Association Football 2023/2024 Discussion Thread

[NewYorkExpress]

So, the January Transfer Window is in progress, and there have been a couple of interesting moves so far.

I already mentioned Ferran Torres's transfer from Manchester City to Barcelona.

FC Dallas sold rising U.S National Team star Ricardo Pepi to FC Augsburg for $20 million at the beginning of the window.

Ajax brought back Brian Brobbey on loan from RB Leipzig.

Ainsely Maitland Niles heads from Arsenal to Roma on Loan

Phillipe Coutinho heads from Barcelona to Aston Villa on Loan with a 40 million Euro option to buy.

Kieran Trippier was sold from Atletico Madrid to Newcastle United for $16.3 million.

[DavidB.]

Africa Cup being Africa Cup: the ref for Tunisia-Mali blew the final whistle in the 85th minute already, let the game continue after protests, gave a completely unwarranted red card, and then ended the game again in the 89th minute

Ajax brought back Brian Brobbey on loan from RB Leipzig.

Dumbest transfer ever. By the end of the season Haller is probably leaving and Ajax will have no choice but to buy back Brobbey (#BBB) for like 10 million euros while he had walked off to Leipzig for naught after being in the Ajax academy for like his whole life. He f**ked up Ajax really well, but he's also really stupid and the real bad guy in the story is his agent Mino Raiola.

Ajax also sold off David Neres to Shakhtar Donetsk for 16 million and is looking to buy or loan Steven Bergwijn from Tottenham Hotspur. He's likely to be the most expensive player Ajax ever bought. Big question is: where is he even going to play? He's not going to replace Tadic, Haller or Antony.

[NewYorkExpress]

A couple of interesting deals as the January Transfer Window chugs on.

Axel Tuanzebe heads on loan from Manchester United to Napoli

Chris Wood is heading from Burnley to Newcastle United in a 30 million Euro deal.

Lucas Digne is heading from Everton to Aston Villa in a 30 million Euro deal.

Jesus Corona is heading from Porto to Sevilla in a 3 million Euro deal.

And, as previously mentioned, David Neres is heading from Ajax to Shakhtar Donetsk in a 12 million Euro deal.

[JGibson]

No North London Derby (Sp*rs v. Arsenal) tomorrow. Arsenal's postponement request has been successful.

[Santander]

Lucas Digne is heading from Everton to Aston Villa in a 30 million Euro deal.=

On paper, Villa has an outrageous team now - Leon Bailey, Lucas Digne, Emi Buendia, Philippe Coutinho, Douglas Luiz..

[NewYorkExpress]

So some more interesting moves during this transfer window.

Pablo Mari goes on loan from Arsenal to Udinese Calcio

Saed Kolasinac was released by Arsenal and signed by Marseille on a free transfer.

Robin Olsen goes on loan from AS Roma to Aston Villa.

[NewYorkExpress]

Another interesting transfer move.

PSG's third string goalkeeper, Sergio Rico, is heading on loan to Mallorca.

[parochial boy]

Gianni Infantino - who now lives in Qatar, seemingly because of the legal trouble he was facing in Switzerland - wants to have the World Cup every 2 years and this will somehow stop Africans from needing to flee across the Mediterranean to Europe (?).

Time to dissolve FIFA I think

[NewYorkExpress]

The latest notable transfer is Hwang Hee-Chan, already on loan at Wolverhampton Wanderers from RB Leipzig, getting a permanent transfer in July.

[NewYorkExpress]

Very interesting move going down today, as Anthony Martial goes on loan from Manchester United to Sevilla.

[NewYorkExpress]

Big games in progress in World Cup qualifying over in CONCACAF.

The USA leads El Salvador 1-0, Canada leads Honduras 1-0, and more importantly Jamaica leads Mexico 1-0.

[NewYorkExpress]

Four rather important moves:

First, Amad Diallo heads on loan from Manchester United to Rangers

Next, Daniel Wass will heading from Valencia to Atletico Madrid. Terms of the deal have yet to be confirmed.

Next, Robin Gosens will be heading from Atalanta to Inter Milan. Terms of this deal have yet to be disclosed.

And lastly, Calum Chambers will be heading from Arsenal to Aston Villa. Terms of this deal have yet to be disclosed.

[Santander]

How is Canada still on top of the Octagonal?... Weather obviously plays a big role at home (how is it even allowed to play games in Edmonton in winter LOL), but they've been undefeated away, too.

[NewYorkExpress]

How is Canada still on top of the Octagonal?... Weather obviously plays a big role at home (how is it even allowed to play games in Edmonton in winter LOL), but they've been undefeated away, too.

