2017/2018 THE Premier League Thread

[Senator Clay Davis]

A hunch mostly. I think if all things were equal he'd be staying at Arsenal. But obviously Arsenal are far behind United and City when it comes to competing to win and in terms of ambition. And of course wages as well. If they had shown more commitment I think he'd still be there.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

A hunch mostly. I think if all things were equal he'd be staying at Arsenal. But obviously Arsenal are far behind United and City when it comes to competing to win and in terms of ambition. And of course wages as well. If they had shown more commitment I think he'd still be there.

You can defend his character all you like, but the truth is the guy is an excellent player, who rand his contract down and left for money. You can call that commitment or ambition of whatever you like, but that's really what happened here.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Well how much of an effort did Arsenal really make to keep him? Same with Ozil. They might have made token offers just to say they tried, but world class players don't come cheap and Arsenal are, well, cheap. I'm also not sure I'm defending his character, but I also find it strange, as I mentioned before, that any player gets labeled greedy or a mercenary. If it were about winning guys should be willing to take £10,000 a week to go sit on Barca's or Madrid's bench and collect trophies a plenty. These guys are all greedy mercenaries, and more power to them.

[Bagor]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

I think if all things were equal he'd be staying at Arsenal. But obviously Arsenal are far behind United and City when it comes to competing to win and in terms of ambition. And of course wages as well. If they had shown more commitment I think he'd still be there.

Which is exactly the reasons that RvP gave for wanting away a few years back. i.e. Arsenal's lack of ambition. And he has been proven right.

I just don't get the difference in attitude towards Sanchez leaving when his is a very similar situation and if anything more about the $ than the winning of trophies.

[Senator Clay Davis]

My best guess is they're simply more apathetic about things now then when Van Persie was sold. And as diane said they'd rather direct anger at Wenger and others.

[devo22]

Bristol lose to Man City in the EFL Cup semifinal, but they can go home with their heads held high ... kicked out Watford, Stoke, Palace and Man United, now kept it open until the last minute against City (3-5 on aggregate, with Citys last goal coming in the 95th minute). Hope they get promoted.

[devo22]

Pep is buying defenders for striker prices again: Bilbao centre back Aymeric Laporte for £60m.

[Senator Clay Davis]

They apparently are also close to signing Fred from Shaktar for £50 million. It's like Pep and City were worried about United stealing all the "their money is ruining football" thunder, and had to respond accordingly.

[Slava]

Unreal. Will FFP ever actually matter? It was pathetic this past summer when PSG spent something like half a billion, but this can’t be far behind. I know the window is open and there are all kinds of rumours that won’t come true, but didn’t they spend a few hundred million this past summer? And now another hundred or so?

[Kipper is King]

Joao Mario to West Ham apparently is done. I think he could be quite good.

West Ham has so many injured players right now. I'm hoping he plays well linking up with Chicharito. He has been really misused at West Ham, often isolated up front. An attacking midfielder should help.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

My best guess is they're simply more apathetic about things now then when Van Persie was sold. And as diane said they'd rather direct anger at Wenger and others.

That's how I feel.
After Cole, Nasri, Cesc, RVP all went to rivals and found the success Arsenal couldn't, how can we blame players anymore?
Sanchez is probably just gonna be another name on that list while we toil in Wenger's wonderland for another 2 years of deja vu.

If I was a star footballer, not sure I'd want to be at Arsenal either.

[devo22]

Originally Posted by Slava

Will FFP ever actually matter?

in its current, watered-down form? No. At least not to English clubs because of the unbelievable TV deal ... unless they go absolutely crazy. And City haven't done that yet in terms of net spend - last summer they also sold Iheanacho, Ünal, Bony and others for quite a bit of money.

PSG is a different case. They obviously don't have that kind of TV revenues, and technically they didn't "buy" Mbappe last summer - they loaned him for a year with an obligation to buy in 2018. Only the structure of that deal allowed them to sign both him and Neymar at the same time, and it still ties their hands quite a bit this year. They had to sell Aurier, Matuidi and Augustin last summer, and they'll have to raise quite a bit of money this year too in order to be FFP compliant. Lucas, Draxler, di Maria, Meunier, Pastore, Ben Arfa ... most of those will be gone in the summer, there's simply no other way.

There's a silver-lining though for people who are sick of all the spending: UEFA are discussing a possible "FFP 2.0", which seeks to limit net spending to €100m per year.

http://www.marca.com/en/football/int...a7c8b4577.html

[Slava]

I guess I can’t get too upset that PSG has to sell at this point, because apparently Lucas is in the works to come to Tottenham. We’ll see whether it comes to fruition.

[d_phaneuf]

Im shocked but Moura seems basically done

That's a real good signing, especially if the 23m fee is correct, need another attacking option on the bench, assuming the preferred XI are healthy. He gives another player with speed which we don't have outside sonny. Good for when tactics change and he wants to go counter attack, like maybe in Turin next month

Also Dzeko looks less likely to go to Chelsea, that was always going tobe difficult, since Chelsea's new policy of not buying older players

Mario a good west ham signing


Also that laporte fee is inflated. Always is when you have to pay the buyout. But he becomes their best CB by a fair margin

[Kipper is King]

Trump being handed an Arsenal shirt. Gross.

Someone on Twitter posted that they "put his IQ on the back!"

Spoiler!

[rubecube]

Piers is such a loser.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Piers is such a loser.

Perfect Arsenal fan.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Kipper is King

Trump being handed an Arsenal shirt. Gross.

Someone on Twitter posted that they "put his IQ on the back!"

Spoiler!

His son Baron is a Gunners fan also I think. Poor kid never had a chance, apparently.

[Bagor]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Piers is such a loser.

He is one repulsive human being.

[Slava]

The FA Cup is so great and I do like seeing a PL club head to a little pitch to play where it’s a big event for the town. I’m a little nervous about Spurs though, because there are upsets quite often and there haven’t been any so far today. Seems like there’s always one though.