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***Official Soccer Discussion Thread*** (4 Viewers)
- Thread starter Ramsay Hunt Experience
- Start date
El Floppo
Footballguy
[joey] WHOA [/whoa]
I had the MLS table randomly open and it showed them 3rd. just refreshed it after your post and it shows them ATOP the table, as you say!
weird...
- apologies- I stand corrected.
whoknew
Footballguy
[joey] WHOA [/whoa]
I had the MLS table randomly open and it showed them 3rd. just refreshed it after your post and it shows them ATOP the table, as you say!
weird...
Whew.
Yea they won at LAFC last night. Big win.
B Maverick
Footballguy
I don't understand how the ref initially gave the kick a yellow and the push following a straight red. Got those backwards. Got it right on VAR for the kick though.
He was quick on the cards for sure. Bookings early and often for playing the ball after the whistle.
DJackson10
Footballguy
ESPN+ Has conference league games. I they are somwhat import and help your countries coeffienct. Plus the Euro Conference League Final is June 7th.
DJackson10
Footballguy
Former Union Man Trusty sent off after 2nd YC
Some of that stuff was just avoidable and some of the early yellows looked like the ref was a bit card happy. I heard about this and it's not as insane as some made it out to be. Apparently they never watched La Liga or a South American of COncacafe match because that was rather tame
DJackson10
Footballguy
Nah dude deserved a straight red there. He gave for intent there. Plus I think he wanted to try and control things better. It's easier to just give a straight red and then if VAR thinks he's wrong they can ask for the review. Most leagues that shove that blatant in front of a ref is a straight red
B Maverick
Footballguy
Debatable if the push deserved a straight red or not. Was more amazed the kick didn't get one without VAR help.
DJackson10
Footballguy
I don't think the ref saw it well enough as he was looking other way. But yeah that should've been.
El Floppo
Footballguy
El Floppo
Footballguy
gianmarco
Footballguy
DJackson10
Footballguy
I was more so commenting on other yellows not his specifically. I thought one of them was a fairly cheap one but then again it was only a condense match and he could've given it for constant infringement Some of those cards just looked more like the ref was looking to give a card just to give one. End match most of those were deserving
gianmarco
Footballguy
Mjolnirs
Footballguy
DFB Pokal final today on ESPN+ and other forms of ESPN, 2pm Eastern
SC Freiburg v RB Leipzig
I don't see where SC Freiburg have ever made the final. RB Leipzig have finished 2nd twice, 2019 and 2021.
Bundesliga 1 Relegation playoff - Match 1
Hamburger SV 1-0 Hertha Berlin
Bundesliga 2 Relegation playoff - Match 1
Dynamo Dresden 0-0 Kaiserslautern
SC Freiburg v RB Leipzig
I don't see where SC Freiburg have ever made the final. RB Leipzig have finished 2nd twice, 2019 and 2021.
Bundesliga 1 Relegation playoff - Match 1
Hamburger SV 1-0 Hertha Berlin
Bundesliga 2 Relegation playoff - Match 1
Dynamo Dresden 0-0 Kaiserslautern
massraider
Footballguy
On Saturday evening, Kylian Mbappe almost certainly became the highest-paid footballer in the world. By signing a three-year contract at Paris Saint-Germain, Mbappe struck a dagger into the ambitions of Real Madrid.
Ahead of PSG’s final Ligue 1 match of the season against Metz, Mbappe was paraded on the pitch alongside club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, much to the delight of a fanbase who had assumed this would be his last game for the club, with his contract due to expire this summer. By the 50-minute mark, he had scored a hat-trick, underlining exactly why two of the world’s richest clubs have been fighting tooth and nail for so long to secure his services.
For several years, Mbappe has been the apple of Madrid’s eye. It is no exaggeration to say he has been an obsession of the Real’s president Florentino Perez. Many of the club’s key decisions in recent times have been guided by their mission to secure Mbappe.
When head coach Carlo Ancelotti rejoined Real last summer, he was informed by Perez that players would be sold to accommodate Mbappe’s wages. This is one reason Madrid headed into the campaign without Sergio Ramos, who left for PSG on a free transfer, and Raphael Varane, who signed for Manchester United in a deal worth more than £40 million. In recent windows, the club has also sold Sergio Reguilon, Achraf Hakimi and Martin Odegaard for a total of around £90 million. Within the club, this became known as the “Mbappe fund” and, in reality, nobody at Madrid expected Ancelotti’s side to perform as successfully as they have over the past season, in which they won La Liga comfortably and might still lift the Champions League. Last summer, the club invested modestly, recruiting only David Alaba on a free transfer and signing the young French midfielder Eduardo Camavinga for £34 million.
Madrid’s fixation on Mbappe also had the knock-on effect of dictating the intensity of their attempts to sign Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund. Due to a clause in the Norwegian’s contract, Haaland was available to sign this summer for £51 million and sources close to the situation believed that the player’s preference earlier this year was to join Madrid.
Haaland, who has since confirmed he will join Manchester City, also had conversations and proposals from Bayern Munich, Barcelona and PSG. Liverpool, whose manager Jurgen Klopp used to work at Dortmund, also sought to hear the extent of the player’s demands, as they also did with Mbappe, but the numbers involved were unrealistic within Liverpool’s structure. In the case of Madrid, the club began to dream of recruiting Haaland in addition to Mbappe. The problem, however, was that the financial burden of doing both deals in the same summer was excessive and as such, they wanted Haaland to spend one more year in Germany before joining the Spanish club in the summer of 2023. This would also allow Madrid striker Karim Benzema, the favourite to win this year’s Ballon d’Or, one more year as the spearhead of the club’s attack alongside his French compatriot Mbappe.
Madrid’s interest was one of the prime motivations for City’s early attack because the English club knew that if Mbappe ultimately decided to remain at PSG, Madrid would bring forward their plan to sign Haaland by a year and tussle more vigorously for the player this summer. City acted with greater conviction, fitting the player’s desire for a transfer this summer, and Madrid’s eggs were now solely in the Mbappe basket. Now, however, they have neither player.
