petre.ispirescu

from Fulham to Fulham Road

You know, let me tell you a story. But bare in mind it is ONLY MY OPINION. Don't know if this is true, but this is what I feel about Gotze and Lewandowski going to Bayern. Let's go back in 2004 when Dortmund were in banktrupcy - they were broke and had no money, they were on the verge of losing all the players because they were not able to pay the salaries. Don't know the rules, but they were about to be relegated or dissolved, until Bayern came and helped them with €2m. Remarkably, it was not revealed until early last year, when Hoeness brought it up at a supporters' meeting. With the two clubs embroiled in a title race at the time, there were allegations in the German media that he had revealed it to undermine Dortmund. Uli Hoeness said - "It was a critical situation for Borussia Dortmund. When they couldn't even pay their salaries we thought we should help. I'm a big fan of tradition in sport and I think it was the right thing to do.". The loan was interest free and Bayern agreed a schedule whereby Dortmund had nine months, until June 2005, to pay it back in full. The first €1.5m came back after two months; the rest of it later. Even though Dortmund returned the money, I think, and I will repeat myself again, it is only my opinion, I think now is THE REAL PAYBACK TIME. Hoeness said they did this for the sake of sport. Bla, bla, there was an interest there for sure. I think they said something like this: "Ok, here we go. Can you get the money to pay the salaries in time? You won't. Let's have a deal. We'll give you the money, you will return to us in 9 months, but there is a condition: when you'll be having a real superstar in your team, he comes to us. When the time will come, we'll talk about a transfer. Otherwise the deal is off." You probably think - Ok, payback time, but this was in 2004, why didn't Bayern took some players from Dortmund in 2006, 2007, maybe 2008? Why did they waited until now? Well, they took Frings and Dortmund have departed with some good players since then, such as Pienaar, Metzelder, Petric, Frei, but not Bayern material. I think Munich waited for the right moment and they struck. Gotze exploded in the last years, don't you think they were aware of his buyout clause? They were, but they knew Gotze must go to Bayern. And Lewandowski - he's only a year left in his contract. Every big club would renew his contract with 3 years before it ends. But, as Gotze, he needs to go to Bayern. He's still a pussy in my eyes, but this is the deal. Dortmund isn't happy about this, but it is a matter of honor now. You saved me, ok. Have Gotze, have Lewandowski, we'll consider ourselves even. NOT A FACT. MY OPINION!

I share the same opinion, too. No doubt he's a top striker, but he is just a big time pussy, like a girl cheated by her rich husband, but willing to stay with him so she doesn't have to come back to her normal life. Lewandowski is afraid of a big challenge, he's afraid of being the man that everybody counts on scoring goals. He's afraid of going out of Germany and be a flop like Torres. Everybody will say "yea', we knew this polish guy was shit, all he did in Dortmund was because of guys like Reus, Gotze, Gundogan that were the heart of the team.". Instead, Lewandowski choses to stay in Germany, a league he knows and a league Bayern dominated in the last year and will dominate in the next years imo. I think being a striker for Bayern right now is the easiest job a professional footballer coud have - great team, with a solid back line and guys like Schweinsteiger, Martinez, Robben, Ribery and Gotze will easily bring you the ball in front of the net; all you have to do is score from 6, 10, 11 meters. Even Danny Graham would do a great job there. And Lewandowski knows this. Why go elsewhere and have pressure on your shoulders when you can go to Bayern as a Bundesliga superstar and know you'll be in the team that will dominate Germany since Dortmund will be weakend by your departure and teams like Schalke, Leverkusen or Stuttgart won't get near the title. And the pressure won't be on you for sure as it wasn't on Gomez and Mandzukic. Although they scored lot of goals in the last years, they were never credited as Bayern's engine. Robben was, Muller was, Ribbery was, Schweinsteiger was. So Lewandowski will live a happy life in Munchen, without the pressure he'll have if playing for United or Chelsea. The next thing Lewandowski will benefit of is the money he'll get when he's coming in Munich as a free agent. Big time money, instead of paying 35-40 million for him, Bayern assured months ago Lewandowski's account will look beaufiful if he's coming in Munich as a free agent. He's agent confirmed this two or three months ago - he said something like: "Robert won't sign another contract with Dortmund. Blaczikowski and Piszcek were satisfied with the small amount of money Dortmund gave them when they signed the new contract, but we aren't. In Bayern will be given 10 times of that if Robert will go there as a free agent." Good striker, will be even great with Bayern, but a big time pussy for me. Glad he isn't coming here. I'd rather sign a guy like Lamps that wants to stay here for another season, instead of going to Los Angeles for a fortune.

