just needs an opportunity, just like Geny Catamo. He’s been doing fantastically well, and he’ll have a great season.” Chelsea are watching closely, but Quenda remains a Sporting player until next summer. Quenda is said to be well aware that there is considerable room for individual growth in Sporting’s post-Gyokeres attack and he is keen to scale up his influence and production in the final third. Above all, Quenda wants to leave the club that gave him his professional platform with another Portuguese league title. Some in Portugal have compared Quenda to Bukayo Saka, who similarly spent his early years on both flanks, at times with greater defensive responsibilities, before specialising on the right wing. But those who know Quenda say the 18-year-old’s personal benchmark is a peer in age: Barcelona phenomenon Lamine Yamal, who might already be the best winger in the world. It is an intimidatingly high standard for any footballer to set themselves, but Quenda is not lacking in self-belief. It is why he has chosen to take the No 7 at Sporting this season, a shirt number that has developed a reputation among supporters for being cursed ever since the legendary Luis Figo wore it before departing for Barcelona in 1995. Within five years of leaving Sporting, Figo was awarded the Ballon d’Or. Chelsea firmly believe Quenda can also become one of the world’s best wingers. If all goes to plan, the next 10 months in Portugal will better equip him to rise above the stiff competition he will encounter at Stamford Bridge and scale similar heights.

yes https://www.getfootballnewsgermany.com/2025/xavi-simons-prefers-to-move-to-the-premier-league/ Bild reports Xavi Simons prefers to move to either the Premier League if he is to leave RB Leipzig this summer. After missing out on Champions League football and European football altogether, the future of Simons has been up in the air. Bayern Munich have been linked with the Dutch international, but he is said to have a preference for his future. The 22-year-old wants to move to the Premier League and has brought in an agent by the name of Ali Barat, who has connections in England to try and engineer a move away. It is expected that Barat will approach Chelsea for Simons. However, if Simons is to leave Leipzig in the summer, the Bundesliga side wants a fee of significantly more than the €50m they paid to bring the Dutch international to the club permanently in the winter. A sale of Simons would significantly help Leipzig balance the books when it comes to their spending this summer. So far, they have spent €92m and do not look like stopping. The 22-year-old’s departure would greatly reduce their net spend. However, as Leipzig is backed by Red Bull, they can spend whatever they want, and debt will not be a problem.

