Village Idiot

Yeah, but I'm sure that if I change it now I'll totally jinx our season. The football gods are petty like that. So not touching it until summer.

Yeah, nothing will happen before the PSG tie - unless he himself wanted to walk which I find unlikely.

If either one of Barça or Alavés win their game tomorrow, Real Madrid will be closer to relegation than the top of the table.

We just spent €300m on two dudes (granted, losing Neymar gave us €220m), so I'm not sure how strong we can be next season in the transfer market. Goretzka is a name that keeps popping up but he seems to have agreed terms with Bayern. We've also been linked with Arthur from Gremio. We need a striker, preferably a pacy one, that can eventually take over from Suárez. Here's where the Griezmann talk is pretty intense. €100m is "cheap" in this silly market for a proven 20+ striker. We should buy a quick CB too, but no links so far.

Please win.

Signing Jémez when you're rock bottom is testament to that. I have lots of time for him, but he's never been an "immediate results" kinda manager. That said he's their third manager this season and there might well be a 4th.

Stock seems to have massively dropped. Any specific reason or was he just not that good? Not that good. Also seems to have stopped caring. To be frank it was a puzzling signing to begin with. Lucho wanted him badly so the board granted his wish after Lucho's first treble season, but it was hard at the time to understand what role he was meant to play.

Arda Turan loaned to Basaksehir for 2 years and a half We'll still be entitled to transfer him during that time.

Ended up 5-0 Dembelé was pretty impressive in his 30 minute cameo. Hopefully he can get sharp and more involved by the time the CL comes back.

Barcelona derby in the Cup! Tasty. Leganés-Real Madrid Espanyol-Barcelona Atlético-Sevilla Valencia-Alavés We'll get Real Madrid, Barça, Valencia and probably Atlético in the semis too. That could be a nice cup tournament, for a change.

That's China pricing. Dude's not *that* good. Would've been brilliant for NUFC, that said.

Yerry Mina to Barça is official. €12m (pretty much what we're getting for Mascherano).

Well, he was injured with Liverpool. Despite reports that he was feigning to force a move, over here it was reported that the injury was real.

I might be a bit stupid but how does not spending money on the transfer window maximse Ashley's profits? It's not like he's spending his own money. Money spent by the club might be deducted from the sale price. It's a big gamble though. Doesn't the money just turns into club assets? Yes, but it's not a 100% correlation. Wages and depreciation until summer would shave off a few million. Plus the prospective owner might make a different (lower) valuation of those new assets.

I might be a bit stupid but how does not spending money on the transfer window maximse Ashley's profits? It's not like he's spending his own money. Money spent by the club might be deducted from the sale price. It's a big gamble though.

16 points ahead of Real Madrid. Can't recall this ever happening in my lifetime.

Haven't they secured Naby Keita for next season? That should do it, but will need to make do until the summer.

What's going on with Real keeping their powder so dry atm? Can't see them being pleased with all these massive fees being thrown around without them. No idea, they spent €80m or so on a smattering of players, but with the sales of Morata, Danilo and James made back more than that. They'll sign a keeper this window (Kepa) for €20m or so. But they need a striker really badly, and could do with a LB and another CB.

Tim Vickery seems to rate him, although I've just realised you probably won't know who he is. Is Mina now or at the end of the season? I'd read a while ago that Messi didn't want him to he signed until the summer because of Mascherano. Mascherano's leaving this window for China.

We've also bought Yerry Mina, a CB from Palmeiras. Flip knows him per chance?

I'm suprised they are letting him go in January after playing hardball in the summer.

We both needed players with Dembelé and Coutinho's profiles badly. The amounts we paid for both are truly embarassing, though.

Love seeing him back, what a legend. Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk

Messi's new contract has an "independence clause" where he'd leave on a free should Barça stop playing in the Spanish league. I imagine in Mancherster they will be rooting for the separatists now - wait, Guardiola is one of them already.

I haven't seen the current La Liga thread. We didn't set one up for this season yet? I haven't been around much lately... TV money figures for last season have been released. Second year with the collective deal fully implemented: First number is TV revenue, second is a small percentage that's deducted to support the lower leagues and grassroots football. Barça and Madrid got a sort of grandfather clause where the revenue they had in their existing exclusive TV contracts would be protected (as in, they can't fall below what they had before entering the collective contract), but it won't increase either until others catch up. By way of comparison, Atlético and Valencia were making €40m-€50m before the contract came in force. For comparison, a low-table La Liga club would make like €20 million before the collective deal came in. It's been a great lift for smaller clubs. A