For Perez, this is a heavy sporting and political blow. Madrid hoped to announce the transfer as a feel-good boost before next weekend’s Champions League final against Liverpool and nobody can underestimate Mbappe’s quality — this is a 23-year-old who has already won the World Cup with France. He has scored 221 goals and recorded 124 assists in 330 career appearances for Monaco, PSG and France. His value on the field to Madrid was clear as the club seek to re-energise their squad in the post-Cristiano Ronaldo era. For PSG, he will be at the heart of next season’s plans, with the club planning a rebuild that will see Angel Di Maria leave, likely followed by Idrissa Gueye and Mauro Icardi. Head coach Mauricio Pochettino remains vulnerable, too.
More broadly, however, this is a deal that immediately reignites the tensions underpinning modern football. This is the battle royale, the conflict between old money and new money, between legacy clubs and state-backed investment. And, to be blunt, European football has kicked off. On Twitter, Mbappe’s mother — who has been central to the negotiations — rebuked a French journalist who dared suggest her son had broken his word to Madrid. Elsewhere, La Liga president Javier Tebas described Al-Khelaifi as “dangerous” and described the deal as an “insult” to football.
In a staggering statement released on Saturday night, La Liga detailed its intention to file a complaint to UEFA about the deal.
Reports suggest Mbappe will earn €1 million per week at PSG although club sources insist he is earning less, around €40 million per year. They also insist — and perhaps this needs a pinch of salt — that this offer remained marginally less than the one Madrid had put on the table when all signing fees, wages and image rights considerations were taken into account. Earlier this year, Al-Khelaifi said: “I’m not going to hide it, we barely have any relationship with Real Madrid.”
This all began when Perez, one of the key architects of the European Super League, was thwarted by Al-Khelaifi when the breakaway movement launched in April 2021. And now, once again, the Qatar-owned club has come out on top…
PSG first thought they had Mbappe signed and sealed this time last year. At the end of last season, shortly before the European Championship, PSG were left with the impression that Mbappe intended to renew his contract. He was aware of interest from Real Madrid, as his contract had only a year remaining, but PSG were assured that he wished to stay in Paris.
In truth, some involved in the negotiations suspected that Mbappe’s ploy was to go to Euro 2020, shine bright, drive up his value and then sign enhanced terms at PSG. The problem, however, is that his tournament did not go to plan. Mbappe did not score a goal and missed the decisive penalty as France exited in the last-16 stage against Switzerland. Mbappe also had a public disagreement with French striker Olivier Giroud before the tournament had even started. When Mbappe returned to PSG, his name was booed by the club’s fans at the Parc des Princes before the opening match of the league season against Strasbourg. This was interpreted in some quarters as a response to his failures at Euro 2020 but also a public disapproval of his refusal to extend terms at PSG.
Mbappe became more distant and withdrawn from the club. He was unimpressed by criticism in the French media and well-placed sources felt it was the first crisis of confidence to truly grip one of the world’s outstanding players. At no point, however, did Mbappe’s professionalism waver in training and unlike Tottenham’s Harry Kane, for example, he did not miss any matches at the beginning of the next campaign, even as Madrid’s interest intensified.
Mbappe’s mood was lifted by the signing of his friend Achraf Hakimi from Inter Milan, while he was also impressed by the club’s moves for Lionel Messi, Sergio Ramos, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Georginio Wijnaldum and Nuno Mendes. In addition, PSG were beginning their first full season under Pochettino and there was the attraction of a strike force comprising Messi, Neymar and Mbappe. Indeed, when Messi joined the club in August 2021, Al-Khelaifi made explicitly clear to the Argentinian that he would be playing alongside Mbappe and that the club would not countenance a sale.
Despite this, speculation mounted that Madrid would make a late move in last summer’s window to buy Mbappe a year before his contract expired. By the middle of August, Mbappe had rejected two different contract offers from PSG and the club were becoming concerned. Mbappe is advised mostly by his parents. His mother has been at the heart of the contract negotiations that have made him the highest-paid player in the world, exceeding the £25 million net that Messi earns at PSG. Last summer, however, PSG had the impression that his mother was keener on a move to Madrid, while his father gave the impression of wishing to stay a little longer in Paris. Their son had, by then, decided on a move to Spain and his mother confirmed as much in an interview with Le Parisien a few months down the line.
The question, however, is the extent to which Madrid truly attempted to sign Mbappe last summer, while knowing there would be the opportunity to sign him at the end of his contract within 10 months. What we do know is that Madrid made an opening bid, worth €160 million, for Mbappe on the evening of August 24, a week before the window closed. PSG were initially baffled, as news of the bid leaked publicly before it had even made its way onto their email server. When the offer came, it was immediately rejected.
PSG were guided by the fact that they still owed Monaco €36 million for the final payment of the €180 million transfer they agreed to sign Mbappe from the club four years earlier. As such, the remaining pot of €124 million left them, in their view, short of the requisite funds to replace Mbappe, particularly with a week remaining in the transfer window. The club did, however, make some initial enquiries, exploring the possibility of deals for Haaland and Everton’s Richarlison. Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford had previously been linked but was not under serious consideration.
The next day, PSG’s sporting director Leonardo spoke out. “If he wants to leave, we are not going to hold him back, but it will be on our terms.” Al-Khelaifi said: “The club’s stance is very clear.”
Some confidantes of Al-Khelaifi believed the PSG president may have been prepared to do business had the offer reached €200 million and they felt he was daring the Spanish club to hit those numbers. In truth, senior personnel in Paris doubted that Madrid, ravaged by the financial impact of the pandemic and the cost of their stadium rebuild, genuinely had the funds at their disposal. They wondered if Madrid were publicly posturing and securing a rejection from PSG to give Mbappe the impression they had done everything in their power to sign the striker. This would then leave them perfectly positioned to sign Mbappe in the summer. Additionally, Perez required some positive press coverage after his failure to pull off the Super League, the club’s inability to win last season’s La Liga and the departure of several key players.
During the ensuing days, more speculation emerged. Reports emerged of a second proposal worth €180 million and a final third proposal worth €200 million. The Madrid press also claimed that the club had negotiators on the ground in Paris and that the club were attempting to speak to the Qatari government to grease the wheels of the transfer.
