Good morning.
Ah, the familiar strains of the lesser spotted weasel faced football agent. The following from Pini Zahavi [ taking to Izvestia] who appears to be representing Joao Moutinho. Moutinho some some readers may vaguely recall was linked with us in the last transfer window.
If this quote is anything to go by, we don’t feature prominently in the boy’s future.
“I will not hide that there is interest on the part of Zenit, and we will analyze their proposal in January! Zenit is a very strong team, who may be the next step in the career of Joao.”
“However at the same time we have to take into account the interests of Joao! Any footballer would like to play in Barcelona, and this option is a priority for us. In my opinion the style of his game adapts perfectly to that of Barcelona. In addition he is a fan of the club”
When you see how characters like this are at work how easier it is to magic up a tale that the incompetence of Levy & Co. is in fact the driving factor behind unsuccessful transfer deals.
Oh well.
More concerned on who is lining up Thursday in Athens….
Would like to see some definate squad rotation and bodies left behind to rest up for the Villians on Sunday..This one strikes me as an absolute let down trap game after Old Trafford..
Will begin to get sticky on January wet dreams with the X-mas/Hanukah presents in December….
COYS…
We done our penny’s. What we have have hold. I for one am extremely happy with the additions and believe we can challenge this year…if you disagree what is your argumentation ????
The squad needs more solidification… ;)
and strikefocification
A sound argument exhibiting immense human dimension.
sounds better and more thoughtful and intelligent than run about a bit and will probably get better results than a random throwaway comment.
A midfield of Sandro-Moutinho-Dembele sounds great. But if he’s attracting the likes of Barca it would explain why his transfer became problematic in the last window.
Let’s move on I say. We’ll find some1 equally capable I think. Spilt milk and all that, it’s not meant to be.
We’re not going to attract players like him for 2 reasons.
1: We’re not the money bags dream team.
2: We’ve proven that we won’t roll over for big clubs to pinch our players.
We’re not the prime destination and we refuse to be a stepping stone. This may make our targets very specific ones.
Agree with most of that.
The corollary being, if he still does want to come (and turns down the money of Zenit/etc) because he loves playing for AVB, then that makes him one of the good guys, in my book…
From what I have read and seen (once), Moutinho appears to be more in the Vieira mold than a true playmaker like Modric.
My hope is that Sandro eventually will improve going forward and will one day be Moutinho’s equal. How can he not with all the time playing for Brazil’s first team?
Cazorla and Hazard have both come in and shown that for less than £20m you can land a world class playmaking CM. They are both considerably better in that role than Moutinho ever will be.
Err… Dunga? :)
Although the point about Cazorla & Hazard (plus, no doubt, quite a few others…) is well made…
Cazorla went missing against Chelsea over the weekend.
Less than 20 million?? What planet you been living on?? Not sure about Cazorla but Hazard cost Chelsea 32 million.
Midfielders come in all shapes sizes and styles.
With saying that we dont have creative midfielder.
Sahin,Moutinho,Modric,Silva and Mata are all creative midfielders.
Dembele and Sandro are not (but a lot of our creativity comes from the wings)
so another midfielder who is creative would be good,
Cazorla looks like he has it all.Powerful and talented.
Sandro and Dembele etc are straight up power midfielders
Spot on Ronnie, many peeps can’t see the differences. They think because we got Dembele for 15 mill instead of Moutinho for 22 mill, that we got a cheaper alternative, which is not true. What we got was a different “type” of player but we still need a Modric “type” of player which Moutinho is.
Im thinking that meanwhile Huddlestone could provide another thing.In games that are deemed ‘easier’ (though most arent) maybe Huddlestone could sit in front of the defence spreading the ball.He too is not a Modric type but his passing ability is superb and could spread the ball from a deeper position that Modric did…setting off an attack.
From Football365:
“Di Matteo has now dropped/rested/not selected/whatever Lampard in four of the first ten games of the season.
This time last year, Andre Villas-Boas dropped/rested/not selected/whatever Lampard in three of the first ten games of the season.
We await the stories about Di Matteo having lost the dressing room and destabilising senior players at the club with interest.”
Funny…
Thats a saucy bit of info right there.
I guess the difference is that they ‘heroically’ won the CL under
Di Matteo giving him a lot more clout in the squad selection.
It’s much harder to argue with someone who delivers instant success. Until the cracks appear at least….
Redknapp anyone?
Oh and someone above mentioned HR to QPR this season. That seems alarmingly likely and I was just starting to enjoy myself….
Where’s the Daily Snail when you need them, eh?
It would be interesting to see whether Moutinho heads east, after the reception his mate, Hulk, has had at Zenit…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/oct/02/zenit-milan-champions-league-strain-defeats?CMP=EMCFTBEML853
As for the Barca stuff, well he would say that, wouldn’t he? ;)
It’s still game on for us, as far as I’m concerned… if we still want him & the price is right (ie nearer 20m than 30m…), that is…
he should pay for the privilege of playing for us
that’s what I told her…
Oops, wrong forum…
;)