Village Idiot

You yanks will be my #2 team in this. Can't wait. http://i.imgur.com/RHLlLJ6.gif

Mourinho and Costa together is like a master-apprentice Sith duo.

Football is proper nuts, it's never "You earn £50k a week, we'll off £70k", it's always "You earn £50k a week, will £130k persuade you? Reminds me of the Leeds Seth Johnsons story or even us offering £16m for Owen when Liverpool wouldn't budge over £8m. There never seems to be a middle ground I posed the question earlier though is this figure not pre-tax?... If paying 50% tax in UK (in theory) or very little in Spain then to get your pay rise the figure needs to be substantial... Tax rate in Spain is 52% now according to this article. http://money.uk.msn.com/features/how-much-tax-do-the-world%E2%80%99s-best-footballers-pay Football is proper nuts, it's never "You earn £50k a week, we'll off £70k", it's always "You earn £50k a week, will £130k persuade you? Reminds me of the Leeds Seth Johnsons story or even us offering £16m for Owen when Liverpool wouldn't budge over £8m. There never seems to be a middle ground I posed the question earlier though is this figure not pre-tax?... If paying 50% tax in UK (in theory) or very little in Spain then to get your pay rise the figure needs to be substantial... Tax rate in Spain is 52% now according to this article. http://money.uk.msn.com/features/how-much-tax-do-the-world%E2%80%99s-best-footballers-pay Then I'm clearly talking s***... There was a tax-cut available to foreign-born footballers (and thus Fábregas wouldn't have been eligible) that was removed when the sovereign debt crisis began. It halved the taxes those footballers paid. Cronaldo for example was benefiting from it until he signed his new contract, since his old one had been grandfathered. The tax cut was aimed to attract foreign managers to Spanish companies and make them more competitive, it ended up being used to bring in rich footballers

Have in mind that this is La Liga, not the PL. Every season two CL spots are up for grabs to any team that does things well, and if Simeone's Atlético can stake a claim to one of these spots on a consistent basis, it will be a great platform to develop the club.

To be honest, if this helps save the club from financial ruin, it won't be too bad. They really need money. I think they probably can afford to keep Koke now, though.

I like Rakitic a lot, but not sure it'll make up for Cesc leaving

It's sad man, the MLS is barely acceptable, but he has no business being in the Australian league. That horrific leg injury hastened his decline, sadly.

Villa will play for Melbourne to keep sharp until New York City's debut in the MLS next year. Yes, the Australian league.

We gotta have one of the worst transfer records around among big clubs. We've been bailed out by our academy*, really. Anyway, I'm off to bang my head again. *Although we've become able to screw this up too. See Thiago.

Man, what if we finish SECOND next year again!

I've been abstaining from commenting on our transfer talk and particularly Fábregas since my reaction can be summed up like this:

That flower shirt http://languish.org/forums/Smileys/langsmiley/bleedingeyes.gif

One of Valencia's youth teams: http://i.imgur.com/BAu45Xx.jpg

I'd have him just because he's one of my favorite players in world football. It's been confirmed today, and that he'll train with ManCity until then. Dunno, he seems to be throwing in the towel if he just intends to train for a year and then go to the MLS.

25m for Lallana? He's good, but that's crazy.

http://estaticos.elmundo.es/assets/multimedia/imagenes/2014/05/29/14013748243216.jpg Now cue thousands of disorderly (and possibly drunken) football fans packed in a single city under that heat. This is going to be a monumental train wreck.

Villa strongly linked with the New York City franchise. But they won't start playing until 2015, right?

To honest I only thoroughly follow La Liga and the PL - and then a smattering of games from leagues throughout Europe.

Miranda was playing well before Simeone, he is a very good defender. Paying so much money for a 29 year old is a tad excessive though.

I think there's a good player in Niang, but doesn't seem to be happening for him right now. But he's still very young.

Bringing this back after Real Madrid's win. Better run to the bookies lads.

Osasuna is one of the most atmospheric pitches in Spain - particularly when playing regional rivals or a big gun like us or Real Madrid. You can cut the pressure with a knife. It's a pity they got relegated while no-fans Getafe stays in La Liga.

We'll see. I really didn't watch his Roma team, but he's used Rafinha in a #10 role in both Barça B and Celta. His style, while still possession based, had a higher tempo and less control than Guardiola's.

Regarding Luís Enrique as manager - I'm not too sure about his tactical ability, but he has something in spades, and that's leadership. Martino was a decent manager, but very grey. It's a pretty sad state of affairs when you need a cheerleader in order to get a bunch of millionaires to give a shit in the pitch, but we needed somebody with Enrique's profile.

Yes, and he's definitely staying. Luís Enrique knows him well and rates him highly.