LDN Blue

Top posts here regarding the loan system. Being ridiculed by rival clubs I can take all day long but as a fan of this club it's downright frustrating to constantly see young talent mishandled in such a way that we have to spend ludicrous sums to fill talent we could've had by simply nurturing. When a player is promoted from the youth team there's something special. The player is full of appreciation for the club, the player PLAYS FOR THE CLUB not his damn paycheck!! Sure they might move on, but they stay humble for their club most times. Look at one-man clubs.. Zanetti, Scholes, Gerrard and Puyol the adoration they have for fans and club alike. Maybe I'm getting too sentimental. Kalas gave the game of his life v Suarez, the guy who won the Golden Boot this season. Irrespective of our tactics in the game he held his own and now he's going on loan?! Because why? He didn't cost £12 million like Zouma or doesn't have a £35 million buy out like Mangala? Ridiculous.

Sorry to hear that, how is she? Are you still in China? How's it going?

I always love the CL Final, even if we're not in it. The occasion is just that good to me, like the World Cup Final. The football fan in me just gets overly excited

I don't know.. Sometimes it's more than that. Kroos and Ozil, they're not the Robben or Ribbery of Bayern or the Ronaldo/Bale of Real Madrid. They're not the big guys. Sure they'll get recognition from football pundits who are tactically knowledgeable, their managers will say how '[insert name] is important to me'. But they're not the linchpin, they're not getting the Nike endorsements etc. I think such players make a move to clubs so they'll be the big guys.. It's ego. Footballers love ego, they live to feed their egos. It's why you get Zidane moving from Barcelona to Real Madrid, it's why Tevez moves to the other side of Manchester.. It's why Rooney held United to ransom (amongst other things). My 2¢ anyway lol..

Indeed. I've heard barca will make a move for either Silva or Marquinhos, they'll pay big too.

Yeah definitely. Let's hope all our transfers can be like this, controversy free!

Okay

So I put it to you guys out here... I know it's unrealistic with Levy being a giant asshole when it comes to dealing with Chelsea (or.. lack of,) but if Soldado came on the market for less than £20million.. Would be a worthwhile gamble? I know he's been piss-poor at Tottenham but could that have been a problem of tactics in how they played and how they set up to attack? A glance as Soldado's stats in Spain and it's not hard to see why Spurs did pay £26million: 2009-10 20 (32) 2010-11 25 (44) 2011-12 27 (51) 2012-13 30 (46)

Yeah I was just discussing this with a friend and he also said Barca and PSG. It will be good to see Luiz become that player because he's got the potential and he's gifted enough to do so! Just hope the pay we get will match said figures.

Not really.. if we're getting £50m on transfer only we could use that more efficiently and value players more accurately. With a straight swap our opportunity cost could be higher.

If true, just shows how much clubs are willing to pay for ball-playing defenders. Not a critique on Mourinho, all managers have their own tactics and philosophies, but it makes me think if we played in a way Luiz is best utilized what would we have witnessed. Ah well.. It's good to see we're capable of making good profit on players. Mata, De Bryune now Luiz.. Hope the replacement doesn't cost us an arm and leg.

I think the reason it wouldn't get as much recognition is because we couldn't add a European Cup in Mourinho's tenure then/it didn't go on long enough.. Not that it matters, whether other fans will admit or not we did make it more interesting with our rise to title contenders because the power battle between Man United and Arsenal was on the verge of getting stale. Chelsea, with City, introduced a lot more competition along with Liverpool this season. It makes for strong interest whichever way you look at it.

It was kind of the same with Mata too, there was more uproar from fans because of Mata's previous exploits for us.. But on the base of mutual respect in handling the transfer I think it was done well. There was an understanding early that if the right offer came Mata would be allowed to leave and lucky for us it did.

Congratulations mate!

Yeah that's the only thing. He'd have to go lower league to ensure he'd be the best among that defense.. It's an unfair proposition. Especially as you'd think they would begin to prepare to ease out Terry..

I think it's because Mourinho probably had told him sometime in November/December he would alllow KdB to leave it suitable offers came in. A basic green light for his agent to start negotiating without breaching contract. Club deserves some credit too I feel.

Most clubs will often have deal in place before WC. If the parent club has the bargaining power they can wait and hope the WC inflates their value..

You don't see him complaining about the press following him coughRooneycough

I think it's a good idea for Kalas though. Zouma will come with the usual adaptation issues that may face certain players so Jose may prefer to keep him closer to home to help him through this while allowing Kalas to continue to play. I just hope it's in England. Vitesse would probably kill to have him back, but I fear abroad he'd be forgotten..

One my favourite players abroad Rossi, his career is so unfortunately and I'm really glad Prandelli has given him a chance to prove his fitness for the World Cup. I don't think it's a good idea for him to come here though. Fiorentina is good for him. He'll be allowed time and patience because pressure isn't on him. They have Gomez to take the load off (if he remains). He's 27 and needs time.

I think this is all just banter on the part of Eto'o. Their relationship has always been up and down, Eto'o said as much when he was at Inter so I think too much is being read into it. And let's be fair to the guy, he did end up becoming a player for the big occasion haha. Hattrick v United, opened the scoring v Arsenal etc.

What did I just read?! LOL

But I think those players are like Moses and Bertrand. So suggest they won't have a sporadic contribution is harsh.. Bertrand has shown maturity and capability to play as a back up left back many times when we're played him. The champions league final the most prominent. If anything Lampard is one of those players who you should be looking to not have in for the sake of HG as on the basis of this season his contributions are far less significant, while also taking the place of the youngsters you'd see come into the squad instead.

But by saying 'or squad players' surely Moses, Bertrand and the lot fall under this category. It's not easy to buy HG players to be squad players for an affordable price.. Unless we get them out of contract like Barry et al.

Not sure. I mean he might be a club legend etc but I don't see United hierarchy buying into this emotional chap.. Especially how public they made their pursuit of Thiago