2011 Summer Transfer Window

I’m sure some forumites care for your populist views on football but I couldn’t give a fuck

Euro 2008 - Nani played in 3 games but started in just one. Part of the team that lost 2-0 against the mighty Switzerland.

Playoff - Set up the goal in the first leg

World Cup 2010 - Injured and not part of squad.

Only scored 17 goals for Man U in nearly 100 games over 4 seasons.

Hardly a world class record. Ribery has nearly double the amount of goals for Bayern in the exact same period with almost an identical amount of games.

Don’t let the facts get in the way of your lack of memory though.

You really are some prick of a man.

Populist? My hole. I have destroyed your pathetic little argument and you have nothing as evidenced by such a meek response.

Being reported arsenal have agreed terms with valencia for mata.

He reminds you of Ronaldo in the early days, great argument alright.

Mac made some decent points but I’m too tired to respond

£18m apparently.

Easy to keep referencing the Liverpool signings as a benchmark but paying more for Downing than Mata is just insane.

I was gonna highlight that myself but I am still in denial… There were reports that Liverpool were interested but without champions league football the player himself may not have been inclined. Still sickening.

See that’s the crux of the matter, Champions League football, it’s grand bidding for these players but they won’t come to you without CL.
You can’t compare Aguero to city for £35m to Carroll because Liverpool simply wouldn’t have got Aguero. If they can get back into the CL next year and look to be creating a good side realistically capable of challenging for the title then they will start to attract these players again.

There is an element of that but I still think there’s a chasm between the amount they’re spending on players and their actual valuation and they don’t seem to have looked outside England since buying Suarez, despite his success.

They also seem to have rushed a few of these deals through. It’s all nice having a settled squad but they weren’t bidding against anyone else for Downing so why the mad hurry to pay £20m for him? Similar case with Henderson, unless they thought he’d have a stellar European Championships!

The longer they held on the better value they could have and the more likely they were to get someone unsettled at a comparable club like Valencia.

Rocko check your pm’s.

Runt has a point. I think there was a lot else going on with the Carroll transfer. Here was a club, who, at the time, was at a very low ebb. Bottom half on the table, best player leaving, demanding fans and most importantly, new owners. They wanted to win the fans over, or at least not hugely annoy them so more or less said to Newcastle to name their price for Carroll, the up and coming striker in the first half of the EPL season. I think this was mainly driven by the need to look popular because it certainly wasn’t motivated by getting value for money, as it was an extorionate price to pay for someone of Carroll’s quality and proven record.

They were on record at the time as saying the Carrolls transfer fee was totally dependent on what they got for Torres. A bizarre way of doing business but they basically said, whatever we get for Torres we are keeping £15m and spending the rest on Carroll. The January transfer window was break even for Liverpool.

They are on record as that but I think that was a load of shite to be honest.

The situation now is that there is a 35 million striker who is going to play by virtue of his price tag. The matches I have seen him play with Suarez last season shows that there is no partnership there yet, quite the opposite in fact. It will be interesting to see how things pan out in the new season and the start that is made. Reina more or less issued a threat saying that Liverpool need to start well or else I’m off in January. I also can’t see us keeping Suarez if we don’t get CL football this season.

Have any of Arsenals big names actually left yet?

What’s happening with Fabregas and Nasri?

I don’t agree with the point you made lads.

Suarez for instance, left a club that would likely have been playing CL football for a team that would not be. CL is, of course important in a players decision, but more important is the size and prestige of the club coupled with the monetary package and the future ambition of the club. Liverpool have invested alot of money in their playing squad with their new owners and obviously have big ambitions. They are also the third most successful club in European competitions.

Look at Juventus this season - they have already brought in Pirlo, Vidal, Pazienza and Rossi who will soon follow - they have left CL football this season for a club with a massive reputation and genuine ambition. Aguero would have joined them if they could have reached an agreement with Atletico also. Unless a player is in the twilight of his career he is not going to place such an emphasis on immediate CL football - more on their ability to play CL football every season.

Liverpool could easily have brought in players of a much higher and proven level for the same money this season and CL football was not the reason they didn’t.

At the risk of becoming the forum’s Andy Gray, could these seemingly ridiculous valuations maybe be affected by the fact that they’ve actually proved an ability to play in the league the team is buying them is in? There has to be some logical reason.
Now almost everyone thinks Suarez is a better player than Carroll and Mata better than Downing for eg but Downing and Carroll have proven an ability to play well in the EPL (albeit in Carroll’s case over a short period but still).
Recent history is full of players who were class in other leagues but just complete shit in England. This is obviously as a result of different style of play and inability to adjust to eating egg and chips for lunch rather than some gulf in standard but it still happens.
The clubs are just more sure that the likes of Carroll and Downing will not be complete flops and this puts a premium on them.

Any idea why my screen on TFK has suddenly shrunk to about a tenth what it usually is? this is only the case on this site too

i agree with all that

Good points from Totti above.

Also I’d dispute the “proven ability” bit about Downing and Carroll. They reached a level of competence, Downing and Henderson in particular didn’t really set the league alight.

Being perfectly genuine - if Celtic bought Downing or Henderson for £3-4m this summer I’d think it was a bad use of (admittedly more limited) money.

Central defender Danny Batth has rejoined Sheffield Wednesday from Wolves for a second loan spell until January 2012.
The defender impressed in his 10 games for Gary Megson’s side at the tail-end of last season having made just one substitute appearance during a month-long stay at cross-city rivals Sheffield United.http://static.lingospot.com/spot/image/spacer.gif

The 20-year-old insists he had no hesitation in taking up the chance to return to Hillsborough.
“It’s good to be back,” Batth told the club’s official website. "I got on really well with the lads last time and hopefully I can pick up where I left off.
"It’s always an easy decision when you know the manager, you know the players and you can fit in straight away.
“I’m happy to have arrived before the season has started because you get that time with your team-mates and you can be part of those preparations for the first game.”

Dharmesh Sheth seems confident that Arsenal will sign Juan Mata, reporting a fee of £13.5m. Mata is a good player, although slightly overrated IMO, getting him for in and around 15m will be good business though.