ponsaelius

Have they not announced the PFA Team of the Year yet btw? Seems ridiculously late compared to usual - even acknowledging the later finish this year.

Tbf it's a bit like Sunderland being down at that level. Brescia are a quintessential biggish Serie B side with the odd spell in the top flight. Think it's only the second time they've played regional football.

Brescia are down in Serie C now. Decent financial boost for them getting 15%

Joachim Anderson makes sense in some ways because he's a very similar player to Schar. However he is slow and I was hoping we'd be looking to add more pace at the back.

Hutchison commentates on Serie A all the time and is genuinely reasonably knowledgeable about the league tbf.

Interesting to see Bernardo, Gundogan and Walker looking at new challenges after achieving all they can at City. You'd imagine it makes City far more active in the transfer market than previously expected.

Yeah there's a chance he does, but I'm not sure 100% In the school system of the German speaking cantons you will learn written Standard German (the native spoken language is Swiss German dialect), English and one other national language (so French or Italian). My ex was fluent in German and English with very high proficiency in French. However only spoke very minimal Italian phrases (not really much more than I know).

I think Krafth is probably the only one in the squad who speaks any Italian. Translator duties.

To be honest we're spending £60 million on an established player and by the sounds of it offering a huge financial deal in terms of wages. Obviously he's got age on his side but this is not unearthing some gem or developing a player. To me it feels far more like a Chelsea/Man Utd type signing than I expected us to make this summer. To be honest I think we're probably overpaying, too. It has the chance to be the first misstep we've made in the market IMO. But the club have obviously decided we need to seize the day and add elite level first choice players - which is probably the right move.

I think we're going big on two signings. 6/8 position and then an attacking midfielder/wide midfielder who could also play as an 8. That'll be pretty much all of the budget on two top level players. Then clear the decks in terms of outgoings and see if we can get a left back.

Big fee, hell of a signing on paper.

Septics would fill a 100k stadium to watch a game of High School Tiddlywinks tbf.

Hope to see some movement soon. By this week last year we had Pope and Targett done. By the week after we had Botman. Helped us a lot last season having Pope and Botman bedded in by pre-season.

Brazil have had far worse teams in recent memory than the current squad. The current squad with everybody available has far more quality and depth than the one on home soil in 2014 for example. I actually think on paper it's better than any squad they've had since 2006 (which although strong on paper, was full of aging stars from 2002). I don't think Joelinton should really start for this current side, though. But he's probably good enough to be in and around the squad just due to his versatility.

It's more that with both Barella and Tonali they are basically the 'emblem' players for both clubs. Both national team midfielders, boyhood fans of the clubs and with plenty miles left on the clock. Italian clubs are skint but even then there tends to be untouchable domestic players that they'll put a high price on even above the players actual value - particularly in cases where the players themselves I think would take some convincing to move and otherwise will happily keep signing new contracts. They're more likely to shuffle/recycle others out the door - wary of missing out on transfer fees when players' contracts run down. I think you'd be looking at closer to 70-80 million to get either club to sell. I can definitely see why we're testing the water with the bids rumoured but I'm just not convinced they're going to be doable in our budget unless we're happy to go silly.

Yeah, fair point. I didn't really comment on his time at Brescia because they had 1 season in Serie A when he was 20, were pretty hopeless, and went straight back down. Didn't think it was a great sample to judge on either way. I actually saw him play live in Brescia in 2020. 1-1 draw with Udinese just before they went behind closed doors for COVID. Remember being disappointed after the hype but like I say Brescia were poor.

Different players but definitely Barella. More of a complete package in both directions, more made for the PL, and more made for our current system. Also more established in the national team while Tonali has not really started many games. Only thing to say is however that Tonali is 3 years younger.

The Pirlo comparison was never a perfect fit, and was more because of his appearance and the fact he came through at Brescia. There's similarities, but he's never had the passing ability of Pirlo. More physical and high energy though. Worth noting that he's never played in a midfield 3 really, always in a double pivot. So it's hard to really say whether we'd see him as a 6 or as an 8 if we stick with the current system.

Somewhere between Gattuso and Pirlo in terms of style, but nowhere near as good as either. I've never been entirely convinced by him ever since he came through with Brescia and wouldn't be as confident in him as a signing as I would Barella - but still a good player with years to improve. Again feel however it's unlikely for all the same reasons the Barella one was. You might as well copy and paste that thread. Our transfer operations are starting to feel a little slap dash if these reports are true.

Last one is more realistic

The way Chelsea went about spending last season seemed so wreckless at the time that it was almost incredulous. Now I'm convinced it was done in full knowledge that they'd be able to do this.

Saudi has a foreign player cap too (7 per team). This is to increase to 8.

Nobody of the star of Haaland/Odegaard but surely better 1-11 and 12-23. That team in the 90s had loads of PL players at big clubs.

I wouldn't say it to his face no, cos he's huge. He's been a superb signing and love having him around the squad. I wouldn't even say he's clearly a CB - I think he can play both positions effectively. However if your model is to replace the weakest starters with clear upgrades (which seems to be the case) them he's obviously up there as a priority. No top club would have a full back who can't/doesn't cross the ball.

Scored against Ghana but he'd already left for Liverpool by then.