Association Football 2023/2024 Discussion Thread

[NewYorkExpress]

With the summer transfer window half over, the three major championships having been played (Euros, Copa America, Gold Cup), the focus now turns to the club season for the next year (with a break for some in the winter for the Africa Cup of Nations in January).

UEFA Champions League and Europa League play is already underway, and there's a couple of good matchups here in the third qualifying round.

Monaco/Sparta Prague, Genk/Shakhtar Donetsk and Spartak Moscow/Benifca headline the Champions League round.

The inaugural Europa Conference League is in progress, having made it to the third qualifying round as well, and the Europa League kicks off this week.  

[NewYorkExpress]

Harry Kane, England's best player and one of the best players in the world, may want to join Manchester City with Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne, in which could be a superteam of the ages...

https://soccer.nbcsports.com/2021/08/03/harry-kane-tottenham-training-transfer-news/

On top of that they look likely to sign England midfielder Jack Grealish today.

If Manchester City doesn't repeat the success of Arsenal's 2003-2004 team, then they should probably fire Pep Guardiola.

[NewYorkExpress]

The greatest soccer player alive, Lionel Messi, has ended ties with FC Barcelona, after 17 years.

https://www.mediaite.com/sports/breaking-global-soccer-icon-lionel-messi-leaving-barcelona-after-17-years/

Where will Messi land? Well, that’s the question on every soccer head’s mind at the moment. Given his outsized largesse, he will demand — even at this late stage of his career — a lot. The clubs that can afford him are likely those owned by mega-wealthy Emirates and/or oligarchs. So Manchester City, Chelsea, PSG, and perhaps Man United are the likeliest destinations.

If he goes to Manchester City to join Raheem Sterling and Kevin de Bruyne, it could be the greatest soccer team in HISTORY and one of the greatest sporting teams of all time.....same thing if he goes to Manchester United, the mighty Utd. to join Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford, again one of the GREATEST squads.....

I can't think of a single club other than the Manchester City/PSG/Chelsea trio in Europe who can afford the wages Messi would want.

Manchester City might actually need a striker since Sergio Augero left, PSG would need to move one of Neymar/Kylan Mbappe to make room, and while Messi would be an upgrade over Timo Werner, I think Chelsea has enough great attacking players as is. They need defensive players.

Messi likely either heads to MLS, or returns to Argentina (he's said he wishes to retire as a member of Newell's Old Boys before) in my opinion.

[NewYorkExpress]

First of the Big Five leagues kick off tomorrow, as Nantes travels to Monaco.

Saturday gives us the English Community Shield, with Leicester City taking on Manchester City as the marquee match in my opinion.

[NewYorkExpress]

Tottenham to sign Juventus/Atalanta Center-Back Cristian Romero for 55 million Euros ($65 million).

Romero was the Serie A defender of the year last season, and was a starter on Argentina's Copa America Championship winning squad earlier this summer.

Assuming Nuno Espirito Santo decides to have two center-backs in his line up, Romero should easily claim a starting spot over Japhet Tanganganga and Cameron Carter-Vickers.

If Espirito Santo plays one center back, I'm not 100% certain he can beat out Davinson Sanchez, but he'd have a decent shot at doing so.

[NewYorkExpress]

If Espirito Santo plays one center back, I'm not 100% certain he can beat out Davinson Sanchez, but he'd have a decent shot at doing so.

What kind of formation has 1 CB?

One with three players on Defense?

(Left Back, Center Back, Right Back)

[NewYorkExpress]

As I predicted, only one possible destination:

https://twitter.com/khm_althani/status/1423716154917408771?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7...
I mean good God, a front line of Messi, Neymar, Mbappe... Good thing Lille got their championship while they could. Anyone still think PSG isn't the best team in the world?

Well, if Manchester City and PSG play each other in the Champions League, that should be a very close matchup, but other than that, I don't see any other contenders.

[NewYorkExpress]

Joshua Sargent is heading from Werder Bremen to Norwich City

Sargent, a forward the U.S National Team, is leaving Werder Bremen, which was relegated from the Bundesliga last season to join Norwich, which was promoted to English Premier League last season for about 10 million Euros.