Yet PSG have always insisted to The Athletic that a second formal offer did not arrive, although it may have been touted during conversations between the clubs. As for the final €200 million approach, PSG deny it happened. The Athletic contacted Madrid, asking whether it was true they had made only one formal offer, and the club did not respond.
Both clubs entered the campaign with the Mbappe situation hanging over them. In the Spanish media, the more dramatic coverage became critical of Mbappe. For example, when, late in the transfer window, Mbappe scored twice against Reims and happily celebrated his goals, he was criticised for not acting up to force through the deal. In one gossipy TV show, El Chiringuito had super-imposed Mbappe’s face over a countdown clock to offer the impression of an imminent transfer.
When the window closed, Madrid-based newspaper AS published a graphic of Mbappe, wearing a PSG shirt, superimposed behind prison bars. PSG, meanwhile, had taken a risk by turning down at least €160 million and now faced losing Mbappe for nothing at the end of the season. Behind the scenes, PSG became more flexible. They initially wanted to tie Mbappe down to a new long-term contract but they realised his camp had no intention of agreeing to this. Various alternatives were laid out. PSG wanted a three-year extension, which would provide resale value, but were also open to a two-year extension if Mbappe insisted.
The club’s pitch was that, at 23, Mbappe is young enough to see through his dream of lifting the Champions League with PSG and then have his adventures elsewhere if he still maintained those ambitions. Additionally, PSG offered to make Mbappe the centrepiece of the club’s commercial operations, as the boy from Bondy, in the Parisian suburbs just seven miles from the centre of Paris. Mbappe had initially felt a little put out by the club’s lauding of Messi but the pair bonded over time and the club saw the need to give Mbappe extra attention and “some TLC”, according to sources.
Madrid initially suggested they would come back and sign Mbappe in January but this did not materialise. That possibility lessened when the two clubs were drawn against one another in the Champions League.
Mbappe scored home and away against Real for a 2-0 aggregate lead, before a 17-minute implosion from PSG and a Karim Benzema hat-trick turned the tables. PSG crashed out of the Champions League once more and despite easily winning Ligue 1, this had been an underwhelming season. Key players such as Neymar and Messi have each been the subject of boos by supporters. The club’s fanbase has also directed strong criticism towards the management of the club, arguing that it has too often prioritised commercial growth over the healthy performance of the men’s and women’s teams. For much of the campaign, even Mbappe’s PSG team-mates were in the dark over his plans. In the late autumn, one told The Athletic: “We do not have a clue.” In public interviews, players stayed deliberately vague but some at the club had started to lose hope.
Amid the turmoil, there had been an increasing expectation in Madrid that Mbappe’s signature would be a formality this summer. The Madrid press often reminded its readers that Mbappe had grown up with posters of Cristiano Ronaldo on his bedroom walls.
Real Madrid’s offer to Mbappe was fiercely competitive, including granting Mbappe large control over his image rights, and even earlier this week, those close to the negotiations were confident he had agreed terms with the club. Sources suggest that Mbappe had even gone as far as to arrange viewings of properties in Madrid last week.
When news broke of Mbappe’s decision to stay in Paris, French journalist Frederic Hermel wrote on Twitter: “In football, there are those who respect the given word. And then there is Mbappe…”
Mbappe’s mother responded: “Monsieur Hermel, when we don’t know, we keep quiet… an agreement was never given… best wishes to you.”
By Thursday this week, PSG were confident they finally had an agreement, although messages were still being exchanged internally into the early hours of Saturday morning and it was only late on Saturday afternoon that Mbappe finally applied his signature. Madrid must now look elsewhere for a high-profile summer transfer, and are eyeing Monaco midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni, although Liverpool are also monitoring his situation. Meanwhile, Richarlison and Liverpool pair Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane may come into discussions as forward options. Both Liverpool players have a year to run on their contracts and the club remain in healthy dialogue for each situation. However, a deal for Mane, who has a property in Spain, will not be discussed until after the Champions League final.
For Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), which owns PSG, there is a broader appeal to Mbappe’s renewal. This is the World Cup year and Qatar is the host. Many observers believe it would be embarrassing to lose Mbappe just before the country’s big moment. PSG sources are at pains to deny this, arguing that the club only wants to retain the man they consider the best footballer on the planet.
Many continue to argue that PSG is a vanity or sport-washing project to cleanse human rights concerns associated with Qatar. In an interview with The Athletic last month, Al-Khelaifi countered that he considers PSG to be an “investment project”, arguing that the club was acquired for €70 million but its value has since risen into the billions.
These questions will not go away and the debate resurfaced on Saturday when Tebas, La Liga’s president, sent an inflammatory tweet: “What PSG are doing by renewing with Mbappe for a huge amount of money (who knows where and how it’ll be paid) after announcing losses of €700 million in the last few seasons and having a wage burden of €600 million is an INSULT to football. Al-Khelafi (sic) is as dangerous as the Super League.” PSG, it is understood, are furious with Tebas’ public criticism. When PSG rejected an offer for Mbappe last summer, Tebas tweeted: “Club-states are as dangerous to the football ecosystem as the Super League. We were critical of the Super League because it destroys European football and we are just as critical of PSG. COVID losses +€300 million; TV revenue in France -40 per cent; +€500 million in salaries? Untenable.”
Tebas, it should be said, is not alone in his concerns but to miss out on both Mbappe and Haaland is a blow for a competition that has already lost Ronaldo and Messi in recent years. Last summer, the transfer net spend of La Liga was 10 times lower than the Premier League.
On Saturday night, La Liga issued a statement before Mbappe had even confirmed his decision. It was a staggering statement.
La Liga said: “On Kylian Mbappe’s possible announcement to stay at PSG, La Liga wishes to state that this type of agreement attacks the economic stability of European football, putting at risk hundreds of thousands of jobs and the integrity of the sport, not only in European competitions, but also in domestic leagues.
“It is scandalous that a club like PSG, which last season reported losses of more than €220 million after accumulating losses of more than €700 million in prior seasons (while reporting sponsorship income at doubtful valuation), with a squad cost around €650 million for this season, can close such an agreement, while those clubs that could afford the hiring of the player without seeing their wage bill compromised, are left without able to sign him.”
The statement continued: “La Liga will file a complaint against PSG before UEFA, the French administrative court and fiscal authorities and European Union authorities to continue to defend the economic ecosystem of European football and its sustainability.”
