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Rondon did leave. I don't know who is starting there now. Both Huntelaar and Soldado are proven world class strikers. He would never replace either one.Rondon isn't even with Malaga anymore(assuming we mean the same guy) and Walcott has a better goal/game ratio than the other two.
Looks like I lost my more elaborate post.... Let's go with this:Talk to me when he walks. Agree to disagreeNot saying he will, but it's possibleI believe he is and should have been playing central a lot sooner than what Wenger has doing to him. When he was bought from Southampton he was a CF there. Not like it's a huge deal to move him centralUnited - noArsenal - yesBarcelona - noReal Madrid - noValencia - yesByern - noDortmund - noShalke - yesJuve -yesMalaga - yesMilan - yes6/11 maybe?PS> the O/U for Sturridge goals has been set at 9
I saw the 9. I don't like the calendar year angle. Le's find something that finishes the season. I'm sure I'd be willing to take you for more when the next season starts. If/When he signs let's get a number for the rest of the season. Then let's bet the beer. 22ozs for every goal over or under whatever is agreed upon.
Paid for at Hamilton's?
http://nesn.com/2012/12/report-cristiano-ronaldo-rejects-contract-offer-from-real-madrid-fuels-transfer-speculation/“According to AS Los Blancos have prepared an extension they hoped the player would sign this summer, which would run until 2018 and see his annual wage increased from €10 million ($13.2 million) to €15 million ($19.8 million),” the report says. “However the 27-year-old reportedly prefers to see out his current deal — which expires in 2015 –- then leave, with the likes of Paris Saint-Germain [PSG] and old employers Manchester United waiting to pounce.” Ronaldo has reportedly grown disillusioned with life at Real Madrid. He feels the club hasn’t shown him enough public support, which has had a negative impact on his image. Early this month, Spanish media reported that he is demanding a transfer at the end of the 2012-13 season.
They're very different players and there's a few ways they could co-exist. Bale could play as an ultra-offensive wingback, overlapping when Ronaldo cuts inside. Or Ronaldo could play somewhere else up front and Bale could play left wing. Or RM could just spend a ton on a player they don't need because that's what they do.All that said, I think it's most likely just a crazy rumor.
I don't think Bale and Ronaldo are incompatible by any stretch, I just wonder where you play them, and given that both are going to play nearly every game, who gets bumped. And playing Bale at LB seems like a waste of his talents, really.
Hughes spent a fortune on crappy players. I'm not sure anyone can save them at this point.
They managed to stayed up last year with 37 points. I'm not sure they'll get 30 this time.
It's not as if an attacking LB would be very novel for Real Madrid. They already have Marcelo. I don't think it would be waste of Bale, but I doubt he'd be any better than Marcelo already is as an attacking full back. If Jose is still in charge, I think the odd man out would probably be Di Maria (who is in the dog house, I understand). CR7 would move (mostly) to the right. Bale would be on the left. Benzema would be preferred at most times in the middle (particularly as Higuain is apparently a member of the group that Jose thinks tries to undermine him). I imagine Bale and Ronaldo would switch sides at times so that both could periodically cut inside on their stronger foot (neither really have a weak foot in truth, but I think we'd see a bit more of Bale on the right at Real).I do think Bale is a luxury on Real. And I don't think he's a truly world class winger when compared to Ronaldo, Ribery, or Robben. Part of that is likely because I don't think Spurs have really figured out exactly what his role is supposed to be. He cuts in more than a classic winger, but he isn't as clinical as Ronaldo or Robben.'Good said:
Fingers very gingerly crossed.
He plays best as a winger, but he's shown he can do more. He's kind of stuck in that experimental stage. I'm guessing Real want to grab him now and mold him into what fits for them. He's only 23 and he was backing up Assou-Ekotto at left back three years ago so it's hard to know what his ceiling is.My understanding is he had growth issues in his mid-teens that limited him so he was a bit of a late bloomer. Given what RM will likely have to pay if they want him they obviously think he has a lot more potential.
Welsh Messi?
I doubt we'll see another Messi in our lifetimes.
He's not wrong on many of those points. Sure, he's European elitist #####, doesn't understand the American sports marketplace, and probably corrupt as hell, but the MLS certainly still does have its issues.
Geez, I'd forgotten about Marcelo. Out of sight, out of mind I guess.The other possibility is, of course, that RM are resigned to selling Ronaldo in the summer, and Bale will be his replacement on the left. Certainly a downgrade, but they'll also inevitably free up some pocket money to improve the team elsewhere. I hope Ronaldo's hot gf can't talk him into going to Paris instead of Manchester. The EPL is inevitably more interesting with him in it.If I'm RM, I think about cutting Mou go before the summer before he does more damage in that locker room. Ozil and Di Maria aren't the type of guys that you want to be putting in transfer slips.
The schedule has to be pretty low on the list though.
