Non-Chelsea Transfer Pub

[Vesper 27,310]

On 11/07/2020 at 4:17 AM, DanP2311 said:

Is Zouma leaving?

One can but hope.

[Vesper 27,310]

Who wants to sign the best free-kick taker in Europe?

https://theathletic.com/1916498/2020/07/12/real-madrid-leganes-oscar-rodriguez-messi/

Which player has been the best free-kick scorer in European football this season? Here’s a hint — he plays in La Liga.

Ah, Lionel Messi then, I hear you say? Well, Messi has been pretty good. But no, the answer is Oscar Rodriguez, a 22-year-old midfielder on loan from Real Madrid at relegation battlers Leganes.

Four converted free kicks this season put Oscar level with Messi across Europe’s top five leagues. But the Spaniard has had far fewer opportunities than Messi, taking just 16 attempts compared to 36 — a quite outstanding 25 per cent success rate against Messi’s 11 per cent.

Most free-kick goals in 2019-20

Oscar’s free kicks are also the main reason suburban Madrid side Leganes have had even a chance of avoiding relegation this season. Each strike has been impressive, too. These aren’t free kicks that have deflected off the wall to wrong-foot a goalkeeper. The most recent was a 35-yarder that dipped and swerved before finding the net via the crossbar to equalise late on at fellow strugglers Mallorca. Even Mallorca’s co-owners Steve Nash, Graeme Le Saux and Stuart Holden feared what was coming when Oscar stepped up to take it.   The other three converted free kicks have all been directly important in Leganes getting crucial results. When the pressure has been on, Oscar has regularly taken responsibility and delivered for his team. Against Real Sociedad in February, he stepped up with 93 minutes and 54 seconds on the clock, and the score at 1-1, to send the ball over the wall and into the top corner. That win lifted Leganes off the bottom of the table. The 20-yarders against Athletic Bilbao and Celta Vigo earlier in the season were taken from opposite sides of the penalty box, and went into different areas of the goal and brought four more points for the team. Such a variety of conversion methods shows confidence and technical ability, qualities Oscar has demonstrated since he started taking free kicks in Real’s “La Fabrica” academy. Those close to the player say there is no trick to it: he has always had his own ideas about taking them, not copying the approach of previous team-mates at Real like Cristiano Ronaldo or his former youth coach Guti. He does work very hard on perfecting the art, practising a lot from an early age, but excellent dead-ball technique comes naturally to him. “It almost seems biological,” says one source from Leganes. Oscar is not just about the free kicks. He has nine goals for Leganes this season, including a sharp strike on his (other) left foot to equalise in 1-1 at Valencia back in September, a swerving long ranger from open play against Celta and a spectacular hooked strike from 20 yards in a 2-1 win against Villarreal. There have been a couple of coolly converted penalties under pressure. His all-round game has improved over his two seasons on loan at Leganes, with last season’s coach Mauricio Pellegrino a big influence and support in adapting to the technical and physical demands of playing a central midfield role. However, the story is taking a sad turn. Leganes are La Liga’s lowest scorers so far this season, with just 25 goals in 35 games, but Oscar’s contributions are even more valuable as a result of mid-season transfers. Leganes lost their two main forwards in the winter, with Sevilla triggering Youssef En-Nesyri’s release clause in January and Barcelona using La Liga’s emergency signing rules to take Martin Braithwaite the following month. So Leganes’ present coach Javier Aguirre’s frustration levels had been rising even before Oscar left the pitch holding his thigh early in a goalless draw with Granada on June 22. He wanted to carry on playing that day but was then ruled out of the following game at Osasuna. With a squad that had scored three La Liga goals between them all year, Leganes lost 2-1 despite outshooting their mid-table opponents 21-6. When Oscar remained sidelined, combustible character Aguirre exploded in the post-game press conference at Espanyol on July 5, even after a first goal of the season from defender Jonathan Silva gave them a 1-0 victory to keep alive hopes of escaping the drop. “Well, Oscar… it’s a curious story,” Aguirre said. “Oscar wanted to play the second half against Granada. He almost got angry because I stopped him. But from there, I don’t know what happened. Oscar has gone from having nothing to having three muscle tears. It is incredible. Now he will not play for us again this season. “He guarantees us goals with his free kicks. He’s the only one in the team who scores goals. Now I don’t know why, but Oscar is not with us any more. Somebody spoke to him. It seems so strange to me. Whoever advised him, I don’t know. But I won’t cry. You’ll never hear me complain. I have 23 brave guys in there, who want to score goals, stop them, and stay in the top flight. Whoever does not want to be with us, well, good luck to them.” That outburst quickly led to speculation about who might have had a word in the player’s ear about his fitness and availability. He is represented by RR-Soccer Management, which is run by Rene Ramos, brother of Sergio, captain of Oscar’s parent club. The suspicion was raised that Real did not want to risk a valuable asset picking up a more serious injury before the summer transfer market. However, as the noise around the issue continued, Leganes club sources confirmed that Oscar had a torn thigh muscle, and also that his loan deal from Real had been extended until the end of the La Liga season on July 19. A generally quiet character who does not often do media interviews, the player kept quiet, although he did release a short Instagram video of a recovery session with Leganes physios. By midweek, Aguirre had changed his stance, at least partly. “I want to deal with the Oscar issue,” began the former Mexico national manager in a press conference, without even waiting for the first question from the reporters gathered over Zoom. “He wants to play and is very committed to the club. He has shown that over these two years. He is part of our family. But today the scan still shows a risk. We don’t want to take risks. I ask everyone to show him some love because he will end up helping us, as he wants to, despite all the people around him, all that has happened…” Oscar missed out on Thursday’s goalless draw at Eibar, a result that leaves Leganes in 19th with just three games left. Aguirre said afterwards he still hoped to have him available for today’s game at home to Valencia. Sources close to the player say that Oscar is very committed to recovering as quickly as he can to try to help his friends and team-mates. On Wednesday, Leganes visit Athletic Bilbao, before Sunday’s final game brings Real Madrid to Butarque having likely already clinched the title. Whether he does contribute may depend on Leganes’ other players keeping their survival chances alive. Whatever happens over the next eight days, Oscar will be at a different, higher-profile club next season. The Athletic understands that returning to Real is not really being considered. Having emerged as an important leader of a top-flight team over the last two seasons, he does not want his career to stall on the bench at the Bernabeu. Villarreal, Sevilla, Real Betis and Real Sociedad are among the La Liga teams to have made enquiries, while Milan, Schalke, Bournemouth and Norwich have also all registered an interest. Madrid are asking for around €25 million and have turned down an offer of €10 million for 50 per cent of his “rights”. A source close to Oscar suggested staying in Spain was quite likely, and that the most important consideration would be the “sporting project” of the clubs that meet Madrid’s price. Maybe Leganes can find the goals from somewhere to get results against Valencia and Athletic and keep their hopes of avoiding relegation alive up to the final day. Then Oscar could return against Madrid, maybe even off the bench, and stand over a 92nd-minute free kick, knowing that if he finds the net he can leave the club where he has developed so much over the last two seasons on a perfect note. If this unlikely situation does come to pass, then Leganes would want nobody else — not even Messi — standing over the ball with the chance to save their season.