The rise of state-backed clubs was one of the motivating factors behind the Super League for clubs such as the American-owned Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool, who say they wish to run more sustainably, as well as Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus. On the other side of this debate, clubs such as PSG and Manchester City (who, along with Chelsea, were the first to drop out of the Super League) would argue that their rivals are anti-competitive and that state-backed clubs should not be held responsible for the debts of a club such as Barcelona.
PSG’s refusal to join the competition, along with German clubs Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, was one of the key reasons behind the Super League’s collapse. Madrid remain committed to the Super League, fighting in the courts, and they continue to be absent from UEFA and European Club Association (ECA) meetings. Al-Khelaifi, meanwhile, now runs the show at the ECA and has a senior UEFA executive committee position.
Earlier this season, Al-Khelaifi taunted the remaining Super League clubs Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus.
He said: “I do not like to focus on fabulists and failures. Together, we defended the interests of European football for everyone. We relied on the resolve and strength of UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin, who stood up to the midnight coup. He said, ‘We will win’, and we did. While the three rebel clubs waste energies, twist narratives and continue to shout at the sky, the rest of us are moving forward.”
The pettiness between the two clubs reached new levels in February when PSG and Madrid met in the first leg of the Champions League in Paris. Perez and Al-Khelaifi met in person for the first time since the Super League. PSG hosted a lunch for club executives and UEFA delegates at the three-Michelin-star restaurant Pavillon Ledoyen.
Perez and Al-Khelaifi had originally found it difficult to compromise on a precise time for the lunch, with one party suggesting 1pm and the other 1.30pm. Eventually, the pair agreed on a 1.15pm meet-up time. Perez arrived late, which was underlined by his host.
As the lunch played out, the iciness between the two clubs became evident. Al-Khelaifi told Perez he had warned him a Super League would not succeed and then the Qatari businessman laid out what he believes to be his differing vision for football. “There were no fights,” one source insisted, “but it was tense.”
Another explains: “The UEFA delegates watched on, looked down, bewildered, and twiddled their thumbs.”
Three weeks later, Perez was the man on the up when his team knocked PSG out of the Champions League. Now, however, Al-Khelaifi has landed yet another a right hook to Perez’s ambitions.
Ahead of PSG’s final Ligue 1 match of the season against Metz, Mbappe was paraded on the pitch alongside club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, much to the delight of a fanbase who had assumed this would be his last game for the club, with his contract due to expire this summer. By the 50-minute mark, he had scored a hat-trick, underlining exactly why two of the world’s richest clubs have been fighting tooth and nail for so long to secure his services.
For several years, Mbappe has been the apple of Madrid’s eye. It is no exaggeration to say he has been an obsession of the Real’s president Florentino Perez. Many of the club’s key decisions in recent times have been guided by their mission to secure Mbappe.
When head coach Carlo Ancelotti rejoined Real last summer, he was informed by Perez that players would be sold to accommodate Mbappe’s wages. This is one reason Madrid headed into the campaign without Sergio Ramos, who left for PSG on a free transfer, and Raphael Varane, who signed for Manchester United in a deal worth more than £40 million. In recent windows, the club has also sold Sergio Reguilon, Achraf Hakimi and Martin Odegaard for a total of around £90 million. Within the club, this became known as the “Mbappe fund” and, in reality, nobody at Madrid expected Ancelotti’s side to perform as successfully as they have over the past season, in which they won La Liga comfortably and might still lift the Champions League. Last summer, the club invested modestly, recruiting only David Alaba on a free transfer and signing the young French midfielder Eduardo Camavinga for £34 million.
Madrid’s fixation on Mbappe also had the knock-on effect of dictating the intensity of their attempts to sign Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund. Due to a clause in the Norwegian’s contract, Haaland was available to sign this summer for £51 million and sources close to the situation believed that the player’s preference earlier this year was to join Madrid.
Haaland, who has since confirmed he will join Manchester City, also had conversations and proposals from Bayern Munich, Barcelona and PSG. Liverpool, whose manager Jurgen Klopp used to work at Dortmund, also sought to hear the extent of the player’s demands, as they also did with Mbappe, but the numbers involved were unrealistic within Liverpool’s structure. In the case of Madrid, the club began to dream of recruiting Haaland in addition to Mbappe. The problem, however, was that the financial burden of doing both deals in the same summer was excessive and as such, they wanted Haaland to spend one more year in Germany before joining the Spanish club in the summer of 2023. This would also allow Madrid striker Karim Benzema, the favourite to win this year’s Ballon d’Or, one more year as the spearhead of the club’s attack alongside his French compatriot Mbappe.
Madrid’s interest was one of the prime motivations for City’s early attack because the English club knew that if Mbappe ultimately decided to remain at PSG, Madrid would bring forward their plan to sign Haaland by a year and tussle more vigorously for the player this summer. City acted with greater conviction, fitting the player’s desire for a transfer this summer, and Madrid’s eggs were now solely in the Mbappe basket. Now, however, they have neither player.
For Perez, this is a heavy sporting and political blow. Madrid hoped to announce the transfer as a feel-good boost before next weekend’s Champions League final against Liverpool and nobody can underestimate Mbappe’s quality — this is a 23-year-old who has already won the World Cup with France. He has scored 221 goals and recorded 124 assists in 330 career appearances for Monaco, PSG and France. His value on the field to Madrid was clear as the club seek to re-energise their squad in the post-Cristiano Ronaldo era. For PSG, he will be at the heart of next season’s plans, with the club planning a rebuild that will see Angel Di Maria leave, likely followed by Idrissa Gueye and Mauro Icardi. Head coach Mauricio Pochettino remains vulnerable, too.
More broadly, however, this is a deal that immediately reignites the tensions underpinning modern football. This is the battle royale, the conflict between old money and new money, between legacy clubs and state-backed investment. And, to be blunt, European football has kicked off. On Twitter, Mbappe’s mother — who has been central to the negotiations — rebuked a French journalist who dared suggest her son had broken his word to Madrid. Elsewhere, La Liga president Javier Tebas described Al-Khelaifi as “dangerous” and described the deal as an “insult” to football.