His only legit point is that the current schedule impacts the MLS product. However, the schedule is not the reason the MLS doesn't compete with the Euro leagues - thats all about TV money. Its just not there for soccer in America right now. However, even without significant TV revenue, the MLS has shown significant growth and staying power. Considering the fractured nature of the sports market in general and the soccer market in particular, the progress of the MLS over the past 20 or so years is quite remarkable.Oh, and if that jackass was so concerned about the growth of the sport in the US, he shouldn't have rigged the 2022 WC bid for ####### Qatar.
I don't get it. How much more growth would any sane person have expected over the last 10 years both on and off the field for the league?When you couple that growth with the economic struggles of the country over that time period it is even more impressive.
I am 45 and I have seen Pele, Maradona and Messi. I see no reason why the next 30 years would not produce another all time great.
Its kinda sacrilege, but Messi could be better than both Pele and Maradona when he's done. Afterall, he's only 25 right now.
I don't think it is sacrilege at all. If he can just get the one WC title, it will be next to impossible not to consider Messi the best ever unless he has a career killing injury.
It appears he has little to no knowledge of the MLS. I'm sure it has it's issues, but his rationale was completely inaccurate.
If Messi does become the consensus all-time best, a level above Pele and Maradona, then you've been alive for 45 years and only 1 person will have reached the level projected for Messi in that time. Therefore, its not particularly likely that in another 30 years you'd see another player reach that level.Of course, Messi needs to be at a Jordan or Gretzky level for that to be true. He may be getting there, but Im not sure yet.
I guess I look at it differently. I expect most will consider him the best of all time should he grab the brass ring at least once being by far the best player in the WC tournament as say Maradona was in 86. But even then it is not going to be a head and shoulders difference and you will likely get plenty of arguments from old timers who saw Maradona's brilliance at multiple club teams(2 in Argentina, and in Napoli and was still pretty great at Barca in between Argie and Napoli although he suffered a bad injury in his 2 years there), which is something Messi may never have on his résumé if he stays at Barca. So I still believe it is safe to group Pele, Maradona and Messi and say some where in the future another player will emerge to that level before most reading this thread die. Messi's best shot at immortality is in Brazil where he will be still young enough to dominate the tournament. He will be 31 come 2018 and may be just past his best at that point but still likely good enough to be an important member of the team.
It's semantics of a sort, but I'm agreeing with Andy on this. If Messi wins the WC and IMO continues to up his dominance for country, then he'll easily join those two. I don't know that Pele was really part of Andy and my lifetimes (I'm basically the same age), but his legend obviously was (even if we count his Cosmos days). And I have no doubt we'll see at least another player in the next thirty years that will make people lump into the top tier. Hopefully he's from the US.
Please let this happen.
good point about Pele. I did see him play live so it instantly stuck in my mind but he was obviously well past prime when I saw him play when I was a kid.Then again I could have been 65 and been alive through his whole career and I still never would have seen him play outside of an odd highlight until the NASL days since there was virtually no tv coverage back then.
Cristiano Ronaldo shouldn't even win the greatest ever Portugese footballer.
Most of these top players sign 5 year guaranteed contracts, so when commentators discuss the cost of a player, it is typically transfer fee + total value of the contract. (FFP rules also amortize the transfer fee over the length of the contract.) I think Anzhi's reported offer for Messi is anomalous, since it never had a reasonable chance of being accepted and was based on his buy-out clause, not a market price. One recent example from Chelsea is Eden Hazard, a top transfer target last summer, with a transfer fee of approx. 35 mil. pounds and a total five year contract value of approx. 45 mil.
The Swiss Ramble did an in=depth look at Arsenal's finances last fall --> Arsenal - The Song Remains The Same.While consistently one of the most profitable clubs in Europe, Arsenal has come to rely more and more on player sales to remain so. (I suppose we all knew that instinctively, without the need to slog through the typical Swiss Ramble 20 pages of charts and analysis). When I skimmed through this entry last Fall, my first thought was that Arsenal may be heading the way of Ajax - one of the perennial powerhouses in Euro football when I first started following the sport in the mid 80s, now essentially a feeder club; dominant in the Eredivisie and still a great club, but essentially irrelevant in Europe.
I would cut and paste pictures of your children here, if I had them on my computer.
Seems like the Gals have superior management for big signings to every other team in the league. NYRB have to be dead last.
Hard to argue with Henry. Marquez was a good signing on paper. I didn't really like the Cahill signing (still don't, really).
I was at the US v Argentina friendly in MetLife. That was fun but he hadn't really taken over the Argentina national team yet. The more special match was being in Barcelona for the 5-0 Classico to start the Mou era. We tried to get tickets, but I think the cheapest we could find were 600 euro each. The entire city shut down except for the bars showing the game. The game itself was breathtaking, tiki-taka may never be played at such a high level again. And after the match, the women folk were in quite a fine mood.
Was just drawing comparisons between their growth issues.