It's a decent deal, and the pairing of Sargent and Teemu Pukki (assuming Pukki isn't transferred somewhere else), will go a long way towards keeping Norwich in the Premier League.

[NewYorkExpress]

Trouble in Paris? Kylian Mbappe is not happy with PSG's signing of Lionel Messi, and apparently wants to leave.

Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe is not happy with Lionel Messi’s signing for the French club and could talk to the board next Monday to announce his intention to leave PSG this summer, according to a report published on Italian newspaper Gazzetta Dello Sport. Real Madrid are still interested in securing his signing this summer but will not send their offer until PSG decide to sell the player, per reports from the Spanish press.

Spanish radio station Cadena SER confirmed the report and even added that Real Madrid could offer around €120 million.

[NewYorkExpress]

What's going on with Harry Kane? They said he's hurting over people portraying him in a different light.

Where does he end up?

Given Manchester City didn't even bother making an attempt to sign Messi, I'd guess Kane ends up there.

It's either that or he stays at Tottenham and is unhappy....unless he wants to go somewhere like Real Madrid (they're interested in Kylian Mbappe, but I think Kane would be slightly cheaper).

[NewYorkExpress]

Embarrassing start to the season by my Arsenal. Getting thrashed 2-0 by promoted Brentford.

The way Arsenal played in that in that game, I wouldn't be shocked if they were relegated, quite frankly.

[NewYorkExpress]

lol, Arsenal. Tierney is good, and so is Leno I guess, but the rest of the starting XI do not belong in a top-half team. I don't know how some pundits have them finishing in the European places - they are miles off that.

I do like Tierney, but he’s a little overrated. Arsenal fans and pundits have a tend to massively big up our best players and make huge scapegoats of our worse ones. After watching that performance, though, I have no idea why we, to borrow a turn of phrase from the Prime Minister, spaffed £50 million up the wall for Ben White.

Arsenal are now basically where Spurs have historically been, or worse, West Ham a few years ago. Enough money to pay decent wages, but no chance to win anything, so they end up overpaying for questionable talent and be a semi-retirement club for older players looking for a pay day and/or London lifestyle. They don't have the pulling power to get players like Varane or Upamecano, so they make desperation buys like Ben White for £50m.

Although Barcelona were shopping Lenglet around, who would've been cheaper from a transfer fee perspective, and probably not that much more expensive on wages.

Did Lenglet even want to go to Arsenal? If I were him, and I were looking at London clubs, I'd want to go to Chelsea (and he's probably an immediate upgrade over Thiago Silva right now too, if Chelsea were interested).

[NewYorkExpress]

UEFA is considering replacing the Financial Fair Play model in favor of an NBA/MLB-esque model of salary caps and luxury taxes, effective the 2022/23 season.

90Min:

UEFA will soon lay out proposals to replace their current Financial Fair Play system by introducing a salary cap and a luxury tax.
FFP rules, which were first introduced in 2010, demand that teams break even over a three-year period in an attempt to stop teams from recklessly spending, although the regulations have come under fire in recent years.

According to The Times, UEFA are open to the idea of completely overhauling the system by introducing a salary cap, similar to those seen in the United States in Major League Baseball and the NBA.

[...]

Teams would be given the freedom to exceed that salary cap, but only if they are prepared to pay an extra luxury tax, which could see them pay nearly double the amount of their breach into a fund which would then be distributed to other teams in their competition.

[...]

Repeat offenders could even be threatened with bans from European competitions, with UEFA keen to do more to prevent mass overspending.

Doing something like that would probably lead to a revolt from both players and certain clubs (Manchester City/PSG/Chelsea).

There's a reason MLB has no salary cap at all, and that's because players would strike immediately if one was implemented.

Hell, the players in MLB still want to get rid of the luxury tax.

[NewYorkExpress]

Sheriff showing the former Yugoslav giants Red Star and Dinamo who's... well, Sheriff. Even better, they have a literal knockoff Adama Traore.

I admit to being slightly more impressed by Shakhtar Donestk's win over Monaco, in Monaco.

[NewYorkExpress]

Sheriff showing the former Yugoslav giants Red Star and Dinamo who's... well, Sheriff. Even better, they have a literal knockoff Adama Traore.

I admit to being slightly more impressed by Shakhtar Donestk's win over Monaco, in Monaco.