Disputed or debunked claims about migration and crime in the UK As politicians face criticism for promoting misleading data, here are some claims that do not bear scrutiny https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/aug/05/disputed-or-debunked-claims-about-migration-and-crime-uk Several politicians have got into hot water for promoting and repeating misleading data in recent months, particularly about migration and crime. There have been calls for the government and police forces to be more transparent about the figures to tackle misinformation and hysteria. Here are some of the high-profile claims that have been disputed or debunked. 1. Are foreign nationals responsible for 40% of sexual crime in London? Conservative Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said on Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday that 40% of sexual crimes in London last year were committed by foreign nationals. The claim was sourced from the Centre for Migration Control (CMC), a thinktank and blog that describes its purpose as “controlling and reducing migration to Britain”. It is run by the Reform UK activist Robert Bates. CMC’s claims come from the Metropolitan police’s response to a freedom of information request. The Met issued a breakdown of the number of people who had been proceeded against – ie brought before a court – for sexual offences by nationality. This does not mean they have been found guilty of committing the offence as Jenrick said. For example, there were 14,242 defendants brought to court for sexual offences at magistrates courts in England and Wales in 2024, but 8,098 convictions, according to Ministry of Justice statistics. “Some of the data we’re seeing is very striking,” Jenrick also said. “Afghans and Eritrean nationals are 20 times more likely to be convicted of a sexual crime than a British national.” The statistic about Afghans has been repeated by Reform UK’s chair, Zia Yusuf. This is a muddled figure that also came from the CMC, after it submitted freedom of information requests to the MoJ. It is based on population statistics from 2021 but data on offences covering the years between 2021 and 2023. That means the statistic is likely to be based on a significant underestimate of the number of Afghan and Eritrean nationals in the UK – meaning the comparison with British rates is unlikely to be 20 times as high. Immigration to the UK from Afghanistan has risen significantly since 2021 because of the Taliban’s return to power, while Eritrean migration has also risen due to wars in Eritrea, Sudan and Ethiopia. snip Restore Britain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restore_Britain Restore Britain is a far-right political organisation in the United Kingdom, founded and led by the former Reform UK politician Rupert Lowe. It was announced on 30 June 2025 and advocates for the deportation of all illegal immigrants, protecting British culture and restoring what it describes as "Christian principles". Background Rupert Lowe was elected as one of Reform UK's five members of Parliament in the 2024 general election, representing the constituency of Great Yarmouth. However, Lowe was suspended from the party in March 2025, after allegations of threatening behaviour towards the party chairman, Zia Yusuf, as well as alleged other incidents of threatening behaviour between December 2024 and February 2025. Lowe has vehemently denied these claims and said that he has desired to make an alternative to Reform UK. Platform The platform of Restore Britain largely rests on immigration policy. Lowe, having previously said that Nigel Farage was "watering down" Reform's policy on the deportation of illegal migrants, has stated in the Restore Britain manifesto that they must "defend" Britain from "illegal migration, Islamist extremism, and foreign crime gangs threaten our safety", including the deportation of all illegal migrants currently residing in the UK. He has also stated that "Migrants didn't build this country — Britons did. Stop apologising for it," saying that Britain should be proud of its history and Christian values. The principles of Restore Britain also state that "Mass immigration has left communities unrecognisable. Multiculturalism has failed, and division has grown." The organisation’s website promotes "net negative migration" and states that, "The Boriswave must be reversed, and the asylum system must be abolished." Many other principles of the organisation revolve around ending diversity programmes and "the cancer of wokery", as well as stating that Parliament is broken and ignores the people. Lowe also calls for holding local institutions accountable, reducing unemployment by slashing benefits and cutting taxes. snip Rupert Lowe reports charity rowers to coastguard as possible ‘illegal migrants’ MP agrees to donate £1,000 to crew’s fundraising effort after alerting authorities to their boat off Great Yarmouth https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/aug/08/rupert-lowe-gives-charity-1000-after-taking-its-rowers-for-immigrants The independent MP Rupert Lowe has agreed to donate £1,000 to a charity after mistaking its rowing crew, including a former Royal Marine, for possible “illegal migrants”. Lowe, who was elected as a Reform MP for Great Yarmouth but now sits as an independent, said he had shopped the crew to the authorities and vowed to do everything he could to have them deported if they turned out to be what he suspected Instead, he was accused of being part of a vigilante effort after it turned out they were the four-person crew of an ocean rowing boat who were off Great Yarmouth as they attempted to row from Land’s End to John o’Groats to raise funding and awareness for motor neurone disease (MND). Lowe, who has claimed he was ousted from Reform in March because the party’s leader, Nigel Farage, feared he was becoming too influential, posted a picture on social media on Thursday evening showing the boat near wind turbines off the Norfolk coast. “Dinghies coming into Great Yarmouth, RIGHT NOW. Authorities alerted, and I am urgently chasing. If these are illegal migrants, I will be using every tool at my disposal to ensure these individuals are deported,” he wrote. He also demanded mass deportations. The crew – Matthew Parker, Mike Bates, Aaron Kneebone and Liz Wardley, known collectively as Row4MND – said they had been contacted by the coastguard and asked if they could see a dinghy nearby. Bates, a Royal Navy veteran and British record holder for rowing solo across the Atlantic, said it soon became clear the coastguard was asking about his own boat. “I looked to my right and there was maybe a dozen individuals stood on the shoreline staring at us.” After satisfying the coastguard they were who they said they were, they continued. Several hours later, however, the coastguard contacted them again because the police had “asked if they could send a lifeboat out to check who we were”. A friend eventually forwarded Lowe’s post to the crew, which Bates said had provided a moment of light relief. “We found it hilarious,” he said. “I’ve not been mistaken for a migrant before. The best comment was the one asking where the Royal Navy were when you need them. I’m a former Royal Marine, so the Royal Navy were on the boat. “But it was almost like a vigilante-style, people following us down the beach. They hadn’t twigged that we were parallel to the shore for hours and not trying to land.” snip Owl and Pussycat mistaken for 'illegal migrants' by MP Rupert Lowe https://www.newsbiscuit.com/post/owl-and-pussycat-mistaken-for-illegal-migrants-by-mp-rupert-lowe Lowe posted a photograph of a beautiful pea-green boat, close to wind turbines, off the Norfolk coast at about 20:25 BST, and said he had alerted the authorities. He wrote: 'Authorities alerted, and I am urgently chasing. 'If these are illegal migrants, I will be using every tool at my disposal to ensure these individuals are deported to the land where the Bong-Tree grows and to a wood a Piggy-wig stands with a ring at the end of his nose.' 'Enough is enough. Britain needs mass deportations. NOW.' However, at 06:38 on Friday, he explained the 'unknown vessel' was a false alarm. He accepted it had been a mistake and the Owl and the Pussy-Cat were not immigrants. They did, in fact, have some honey, and plenty of money, wrapped up in a five-pound note. which they were planning to give to the Turkey who lives on the hill so that he would marry them the very next day. In a later post, external, Lowe said: 'As a well done to the betrothed, I'll donate £1,000 in Greggs vouchers towards their reception.' 'Wait a minute - are they giving the money to Turkey? Hooray! I've found a way I can blame the Muslims! Form an angry mob at once!'

enjoy your stay

It's like the Dollar Tree version of Versailles Donald Trump has, quite literally, covered the Oval Office in gold. https://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/golden-door-oval-office

but we have not yet done it I am worried about two main things selling the deadwood replacing Colwill stressing on both

in regards to EPL rules, yes we are ok, but we still have work to do to comply with UEFA's rules

Quadruple player sale won’t fix Chelsea’s new FFP problem as Clearlake stare down UEFA punishment

there is a massive difference between banter in re footie and then what you are doing in dragging the Poltics forum posts posts into where you tried to have a go over our serious exposing of Trump and MAGA and RW shitbaggery in general I already replied to that in that forum and now you are trying to bring that into other parts of the board

you are way out over your skis

racist? wtf you are going into WUM territory m8

sorry I forgot he is Austrian sue me, lolol his last two clubs mamaged before Palace were German VfL Wolfsburg Eintracht Frankfurt