Summer 2009 Footy transfer thread

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Thunderball

Well... Aquilani is one of those players at the crossroads of his career. This is where he either completes the flop and becomes midtable fodder, or he achieves his potential and becomes a CM star.

He's got good control and speed, but he's very injury prone, and can disappear in big matches. He's a lot like Tiago Mendes to be honest. He's been a flop for the Italian NT, and shockingly, has not always been a fixture in Roma's starting 11, often overlooked for De Rossi, Menez, Baptista, Perrotta, Brighi and Pizarro. He was hoped to be De Rossi's ideal partner, but that never happened. I honestly think Roma is better off without him and with the money. Ironically, Juventus was really after him 2-3 years ago, but with Aquilani's stagnation, coupled with Marchisio's ascendance, Tiago's resurgence and the signings of Melo, Sissoko and Diego, they lost all interest this offseason.

However, like Tiago, he might do really well under a new coach, with new expectations.

Frankly, I think Liverpool made a mistake unless they are really hard up for cash. Xabi Alonso is one of the best CMs in the game right now and honestly, I think Mascherano and Lucas are better than Aquilani right now.

At this rate, Liverpool is becoming the dumping ground for Italian flops... which is probably not what you wanted to hear.

[Locke]

Alright, just checked out some youtube footage of this Aquilini character....not a total hack, he has potential, I'd like to say Rafa made a good deal, obviously if you cant keep Alonso you have to replace him, while I dont like the money, I cant care about the money either, theres no salary cap and Real Madrid are running around like Kevin Lowe with a gun and a bag of cash.

I, for the life of me, cannot fathom why anyone would want to play for Real. When has playing for Real done anything good for anyone's career? The only person I can think of thats profited in any way other than monetarily by playing for Real is Raul. For everyone else their career is completely devastated afterwards.

Real Madrid are like the Edmonton of soccer, living in past glory and killing every career that comes through. I might have to go and get me a Barca jersey and become one of 'those guys'....

I do have tons and tons of respect for Puyol.

[chris_yk]

Originally Posted by rubecube

16 million according to the Spurs website.

Fee is 10 million, could rise to 16.. I think everyone who's laughing about Bent will be pretty surprised, I'm glad we got him and Tottenham can have Crouch for all I care, I think Bent and Jones will be a great partnership.
This is especially funny coming from Liverpool fans who've just lost one of their best players and earlier this summer paid 17 million for Glen fking Johnson!

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by chris_yk

Fee is 10 million, could rise to 16.. I think everyone who's laughing about Bent will be pretty surprised, I'm glad we got him and Tottenham can have Crouch for all I care, I think Bent and Jones will be a great partnership.
This is especially funny coming from Liverpool fans who've just lost one of their best players and earlier this summer paid 17 million for Glen fking Johnson!

I don't know why I'm accused of being a Liverpool fan. I'm actually a fairly casual Spurs fan, but Bent was junk last year.

[chris_yk]

Originally Posted by rubecube

I don't know why I'm accused of being a Liverpool fan. I'm actually a fairly casual Spurs fan, but Bent was junk last year.

Ah my apologies then, I know he didn't have the best year last year but I really think he'll click well with Jones this year and hopefully that'll push us into the top half. If Spurs would sell us Bentley and Huddlestone that would help even more...