How is that impressive? Shakhtar are always a very strong team who regularly beat much stronger teams than Monaco and are a mainstay of the Champions League group stages. Sheriff are the champions of the 41st-ranked league in Europe and have never reached a Champions League group stage.

Sheriff also had a much easier opponent than Shakhtar did, even if they were underdogs, France's Ligue 1 a significantly stronger league than the Ukrainian Premier League, and the game was being played in Monaco.

[NewYorkExpress]

Utter carnage in Nice-Marseille. The worst fan violence I’ve seen in a while, not to mention some of the players going at it and Jorge Sampaoli going totally berserk. There have surely got to be hefty sanctions for both teams, but Nice in particular.

Given this appears to be Nice fans, forced relegation for Nice has to be the minimum here. Forced relegation multiple divisions should be considered.

[NewYorkExpress]

Utter carnage in Nice-Marseille. The worst fan violence I’ve seen in a while, not to mention some of the players going at it and Jorge Sampaoli going totally berserk. There have surely got to be hefty sanctions for both teams, but Nice in particular.

Given this appears to be Nice fans, forced relegation for Nice has to be the minimum here. Forced relegation multiple divisions should be considered.

No one on the planet will ever embrace the draconian punishments you have suggested for all variety of sporting misbehavior.

Tom Brady should have been imprisoned for 10-25 years and Bill Belichick executed for secretly filming Eagles' practices in 2005.

Imprisonment and execution for deflating footballs and filming practices of other teams is going too far, especially since I don't think either of those things should be against the NFL rules to begin with.

Utter carnage in Nice-Marseille. The worst fan violence I’ve seen in a while, not to mention some of the players going at it and Jorge Sampaoli going totally berserk. There have surely got to be hefty sanctions for both teams, but Nice in particular.

Given this appears to be Nice fans, forced relegation for Nice has to be the minimum here. Forced relegation multiple divisions should be considered.

No one on the planet will ever embrace the draconian punishments you have suggested for all variety of sporting misbehavior.

Tom Brady should have been imprisoned for 10-25 years and Bill Belichick executed for secretly filming Eagles' practices in 2005.

UNC basketball should've been given the death penalty.

Given the number of academic violations across North Carolina's athletic program, multiple sports at UNC should have gotten the NCAA's Death Penalty.

[NewYorkExpress]

In the past few days two prominent British footballers of decades past have confirmed they are suffering from dementia, part of a growing pattern and one known to be linked to heading. A recent report suggests/confirms that there's little reason to suspect that the problem with go away once retired players from after the age of the leather ball start moving into the danger zone, largely because as balls got lighter the amount of heading increased as did the numbers of areas on the head that the ball can realistically be headed using.

Modifying the laws of the game to ban heading the ball probably should be up for future discussion.

[NewYorkExpress]

Utter carnage in Nice-Marseille. The worst fan violence I’ve seen in a while, not to mention some of the players going at it and Jorge Sampaoli going totally berserk. There have surely got to be hefty sanctions for both teams, but Nice in particular.

Given this appears to be Nice fans, forced relegation for Nice has to be the minimum here. Forced relegation multiple divisions should be considered.

No one on the planet will ever embrace the draconian punishments you have suggested for all variety of sporting misbehavior.

Tom Brady should have been imprisoned for 10-25 years and Bill Belichick executed for secretly filming Eagles' practices in 2005.

UNC basketball should've been given the death penalty.

The school itself should have been disaccredited and the buildings auctioned off to more reputable institutions like the University of Phoenix and Everest Institute.

That's overkill, given the problems with UNC athletics don't seem to have anything to do with UNC as an institution, unlike say...SMU Football in the 1980's.

[NewYorkExpress]

Utter carnage in Nice-Marseille. The worst fan violence I’ve seen in a while, not to mention some of the players going at it and Jorge Sampaoli going totally berserk. There have surely got to be hefty sanctions for both teams, but Nice in particular.

Given this appears to be Nice fans, forced relegation for Nice has to be the minimum here. Forced relegation multiple divisions should be considered.

No one on the planet will ever embrace the draconian punishments you have suggested for all variety of sporting misbehavior.