[Vesper 27,310]

Sanchez is Conte’s restoration project – but can Inter and United strike a deal?

https://theathletic.com/1921244/2020/07/12/alexis-sanchez-manchester-united-inter-milan-future/

On the eve of Inter Milan’s Champions League game with Barcelona in October, the inscrutable Alexis Sanchez opened up a little. He had barely been with his new team a month and yet the Chilean was already prepared to describe the experience as “a bit like falling in love with football all over again”.

At Inter’s training ground in Appiano Gentile, a half-hour’s drive from the rippling waters of Lake Como, Sanchez had been reunited with old team-mates from his Udinese days, Samir Handanovic and Kwadwo Asamoah. His September debut also came against the club that brought him to Europe as a teenager and developed him into a player Barcelona decided to buy for Pep Guardiola. As Sanchez prepared to warm up before the game, he bumped into familiar faces and shared memories of a time when he was the pride of the city of Udine and probably the greatest discovery of that club’s famed scouting network.

It was very nearly the perfect night for the 31-year-old, who completed his season-long loan move from Manchester United on August 29. Sanchez came on for Matteo Politano with 10 minutes to play and hared around the pitch desperate to make a good impression on the San Siro faithful. A backheeled pass came off, his link-up play was neat and tidy and he very nearly scored only for goalkeeper Juan Musso to work a miracle or get lucky — take your pick — and deflect his point-blank effort over the bar. As Romelu Lukaku rested a bad back, the player who followed the Belgian out of Old Trafford last summer stepped into the breach.

It was a time when the LuLa partnership of Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez was still in its infancy. The pair were scoring goals but weren’t combining and Inter were winning games largely thanks to their midfield. For a brief period, when opinions are yet to fully form about a team, the flashes we saw from Sanchez up front with Lautaro set pulses racing. They offered opposition centre-backs no reference points and found each other with telepathic ease. For a player who arrived late, without a pre-season and on the back of another Copa America, the speed with which Sanchez assimilated felt surprising.