Klopp - "Ich glaube, es ist Fakt, dass Robert Lewandowski nach der kommenden Saison zu den Bayern wechseln wird". "Jetzt geht es darum: Wie gestalten wir den Zeitraum bis dahin Das ist unser Anliegen, und es ist unsere Verfplichtung gegenüber unseren Fans und Mitgliedern, dafür zu sorgen, dass wir auch in der kommenden Saison eine mehr als konkurrenzfähige Mannschaft haben werden." "I believe it's a fact that Robert Lewandowski will move to Bayern after the coming season." "Now it's about this: how do we build in the time until then? That is our concern, and it is our duty to our fans and members to take care that in the coming season we also have a more than competitive team." "Up until a certain point we were ready to talk, concerning Robert's desire for change. But as nothing happened in this time, we had to say at some point: That is no longer happening." "And now we want to prove that we can develop, with a quality player like Robert, in the coming year. Our results in the coming season are the most important thing. And with Robert I know that he also sees it like that." Lewandowski is a guy every coach in Europe admires, even Mou, but it wasn't a secret anymore he'll be signing with Bayern in the summer of 2014. Now Klopp confirmed that.

Can't argue with you on this just because I've been in London only twice. But if you mentioned it, I'll stick to the subject and the first image that came to my mind was David Luiz's house. Don't know if it's correct to say "house", that's a mansion, don't know what the hell is that. My appartment in Bucharest I think it is smaller than his living room. Chelsea's players nowadays are living a King's life. That's normal, this is what happens everywhere in Madrid, Barcelona, Munich, Paris, Manchester and this is what separates the best from the rest. Give them what they want, give them motivation and they will deliver. Don't think you will believe if I say to you there are players here in Romania that are thrown out of their houses just because the clubs have not payed the 500 euros per month rent... now I think I'm offtopic and I just want to say - if I'd be a player give me the money I deserve and give me a house like Luiz's one and be sure I won't have any problems living in London even in the war time

Guys, stop worrying about psg FFS!!! This is Chelsea, this is Mou, this is Roman, this is one of the best teams in the modern days, why the hell are you worried about this french side? If Roman and Mou want De Rossi, they'll have him. period! If Roman and Mou would want any other player on this planet, they would have him. Except Messi, I think; not because Chelsea wouldn't be able to pay Messi's wages or the transfer money, but Messi will probably be ending his career in Barcelona. Roman could have even Irina Shayk doing his coffee in the morning and talking to Cristiano in the same time, saying she loves him so much she couldn't sleep last night. Cmon guys, you really think Daniele will chose Paris over us? They might have money, but we are from another league. They could spend all the money in the world, they won't win UCL as long as we'll live. Just as Liverpool won't win another title as long as we can walk on Earth... The same story applies to Cavani - if Chelsea would have wanted Cavani, than he would have been a Chelsea player since weeks ago. Wouldn't Chelsea be able to add 10-20 million euros to that 45-50 million offer italian media claimed Chelsea made to Napoli? Roman would buy the entire team of Napoli if he wants... If Cavani goes to Paris, it won't be Paris that won the race, it will be Chelsea that gave them the opportunity to have Cavani. Cmon guys, we are to strong to worry about Paris, Monaco, Anzhi and any other team throwing money in players' faces. We got Lukaku when all the teams in Europe wanted him? We did. We got Hazard when all the teams in this galaxy wanted him? We did. We got Oscar when everybody in Europe wanted him? We did. We got every player we wanted, no matter Real, City, Bayern were sniffing around... Do we really want De Rossi? If yes, than we'll have him.

