Futbol thread.

[Anchors-Away]

Sampdoria have accepted Brentford's offer for Mikkel Damsgaard for an estimated £10mil. More Danish friends

Edit: Correction, £14/16 mil with bonuses.

 

[Hüftpriester]

Aaron Ramsey to Nice.
Wijnaldum to Roma.
Memphis Depay will be leaving Barcelona this summer, possibly on a free as his lawyers are working on a contract rescission with the club.

 

[DSP's Tax Lawyer]

More updates

Finally, the stupid knee will be stopped for most games. Be careful for boxing day and cup finals but your average game shouldn't be hit with the stupid knee

Gaga Slonina transferred from Chicago Fire to Chelsea. Will remain in Chicago on loan until January. Spanish goalkeeper is probably gone based on this news
Amadou Onana has transferred to West Ham from Lille for 33.5 mil. "Belgian" international still has to agree on personal terms
Alex Tellas is rumored to be close to joining Sevilla. Tellas is getting squeezed out with the signing of Martinez from Ajax and needs time for the world cup and Sevilla just lost a defender to Barca so it is possible
Foden extended his contract at City
There are rumors of United and Chelsea monitoring Vardy's contract situation at Leicester so he is probably looking for a contract extension
Tottenham are either looking at Zaniolo from Roma or Traore from Wolves. Idk which one it is but one of them is on their radar
That Saudi Arabian club who wants Ronaldo is keeping the offer out after the window so we might see if Ronaldo is in it for the money or not
Cucurella from Brighton has attracted interest from Chelsea after City failed to make the full transfer. City are looking at Sergio Gomez from Anderlicht as a replacement for him while Brighton seem convinced Cucurella will leave this window and have Leipzig's Angelino as a replacement
Newcastle slightly upped their offer for Madison that was rejected but also have Harvey Barnes on their radar for transfers this summer
Wesley Fofana might be looking to leave Leicester soon and Chelsea are interested
Fulham have submitted an unknown bid for Eric Bailly from United
West Ham have struggled to sign Filip Kostic from Frankfurt. Juventus have entered the race for him as West Ham are looking at Maxwel Cornet from Burnley as an alternate. No clue how to read this one
Pablo Mari looks close to a deal with Monza in Italy




As an aside
Posts like these are why I hate commenting on social media posts. Just look at the number of retarded africans offering nothing to the conversation. There is a legit anger from European clubs about losing an important player during the January window for the Afcon tournament which gives an unknown look at the squad to finish out the season during the last little window for transfers. Africa can't really host tournaments in the summer as well. There is a legit problem and an owner was quoted about not dealing with the problem. Countless Africans just give the most brain dead takes about how the owner, who has a financial interest in Napoli and not your shitty African nation who hasn't qualified for the world cup ever, should let his entire squad go to the fucking afcon.
And this stupidity is not limited to the retarded African football fans. It bleeds up to their players.

 

[Hüftpriester]

Tottenham are either looking at Zaniolo from Roma or Traore from Wolves. Idk which one it is but one of them is on their radar

I'm seeing reports that Zaniolo to Spurs is off for now, as Mourinho wants Oliver Skipp as a part of the deal and Conte immediately shut it down. I almost forgot how much those two hate each other until I watched the highlights of their friendly from a few days ago.

I hope Zaniolo stays at Roma for at least another year, working in a front 3 with Abraham and Dybala. I seriously think they could challenge for the Scudetto, especially if they get Wijnaldum who imo is still good enough to be a very effective midfielder in Serie A.

West Ham have struggled to sign Filip Kostic from Frankfurt. Juventus have entered the race for him as West Ham are looking at Maxwel Cornet from Burnley as an alternate. No clue how to read this one

Juve have been on and off this player for much of the transfer window. It seems to be a sensible transfer, as he fills their need for a left side attacking player while Chiesa recovers. He also plays in the Serbian NT with Vlahovic. But the words sensible transfer and Juventus are rarely used in the same sentence.

 

[Anchors-Away]

Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin set to be sidelined for around a month with yet another injury (bet he wishes he went to Arsenal when he had the chance) and this leaves Lampard's attacking options to; Anthony Gordon, Demarai Gray, Alex Iwobi and Andros fucking Townsend. Rumours suggest that Everton may seek to loan-in either Michy Batshuayi or Armando Broja from Chelsea as coverage.

