Transfer Thread 2022/23

Foye · Post #561 » by **Foye** » Sat Dec 31, 2022 12:07 pm

Ronaldo to Al-whatever.

Shame that he chose money over returning to Sporting.

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HIF · Post #562 » by **HIF** » Sat Dec 31, 2022 1:22 pm

Foye wrote:Ronaldo to Al-whatever.

Shame that he chose money over returning to Sporting.

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Great for middle east football. I have no problem with Ronaldo cashing in, he'd have played for a CL team if one had offered, I'm sure. Hypocrisy how he's being criticisied but those who go to the MLS (which is just for the money too) are not.

Foye · Post #563 » by **Foye** » Sat Dec 31, 2022 4:32 pm

HIF wrote:
Foye wrote:Ronaldo to Al-whatever.

Shame that he chose money over returning to Sporting.

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Great for middle east football. I have no problem with Ronaldo cashing in, he'd have played for a CL team if one had offered, I'm sure. Hypocrisy how he's being criticisied but those who go to the MLS (which is just for the money too) are not.

App is messing with the tweet but a few years back he said something like he wants to end his career at the top level not in US or Qatar.

I don’t criticize him for doing it but if I had already earned hundreds of millions I would for sure get back to the club where it all began.

wco81 · Post #564 » by **wco81** » Sat Dec 31, 2022 5:09 pm

Is Sporting in the CL this year?

I guess even if they are, they may not be able to get out of group?

HIF · Post #565 » by **HIF** » Sat Dec 31, 2022 7:28 pm

Foye wrote:
HIF wrote:
Foye wrote:Ronaldo to Al-whatever.

Shame that he chose money over returning to Sporting.

Gesendet von iPhone mit RealGM Forums

Great for middle east football. I have no problem with Ronaldo cashing in, he'd have played for a CL team if one had offered, I'm sure. Hypocrisy how he's being criticisied but those who go to the MLS (which is just for the money too) are not.

App is messing with the tweet but a few years back he said something like he wants to end his career at the top level not in US or Qatar.

I don’t criticize him for doing it but if I had already earned hundreds of millions I would for sure get back to the club where it all began.

I guess you are not "like" Ronaldo then. :wink:

fbalmeida · Post #566 » by **fbalmeida** » Tue Jan 3, 2023 8:35 pm

So Ronaldo has just become the highest paid player-celebrity in football history. Personally, I think it's lamentable that a player of his stature endorses living and/or working in a regime like Saudi Arabia. But whatever. He's not the first and he won't be the last. It's over for him, insofar as his elite-level career is concerned.

Meanwhile Enzo Fernández and his unscrupulous and shady agent Uriel Perez, are trying to force the young star player's way out of Benfica for less than his 120 M euro release clause, reportedly to Chelsea. Enzo missed two team practices as he went AWOL to celebrate New Year's eve in Argentina despite coach Schmidt's workplan that excused nobody from their regular schedules. He's now awaiting disciplinary action from Benfica while, again, reportedly, requesting that Benfica accept the current offer from Chelsea.

My opinion is that Rui Costa should force Chelsea to pay the full release clause or go home. Benfica is heading into a tough fight for their 38th league title with a slim 5 point lead over arch-nemesis FC Porto and are in the Champions League's knockout stage.

No discounts for the disgruntled.

Foye · Post #567 » by **Foye** » Wed Jan 4, 2023 9:16 am

Kevin Schade to Brentford for 25 mil.

He is a decent talent but it’s crazy that they are paying this much for him. He has a total of 5 Bundesliga goals.

SgtPepper · Post #568 » by **SgtPepper** » Wed Jan 4, 2023 3:19 pm

Foye wrote:Ronaldo to Al-whatever.

Shame that he chose money over returning to Sporting.

Agree, frankly it's underwhelming in both a business and sporting sense and hints he doesn't have strong ideas of what he'll do after retiring as a player.

The most fascinating angle of all this is that Mendes ended the relationship in Nov after the 2 legged interview (https://www.publico.pt/2023/01/03/desporto/noticia/manchester-united-divorciou-cristiano-ronaldo-jorge-mendes-2033640) and that CR7 took/created the least impressive option at a time when there's a dearth in striker quality in Europe.

fbalmeida · Post #569 » by **fbalmeida** » Wed Jan 4, 2023 3:35 pm

Indeed there are rumblings indicating that his agent Jorge Mendes had advised Ronaldo, throughout the start of the season, to roll back on the antics, fall in line, and accept whatever his role with Man U was going to be with a positive attitude, and if need be, work towards a graceful departure to another European club.

So naturally Ronaldo fired Jorge Mendes in November, just prior to the Piers Morgan interview, created a needless spectacle, tanked his own value as an untouchable toxic player, and eventually cashed out on his celebrity status in Mohammed bin Salman's playground.

A sad and disgraceful ending to an incredible career.

SgtPepper · Post #570 » by **SgtPepper** » Wed Jan 4, 2023 6:57 pm

The main point is he should have lined up his next job before the Morgan interviews. I'm lamenting the outcome because he is a legendary forward and even if he has truly declined by a lot he still could have started for Europa League clubs and had a post-peak career similar to Zlatan. He already took a voluntary 70% wage cut to go to Utd. I'm also sad because there's a huge gap in European striker talent between these 33+yo striker legends and the u24 cohort of Mbappe & Haaland. There's very little for football neutrals to be excited about at striker after being spoiled on peak Ronaldo and Messi when they played in actually competitive leagues.

wco81 · Post #571 » by **wco81** » Wed Jan 4, 2023 8:26 pm

Ironic thing is United are on good form now and have a good chance for the CL next season.