His first start two weeks later is principally remembered for the second bookable offence he picked up early in the second half for an entirely unnecessary dive. It risked compromising Inter’s 100 per cent record as Sampdoria quickly scored to make it 2-1 and threatened to equalise. Inter coach Antonio Conte said the situation “could have killed an elephant”. But they stayed in front and even added to their lead.

La Gazzetta dello Sport graded Sanchez’s performance a five out of 10, chastising him for thinking he could get away with simulation in the era of VAR. Conte wasn’t impressed with the act either although he didn’t lose sight of the positives on display in the first half of the game, which left him and the Inter hierarchy with the impression they had been right to take a chance on Sanchez.

After all, Sanchez had scored his first Serie A goal since March 2011 and played a sensational dinked pass over the defence for Antonio Candreva only to see an offside flag cancel out the effort the wing-back had drilled past Emil Audero. Rather than punish him for his ill-advised tumble, Conte rewarded Sanchez with a start in Barcelona four days later and what followed was arguably Inter’s best performance in Europe — at least for an hour — since they won the treble in 2010.

Sanchez lured Clement Lenglet out of position, drew a foul and then helped put Lautaro through in the space the Frenchman left to open the scoring inside two minutes. It was Inter’s first goal at the Nou Camp in 49 years, and the night Barcelona’s pursuit of Martinez really began in earnest. But Sanchez’s performance also provoked remarks in the directors’ box. This looked like the player Barcelona had signed almost a decade ago. Maybe he wasn’t finished at the highest level after all. It was only after Sanchez went off on 66 minutes that the momentum swung and Barcelona broke a 1-1 tie to win the game as Inter lost touch with their attack and saw their threat levels diminish.

“In Barcelona and at Samp, I again saw the Sanchez we knew in Udine and London — the best Sanchez,” Inter’s sporting director Piero Ausilio said.

Unfortunately, 10 days later, Sanchez injured a tendon in his left ankle during a meaningless friendly between Chile and Colombia. He grimaced as he pushed and prodded the affected area above the collar of his boot where “Humber”, the name of one of his Labradors, is stitched. Sanchez realised he was about to spend a lot more time with his dogs. The decision was taken to undergo surgery at Ramon Cugat’s practice in Barcelona. Recovery time? Three months. It was a bitter blow for Sanchez, coming as it did just as his career looked about to take off again.

“It’s a real shame,” Inter vice-president Javier Zanetti lamented. Conte felt bad for him too. “We’d got him back (to his old self). He was starting to give a big contribution from all points of view. I’m sorry for him because he came here with great enthusiasm and the desire to prove himself.”

While he rehabbed his injury, Lukaku and Lautaro began to flourish as a pair. It did not change Inter’s opinion of Sanchez though. Conte missed him — and dynamic playmaker Stefano Sensi — through the winter. Without them, the team became more predictable and lacked alternatives. Inter stopped teenage sensation Sebastiano Esposito joining up with the Italy squad for the Under-17 World Cup that started in late October and intervened when the January transfer window opened, signing Tottenham Hotspur’s Christian Eriksen. Sanchez returned on schedule in the middle of that month but needed easing back into the team. While he did, COVID-19 was spreading around the world, with a series of outbreaks in the north of Italy forcing the government to declare a lockdown. Sanchez faced another three months without any football.

By the time the season resumed in Italy, the initial terms of Sanchez’s loan were only a matter of weeks from expiring. Inter don’t have much on which to judge him: 484 Serie A minutes, in which time he lasted the full 90 minutes twice. As a sample size, it is too small to draw a definitive conclusion. However, Sanchez was undoubtedly effective in the limited time he spent on the pitch. On his first start since the return to play, Inter’s No 7 scored twice and assisted another goal for Ashley Young in an emphatic 6-0 win against Brescia where he clocked his first 90-minute appearance. His stats are impressive: six goal involvements in his four league starts.

Sanchez could have had a couple more if only he’d been more clinical during a 15-minute cameo against Bologna last weekend. A misplaced pass and slip ended up leading to the visitors’ winner instead. Nevertheless, Conte and Inter’s hierarchy still wish to use what remains of this season to properly assess Sanchez. The situation surrounding Martinez has made that more significant than ever. Inter chief executive Giuseppe Marotta has admitted the speculation regarding a move to Barcelona has negatively effected the Argentinian’s performances. Martinez has failed to score in his last five appearances and Conte left him out of the starting XI for Thursday’s 2-2 draw away to Verona.