In a staggering statement released on Saturday night, La Liga detailed its intention to file a complaint to UEFA about the deal.
Reports suggest Mbappe will earn €1 million per week at PSG although club sources insist he is earning less, around €40 million per year. They also insist — and perhaps this needs a pinch of salt — that this offer remained marginally less than the one Madrid had put on the table when all signing fees, wages and image rights considerations were taken into account. Earlier this year, Al-Khelaifi said: “I’m not going to hide it, we barely have any relationship with Real Madrid.”
This all began when Perez, one of the key architects of the European Super League, was thwarted by Al-Khelaifi when the breakaway movement launched in April 2021. And now, once again, the Qatar-owned club has come out on top…
PSG first thought they had Mbappe signed and sealed this time last year. At the end of last season, shortly before the European Championship, PSG were left with the impression that Mbappe intended to renew his contract. He was aware of interest from Real Madrid, as his contract had only a year remaining, but PSG were assured that he wished to stay in Paris.
In truth, some involved in the negotiations suspected that Mbappe’s ploy was to go to Euro 2020, shine bright, drive up his value and then sign enhanced terms at PSG. The problem, however, is that his tournament did not go to plan. Mbappe did not score a goal and missed the decisive penalty as France exited in the last-16 stage against Switzerland. Mbappe also had a public disagreement with French striker Olivier Giroud before the tournament had even started. When Mbappe returned to PSG, his name was booed by the club’s fans at the Parc des Princes before the opening match of the league season against Strasbourg. This was interpreted in some quarters as a response to his failures at Euro 2020 but also a public disapproval of his refusal to extend terms at PSG.
Mbappe became more distant and withdrawn from the club. He was unimpressed by criticism in the French media and well-placed sources felt it was the first crisis of confidence to truly grip one of the world’s outstanding players. At no point, however, did Mbappe’s professionalism waver in training and unlike Tottenham’s Harry Kane, for example, he did not miss any matches at the beginning of the next campaign, even as Madrid’s interest intensified.
Mbappe’s mood was lifted by the signing of his friend Achraf Hakimi from Inter Milan, while he was also impressed by the club’s moves for Lionel Messi, Sergio Ramos, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Georginio Wijnaldum and Nuno Mendes. In addition, PSG were beginning their first full season under Pochettino and there was the attraction of a strike force comprising Messi, Neymar and Mbappe. Indeed, when Messi joined the club in August 2021, Al-Khelaifi made explicitly clear to the Argentinian that he would be playing alongside Mbappe and that the club would not countenance a sale.
Despite this, speculation mounted that Madrid would make a late move in last summer’s window to buy Mbappe a year before his contract expired. By the middle of August, Mbappe had rejected two different contract offers from PSG and the club were becoming concerned. Mbappe is advised mostly by his parents. His mother has been at the heart of the contract negotiations that have made him the highest-paid player in the world, exceeding the £25 million net that Messi earns at PSG. Last summer, however, PSG had the impression that his mother was keener on a move to Madrid, while his father gave the impression of wishing to stay a little longer in Paris. Their son had, by then, decided on a move to Spain and his mother confirmed as much in an interview with Le Parisien a few months down the line.
The question, however, is the extent to which Madrid truly attempted to sign Mbappe last summer, while knowing there would be the opportunity to sign him at the end of his contract within 10 months. What we do know is that Madrid made an opening bid, worth €160 million, for Mbappe on the evening of August 24, a week before the window closed. PSG were initially baffled, as news of the bid leaked publicly before it had even made its way onto their email server. When the offer came, it was immediately rejected.
PSG were guided by the fact that they still owed Monaco €36 million for the final payment of the €180 million transfer they agreed to sign Mbappe from the club four years earlier. As such, the remaining pot of €124 million left them, in their view, short of the requisite funds to replace Mbappe, particularly with a week remaining in the transfer window. The club did, however, make some initial enquiries, exploring the possibility of deals for Haaland and Everton’s Richarlison. Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford had previously been linked but was not under serious consideration.
The next day, PSG’s sporting director Leonardo spoke out. “If he wants to leave, we are not going to hold him back, but it will be on our terms.” Al-Khelaifi said: “The club’s stance is very clear.”
Some confidantes of Al-Khelaifi believed the PSG president may have been prepared to do business had the offer reached €200 million and they felt he was daring the Spanish club to hit those numbers. In truth, senior personnel in Paris doubted that Madrid, ravaged by the financial impact of the pandemic and the cost of their stadium rebuild, genuinely had the funds at their disposal. They wondered if Madrid were publicly posturing and securing a rejection from PSG to give Mbappe the impression they had done everything in their power to sign the striker. This would then leave them perfectly positioned to sign Mbappe in the summer. Additionally, Perez required some positive press coverage after his failure to pull off the Super League, the club’s inability to win last season’s La Liga and the departure of several key players.
During the ensuing days, more speculation emerged. Reports emerged of a second proposal worth €180 million and a final third proposal worth €200 million. The Madrid press also claimed that the club had negotiators on the ground in Paris and that the club were attempting to speak to the Qatari government to grease the wheels of the transfer.
Yet PSG have always insisted to The Athletic that a second formal offer did not arrive, although it may have been touted during conversations between the clubs. As for the final €200 million approach, PSG deny it happened. The Athletic contacted Madrid, asking whether it was true they had made only one formal offer, and the club did not respond.
Both clubs entered the campaign with the Mbappe situation hanging over them. In the Spanish media, the more dramatic coverage became critical of Mbappe. For example, when, late in the transfer window, Mbappe scored twice against Reims and happily celebrated his goals, he was criticised for not acting up to force through the deal. In one gossipy TV show, El Chiringuito had super-imposed Mbappe’s face over a countdown clock to offer the impression of an imminent transfer.
When the window closed, Madrid-based newspaper AS published a graphic of Mbappe, wearing a PSG shirt, superimposed behind prison bars. PSG, meanwhile, had taken a risk by turning down at least €160 million and now faced losing Mbappe for nothing at the end of the season. Behind the scenes, PSG became more flexible. They initially wanted to tie Mbappe down to a new long-term contract but they realised his camp had no intention of agreeing to this. Various alternatives were laid out. PSG wanted a three-year extension, which would provide resale value, but were also open to a two-year extension if Mbappe insisted.
