Magic Lamps

Sadly, these kind of swap deals seldom happen. Juventus are so stubborn. Matic +20m for Sandro is fair for both sides, allw ould win.

that sounds like what has been rumoured weeks ago. I fear he is off to City sadly.

You are probably right. Btw have you seen TheWiz around here lately? Maybe he somehow planted his "cornerstone of the team" idée fix Matics so he know thinks he merits to start week in week out. Or maybe Conte has told him he is not in his plans.

We do not even need to sell him. He can simply warm the bench here. I mean I would be glad to get rid of him but when no one wants to meet our valuation I have no problem keeping him. We are in a strong position with this one. He is not on that high wages so we can be happy with both solutions. If he leaves I hope we either replace him with someone from the loan army or buy someone homegrown.

Now begins my favourite part of a transfer: Taking ages to agree personal terms because some agent wants a 110% fee paid in personalized tea bags included in the deal. Then Morata is on his way to his medical via an Egyptian tortoise, fails the medical twice because of an ingrown nail, then the meida instead of confirming the deal spreads rumours of the deal being hijacked by ManCity where he is offered an entire stand in the Eithad library, then by early next year, the club finally wants to announce only to learn that said ingrown nail somehow spread to his groin so he got necrotizing pancreatitis which forces us to delay the deal until summer while of course nothing of this is revealed to the fans so we start speculating that his announcement is delayed until our new sponsorship deal for training cones kicks in so he can wear one of those as a hat to increase marketing exposure.

The whole year we heard records that Lukaku was Emenalo's wish, Morata Conte's. I can see him being dominated physically by EPL defenders too but physique is better worked on than talent. His precondition for building muscle is quite decent. He has short insertion in his biceps and calves which means he can easily build muscle on arms and legs there given the right training. His core is weak tho. His chest and back are tiny for a tall man. He should definitely work on those as upper body strength is useful in tight 1 on 1 situations and to push opponents away. Some nice strength oriented core, back, chest and leg work would be my recommendation. I will find his fanpost email and spam him with workout advice.

I have reached a status of resignation in which I can not even celebrate a striker coming anymore. I have mentally prepared for a season with Remy and Michy as our strikeforce so I can not be disappoined. The only one to stop this deal now is Morata. Real want him gone and will be more than happy to take those 70 fucking million for him which are about doulbe he is worth.

Why did Conte want Morata over Lukaku then in the first place? IMO Morata's first touch is alright most of the times whilst Lukaku's ranges from ok to abysmal depending on his form. I honestly think that Morata's technique is the best compared to Belotti and Lukaku. It is his mental and physical attributes that need improvement.

So he now got his 80m striker. Lets hope he knows what to do with him.

I have no clue how good this Danilo guy is but I know we were actually in for him and in an instant he is off to City where his chances of playing time are relatively low. That our board is incompetent we know already but dafuq has happened here?

What's up with this DiMarzio guy? Last week it was Morata is close to AC Milan now to us. Just like the others he is trimming his sails to the wind.

If we also miss out on Danilo after the striker debacle, there really should be no way back then. The problem is also that Roman only trusts his loyalists such as Emenalo and Granovskaia and that is not really based on merits. The Danilo deal should long have been completed. Seemingly, he wants to go, asked Real to leave, they want him out but we somehow could not get the bid done before City came in and bidded more. Dragging those deals for ages, waiting months and months to proceed the next steps is what has cost us in multiple transfer windows. How come those people in charge never learn from their past mistakes?

Yup that sounds like the English my classmates spoke in elementary school..

They are not bad defenders. They are okish defenders and at least average attackers just as Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso. But just as these two they are good athletes, tireless runners with enough of a physical presence to outmuscle most wingers in a sprint duel. However whilst a classical FB must win a 1 vs 1 or the winger can race through on goal or to the byline for great crossing position, the wing back still has the cover of the extra CB who will step out. So the Fullback only has to track the winger's run, foul him early or force him out to the sideline, no need for extraordinary tackling or marking skills. That is the beauty of the system. It is all about the movement, the awareness, the workrate in these positions. With a bit of tactical coaching both Kenedy and Baba who do not seem to be attitude issues IMO but surely will be avid learners, they can master that role.