Tom Brady should have been imprisoned for 10-25 years and Bill Belichick executed for secretly filming Eagles' practices in 2005.

UNC basketball should've been given the death penalty.

The school itself should have been disaccredited and the buildings auctioned off to more reputable institutions like the University of Phoenix and Everest Institute.

That's overkill, given the problems with UNC athletics don't seem to have anything to do with UNC as an institution, unlike say...SMU Football in the 1980's.

What are you even talking about?... You literally know nothing about anything.

You could have left off the second half of that statement, avoided the personal attack against me, and gotten the exact same message across, you know.

[NewYorkExpress]

If my 5th grade rec soccer team allowed heading the pros can allow it too.

Your fifth grade rec soccer team was how many years ago?

Chances are they don't allow heading the ball anymore.

[NewYorkExpress]

Nobody wants Kane at a £150m valuation. We're talking about a guy who isn't even that young and is injured half the time. Lukaku just sold for £97.5m, and Mbappe is reported to be available for £171m, albeit for much higher wages. Haaland enters the market next year for £64m, although his (and fat Mino's) wage demands will be insane and possibly beyond what English clubs other than Man Utd would be willing to pay.

Manchester City probably would be better off waiting until next year and just paying whatever wages Ering Haaland wants rather than breaking both the transfer and wage bank for Harry Kane, in my opinion.

[NewYorkExpress]

Nobody wants Kane at a £150m valuation. We're talking about a guy who isn't even that young and is injured half the time. Lukaku just sold for £97.5m, and Mbappe is reported to be available for £171m, albeit for much higher wages. Haaland enters the market next year for £64m, although his (and fat Mino's) wage demands will be insane and possibly beyond what English clubs other than Man Utd would be willing to pay.

Manchester City probably would be better off waiting until next year and just paying whatever wages Ering Haaland wants rather than breaking both the transfer and wage bank for Harry Kane, in my opinion.

The problem is the wage structure, not the wage budget. Raiola demanded £820k p/w in wages for Haaland from Chelsea, which while may have been an opening offer, represents the kind of challenge it would be to sign him. No player in England earns anywhere near that kind of money, and it would shatter the wage structures of Man City or Chelsea. Players like Lukaku or De Bruyne would not accept earning half the wages of 22 year old Haaland. Man Utd could conceivably do it with their less talented squad and penchant for overpaying players, but even then we'd probably be talking more in the £500k range than the £800k range.

Also, just because the transfer fee would be fixed at €75m next summer, does not mean there won't be huge demands for sign-on fees, bonuses, agent fees, and wages to make up for the reduced fee and how every heavyweight club in Europe is going to try to sign Haaland.

If Mbappe, Ronaldo, or even Lewandowski show up on the market at the same time for "free", good luck finding oxygen in the transfer market for Harry Kane to make a move... he should've gone on strike to force a move now. Nobody on the continent wants him or could afford the fee right now, only 3 clubs in England are suitable destinations for him, and they will all be fighting for Haaland next year, relegating him to a backup plan at best. Players like Jonathan David and Patson Daka are going to become hotter and hotter properties too, and represent much safer investments with upside and sell-on value than Kane.

That 820,000 pounds per week is still less than what Kane is going to make wherever he goes, assuming anyone bids for him.

[NewYorkExpress]

I would say the Group of Death is either Group A (PSG, Manchester City, RB Leipzig, Club Brugge) or Group E (Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Benfica, Dynamo Kiev).

[NewYorkExpress]

Mikel Arteta needs to be sacked ASAP!

The issue is would any quality manager even want to replace Arteta?

Arsenal is definitely a poisoned chalice right now that no proven manager wants to touch.

What kind of top player would even want to join Arsenal other than to get a decent payday and live in London? They renewed Xhaka's contract after deciding to let him go, lol. And then he gets another stupid red card, which basically sums up the club. The squad is terrible and doesn't really belong in the top half.

Exactly

If it's to get some Championship level manager, may as well keep Arteta (who frankly I think has potential, it's just Arsenal are a poor side with a lot of off field issues)

I'm personally of the opinion that Stan Kroenke is the worst owner in the league, and if he doesn't sell, within 5 years Arsenal will get relegated

They might be able to get Sam Allardyce if they fire Arteta now, but I'm not sure that's upgrade...