The club’s pitch was that, at 23, Mbappe is young enough to see through his dream of lifting the Champions League with PSG and then have his adventures elsewhere if he still maintained those ambitions. Additionally, PSG offered to make Mbappe the centrepiece of the club’s commercial operations, as the boy from Bondy, in the Parisian suburbs just seven miles from the centre of Paris. Mbappe had initially felt a little put out by the club’s lauding of Messi but the pair bonded over time and the club saw the need to give Mbappe extra attention and “some TLC”, according to sources.
Madrid initially suggested they would come back and sign Mbappe in January but this did not materialise. That possibility lessened when the two clubs were drawn against one another in the Champions League.
Mbappe scored home and away against Real for a 2-0 aggregate lead, before a 17-minute implosion from PSG and a Karim Benzema hat-trick turned the tables. PSG crashed out of the Champions League once more and despite easily winning Ligue 1, this had been an underwhelming season. Key players such as Neymar and Messi have each been the subject of boos by supporters. The club’s fanbase has also directed strong criticism towards the management of the club, arguing that it has too often prioritised commercial growth over the healthy performance of the men’s and women’s teams. For much of the campaign, even Mbappe’s PSG team-mates were in the dark over his plans. In the late autumn, one told The Athletic: “We do not have a clue.” In public interviews, players stayed deliberately vague but some at the club had started to lose hope.
Amid the turmoil, there had been an increasing expectation in Madrid that Mbappe’s signature would be a formality this summer. The Madrid press often reminded its readers that Mbappe had grown up with posters of Cristiano Ronaldo on his bedroom walls.
Real Madrid’s offer to Mbappe was fiercely competitive, including granting Mbappe large control over his image rights, and even earlier this week, those close to the negotiations were confident he had agreed terms with the club. Sources suggest that Mbappe had even gone as far as to arrange viewings of properties in Madrid last week.
When news broke of Mbappe’s decision to stay in Paris, French journalist Frederic Hermel wrote on Twitter: “In football, there are those who respect the given word. And then there is Mbappe…”
Mbappe’s mother responded: “Monsieur Hermel, when we don’t know, we keep quiet… an agreement was never given… best wishes to you.”
By Thursday this week, PSG were confident they finally had an agreement, although messages were still being exchanged internally into the early hours of Saturday morning and it was only late on Saturday afternoon that Mbappe finally applied his signature. Madrid must now look elsewhere for a high-profile summer transfer, and are eyeing Monaco midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni, although Liverpool are also monitoring his situation. Meanwhile, Richarlison and Liverpool pair Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane may come into discussions as forward options. Both Liverpool players have a year to run on their contracts and the club remain in healthy dialogue for each situation. However, a deal for Mane, who has a property in Spain, will not be discussed until after the Champions League final.
For Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), which owns PSG, there is a broader appeal to Mbappe’s renewal. This is the World Cup year and Qatar is the host. Many observers believe it would be embarrassing to lose Mbappe just before the country’s big moment. PSG sources are at pains to deny this, arguing that the club only wants to retain the man they consider the best footballer on the planet.
Many continue to argue that PSG is a vanity or sport-washing project to cleanse human rights concerns associated with Qatar. In an interview with The Athletic last month, Al-Khelaifi countered that he considers PSG to be an “investment project”, arguing that the club was acquired for €70 million but its value has since risen into the billions.
These questions will not go away and the debate resurfaced on Saturday when Tebas, La Liga’s president, sent an inflammatory tweet: “What PSG are doing by renewing with Mbappe for a huge amount of money (who knows where and how it’ll be paid) after announcing losses of €700 million in the last few seasons and having a wage burden of €600 million is an INSULT to football. Al-Khelafi (sic) is as dangerous as the Super League.” PSG, it is understood, are furious with Tebas’ public criticism. When PSG rejected an offer for Mbappe last summer, Tebas tweeted: “Club-states are as dangerous to the football ecosystem as the Super League. We were critical of the Super League because it destroys European football and we are just as critical of PSG. COVID losses +€300 million; TV revenue in France -40 per cent; +€500 million in salaries? Untenable.”
Tebas, it should be said, is not alone in his concerns but to miss out on both Mbappe and Haaland is a blow for a competition that has already lost Ronaldo and Messi in recent years. Last summer, the transfer net spend of La Liga was 10 times lower than the Premier League.
On Saturday night, La Liga issued a statement before Mbappe had even confirmed his decision. It was a staggering statement.
La Liga said: “On Kylian Mbappe’s possible announcement to stay at PSG, La Liga wishes to state that this type of agreement attacks the economic stability of European football, putting at risk hundreds of thousands of jobs and the integrity of the sport, not only in European competitions, but also in domestic leagues.
“It is scandalous that a club like PSG, which last season reported losses of more than €220 million after accumulating losses of more than €700 million in prior seasons (while reporting sponsorship income at doubtful valuation), with a squad cost around €650 million for this season, can close such an agreement, while those clubs that could afford the hiring of the player without seeing their wage bill compromised, are left without able to sign him.”
The statement continued: “La Liga will file a complaint against PSG before UEFA, the French administrative court and fiscal authorities and European Union authorities to continue to defend the economic ecosystem of European football and its sustainability.”
The rise of state-backed clubs was one of the motivating factors behind the Super League for clubs such as the American-owned Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool, who say they wish to run more sustainably, as well as Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus. On the other side of this debate, clubs such as PSG and Manchester City (who, along with Chelsea, were the first to drop out of the Super League) would argue that their rivals are anti-competitive and that state-backed clubs should not be held responsible for the debts of a club such as Barcelona.
PSG’s refusal to join the competition, along with German clubs Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, was one of the key reasons behind the Super League’s collapse. Madrid remain committed to the Super League, fighting in the courts, and they continue to be absent from UEFA and European Club Association (ECA) meetings. Al-Khelaifi, meanwhile, now runs the show at the ECA and has a senior UEFA executive committee position.
Earlier this season, Al-Khelaifi taunted the remaining Super League clubs Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus.
