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I hope they sign someone crazy like Batman or Benzema
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Michy is staying at Chelsea for a while.I hope they sign someone crazy like Batman or Benzema
Only footballing Batman we acknowledge is Aubameyang
[thread="652424"]pogba's weekly wage is higher than messi neymar or suarez [/thread]
[thread="652424"]man utd better win the europa leage[/thread]
Only footballing Batman we acknowledge is Aubameyang
Basically
Word.
Are there any transfers that didn't that are surprising to anyone?
For me: Carvalho, Witsel, Berahino, Sanogo, Ricardo Rodriguez, and M'Vila to name a few
Only footballing Batman we acknowledge is Aubameyang
Only footballing Batman we acknowledge is Aubameyang
Nah playa, that title belongs to Michy now
Real Madrid's quiet transfer window wise in a financially inflated marketAfter the usual avalanche of semi-news generated during the silly season, the moment to examine facts has finally arrived: aside from recovering Alvaro Morata -- previously loaned to Juventus -- and getting Marco Asensio back from Espanyol, Real Madrid have made no major moves in the transfer market.
The already well-known squad has been analysed ad nauseam this summer. Most analyses agree on two major lines of thought: first, another defensive midfielder would have helped significantly a very thin midfield line in the ball-recovery department; second, attacking midfielders abound, especially those who thrive when playing in a free role behind the strikers. This is not a position that Zinedine Zidane's preferred 4-3-3 features, so the conclusion seemed obvious: had president Florentino Perez managed to sell James Rodriguez or Isco and sign a consistent ball winner, the squad would be almost perfect.
One important twist to this conclusion is that both moves needed to happen for the squad to be complete. Getting rid of one attacking midfielder without adding another pair of lungs in midfield would have been questionable, as Real Madrid face a likely transfer ban for the next two windows and they can't allow themselves to sell players expecting to sign someone else in a few months' time.
But if the squad is loaded on the attacking front, adding a defensive midfielder without letting anyone go would not help the internal atmosphere either. Too many players for too few positions usually leads to noise in the dressing room.
Even though the desired ball winner hasn't joined the squad, the excess of talent has become the biggest point of concern for a sizeable part of the Madrid media. For instance, radio station Cadena Ser's Manu Carreno stated on Tuesday that "Zidane's squad is spectacular, but could become a huge problem if Isco, James or Asensio don't play."
James and Isco v Getafe
Having both James Rodriguez and Isco is perhaps unnecessary, but Real Madrid will have plenty of cover should the club experience injury trouble this season.
Unless Real Madrid undergo another injury plague like those they've suffered in the past two seasons, chances are that at least two of those three players won't play that much indeed, at least quality minutes in top-level matches.
Their motivation and the likely internal noise that this might generate -- in James' case, we've already seen fellow Colombians be really vocal when Zidane does not use him -- are Zidane's responsibility and he should deal with that.
So far, he's been impeccable when these situations have appeared. His meritocratic approach works wonders when some players need to understand why they're not starting, so a bit of extra talent on the bench -- or even in the stands -- does not hurt in a long season with three top tournaments to compete for.
But the scenario could be very different: If the likely transfer ban ends up happening and injury-prone players such as Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema or Luka Modric do get hurt, having kept the current squad pretty much untouched in the offseason could become an extremely smart move for the club.
Yes, the squad could have become noticeably better with just one player in and another one out. But Real Madrid fans should not lose sight of the forest because of those two trees: in a matter of months, Zidane has managed to transform a bewildered group into a determined, winning one. All of those players have witnessed that they will play if they perform and will sit out when they don't.
This squad feels like a proper team and can compete for all titles this season. In a rarely quiet, un-Florentino-esque summer by Real Madrid standards, their components are almost the same as who finished last season. Granting this group and this manager the chance to show what they can do for a whole season seems like a wise decision, especially when very few financially sensible options to improve the team are in fact available in the market.
Eduardo Alvarez covers Real Madrid and the Spanish national team for ESPN FC. Twitter: @alvarez.
Only footballing Batman we acknowledge is Aubameyang
Basically
@FromTStands: French journalist Laurens Julien says David Luiz has had no more than 4 good games in 2 years & "PSG can't believe their luck". #cfc
Albert Soler (Barcelona): "Last year we made an deal with Juventus: we would have had a priority on @paulpogba if they decided to sell him."
Soler: "But that didn't happen as Juventus did not want to sell the player last year and so we had to go out and look for somebody else."
Wanted him badly at City. Clichy and Kolarov arent gonna be any better or be here much longer than a year.Gaya too. Isnt he a highly rated LB also?
c.) All of the above.I'm not sure which is stupider, PSG buying Luiz for as much money as they did or Chelsea for buying him back at the price they did.