Least they've not got a tough opening month of fixtures eh?

6th - Chelsea (Home)
13th - Aston Villa (Away)
20th - Nottingham Forest (Home)
27th - Brentford (Away)
30th - Leeds (Away)

Oh...

 

[DSP's Tax Lawyer]

Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin set to be sidelined for around a month with yet another injury (bet he wishes he went to Arsenal when he had the chance) and this leaves Lampard's attacking options to; Anthony Gordon, Demarai Gray, Alex Iwobi and Andros fucking Townsend. Rumours suggest that Everton may seek to loan-in either Michy Batshuayi or Armando Broja from Chelsea as coverage.

Least they've not got a tough opening month of fixtures eh?

6th - Chelsea (Home)
13th - Aston Villa (Away)
20th - Nottingham Forest (Home)
27th - Brentford (Away)
30th - Leeds (Away)

Oh...

I saw rumors that Everton were not going to sign Batshuayi or Barkley from Chelsea but I don't think thats true. Everton need attacking options outside of the Championship level and both of them are better options than what they have now

I'm seeing reports that Zaniolo to Spurs is off for now, as Mourinho wants Oliver Skipp as a part of the deal and Conte immediately shut it down. I almost forgot how much those two hate each other until I watched the highlights of their friendly from a few days ago.

I hope Zaniolo stays at Roma for at least another year, working in a front 3 with Abraham and Dybala. I seriously think they could challenge for the Scudetto, especially if they get Wijnaldum who imo is still good enough to be a very effective midfielder in Serie A.

Good. I hope Spurs get fucked and are forced to make a late transfer that ruins the squad. Also hoping that Roma can challenge for the Scudetto. After all those years of Juve dominance, that league needs to become interesting again. Could become the second most interesting after the EPL.

Juve have been on and off this player for much of the transfer window. It seems to be a sensible transfer, as he fills their need for a left side attacking player while Chiesa recovers. He also plays in the Serbian NT with Vlahovic. But the words sensible transfer and Juventus are rarely used in the same sentence.

Well West Ham seem out of the running. But I think Inter might also be interested in him

 

[KokoroKoroki]

Last weekend we had the first round in our national cup tournament DFB-Pokal. Every year you can expect some higher ranked teams to disgrace themselves against teams of our 3rd Divisions or even lower classed teams.

This year's fools are:
1) Greuther Fürth lost to Stuttgarter Kickers 0:2
Last season Fürth played Bundesliga but they played one of the worst seasons a Bundesliga team ever had. So they got relegated to 2. Bundesliga again. The Kickers play in Oberliga, that's one of our 4th 5th level divisons. In our 4th level division half of the teams are amateurs team.
EDIT: Oberliga is tier 5, not tier 4. Officially the Oberliga is a non-professional league. So officially all the teams there are amateurs. But there are teams who have a past as professional teams. Like Stuttgarter Kickers who played during the 70s and 80s in 2. Bundesliga and also made it to 1. Bundesliga once during the 90s. We have more than just one Oberliga. Stuttgarter Kickers play in Oberliga Baden-Württemberg.

2) Hansa Rostock (2nd Division) lost to VFB Lübeck (3rd Division) 0:1
Last season Lübeck got relegated to 4th division. Our 2nd division started 2 weeks ago while the 3rd division hasn't even started.

3) 1. FC Cologne lost to Jahn Regensburg in penalty shoot out 3:4
Last season Cologne placed 7th in Bundesliga thus getting a chance to qualify for this seasons Conference League.
Jahn Regensburgs plays 2. division and are leading the table after two matchdays.

4.) Maybe the most shocking result: Bayer Leverkusen lost against 4th Division team SV Elversberg 3:4 in regular game time.
Last season Leverkusen placed 3rd and qualified for Champions League. They are regularly among the first 4 Bundesliga teams. But they got dominated by Elversberg and had no chance.

