RealGM

Galatasaray's new chairman just announced Johan Elmander as a new transfer on TV, says there will be an official announcement tomorrow.

Johan Elmander signed a contract with Galatasaray.

He started the season brilliantly but got inconsistent since the new year. Rather slow but surprisingly very very good with the ball

Sleepy wrote:Hamit Altintop complains about the lack of playing time in Munich... and goes to Real Madrid.

Ok then...

i like him as a player, but that's just silly if he is really looking for playing time

The Hamit Altintop move is among the stranger I've seen, really don't understand his motivation for moving to a team not only as good but as deep as Real. I mean, looking at their bench I'm not even sure he cracks their bench in important games lol

Teddy KGB wrote:The Hamit Altintop move is among the stranger I've seen, really don't understand his motivation for moving to a team not only as good but as deep as Real. I mean, looking at their bench I'm not even sure he cracks their bench in important games lol

Teddy, that's me once again and you are wrong

Mourinho is doing something pretty good. The last World Cup proved that German soccer is the one which can be competitive against Spanish soccer. That's being said, Mourinho's been trying to bring as many players from German soccer into Real Madrid and try to beat Barcelona with German mentality. Sami Khedira, Mesut Ozil, Hamit Altintop and Nuri Sahin have German mentality in their style.

In addition, Mourinho loves the players who play with their heart and passion. Think about Inter's squad when he won the CL. Lucio, Maicon, Cambiasso, Eto'o, Milito, Motta, Zanetti, Chivu, Samuel, Sneijder. These players are very talented, TRUE but also they play with their heart and passion. When they leave from the pitch, they leave %100 of their energy on the pitch.

And now, think about Euro 2008 and Turkey. I've been living in the U.S for 6 years but I always follow Turkish football and players. In Euro 2008, I was always excited to watch our team. As Mourinho and most of the fans love to see on the pitch that our players played passionately. They always fought until last minute, last second. We beat Switzerland 2-1, Arda scored in the last second. We beat Republic, were down 0-2 till 68. mins, then we beat them 3-2 end of 90 mins. We beat Croatia and scored to tie in the last second(Semih Senturk scored). Against Germany in the semi final, we kept playing so hard, our players fought but at this time they hit us back with our weapon by scoring in the last second.

So, Mourinho loves those kinds of players. Especially, German-Turkish mixture is the best solution against Barca's hegomony.

i think what Altintop has going for him is that he can play pretty much any position in the midfield. For this reason I think he comes on as a sub sometimes with like 10 mins left, in games that they have the lead. Also, what coach doesn't love players with heart/passion? I'd say Mourinho prefers that in addition to skill, not over skill.

Your German-Turkish theory is pretty far-fetched. You bring up Inter who had no German or Turkish players...with just Lucio coming from the Bundesliga, so I don't get the connection there lol. Most of those players you mentioned spent majority of their career in Serie A (and they in fact beat Barcelona last year)

The Sun is spouting bullsh*t as usual, front page today declares that Man City are going to buy CRon for 150m pounds... absolute bollocks, what a useless paper.

Mourinho likes to have a deep pool of central midfielder to pick from. In his Chelsea days he once had a squad of Deco, Lampard, Ballack, Essien, Mikel and Sidwell fighting for two spots and Joe Cole who could play anywhere in midfield.

Deco wasn't a Jose signing, and I think it's pretty normal for a big club to have 3-4 quality CM's. We also used to have a very good depth at every position - not just CM - then.

Yeah was Ballack brought in while Makelele was around? I forgot Scolari bought Deco.

Yeah Ballack joined in 05 or 06. Same as Shevchenko

I hear City have first refusal on Neymar. They could buy him if Tevez leaves.

SlavaMedvedenko wrote:I hear City have first refusal on Neymar. They could buy him if Tevez leaves.

source?

edit: not sure how credible, but it doesn't look like it will matter anyway

http://pitacodogringo.wordpress.com/201 ... on-neymar/

This is because of a clause written in to the contract that took Robinho back to Santos giving the English club a first option on the youngster. City have until 4th August to decide on whether they wish to act on the option.

Santos doesn't even have a full ownership of Neymar either

Yeah that and I read it on multiple sources when Robinho moved to Santos.

Also this is new from Guillem Balague.

Guillem Balague
GuillemBalague Guillem Balague
Man City might deny it, but both Real Madrid and Ronaldo think the City offer is true http://goo.gl/3KFj9
14 hours ago

Guillem Balague
GuillemBalague Guillem Balague
ManCity had 2 offers for Cristiano Rolando turned down by Real Madrid already; prepared to go as high as €180 million http://goo.gl/3KFj9

FWIW the guy has good sources in Spain and broke the Torres to Chelsea news.

I really can't see Ronaldo going to Man City. I mean, he's earning enough at Real that the extra money City could throw his way wouldn't be as alluring to him as it would be to other players. He's the main guy on the team he grew up dreaming of playing for. He's got guaranteed Champions League football and the opportunity to challenge for domestic trophies year in and year out for Real. He would also become hated by a Man Utd fanbase that still has a lot of affection for him. Other than some extra money in an already overflowing account, what have City got to offer him?

City's going to be a force both domestically and continentally, and Ronaldo can only help that. Now, if I were him, I would stay at Real myself, but guaranteed CL football and opportunity to challenge for trophies year in and year out will be there at City as well.

He would get killed by the red half of Manchester if he played for City...

magik9113 wrote:i think what Altintop has going for him is that he can play pretty much any position in the midfield. For this reason I think he comes on as a sub sometimes with like 10 mins left, in games that they have the lead. Also, what coach doesn't love players with heart/passion? I'd say Mourinho prefers that in addition to skill, not over skill.

Your German-Turkish theory is pretty far-fetched. You bring up Inter who had no German or Turkish players...with just Lucio coming from the Bundesliga, so I don't get the connection there lol. Most of those players you mentioned spent majority of their career in Serie A (and they in fact beat Barcelona last year)

I brought up Inter because they had some passionate players such as Lucio, Cambiasso etc.
I brought it up just prove Mourinho's favorite players are usually the ones who play with their heart and passion. This was the connection.