The Ultimate Soccer Thread 2012-2013 Vol. 3 Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga etc

[arstyle27]

Carlitos and 21M for El Sharaway....i dunno

 

[champcruthik]

Don't forget Niang at Milan. That trio is a lethal strike force.

Alex Merkel another future star in midfield.

 

[imasoleman18]

21m AND Tevez for El Shaarawy?

another over rated "talent"

 

[rook]

21m AND Tevez for El Shaarawy?

another over rated "talent"

Uh.. I pray you're not talking about Shaarawy

 

[champcruthik]

Seriously. Il Faraone was very under the radar until the most recent breakout campaign.

 

[lyonbc1]

So essentially Super Mario= Demarcus Cousins?

Nah. Cousins still haven't done ****.

Mario back at Inter? Sure.

But after winning the PL (He was a major reason sergio scored that goal against Queens), leading Italy to Euro Finals, destroying Germany (Most favorites to win), and leading AC Milan to a CL spot (Without him, they would have settled for Europa)... I say Mario has accomplished a hella lot at his early age despite his bone head actions

Mario has to deal with 10million times as much pressure and disgraceful conduct as DMC does....honestly if I were him I might've heavily considered suiting up for Ghana back in the day, after reading that ESPN article, and just seeing the abuse he's taken before, some of those Italians are :x :x :x with the racism...dude has a short fuse and an attitude but he's incredibly talented and is probably misunderstood to a degree

 

[champcruthik]

Why always me?

 

[mr marcus]

When it comes to Balotelli it's a mixture of his character and being black. It's not just either or. He wanted to go back to Italy tho, he knew this would happen.

exactly.....but I think he finally GETS IT

 

[champcruthik]

For me, Milan is the club where Mario's heart lies. This is essentially a "last chance" for Balotelli to show maturity and character growth.

Racism aside, Mario is a volatile personality.

 

[mastamind89]

 

[eiddyfouw]

"‘I’ve not thought about it, I really don’t think I’ll leave Milan,’ said the former Genoa man, who in February extended his contract until 2018.

‘If it’s true that City want me then that’s flattering, but I’m really happy at this big club and feel a connection to the place.’" - El Shara



-Galatasaray have pulled out of the race for United winger Nani after having a £6.5million offer rejected. Doncaster are trying to persuade United into loaning them Nick Powell.

smh

 

[JJ Goon]

The thing is with Mario - The majority of the press loved him here in England, Was only a few that were 'out to get him' but these are the same people that have attacked De Gea, Cristiano, Suarez, Hazard to name a few, But them players (Suarez aside ) have taken that criticism on board to make them even stronger and better players, Whereas with Mario he kinda just took the road of playing the victim all the time, He went back to Italy and gets the horrible racism every week, One thing he didn't get here at all

Personally I love Mario, Think he is a cool guy and cares for the working class, he was a local legend in Manchester, Some of the things he done while here:

- When in Nando's he paid the bill for every customer in the place
- Gave a Homeless man oustide of a Casino £20,000
- At Christmas he dressed as Santa Claus and drove round Manchester handing people on the street money

How can you hate that kind of dude seriously?

 

[eiddyfouw]

Balo is hilarious...I'll definitely miss him in the prem...


-When the footballer crashed his Audi R8 in 2010, a police pat down uncovered £5,000 in the Balotelli’s back pocket . Asked why he had so much money on him, he simply replied “because I am rich”.

-Balotelli and his brother were arrested for driving into an all-female prison in Italy. After questioning by police, they said they had simply gone in because they were “curious”.

-The Italian walked also into a pub Christmas 2010 and put £1,000 behind the bar for local drinkers before spending the night on soft drinks. During Midnight Mass at St John's Church, Chorlton he stuffed £200 into the collection box.

-Manchester City footballer Mario Balotelli shocked students and teachers when he wandered into a local school during lunchtime to ask if he could use the toilets.

 

[Beans]

...but Mario admitted that most of those stories were not true
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17288648

•Did you give a tramp £1,000 after winning in the casino?: "Never"
•Is it true a young lad turned up at the training ground asking for your autograph and, when asked why he wasn't at school, he said he was being bullied, so you took him to school and spoke to the headmaster?: "No. It's not true I took him to school. I tell him why he wasn't at school but not took him to school."
•Did your mum send you to John Lewis for an ironing board and you came back with a quad bike, a Scalectrix and a tennis table?: "Yes. But not a tennis table, it was a trampoline."
•Are you allergic to a specific kind of grass?: "I'm allergic to the dry grass, not the green one, the brown one."
•Did you go to church on Xmas Eve and put £1,000 in the collection plate?: "I put some money in but not a thousand."
•Did you go to the pub in Wythenshawe and buy everyone a drink?: "No"
•Did you go to a petrol station and pay for everyone's petrol?: "No, not true."
•Did you drive around Manchester dressed as Santa handing out money?: "No."