The problem is he wasn't playing a lot for them and they're playing well without him.

He apparently wanted to play full matches, not just be a sub at age 38.

He may be able to do it but he may wear down or be more vulnerable to injuries. It doesn't appear load management has reached the football world yet.

SgtPepper · Post #572 » by **SgtPepper** » Thu Jan 5, 2023 3:01 am

Really? I think Utd has the worst forward rotation since that season where Van Gaal sold RVP and brought in Depay. The net goalscoring is worse than all rivals except Chelsea, who are the league's best #10 currently.

Post #573 » by **Shaazzam** » Thu Jan 5, 2023 5:16 am

Our midfield is way better than it has been for years though. In Casemiro and Erikksen we have two dudes that can actually pass the ball. Pogba could be brilliant but was mercurial, and Bruno turned the ball over way too frequently too deep. So while the forwards can be meh, Rashford and Martial have been quite good this year. But yeah, we could use a real animal up top.

Post #574 » by **Shaazzam** » Fri Jan 6, 2023 4:41 am

Lol Cristiano has to still serve his two match ban.

lambchop · Post #575 » by **lambchop** » Fri Jan 6, 2023 2:48 pm

wco81 wrote:Ironic thing is United are on good form now and have a good chance for the CL next season.

The problem is he wasn't playing a lot for them and they're playing well without him.

He apparently wanted to play full matches, not just be a sub at age 38.

He may be able to do it but he may wear down or be more vulnerable to injuries. It doesn't appear load management has reached the football world yet.

This. He could be on a ton of CL teams and could be getting good minutes, but there would be games where he'd be subbed out early, would start as a sub, wouldn't play at all etc. His attitude, antics and all of the media attention are just unnecessary distractions for any CL team. At this stage he's basically another Balotelli.

lambchop · Post #576 » by **lambchop** » Fri Jan 6, 2023 2:54 pm

SgtPepper wrote:
Foye wrote:Ronaldo to Al-whatever.

Shame that he chose money over returning to Sporting.

Agree, frankly it's underwhelming in both a business and sporting sense and hints he doesn't have strong ideas of what he'll do after retiring as a player.

I mean not everyone wants to be a Sky Sports analyst or youth team assistant coach. He basically opted to accumulate a lot of additional wealth. If he invested his cash well/ didn't spend all of it, he could even buy Benfica once he retires.

HIF · Post #577 » by **HIF** » Fri Jan 6, 2023 8:05 pm

lambchop wrote:
wco81 wrote:Ironic thing is United are on good form now and have a good chance for the CL next season.

The problem is he wasn't playing a lot for them and they're playing well without him.

He apparently wanted to play full matches, not just be a sub at age 38.

He may be able to do it but he may wear down or be more vulnerable to injuries. It doesn't appear load management has reached the football world yet.

This. He could be on a ton of CL teams and could be getting good minutes, but there would be games where he'd be subbed out early, would start as a sub, wouldn't play at all etc. His attitude, antics and all of the media attention are just unnecessary distractions for any CL team. At this stage he's basically another Balotelli.

Myth.

SgtPepper · Post #578 » by **SgtPepper** » Mon Jan 9, 2023 2:44 pm

lambchop wrote:I mean not everyone wants to be a Sky Sports analyst or youth team assistant coach. He basically opted to accumulate a lot of additional wealth. If he invested his cash well/ didn't spend all of it, he could even buy Benfica once he retires.

You're thinking small. Ronaldo had achieved generational wealth by his early 20s because of how well he did as a footballer. This money will roughly double his career earnings, but doesn't improve his options over the rest of his career and life since the starting point was already very high. Working in football mgmt and investing in clubs are not that lucrative options for ex-athletes either. He's also stated ~7 years ago that he probably wants to leave football and go into movies and entertainment after his football career ended. I take that as the truth, because at this late and unstable stage of that career his statements will have to be political. His obsession with brand size metrics like twitter follower count, balon d'or, individual records makes more sense from that lens too. In other words, he's following the same career strategy as Pele, Arnold, and Lebron James. But all those guys managed it a lot better. To poke a few holes, how does going to Saudi Arabia advance his post-career? The viewership in the region is small so his brand will diminish and his contention for the national team will probably end immediately, and unless he has hopes of becoming a future Barcelona coach the more direct access to global Saudi investors and club pipelines won't improve his options. Both the MLS and China would have given him big money (though less immediately), more global brand exposure (meaning more annual and sustainable earnings post-retirement), and exposure to investors who drive the entertainment industry which would be more relevant to his post-career.

Post #579 » by **Baphomet** » Mon Jan 9, 2023 5:58 pm

Joao Felix signing for Chelsea. Good player but I don't think he's really the right type of player they need, in terms of where he plays, what the team is lacking and what he contributes, but we'll see.

They might need to spend another half a billion to finish above Fulham.

The_Brecht · Post #580 » by **The_Brecht** » Mon Jan 9, 2023 6:37 pm

Baphomet wrote:Joao Felix signing for Chelsea. Good player but I don't think he's really the right type of player they need, in terms of where he plays, what the team is lacking and what he contributes, but we'll see.

They might need to spend another half a billion to finish above Fulham.

Same type of player like Havertz.
Again not a pure striker. The new owner is actually insane.
Love to see it.