Don't know where this story came from, but we should not be amazed if Suarez ends up being a Chelsea player. He's got his issues, he sometimes behaves like a guy coming out of a cave, he is problematic, but, my god, he's a killer in front of goal. It is Cavani that is on Mou's radar, now Suarez. This is what Jose is looking for - a Drogba-esque type of striker, with a killer instinct, good pace, a striker that can easily dribble past opponents and, primarily, a striker with a HIGH WORKRATE. I mean, watching Cavani is like watching Ramires; this guy never stops... never! his tank's always full. Suarez won't have the same impact as Cavani when defending set pieces, but you can be sure he'll provide a high defensive workrate if Jose will need this. Just like Cavani. This is what distinguishes guys like Cavani and Suarez from those Giroud and Mario Gomez type players - they won't stay 90 minutes in front of goal hoping for a ball to fall from Heaven. They'll search for their goals, they'll come 30-40m away from the net just to pick a pass and influence the game, just as Didier did, just as Milito and Etoo did when Mou was in Milano. That's the type of striker Jose is looking for - a skilfull and hard working one. I can't stand this guy as a human being, he is a disgrace to the human race, but he's terrific as a footballer. He can dribble, he can run, he's lethal in front of goal (no, HE IS NOT Emile Heskey!!! unfortunately), but if this is true than we won't be able to use him against the likes of United, Everton and Spurs, all away games. If we pay a big amount of money on a striker, than it better be on one that can actualy play from the beginning. This are three matches that could prove to be crucial at the end of the season and if we want to win the title this season we need a perfect start and we can't put our faith in Torres and Demba Ba and wait for them to deliver... I'm not the biggest expert in EPL rules, but i think the suspension will stand even if Suarez will go to any other Premier League team. Am I right?

my god, one of the best talents i've seen in a while ... he's pure gold. forget that bruma guy, this colombian should be Chelsea's priority in the next few days. porto bidding 10 mil euros for Quintero... ok, no problem Jose, make it 15! get him! I bet if he goes to Porto, Chelsea will want him in two or three years and Porto will ask 40-50 mil for him. Better than James Rodriguez by far, that left foot of Quintero was touched by God...

Barcelona can't do anything once the release clause is triggered. Chelsea, Real Madrid, Espanyol Barcelona, Paris, Shanghai, Shamrock Rovers and Levadia Tallinn. They can all have talks with Thiago if they trigger the 18 million Euros release clause - without Barcelona having anything to say...

Gica Craioveanu, former Sociedad, Villareal, Getafe and Romanian National Team player, football commentator in Spain and with some friends inside Real Madrid had an interview with Digi Sport, main and best rated sport channel in Romania: "Xabi Alonso has not extended his contract with Real Madrid because he'll go to Chelsea this summer. Real Madrid and Chelsea have agreed terms weeks ago and Xabi will sign with the blues. I can assure you this transfer will surely go through, Mou wants him badly knowing that he likes to variate tactics during games and play with three defensive minded midfielders at times, so Xabi couldn't miss from his squad."

Hi guys. I've been watching Cavani since his arrival in Naples and he's turned into one of my favourite strikers. Terrific footballer, would be an amazing signing if we'd manage to transfer him. If there is anyone you need in the box to challenge all the trophies you'll fight for, than Cavani is the man for that job. I've been reading English, Italian and French newspaper over the last week or two and I must admit i kinda lost my hope we'll sign him. I mean, the Italians are rejecting all the offers and i can't see any chane of transfering him other than paying that release cause. But, today i read something interesting in the Gazzetta dello Sport, something related to the bookmakers and Cavani's odds to become a Chelsea player. "E c'è un drastico e davvero significativo movimento dei bookmaker: la quota su Cavani è stata tagliata sotto il livello di guardia, addirittura solo a 1,13, per il passaggio al Chelsea". So, Cavani's odds at becoming a Chelsea player dropped to 1,13 (something like 1/7 in fractional odds i guess, i'm not accustomed to fractional odds, we don't use it in Romania). Well, my point is: If there is any truth in that article (i haven't searched bookies offering that odds just because i'm not into sports betting and i wouldn't know where to look for), than a thing I learned in all this years is that you can't mess with bookmakers. I mean, betting is all over sport in this days and if there is someone to know all the things around it, than those are the bookmakers. Hope you got my idea. I'd rather trust some dropping odds than some twitter posts and newspaper articles untill everything goes official. I know this might be also a trick from the bookmakers so that people would place big amounts of money on those dropping odds, thinking for some "easy money" since all the news and drastic movement of those odds. But I don't think there is anyone to risk big amounts of money on that 1,13 (1/7) odd, so in the end let's hope this article has some truth in it. This is the only article I trust since this "Cavani Saga".