And then there is the mockery of a football team: Hertha BSC Berlin.
They played against Eintracht Braunschweig who are back in 2nd Bundesliga again. During the summer break Hertha kicked out their long time president and voted a new one. Their investor got his shit together and stopped trash talking Hertha. Everyone was optimistic. "This season everything will be better" they said. Until Sunday when Hertha lost against Braunschweig 6:5 after penalties.
Now you may say "It's penalties. It's hit or miss. A 50:50 chance" and I would agree but the game shouldn't even had come to penalties. Hertha is still a Bundesliga team. After 45min they were leading 2:0 but after 90 minutes it was 2:2. Braunschweig even scored a 3rd goal! Then Hertha came back an scored two goals. Their were leading 4:3 in extra time. But Hertha was doing Herthathings again and Braunschweig scored the 4:4 in the last moments of the extra time.

DFB-Pokal seems to get a lot more entertaining upsets compared to the FA Cup these days, hoping for another FC Saarbrücken situation again however unlikely it may be.

 

[Anchors-Away]

I saw rumors that Everton were not going to sign Batshuayi or Barkley from Chelsea but I don't think thats true. Everton need attacking options outside of the Championship level and both of them are better options than what they have now.

Personally I'd like for Everton to sink, purely to imagine the grand opening of the new stadium being done in the Championship. "What a grand opening day game for Everton against Plymouth Argyle"

Subject of Plymouth. A bunch of American hockey players and some other misc venture capital types came together and brought a £4mil share percentage in the club. I know fucking nothing about Hockey but at least it's only a minority share. https://www.pafc.co.uk/news/club-statement-argylegreen

 

[DSP's Tax Lawyer]

Subject of Plymouth. A bunch of American hockey players and some other misc venture capital types came together and brought a £4mil share percentage in the club. I know fucking nothing about Hockey but at least it's only a minority share. https://www.pafc.co.uk/news/club-statement-argylegreen

Lots of money flowing into the European clubs. Italy seems to be the popular one though as the cost of buying these clubs is relatively low.



Kasper Schmeichel has officially left Leicester and joined Nice. So this means that Leicester have had one player return from Torino on loan, one player return to Red Bull Leipzig on loan, Schmeichel leave for Nice for 1.1 mil and a back up keeper, Jakupovic, leave for free. If the rumors are true about Maddison, Barnes, and Fofana leaving soon, Leicester could be really fucked

 

[Anchors-Away]

Leicester seemingly turned on a Football Manager challenge save if those other transfers finalise.

 

[DSP's Tax Lawyer]

Newcastle have really only done a little bit in this transfer window. I fully expect them to splash a little more and raid Leicester. They have bought Pope from Burnley, Botman from Lille, and Targett from Villa. Pretty sure they let go over more players


Dwight Gayle and Freddie Woodman were let go on frees
Then 3 players left on loan transfers which I think means the option to buy was exercised

 

[Anchors-Away]

I think it helps that the manager Eddie Howe is building a solid British core, which will make fans less incline to scream "SPORTS WASHING" and "BLOOD MONEY" when you compare them to Manchester City. Most fans will turn a blind eye to a local white lad getting to play. How long that lasts once the last of the deadweight can be passed over is another story.

Personally I am very happy with Brentford's transfer business, assuming we get the last two names (Damsgaard and Mudryk) signed before the weekend tie with Leicester City. Well almost. I am disappointed that Forss got sold before we dealt with the deadweight in Joel Valencia and Halil Dervişoğlu. Should have traded the latter for Lewis-Potter over spending millions on the lad. Especially as Hull are apparently looking to buy the guy anyway!

 

[DSP's Tax Lawyer]

I think it helps that the manager Eddie Howe is building a solid British core, which will make fans less incline to scream "SPORTS WASHING" and "BLOOD MONEY" when you compare them to Manchester City. Most fans will turn a blind eye to a local white lad getting to play. How long that lasts once the last of the deadweight can be passed over is another story.

Eddie Howe will be a good manager for them until they can finally start spending even bigger money. Although right now, they are in a small window that they could go insane with transfer spending. Its a 3 year period that FFP looks at for the losses (really complex and idk how to best explain it) but right now Newcastle can spend a shitload right now and then go easy for a year or two but it looks like they are just trying to ease their way into a squad

 

[Kerwin White]

I'm staying with family this weekend, so it's very likely I'll end up seeing the first games of the Premier League season. Unsure if I'll actually get sucked back into it, or if it has become simply too gay. It's pretty much now or never, I think.