What it means for Sanchez is Inter need him both as short-term cover for the out-of-sorts Martinez and to audition as a potential successor in the event Barcelona do somehow find the cash to sign the 22-year-old.

The club will buy a back-up for Lukaku over the summer and only pulled out of signing Chelsea’s Olivier Giroud in January when the cost of the Eriksen deal climbed to €20 million. But the other slot is there for Sanchez to win. Which is why Inter are upset his time at the club will be curtailed.

United have agreed to extend his loan until the end of the Serie A season on August 2, but Sanchez will leave Inter after their now single-leg Europa League last-16 tie against Getafe three days later.

Although FIFA rules state a preference for loan players to complete a campaign on the team they started it with, the current guidelines stipulate it concerns domestic seasons only. They do not mention the Europa League or Champions League for those players involved in international loans, and as such, those arrangements need working out on a case by case basis between the clubs.

Inter have denounced this loophole as an anomaly that urgently needs rectification. As it stands, their squad will be smaller for the Europa League than it was when the knockout phase began in February. Manchester United, of course, are also still in that competition.

Don’t expect the brinkmanship to end between now and Sanchez’s scheduled departure date on August 6. United know Inter are open-minded about keeping him, while Inter know United would rather not have Sanchez’s wages on their books for another two years, particularly if the now widely expected return to Champions League football tops them back up by 25 per cent. A compromise will need to be found, whether it’s another loan or a permanent sale with Sanchez also taking a pay-cut.

For now, the Chilean remains Conte’s latest restoration project.

In football terms, Conte is that person you know who enters into relationships convinced he can fix whoever he is with. At times, he has come across like an oil-stained mechanic, head down under the hood of a car talking about hooking this wire up to that one and sparking a misfiring engine back into life. Some will point to the job he has done in parallel with Lukaku, who is now the first Inter player to score 20 league goals in 30 games in his debut season since Ronaldo.

But those who know Conte believe a more appropriate comparison is to be made with Carlos Tevez and the calculated gamble he took with Marotta when the pair were at Juventus.

That bet paid off. This one may yet do too.

[Blues Forever 1,232]

Lmao Lille want €81m for Osimhen.

[NikkiCFC 7,579]

They got similar amount for Pepe so why not.

[DDA 9,570]

16 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

They got similar amount for Pepe so why not.

They pulled Arsenals pants down with Pepe. He isn't worth 50m.

[NikkiCFC 7,579]

I think City is going for KK, Alaba and Oyazabal.

[NikkiCFC 7,579]

15 hours ago, Blues Forever said:

Lmao Lille want €81m for Osimhen.

Apparently less...

 

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

[Blues Forever 1,232]

Will gladly take Torres and Gaya from them.

[Dec 33]

1 hour ago, Blues Forever said:

Will gladly take Torres and Gaya from them.

Azpi has made more key passes and crosses per 90 than Gaya. Lampard wants his Full Backs to provide an attacking threat and Gaya is not that.

[King Kante 1,296]

2 hours ago, Blues Forever said:

Will gladly take Torres and Gaya from them.

Torres would actually be a great replacement for Willian. 

[Special Juan 27,099]

The Premier League have announced that the summer transfer window will open on the 27th of July and end on the 5th of October. It will be open for 10 weeks.

[OhForAGreavsie 5,774]

 

On 10/07/2020 at 6:48 AM, Vesper said:

Finding buyers – or even borrowers – capable of taking on their salaries is one issue, however, and there is an element of irony here should United end up qualifying for the Champions League, because each player has a 25 per cent increase clause written into his contract. Someone earning £75,000 per week this season would be on almost £100,000 per week during the next campaign if United secure a return to Europe’s elite club competition in the next three weeks.

I offer maths coaching. It seems whoever wrote this article could use my help. A 25% increase would take a weekly salary of £75,000, up to £100,000pw would it? Oh dear. I'm sure that I shouldn't allow it to, but seeing such poor numeracy causes me to doubt the writer's credibility.

Even without demonstrating that arithmetic isn't his strong suit, I find the claim of a 25% salary increase across the squad for champions League participation to be nonsensical. I could, perhaps, be persuaded that bonuses might rise 25%, but basic wages? Not a chance. From a financial point of view, it would make more sense for United to settle for the Europa League and avoid the wage increase. In fact, the club would have to go to any lengths necessary to avoid paying those increases, since doing so would cost them more than they would earn for winning the Champions League, never mind simply playing in it.

I couldn't take anything else in the article seriously after that.

