The Prophet

Lucho is at the peak now he's 27/28 this is where he will be his prime. It's true what you say about peanut purchases what you forget though is that Lucho was not one of these, he cost them £12m this is a big fee for a team in Portugal, and I can guarantee that River will have a sell on clause of sorts, be it 5% or as much as 25%. So when you subtract that from the £18m it's an even smaller profit margain, 5m is nothing massive to them, they could build a tidy squad with the potential 15m from Cissokho, as Jesualdo is great at buying good cheap players and getting them to work well. Alves is a different story, in my opinion he went very unnoticed until 2006 and even then he was over shadowed by the emergence and brilliance of Pepe in Porto's back line, when you consider Pepe went for €30m to Madird, you can see that Porto by no means need to accept this bid for Lucho, they have other salable assets that could go, and that money could be used for a pay rise for Lucho or in buying replacements who are just as good if not potentially better, Fernando to me has the potential to take Lucho's crown in Porto and become the new midfield general, he was nothing short of Brilliant against Man Utd at Old trafford, and this is all before we actually discuss if Lucho would even consider France, this move will be his last big move really, and France isn't really in the top 3 leagues in Europe. If I was looking for a player to nab from Porto I'd go for Cristian Rodriquez, a tricky winger that has looked really good since leaving PSG. I'd be amazed if they sell to Marseille for that price honestly, I'd expect a late bid from Inter or even Madrid/Chelsea as for £18m you won't get many better than Lucho Gonzalez. I'm unsure what the conversion rate was at the time but Porto paid two installments for Lucho. they paid about 3.5 million Euros to River Plate and about 6.5 million Euros to Global Soccer Agencies at a later date. Like I say I'm not sure what the Euro was to the pound when both installments were paid but they will still make a fair profit on the lad. Porto are such a unique club because they don't need to sell players. The Dragao built in 2003 was essentially paid for by the sponsors. They also receive massive profits from merchandising and television rights (to name a couple of things) in several different sports, yet one of of their largest sources of income is still flogging football players. It's because of the unique nature of the league they play in. Players from South America move to Portugal for a few years so they are eligible to play in Europe then bugger off to one of the bigger leagues, very few reamain loyal. There's little they can do to hold on to their better players. The fact they haven't moved to bring in a replacement this window might be telling, although there's still plenty of time. Fernando is a very different player, unless of course they plan to play Mereiles in the middle of the park. So for me the money has little to do with it, it's whether Lucho would really consider a move to France, like you say I really can't see it and I can see one the larger European clubs intervening.

Nixon is correct about Porto, excellent negotiators. However I do think they will at least consider a bid of the size for Lucho. He's a player approaching the peak of his career. If they want to move him on it will have to be in the next couple of years. The amazing thing about the club is they are confidence in their scouting system. If they move a player on they know they will soon fine a young lad who will grow to fill his boots for next to nothing. Porto are a selling club, they find players for peanuts and move them on for massive prices. They've done well to hold on to the likes of Alves, Lucho, Meireles and Lopez for as long as they have. The problem is for them they can't stop players moving to the brighter lights of the major European leagues, if Lucho wants to go sooner or later he will go, but it will be on their terms. Marseille need to show ambition this season with Lyon is a transition, if they play their cards right they can attract the likes of Lucho. For me the biggest problem for them isn't whether Porto want to flog, or whether the player wants to leave Porto, but attracting him to the division. The quality of the French league is only a step or two above the league he's currently in. I think he'll be looking for a move to the likes of England, Spain, Italy or maybe even Germany before he considers France.

You think Moyes will go for Moutinho this summer? Think he could make a hell of a partnership with Arteta. Went for him last summer. It went like this: Us: "Here's £12m" Them: "Nah, we want £18m" Us: "Here's £13m" Them: "Nah, we want £18m" Us: "Hmm, ok. Here's £13.5m" Them: "You're not very good at this are you?" Us: "Here's £12m" Several days later: "Holy s*** we've got no midfield, here's £15m for Fellani" From what I've seen, he's worth every penny of that. Agreed, the good thing is from Everton's point of view is he's only 21, they haven't even seen the best of him yet.