 

[Hüftpriester]

Good. I hope Spurs get fucked and are forced to make a late transfer that ruins the squad

As much as I've always disliked Spurs, I can't help but kind of root for any team Conte is managing as the guy is a legend in my eyes. He won a UCL with Juventus in the 90s as a player, then came back as a manager and built the dominate 2010s squad that was eventually inherited by Allegri.

He's a character and kind of insane but no one can deny the guy is a winner. Don't forget, he's the last manager to win the EPL not named Guardiola or Klopp. That being said, I hope he leaves Spurs soon cause he's too good for them.

 

[Gary the Cryptofascist]

Love the DFB Pokal just making no sense with the games. Its probably the only cup competition out there that still does it.

Yeah, the way you qualify for the German Cup is kinda weird.

- All 1. and 2. Bundesliga teams of the previous season are automatically qualified
- Place 1-4 of 3. Liga
- the winners of the Landespokale. You could translate that to state cups, but there are more state level associations than there are German federal states. And often they don't make any sense. For instance Baden-Württemberg has three state associations: Württemberg (Stuttgarter Kickers won the Württembergian cup hence they were qualified), Baden South, and Baden North which is just called "Baden". This is totally absurd and kinda unfair for the Württemberg half of the state which is roughly the same size but only gets one ticket for the DFB cup. And even more absurd is that Bavaria which is the largest German state only has one state cup so Baden-Württtemberg which has "only" 11 million people gets 3 teams into the DFB Pokal every season while Bavaria which has 13 million people only gets one team into the cup each season. (Of course teams from the first two leagues are also members of their respective state association and so you could argue the state of Bavaria is also represented by FC Bayern, FC Augsburg, SpVgg Fürth, FC Nuremberg, etc, but I am only talking about the amateur sides which are all below 4th place of 3. Liga since only they compete in those state level cups)

Here is a map of the German state level football associations within the respective federal states:

I'm technically not opposed to have multiple state associations within a state since most German federal states were made up of multiple historic regions after WWII with different dialects, denominations and culture in general. For instance most people from Baden actually want nothing to do with the Swabians from Württemberg.

But the way it works right now is clearly retarded. You could easily split up Bavaria into three associations based on cultural and historic regions - Bavaria (basically Munich, Ingolstadt, Regensburg, etc), Swabia (Augsburg, etc) and Franconia (Nuremberg, Fürth, Würzburg, Bayreuth, etc) - instead of having one big association for everyone. Some clubs in the Swabian part of Bavaria are even part of the WFV (Württemberg) already because of that.

The way it works right now really just gives some federal states an unjust advantage. Sure NRW and BW are among the most populated states and so spliting up a state like Mecklenburg-Vorpommern - which you could do based on historic regions - would be kind of unfair too since they only have 1.5 million people.


tl;dr: DFB-Pokal is a mess, but it's still great. Especially since it can still be won by other teams than Bayern Munich unlike the Bundesliga lol

 

[DSP's Tax Lawyer]

As much as I've always disliked Spurs, I can't help but kind of root for any team Conte is managing as the guy is a legend in my eyes. He won a UCL with Juventus in the 90s as a player, then came back as a manager and built the dominate 2010s squad that was eventually inherited by Allegri.

He's a character and kind of insane but no one can deny the guy is a winner. Don't forget, he's the last manager to win the EPL not named Guardiola or Klopp. That being said, I hope he leaves Spurs soon cause he's too good for them.

Conte's ability to win directly contrasts with Spurs inability to win. Conte needs to leave in order to start winning again

Yeah, the way you qualify for the German Cup is kinda weird.

