Miranda signs for Inter. They are building a tidy team. Couple of decent young Italians on their books too. Would be great to see Italy have two competitive teams again.
If Inter have any decent young Italian players you can guarantee they will sell them off.
I would have more problem with Ferguson trying to put the blame of Pogba’s exit at the door of a greedy agent/Pogba being turned by money/Juventus doing something underhand when the cunt poached Pogba as a teenager from France.
Fergie wasn’t able for the new generation of teenagers.
Pogba wanted a guarantee of 1st team football, Fergie wouldn’t give that.
I think United and Juventus offered him more or less the same money.
Crack Republic of Ireland centre half Paul McShane has signed for Reading.
Milan have signed Luiz Adriano, Carlos Bacca and Jose Mauri.
In non-transfer news Ilkay Gundogan signed a new contract with Dortmund that lasts until 2017 yesterday. Not the longest commitment ever but he owes Dortmund that I think after they stuck by him through his injury and extended his contract last year.
Podolski in talks with Galatasaray according to my Turkish sources.
Nani going to Fenerbache.
Martin Montoya to Inter on a two year loan.
That now means Inter have 5 right footed full backs on their book:
Santon
D’Ambrosio
Nagatomo
Johathan
Montoya
Thought they would have gone for a natural left back but obviously not. There’s a big dispute in progress now between Salah and Fiorentina as Salah wants to break an agreement for another year on loan with a deal supposedly agreed between Salah and Inter for him to go there. Fiorentina are taking legal proceedings against him. Inter are also interested in Ivan Perisic while Shaqiri looks set to leave after failing to impress in six months there.
Two Milan clubs have spent big this summer.
Inter have already splurged about €63 million on Kondogbia, Murillo, Miranda and Montoya.
While Milan have paid out €58m for Bertolacci, Bacca, Luiz Adriano and Joe Mauri.
No real notable sales for either side yet either.
Galatasaray and Fenerbahce both busy in the transfer market too.
Podolski has joined Galatasary as previously mentioned. Nani is signing for Fenerbahce today, Van Persie appears to have agreed personal terms and Kjaer signed a few days ago. All those players aren’t rated as highly as they were a few years ago but all will probably be earning as much as they ever did at their peak (for Nani and Kjaer their “peak” was more potential than actual performances).
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Who’s bankrolling the big Turkish clubs, my learned Turkish friend?
These massive salary signings have been going on for a few years; e.g. Drogba, Sneijder etc.
There are a few factors at play.
The most obvious one is the tax rate. We have a tax rate of 15% for top flight professionals in Turkey. That’s less than a third of what Van Persie would be paying in England and the tax rates in Spain and Germany and Italy are all above 40% too. So a 100k a week for Sneijder in Turkey is the equivalent of 250k a week in Spain or wherever.
Secondly, the big clubs have big revenue. Galatasaray in particular benefit from their new stadium and corporate boxes and sponsorship so they do have big earnings that allow them to spend.
Thirdly, Galatasaray have taken a deliberate gamble to force their way into the elite level on a consistent basis. They had a big share issue a couple of years ago to raise more cash to fund this gamble. They think they can become a regular CL quarter-final team and so they are building up debt in chasing this dream.
Fenerbahce have had off-field problems and had fallen behind a bit (though still manage to attract some really good players). They got an Italian sporting director in this summer and are now making a concerted effort to go after Galatasaray.
Flesh that one out a bit there.
I refuse to acknowledge my error and will be glossing over it.
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Small crowd waiting for Nani at the airport:
Iker Casillas has agreed to join Porto.
A lovely fellow but he has no business being at a club like Porto anymore. He’s finished. Real hung on to him for too long out of and not sure why Porto would take on that sentimental debt.
Casillas deal off. Real want 7 million euros. Which is a lot for a keeper that is finished. Real are consistently the best at selling players way over their value.