You think Moyes will go for Moutinho this summer? Think he could make a hell of a partnership with Arteta. Went for him last summer. It went like this: Us: "Here's £12m" Them: "Nah, we want £18m" Us: "Here's £13m" Them: "Nah, we want £18m" Us: "Hmm, ok. Here's £13.5m" Them: "You're not very good at this are you?" Us: "Here's £12m" Several days later: "Holy shit we've got no midfield, here's £15m for Fellani"

Sweden played the better football and scored the better goals but their inability to defend set pieces was disgraceful. They can blame no one but themselves.

It's about time there was some sort of campaign to get Feethams regenerated. It used to be a cracking ground full of character and atmosphere. Now it's just a crack den. The fucking Reynolds Arena or whatever it's called these days is an absolute monstrosity. There sits a 20,000 plus seat stadium that struggles to break the 3,000 attendance mark. His era should promptly be forgotten by knocking Feethams down, rebuilding it and selling his pathetic attempt to get his name in lights, cunt. I'd rather see that than the giant Tesco or whatever pointless escapade the council of the town are currently perusing, cunts.

Howay Parky man, your disillsuioned we get the point, change the bloody record.

Just because the man can write a piece it doeesn't automatically make his contacts reliable. Lets just wait and see.

We don't know if there is a lack of progress though all we have is scraps of contradicting information from the media. I'm not angry with the regime for putting the club up for sale at this time, it had to be done to take the club forward, it takes as long as it takes. What I do have a problem with is once again we, the fans, are left guessing. Where is this improved communication we were promised? Oh wait Llambias gave us a complete crock about hearing some information at the end of last week. I don't expect to be updated every other day, it would be nice just not to be treat like a fucking mug for once, is that too much to ask?

Nixon can be erm... Our fox in the box?

Aye but Ribery is as good as off to Madrid and Benzema isn't leaving Lyon until after the world cup. They'll probably pull something out of the bag but the only player they look like signing is Valencia They'll still be up there though, I'm just hoping it leads to a closer title race.

Man United fans are hilarious: "Oh Tevez is leaving it must be for the money because we're Manchester United"

Can sometimes take up to two weeks.

Haha. Good one. It's not that bad like.

The battle with Wullie was good fun in the first game like.

Aye we don't want you bottling it like last time. When was that then? Explained quite well I feel. Who bottled what? You failed to show because you had an exam about three days later. For the record I had one the next afternoon and yet I still showed. It was weird to be fair Ian surely you knew when your exams fell? Nope, the timetable was rather late to appear on the website. Anyway it's done get over it.

Aye we don't want you bottling it like last time. When was that then? Explained quite well I feel. Who bottled what? You failed to show because you had an exam about three days later. For the record I had one the next afternoon and yet I still showed. Two days later man, I gave plenty of notice I'd hardly call it bottling.

Aye we don't want you bottling it like last time. When was that then? Explained quite well I feel. Who bottled what?

Aye we don't want you bottling it like last time. When was that then?

Better not be on the reds.

In (Blues).

Awful, just shocking.

They're a modestly wealthy club who've had a great season from what I can see, they finished 4th, so have greater financial clowt this season, and will also be able to attract the players from being in the Champions League. The aren't a small club by any means, have a good history. Infact I think I'm right in saying they're the oldest club in Italy. This. They've had a tremendous season breaking into the top four. The true test for them is how they replace the two they've just lost, Motta and Milito especially are big players for them, and it will be important to see if Crespo and Juninho can pick up that slack and perform, Juninho should in theory. Finished fifth.

Motta and Milito both buggered off to Inter.

So why has the Premier League been inferior excluding the top4 in recent years then? Huh, it was just a passing comment. What do you mean by inferior? I made a post on your opening post above. Just saying that the English teams have got embarrassed in the Waffa cup in recent years, meaning that a league isn't only based on 4 clubs. And I was simply commenting we have three strong lower tiers below the Premier League.