ponsaelius

I'm obviously not panicking and very confident in the long term future of recruitment but not having anybody new in by start of pre-season fixtures would be disappointing IMO.

The idea that Sterling is not great technically is pretty comical like. He's an absolutely fantastic footballer.

Yikes

We have a long window but honestly I'll probably be a bit worried if we don't have a couple of players (on top of Targett) through the door by the time pre-season starts. I'd then expect us to have all our priority positions filled by first league game. You'd hope that late in the window will be moving out remaining deadwood and perhaps moving for any other 'market opportunity' signings that come up.

Always thought he was bit of an unsung hero in 2009/2010. Played pretty much every game but probs doesn't get same credit that some of the others do. Put in the odd decent display in the PL too.

The players they've let go over the years is mad - Coman, Diaby, Nkunku. All Paris-born too. Imagine having the greatest catchment area in the world football for talent, presenting a readymade base and identity, and instead buying all foreign superstars. Drab.

Honestly if they don't think Ekitike can come in as direct competition/rotation for Wilson and ASM then I'm not sure he should be a priority. I know he's young and raw but for the price he's gotta be playing ahead of Wood.

Even when we get buyout clauses or agree reasonable deal with willing sellers we're going to have issues with agents wanting a big slice.

I'm not a massive fan of Dumfries like - not for the price he would cost. He's a strange player. Good athlete and amazing aerially - makes him a real weapon at the back post when playing as a right wing back. He was really bad first half of last season IMO but did settle eventually and started performing effectively in Inter's system. But I'm still not convinced as a player. His skillset just seems all wrong. He almost at times looks like a CB playing as a wing back. Perhaps he'd be better in a back four and more suited to English football.

Dumfries is a right back not left back.

What a very, very annoying bloke. Looked miles off the line as well.

Possibly should have won over Nedved in 2003. It's interesting that there is so few that have won all 3 but it reflects the fact that non-Europeans weren't entitled to the award until the 90s and many didn't play in Europe anyway. Plus the last decade or so has been a write-off with Messi/Ronaldo cleaning up.

Ronaldinho Kaka Charlton Zidane Beckenbauer Rossi Rivaldo One missing. Matthaus famously never did and Cannavaro definitely didn't. Can't get the last one for the life of me.

Rivaldo yes - won the CL in 2003 with Milan

Paolo Rossi if he was still around at Juve for their Heysel win

Beckenbauer

Ronaldinho, Kaka, Charlton and Zidane definitely. Ronaldo never won the CL.

I mean successful clubs have long had wealthy benefactors. The history of Italian football is perhaps more underscored by this than anywhere else. But Berlusconi took it to another level - filling subs bench with players who would have otherwise been stars for any club on the planet just so their rivals couldn't have them. Plus he was pretty much the original architect of the Super League concept.

Milan are a great club there's no doubt but they won 5 of their European Cups under Berlusconi ffs. The man practically invented the concept of buying success in football.

He was pretty good second half of 20/21 for Inter tbh.

Brentford got a top class midfielder for 6 months who basically kept them up. It was mutually beneficial - don't think he owes them any kind of loyalty.

Sorry but it's a particularly hard these days for older gents with rose tinted specs to sell the 'it's not like it used to be' shtick when you can find endless footage and full matches of top level football from any decade in seconds on YouTube - and then see for yourself in minutes just how much lower the standard was.

This is so satisfying to watch

Yes my point is you can't directly compare - it's not fair on those from previous eras. You have to judge the players on how successful they were at the time and the way the game was at the time. The one variable you can't account for however is the globalised nature of football, the massively widened talent pool, and the way in which they're all centred in a handful of big leagues now. There is no doubt that top European football leagues are far more competitive now - particularly the PL.

Watching football footage from the 70s and 80s is a bit of a joke tbh. The standard is so poor by modern standards. If you're doing a combined team over decades it's very difficult because a modern PL team would obliterate a side from that era. You basically have to judge players entirely on the era they played in - and presume they'd have been better with modern training, fitness, tactics and rule changes. However there is also the fact that football is far more global now, and that you're competing with a much bigger pool of players - the best of which are funneled into Europe and England.