He said: “I do not like to focus on fabulists and failures. Together, we defended the interests of European football for everyone. We relied on the resolve and strength of UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin, who stood up to the midnight coup. He said, ‘We will win’, and we did. While the three rebel clubs waste energies, twist narratives and continue to shout at the sky, the rest of us are moving forward.”
The pettiness between the two clubs reached new levels in February when PSG and Madrid met in the first leg of the Champions League in Paris. Perez and Al-Khelaifi met in person for the first time since the Super League. PSG hosted a lunch for club executives and UEFA delegates at the three-Michelin-star restaurant Pavillon Ledoyen.
Perez and Al-Khelaifi had originally found it difficult to compromise on a precise time for the lunch, with one party suggesting 1pm and the other 1.30pm. Eventually, the pair agreed on a 1.15pm meet-up time. Perez arrived late, which was underlined by his host.
As the lunch played out, the iciness between the two clubs became evident. Al-Khelaifi told Perez he had warned him a Super League would not succeed and then the Qatari businessman laid out what he believes to be his differing vision for football. “There were no fights,” one source insisted, “but it was tense.”
Another explains: “The UEFA delegates watched on, looked down, bewildered, and twiddled their thumbs.”
Three weeks later, Perez was the man on the up when his team knocked PSG out of the Champions League. Now, however, Al-Khelaifi has landed yet another a right hook to Perez’s ambitions.
massraider
Footballguy
massraider
Footballguy
It was a cut/paste from the Athletic. I risk legal action to share some in depth, behind the scenes, paywall journalism, and this is the thanks I get.
El Floppo
Footballguy
If you had put it into the quote function, we could have scrolled by it easier.
I risk legal action to share some in depth, behind the scenes, paywall journalism, and this is the thanks I get.
massraider
Footballguy
As my football coach used to say,
You can only go as fast as your slowest student
it's my bad, you gotta stick to tweets in case the reader sees something shiny on the floor.
DJackson10
Footballguy
DJackson10
Footballguy
The right Milan won the league.
Also Fikayo Timori >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Chris Smalling >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Man U Supporter taken out of the stands on his 6th pint >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Finally Harry Mcguire
Also Fikayo Timori >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Chris Smalling >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Man U Supporter taken out of the stands on his 6th pint >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Finally Harry Mcguire
Dinsy Ejotuz
Footballguy
Well, that was a gut punch.
In no particular order, my very partisan (trigger alert) thoughts:
I hate that in 2022 there are sports leagues that can't, or refuse to, enforce salary cap/spend rules. PSG, City and (newsflash from 2025) Newcastle can burn in a fire. Preferably after being doused in a barrel of OPEC crude.
The woman who turned down a 100k pound settlement on her 100 pound pre-season bet on Liverpool to win the Quad (at ~3600:1) probably feels worse than I do. Hopefully she had a buddy put down a monster hedge on City behind the scenes.
Thiago seems to have avoided major injury, but may not be fit for next weekend. If he and Fab are able to play I like Liverpool's chances a lot.
The two domestic cups, a CL final, and taking City to the wire is a very good season. If they win the CL it's an all-timer.
City (and PSG for that matter) are front-runners. They are just about unstoppable against weaker teams, but when a quality opponent plays the role of Buster Douglas, and punch back, they lose just about every time. Liverpool and Chelsea in the cups, the Champions League every year, Klopp's winning record vs Pep at City, etc. Even their lone FA Cup win under Pep was beating Watford. Maybe City sort that out, but it's been a decade now, so I doubt it.
The non-PK on Rodri's picture perfect handball joins "12 millimeters" from 2019.
United will never be great again under current ownership. Having lived through Liverpool for 15 years before FSG, all the managerial changes in the world can't fix what's wrong with the club right now. They were miles closer to relegation (24 points) than they were to the title (36 points).
It'll be interesting to see how Chelsea handles the loss of a sugar daddy. Did Abromovic build the club up to a point where it can compete on revenues earned (maybe so -- they've had a great record in the transfer market for a few years), or do they fade back into annual 3rd-6th place finishes?
I'm pulling hard for the London teams, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham now, along with any other team that doesn't hit mom and dad up for cash every weekend. United belong in this group too, but, United. FSG are a hedge fund, so plenty of room to get into your feelings there too if that's your jam, but I'd like to think we can all agree that actual murderous dictators and slave-society tyrants are still on a different level for most folks even if the spend-what-you-earn model doesn't get you there by itself.
Mane in the middle has been a revelation -- he's so wily receiving the ball in traffic. No matter how little room he has he manages to twist and turn and touch the ball in a way that finds some space.
I seriously wonder if the game vs Real is the last time we see Salah and Mane playing together.
If Liverpool win the CL the all-time major trophies vs United look like: +1 league title and +4 FA Cups for United vs +4 CLs for Liverpool. Anyone being honest would trade United's five for Liverpool's four, but the +2 UEFA Cups and +4 League Cups for Liverpool make a nice tie-breaker anyhow. A Liverpool win in the Champion's League, a 4th major trophy in five years, would put them ahead of United again as the greatest English team. A Liverpool loss leaves room for debate.
In no particular order, my very partisan (trigger alert) thoughts:
I hate that in 2022 there are sports leagues that can't, or refuse to, enforce salary cap/spend rules. PSG, City and (newsflash from 2025) Newcastle can burn in a fire. Preferably after being doused in a barrel of OPEC crude.
The woman who turned down a 100k pound settlement on her 100 pound pre-season bet on Liverpool to win the Quad (at ~3600:1) probably feels worse than I do. Hopefully she had a buddy put down a monster hedge on City behind the scenes.
Thiago seems to have avoided major injury, but may not be fit for next weekend. If he and Fab are able to play I like Liverpool's chances a lot.
The two domestic cups, a CL final, and taking City to the wire is a very good season. If they win the CL it's an all-timer.
City (and PSG for that matter) are front-runners. They are just about unstoppable against weaker teams, but when a quality opponent plays the role of Buster Douglas, and punch back, they lose just about every time. Liverpool and Chelsea in the cups, the Champions League every year, Klopp's winning record vs Pep at City, etc. Even their lone FA Cup win under Pep was beating Watford. Maybe City sort that out, but it's been a decade now, so I doubt it.
The non-PK on Rodri's picture perfect handball joins "12 millimeters" from 2019.