[Vesper 27,310]

1 hour ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

 

I offer maths coaching. It seems whoever wrote this article could use my help. A 25% increase would take a weekly salary of £75,000, up to £100,000pw would it? Oh dear. I'm sure that I shouldn't allow it to, but seeing such poor numeracy causes me to doubt the writer's credibility.

Even without demonstrating that arithmetic isn't his strong suit, I find the claim of a 25% salary increase across the squad for champions League participation to be nonsensical. I could, perhaps, be persuaded that bonuses might rise 25%, but basic wages? Not a chance. From a financial point of view, it would make more sense for United to settle for the Europa League and avoid the wage increase. In fact, the club would have to go to any lengths necessary to avoid paying those increases, since doing so would cost them more than they would earn for winning the Champions League, never mind simply playing in it.

I couldn't take anything else in the article seriously after that.

 

1 hour ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

Someone earning £75,000 per week this season would be on almost £100,000 per week

to play devil's advocate

it would be £93,500 PW (the 25% increase of £75K PW)

I personally would use the verbiage 'approaching the £100K PW level' and not almost, although it is right there on the borderline of being 'almost'

maybe 'fairly close to £100k PW'

BUT

what I would have really done, lol

is to make the starting salary £80K PW

as then  a 25% increase is 100K on the nose

 

[OhForAGreavsie 5,774]

18 minutes ago, Vesper said:

what I would have really done, lol

is to make the starting salary £80K PW

as then  a 25% increase is 100K on the nose

I would bet good money that you'd have done exactly that!

 

20 minutes ago, Vesper said:

it would be £93,500 PW (the 25% increase of £75K PW)

I make it £93,750 but, either way, that goes beyond almost in my book. Using the fifty-week year which typically features in football salary conversion, that's well over £300,000pa. At this scale that's too wide a discrepancy for almost.

Based on ManU's last reported annual wage bill, a 25% increase would cost them an extra £98m. Liverpool earned less than £75m for winning last season's CL, while we collected just under £18.6m for our Europa League triumph. The difference between those amounts,  just more than £56.4m, cannot justify such huge wage bill inflation. Even when additional incomes are calculated, United would do better entering the Europa league and avoid having to pay that huge additional wage cost. All of this assumes United win the CL. A very optimistic assumption for them to make.

The argument in the article makes no sense to me.

[King Kante 1,296]

6 hours ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

 

I offer maths coaching. It seems whoever wrote this article could use my help. A 25% increase would take a weekly salary of £75,000, up to £100,000pw would it? Oh dear. I'm sure that I shouldn't allow it to, but seeing such poor numeracy causes me to doubt the writer's credibility.

Even without demonstrating that arithmetic isn't his strong suit, I find the claim of a 25% salary increase across the squad for champions League participation to be nonsensical. I could, perhaps, be persuaded that bonuses might rise 25%, but basic wages? Not a chance. From a financial point of view, it would make more sense for United to settle for the Europa League and avoid the wage increase. In fact, the club would have to go to any lengths necessary to avoid paying those increases, since doing so would cost them more than they would earn for winning the Champions League, never mind simply playing in it.

I couldn't take anything else in the article seriously after that.

Tbf, I think what Utd do is they offer a salary that is tied to CL football. This consequently means that if they are in the CL they player will get say £100k and if not they it will be reduced by 25% so they get £75k instead. The author is obviously a bit of an idiot and does not realise how to use percentages properly, but I was able to sort of get their logic. 

As for Utd's wage will, I do believe that operate at a (base) -25%(or another percentage) for lack of CL. This sort of policy can be seen when they were last out of the CL, where their wage bill took a dip and then bounced back again. 

[Vesper 27,310]

3 hours ago, OhForAGreavsie said:

I would bet good money that you'd have done exactly that!

 

I make it £93,750 but, either way, that goes beyond almost in my book. Using the fifty-week year which typically features in football salary conversion, that's well over £300,000pa. At this scale that's too wide a discrepancy for almost.

Based on ManU's last reported annual wage bill, a 25% increase would cost them an extra £98m. Liverpool earned less than £75m for winning last season's CL, while we collected just under £18.6m for our Europa League triumph. The difference between those amounts,  just more than £56.4m, cannot justify such huge wage bill inflation. Even when additional incomes are calculated, United would do better entering the Europa league and avoid having to pay that huge additional wage cost. All of this assumes United win the CL. A very optimistic assumption for them to make.

The argument in the article makes no sense to me.

damn typo

£93,750K PW is what I meant

sorry, my dyslexia is really bad atm