This one is definitely over. But does not matter. We have enough cover on the LWB. Just like Moses, Kenedy and Baba are average as wingers or fullbacks but perfect for the LWB position.

we will not register Eduardo and use the emergency rule to swap him in in case we need him. Also don't we have 17 non hg-spots?

It does not seem like other clubs are queueing up to sign him. We might end up keeping hima nd that might not even be the worst thing in the world. Even if we sign another striker we would need 3 to have enough cover. Beign short of strikers is almost as being short of goalkeepers as their skillset is arguably similarly unique. Remy is experienced, still pretty quick, still in the best age. Not a game changer but someone who goes with the flow of the team. Will score his fair share of goals if given the chance and staying injury free.

I am leaning towards the same. If we want to shed out 70m for a striker we can as well wait for someone to be worth that. Michy showed glimpses of class every time he played, he is still raw even though he is older than me. But he deserves a chance. The only thing clubs that Dortmund, Atletico, Monaco or other clubs who develop great strikers year in year out is that they give them a chance, let them perform average for a couple of games until they found their rhythm, then soon they will be worth the kind of money we are prepared to pay for a player who is just as talented but just had more of a chance to shine. We almost won the league and reached the semis of the CL with a strikeforce of an over the hill Eto'o, Torrid and Demba fucking Ba. add a cup win to this and I would call this a decent season. + our midfield is way better now than it was back then. Our defence and goalie are still both among the top 5 in the world imo.

So true. He is kind of a jack of all trades master of none. Yet his highlight reel is tremendous. Some brilliant pieces of skill and great finishing. If he wants he has to skill to beat various defenders, the pace to beat the offside trap and the composure for those top corner finishes of his. And he has done that against top oppositions. Real, Bayern, Barca, Dortmund. One might get tempted to go go full TheWiz and assume that only because a player can hammer one in the top corner from 30 yards every blue moon that all he needs is the right incentive or motivation to do so regularly. But that is bullshit. People rarely change and when you are a lazy person you probably will be your whole life. Being a lazy person myself I know only get so far with a regular kick up the backside. If I really want to achieve something I need an intrinsic motivation. And no one has seen such motivation in Morata so far. Maybe Conte could somehow condut some kind of inception and make him work hard in the gym to get more explosiveness, strength and sharpness out of him but chances are that will not have a lasting effect. Far too risky for such an investment.

I could imagine we could play like this to accomodate him: --------------GK----------- -----3 man defense----- Danilo--Baka--Kante-Pedro --------------Cesc-------------- --------Hazard-----Bats-------

Cesc used to play false 9 for Barca but I doubt he is still capable to do so with all o fhis pace gone.

So the so called experts said last season, then they struggled to get a 4 finish.

I think it is not enough yet. If we loan out even more players we can generate more revenue from that. We have only loaned out 7 players in this tranfer window so far. I hope at least 20 more will follow. Common logic (and the law of large numbers) suggests that in this particular age group there are as many kids becoming pro footballers as in any other age group of the same size. What counts is the return on investment and if lower transfer fee we had to play for a 9 year old ammortizes the higher costs of his education.

I believe you are wrong and the link you posted already contradicts what you have written. Bakayoko and Rüdiger are not the same person.

I think it is done. Last week on the 13th of August Dortmund said that they would still be open to listen to offers or a request by Aubameyang for a few days. Neither materialized. Dortmund fans I know said those few days were meant to end just before their game vs AC Milan, the last game of their Asia journey were Aubameyang should play if he stays. Exactly this has happened now. Just before the game, the Dormtund managers Zorc and Watzke claimed the window for Aubameyang is closed. So he is off the market now. Only an extraordinary offer north of 100m € will price him away now. Dortmund usually are a very tidily run club with regard to transfer and get transfers - both in and out - done early. No one will pay a world record fee for Auba so he will stay.