United will never be great again under current ownership. Having lived through Liverpool for 15 years before FSG, all the managerial changes in the world can't fix what's wrong with the club right now. They were miles closer to relegation (24 points) than they were to the title (36 points).
It'll be interesting to see how Chelsea handles the loss of a sugar daddy. Did Abromovic build the club up to a point where it can compete on revenues earned (maybe so -- they've had a great record in the transfer market for a few years), or do they fade back into annual 3rd-6th place finishes?
I'm pulling hard for the London teams, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham now, along with any other team that doesn't hit mom and dad up for cash every weekend. United belong in this group too, but, United. FSG are a hedge fund, so plenty of room to get into your feelings there too if that's your jam, but I'd like to think we can all agree that actual murderous dictators and slave-society tyrants are still on a different level for most folks even if the spend-what-you-earn model doesn't get you there by itself.
Mane in the middle has been a revelation -- he's so wily receiving the ball in traffic. No matter how little room he has he manages to twist and turn and touch the ball in a way that finds some space.
I seriously wonder if the game vs Real is the last time we see Salah and Mane playing together.
If Liverpool win the CL the all-time major trophies vs United look like: +1 league title and +4 FA Cups for United vs +4 CLs for Liverpool. Anyone being honest would trade United's five for Liverpool's four, but the +2 UEFA Cups and +4 League Cups for Liverpool make a nice tie-breaker anyhow. A Liverpool win in the Champion's League, a 4th major trophy in five years, would put them ahead of United again as the greatest English team. A Liverpool loss leaves room for debate.
El Floppo
Footballguy
this has been an epic season (2 seasons, really) by Liverpool... even if they lose the CL final. getting to essentially every final (final day of the season while still in the hunt) can't-be-overemphasized- massive. totally agree- if they win the CL? they're already historically epic this season... that would put it into upper echelon of tippy top seasons ever by any club.
El Floppo
Footballguy
incredible season by both teams.
still
at just how howlerifically Inter pissed away the Scudetto.fun season. it's great for Serie A to have both Milan teams battling it out along with some others.... hopefully will continue for a good stretch. even though Swag missed out on it and is still there (at least for another few weeks), I'm glad it's not Juve (or anybody else for that matter) running away with things season after season.
B Maverick
Footballguy
The trophy trade would be an interesting topic for sure.
As for the greatest team debate, not sure that 4 in 5 automatically does it and either way leaves it open for a nice debate.
massraider
Footballguy
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4XAzCvgKVpaHBFEx1AyT5r?si=_FaJDpNsRnO9UI1l02-5gA&utm_source=copy-link
Podcast reaction to a pretty crazy final day in the EPL
Podcast reaction to a pretty crazy final day in the EPL
DJackson10
Footballguy
I mean I get your point but we have owners in sports across the world who are down right racist and Donald Sterling was just the tip of that. You got guys who owned Football teams in Roman Ibrahimovic who went to Epstein island, owners who have paid people off who were sexually harassed or harassed in the workplace etc. you got league wide clubs involved in Scandals etc.
It just seems like a lot of virtue signaling by people to make themselves feel better about their own clubs who have skeletons.
DJackson10
Footballguy
massraider said:
La Liga and Madrid are just mad they missed out on two really high profile players. You got Barca who couldn't keep Messi do to "financials" but you keep hearing their name involved with big transfers how? If Madrid had gotten Halland you wouldn't hear a peep out of them
This is basically two rich kids at the prep school fighting over who's family is wealthier while all the public school kids including many who's parents can barely afford to keep them in school let alone have a much watch them fight.
Dinsy Ejotuz
Footballguy
Yeah, I'm sure that's true. Few of the top-tier owners are good guys in all likelihood.
But I really don't think that nation states should own teams or be allowed to funnel as much of the nation's wealth into a team as they can. It will end badly.
DJackson10
Footballguy
US has a rule to not allow hedge funds own sports clubs so thats kind of a start.
Dinsy Ejotuz
Footballguy
I know Serie A is down and all, but AC Milan are still champs and Zlatan played about 1200 minutes. Not bad at 40 years old.
In fact, from 38-40 ZI logged about 4300 minutes and put up 33 goals and 11 assists. That's pretty impressive: a G+A in less than every 100 minutes.
In fact, from 38-40 ZI logged about 4300 minutes and put up 33 goals and 11 assists. That's pretty impressive: a G+A in less than every 100 minutes.
El Floppo
Footballguy
the link's not working for me.
Desert_Power
Footballguy
La Liga caused the Messi exit from Barcelona by enforcing a strict salary cap based on depressed COVID revenues. La Liga trying to sue PSG over this is a little on the nose.DJackson10 said:
B Maverick
Footballguy
The news should never apologize for stating facts. And these aren't alternative facts, they are legit.
And its damn hilarious!
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DJackson10
Footballguy
It's mostly two rich kids throwing a temper-tantrum because someone said no to them and all the poor kids looking at them and saying "welcome to the real world. Life isn't fair"
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
I wonder if this is the end for Zlatan? He is out of contract, 40 years old and just completed surgery on his knee that will require 8 months of rehab.
El Floppo
Footballguy
He will come back in 6 months and still be better than 98% of the forwards in the world.
Charlie Steiner
Footballguy
NewlyRetired said:
El Floppo said:
Dear Miami,
You're welcome.
Zlatan
DJackson10
Footballguy
Serie A scored the most goals out of the top 5 leagues this year also this current season Milan's defense has allowed the fewest goals out of anyone currently. Liverpool had the lead till their last league matches but Milan has a 11 match shutout streak right now currently.
Also it's Milan. No-one besides outside people of the fanbase or Calcio calls them AC. Similar Inter Milan is just Inter
DJackson10
Footballguy
NewlyRetired said:
It is he was going to retire if he needed surgery. He's either taking over Raoli's agency or will have a Job within Milan somewhere. There's an agreement on a new 1 year contract for 2.5M but at this point It's Ibra's decision. Milan is the end of it for him. He's wanted to comeback since the day he was sold to PSG, He promised to keep playing when he came back till he gets Milan a trophy again. here it is. Another rumor I saw is he maybe goes and plays a year in Sweden and then calls it quits.
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