 

[jking0821]

When the footballer crashed his Audi R8 in 2010, a police pat down uncovered £5,000 in the Balotelli’s back pocket . Asked why he had so much money on him, he simply replied “because I am rich”.

 

[lyonbc1]

at the Balo stories even if some are false

Grenier declined another contract extension at OL so it seems like he's gonna be at Enirates soon *Alonzo gif*

 

[Deleted member 38182]

About to hope on the tube to see Stamford Bridge and Wembley

Hell I've been passing wembley almost everyday I've been here

 

[JJ Goon]

About to hope on the tube to see Stamford Bridge and Wembley

Hell I've been passing wembley almost everyday I've been here

Get them pictures on bro

 

[Kimchi Papi]

^ Yes, please take pics to document your travels. Would love to see whatever pics...

Saw a report that if Man U doesn't get Cesc or Thiago, they might target PSV's midfielder Kevin Strootman. That might be interesting...

 

[tomdiginson]

Pshhh Balo is too modest.

 

[Deleted member 38182]

Ended up heading to north london rather than west. Just got off the tube and on to a bus in Tottenham.

It's ghetto as hell. Will post pics when I get home later tonight since this iPhone is about to die

 

[mastamind89]

Shame to because englands u-21 has a great deal of talent.. Didnt catch Holland/russia but did see Germany/Spain. Game was decent but last 20 mins were very entertaining.. It kills me how much talent spain has in the MF.

You really think the U21 has that much talent outside of 2-3 players, maybe 4? I'm actually mystified at how FIFA has England ranked 9th or 10th.

In fact I think outside of perhaps 2 clubs in the EPL, the state of youth futbol in England is in sad shape. It's no wonder EPL teams are raiding the youth academies of other leagues especially La Liga & more specifically of Barcelona's.

is asking the Spanish FA for help in protecting EPL teams from taking their players.

Barcelona's director of football, Andoni Zubizarreta (Zubi – ex goalie for the club) has a tough task ahead of him. In addition to getting a CB at a suitable price, he’s got to figure out what to do with the likes of Villa & Cesc. It looks like Valdez will play out his contract deferring the need for looking for a goalie for a year.

Zubi & the rest of the folks at Camp Nou must also decide what they’re going to do with the glut of young talent they gave. It’s really going to take an architect/master manager to figure this all out.

First off to bat, they have to address the likes of forward Cristian Tello, CB Marc Bartra, midfielder Thiago Alcantara, midfielder Gerard Deulofeu, & RB Martin Montoya.

They also had several players out on loan like CB Andreu Fontas to Mallorca, midfielder Ibrahim Afellay on loan to Schalke, & forward Bojan Krkic on loan to AC Milan. It’s been reported AC Milan doesn’t want to pay out €15 million for him.

You also have Rafinha Alcantara (can play any position from the midfield onward) & midfielder Sergi Roberto, forward Gerard Deulofeu, & midfielder Jonathan dos Santos (Mallorca Giovani’s brother). This is just some of the notable names I can think of but I know there’s like at least 10-15 more that are on the B team & lower squads. Then you have the young teenagers that are starting to come up.

Some might say it’s a nice problem to have but like I said, it’s going to take some heavy engineering to figure out who you’re going to keep & who you will let pass/go because I don't think there is any way to keep all these players.

I remember Johan Cruyff built his side using almost all La Masia graduates like Pep Guardiola, Luis Milla, Guillermo Amor, Sergi Barjuan and Ivan de la Pena…

I can’t think of any team that has the youth system Barca has though. Am I right?

@GeniusFootball: Best Academy's in the world according to UEFA:
1. Ajax 2. Barcelona 3. Dortmund 4. Real Madrid 5. Liverpool

News / Primera Liga
0
Barça’s La Masia ranked fourth best youth academy, Real Madrid’s Castilla 10th
by TomConn | Posted on Friday, March 29th, 2013
Barcelona and Real Madrid have the fourth and 10th most successful youth academies in Europe, respectively, with the first being Dutch Eredivisie side, Ajax.



In a recent study by The International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES), Ajax have the most prolific youth academy in terms of producing talent that is currently playing top flight football in Europe.

CIES took a survery of Europe’s most competitive 31 football league last year, with the criteria being that a player needed to play for the youth academy at least three seasons between the formative ages of 15 and 21.

Ajax was found to have produced 69 players currently plying their trade after being coach at the Dutch side, which may come as a shock as many consider Barcelona’s La Masia the top academy in the world.