They aren't going to be on top when we beat them on Sunday.

[NewYorkExpress]

One more notable transfer today:

Ilax Moriba heads on loan from RB Leipzig to Valencia.

[Santander]

How is Canada still on top of the Octagonal?... Weather obviously plays a big role at home (how is it even allowed to play games in Edmonton in winter LOL), but they've been undefeated away, too.

They aren't going to be on top when we beat them on Sunday.

Hello. Wrong as usual.

[NewYorkExpress]

How is Canada still on top of the Octagonal?... Weather obviously plays a big role at home (how is it even allowed to play games in Edmonton in winter LOL), but they've been undefeated away, too.

They aren't going to be on top when we beat them on Sunday.

Hello. Wrong as usual.

I have no idea how we lost, let alone lost 2-0. Canada shouldn't be this good.

[Santander]

How is Canada still on top of the Octagonal?... Weather obviously plays a big role at home (how is it even allowed to play games in Edmonton in winter LOL), but they've been undefeated away, too.

They aren't going to be on top when we beat them on Sunday.

Hello. Wrong as usual.

I have no idea how we lost, let alone lost 2-0. Canada shouldn't be this good.

Canada would get murdered in European, South American or African qualifying. They just look good compared to the useless teams of CONCACAF.

[NewYorkExpress]

Several high-profile transfers in the past couple of days.

Dusan Vlahovic is heading from Fiorentia to Juventus in a 70 million Euro deal.

Bruno Guimaraes is headed from Lyon to Newcastle United in a 42.1 million Euro deal.

[Zinneke]

We've been bought by the Crystal Palace owner, which is funny because our main rival in South Brussels was bought by their rivals Brighton's owner a couple of years ago. Incidentally, the Southern lot are attracting a hell of a lot of headlines around Europe because they are leading the Belgian league after 48 years in lower divisions.

www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/daydream-believer-chris-o-loughlin-s-remarkable-rise-up-the-football-ladder-1.4780752

www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2022/01/10/football-l-union-saint-gilloise-le-club-qui-sauve-l-honneur-du-championnat-belge_6108824_3210.html

www.zdf.de/sport/zdf-sportreportage/royale-union-st-gilloise-fussball-belgien-deniz-undav-doku-100.html

www.bbc.com/sport/football/59565216

I'm in two minds. On the one hand Belgium needs a feel good story given most of its league has been exposed as corrupted and several senior officials from big clubs (mainly Standard but also Anderlecht, Bruges and Gent) are accused of money laundering and false scouting contracts to pay their managers in the black.

On the other hand Union have a rather vomit inducing habit of attracting a certain type of South Brussels person who also plays hockey and doesn't follow or understand football fan culture outside of the Red Devils. Not to mention their growing legion of well to do expats sniffing for an attempt at looking like working class heroes, who don't understand a word of the chants, which I as a son of eu-immigrants-but-not-quite-expats who took the time to integrate into Belgian culture and learn the language, makes me engage in knee jerk Zemmourian reactionary thoughts.

Anyway they beat Anderlecht yesterday, which is always a Good Thing.

[NewYorkExpress]

With the Transfer Deadline almost here (11:00 tonight) several major moves have taken place.

Luis Diaz is heading from Porto to Liverpool in a 45 million Euro deal.

Donny Van De Beek heads on loan from Manchester United to Everton.

Tanguy Ndombele heads on loan from Tottenham Hotspur to Olympique Lyonnais with a 65 million Euro option to buy.,

Dejan Kulusevski heads on loan from Juventus to Tottenham Hotspur with a 35 million mandatory purchase clause in summer 2023.

Denis Zakaria is heading from Borussia Monchengladbach to Juventus in a 5 million Euro deal.

Julian Alvarez is heading from River Plate to Manchester City in a 17 million Euro deal, however he will remain on loan at River Plate for another six months.

Rodrigo Betancur is heading from Juventus to Tottenham Hotspur in a 19 million Euro deal.

[JGibson]

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has left Arsenal for Barcelona as a free agent.

[NewYorkExpress]

Dele Alli went from Tottenham Hotspur to Everton at the deadline for practically nothing.

[Leohendo9]

interesting window actually.

weirdest thing was hearing that Ali is actually with pep's daughter!? well at least she picked a player that she knew would never play for her dad.

[NewYorkExpress]

My goodness, we flattened Honduras, 3-0.

All we probably need to do is get six points (and maybe even only four depending on how Mexico and Canada do), in the next window against Mexico, Panama and Costa Rica.

Of course, we have to go to Estadio Azteca and Estadio Nacional, two venues we usually lose at...