- All 1. and 2. Bundesliga teams of the previous season are automatically qualified
- Place 1-4 of 3. Liga
- the winners of the Landespokale. You could translate that to state cups, but there are more state level associations than there are German federal states. And often they don't make any sense. For instance Baden-Württemberg has three state associations: Württemberg (Stuttgarter Kickers won the Württembergian cup hence they were qualified), Baden South, and Baden North which is just called "Baden". This is totally absurd and kinda unfair for the Württemberg half of the state which is roughly the same size but only gets one ticket for the DFB cup. And even more absurd is that Bavaria which is the largest German state only has one state cup so Baden-Württtemberg which has "only" 11 million people gets 3 teams into the DFB Pokal every season while Bavaria which has 13 million people only gets one team into the cup each season. (Of course teams from the first two leagues are also members of their respective state association and so you could argue the state of Bavaria is also represented by FC Bayern, FC Augsburg, SpVgg Fürth, FC Nuremberg, etc, but I am only talking about the amateur sides which are all below 4th place of 3. Liga since only they compete in those state level cups)

Here is a map of the German state level football associations within the respective federal states:

View attachment 3562633

I'm technically not opposed to have multiple state associations within a state since most German federal states were made up of multiple historic regions after WWII with different dialects, denominations and culture in general. For instance most people from Baden actually want nothing to do with the Swabians from Württemberg.

But the way it works right now is clearly retarded. You could easily split up Bavaria into three associations based on cultural and historic regions - Bavaria (basically Munich, Ingolstadt, Regensburg, etc), Swabia (Augsburg, etc) and Franconia (Nuremberg, Fürth, Würzburg, Bayreuth, etc) - instead of having one big association for everyone. Some clubs in the Swabian part of Bavaria are even part of the WFV (Württemberg) already because of that.

The way it works right now really just gives some federal states an unjust advantage. Sure NRW and BW are among the most populated states and so spliting up a state like Mecklenburg-Vorpommern - which you could do based on historic regions - would be kind of unfair too since they only have 1.5 million people.


tl;dr: DFB-Pokal is a mess, but it's still great. Especially since it can still be won by other teams than Bayern Munich unlike the Bundesliga lol

I don't think the Pokal really needs to be changed. Like yes, it isn't fair about certain areas getting more or less representation but I think that a cup competition that is entirely this random shouldn't be touched until it needs to be. Once Bayern start winning it every year like they do with the Bundesliga, then you can look at rebuilding it. But until then, don't fix what isn't broken

 

[Chad Holdenford]

Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Paraguay have officially released a joint candidacy to host the 2030 World Cup.
So we have one country up the nose with debts and on the brink of total collapse, two countries plunging into far-left lunacy, and one in decent economical conditions but too small to carry such an event.

The sole argument for this travesty of candidacy is because "muh 100 years of the 1930 WC in Uruguay", which doesn't mean shit. Remember the 1996 Olympics and how some believed it was supposed to happen in Athens, only for fucking Atlanta to cuck them out of the rights? Same thing is bound to happen here. Money talks, etc. And rest assured that they have no money and no infrastructure to host it.

Other candidates include Portugal-Spain, and possibly the entire UK and China.

 

[DSP's Tax Lawyer]

Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Paraguay have officially released a joint candidacy to host the 2030 World Cup.
So we have one country up the nose with debts and on the brink of total collapse, two countries plunging into far-left lunacy, and one in decent economical conditions but too small to carry such an event.

The sole argument for this travesty of candidacy is because "muh 100 years of the 1930 WC in Uruguay", which doesn't mean shit. Remember the 1996 Olympics and how some believed it was supposed to happen in Athens, only for fucking Atlanta to cuck them out of the rights? Same thing is bound to happen here. Money talks, etc. And rest assured that they have no money and no infrastructure to host it.

Other candidates include Portugal-Spain, and possibly the entire UK and China.

Pretty sure the World bank does not want to fund a world cup in Argentina

 

[Gary the Cryptofascist]

The sole argument for this travesty of candidacy is because "muh 100 years of the 1930 WC in Uruguay"

So do we now get the 2036 Olympics in Berlin again, because... oh wait oops...

But, yeah, I agree, for unstable and economically weak countries hosting a World Cup should be off the table. Just look at South Africa or even Brazil, most of the stadiums they built or renovated for the tournaments aren't even really used anymore. In South Africa some of the stadiums have become legit lost places.

Sorry if this offends anyone, but developing countries should have other issues than hosting a sports tournament.