However, despite their incredible squad, with the majority made up of youth players, has only produced 53 players currently playing top flight football.

The only other Spanish club represented was Real Madrid’s La Fabrica, which came in at 10th on the list, producing only 43 currently active top-flight professionals.

The study goes on to say that clubs in the poorest leagues, such as Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belarus and Finland generally had a higher number of players from their own academies (an average of 27%), as they don’t have the financial means to purchase players from other countries.

“For teams whose championships are of limited financial means, the setting up of a sporting and economic model based on the value-added development of young talents depends strongly on their ability to coach them.”

However, the dynamics shifted when focusing on the ‘Top 5’ leagues of England, France, Spain, Italy and Germany, dropping to an average of 17.2%.

The percentage dropped even lower in the next richest group which included, Portugal, Scotland, Holland, Turkey, Greece and Russia.

The report concludes that for many clubs, they are unable to financially hang on to their own academy players and are powerless to keep them should a richer club come calling.

“For a majority the only viable goal is to coach and add value to young players and transfer them to wealthier clubs.

“Many teams with limited resources are in a chronic situation of financial and managerial instability that goes against the setting up of long-term coaching policies and giving young talent their chance.

“This instability is reinforced by intermediaries with increasing influence whose personal gain is the sale and purchase of players and who rely on the networks associated with coaches and heads of clubs.”

By Tom Conn - Follow @TomConnISF

It's interesting though, when you look at what clubs have gotten the most out of what players they have produced, you would think that would put Barca at #1? Ajax has done wonders. They are not the forces in Europe they used to be and struggle to go forward. Even though, I really did enjoy them in the CL this year. But granted there are reasons such as the league they are in and financials. I suppose that approach could be taken. But obviously the one that article has taken makes sense. I could not find the study from the CIES but I'm very curious to see the ranking. Also in regards to that tweet, the info UEFA has and compare them. One of Ajax's players I'm really looking forward to seeing developer is Fischer.

Myself along with other Arsenal fans have complain about loaning our youth players to other English. We understand why but as pointed out the state of youth development in England isn't were it should be. Especially seeing how it always seems that when loaned to an English side, they end up injured for a while. (I'm hoping Ryo can bounce back.) Which is why some of us are really hoping this deal with Betis works out. We have one of the top academies in England. As we're focusing on keeping an English core, up until the U16 level, majority of the boys are English. They either don't make the cut or feel that their chances of first team action are better elsewhere. At the U16-U21 levels, we have a lot of foreign players. Our policy for foreign players is that they are guaranteed a professional contract. I'm sure it's probably the same for other clubs. But it would be nice to see the club be able to retain more English players.

As of now, Arsenal has three players from La masia, two of them were part of the Cesc deal(Bellerin and Toral). Another one is about to sign with us and I think another one may fellow, possibly.

There's a report I've posted before about the structure of various youth academies(Arsenal, Barca, Ajax, Sporting, etc) and how they operate. It's lengthy but informative, i'll post it when I find the link.

Malaga are now banned from next season's UEFA Europa League and have to pay 300,000 Euros fine @fcbusiness

Edit: The link I had is dead but it's by Ecaeurope.com but I did find this

As for the England U21 squad, I know Lansbury isn't fully fit and he is one of the better players in the midfield. Along with him Zaha, McEachran, and Ince, are usually the players I look out for. I'm not really familiar with the rest of the squad minus the two liverpool players

 

[Kimchi Papi]

^ Mastamind89-

I appreciate your insight...

You know I thought about Ajax (called De Teokomst) as I was writing but La Masia is at the top for me - being a Barca fan notwitstanding . Their "graduates" have done more or accomplished more (IMO & from what I can recall) in terms of winning world cups, the CL, league titles, cups etc even dating way far back.

I can't take anything away from Ajax though, especially when you count the likes of Johann Cruyff & Wesley Sneijder among your "alumni".

I also thought about Portugal's Sporting CP (yes CoupeIt88, I'm recognizing Portugal ). I think it's called Sporting Academy Alochete or Alechete who count CR7, Nani, & Moutinho as alumni.

Edit - my co-worker told me to include West Ham's youth academy too. I just looked them up & they count the likes of Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Harry Redknapp (as a player too), Paul Ince, the Ferdinand brothers, Frank Lampard (Sr & Jr), Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Jermain & Defoe as alumni among others. Got damn... :x

 

[Coupé It]

Yes Sporting have a great national youth academy, something my Porto or Benfica can't really claim. So many great Portuguese players have came Sporting.

Thanks for the national acknowledgement.

Hopefully Sporting have something in there academy now, I have no idea how our new generation will do, I'm not very optimistic.

 

[big j 33]

Don't even care if some of those Mario stories are false.. they're awesome anyway.