I believe the deadline is already the deadline to get the paperwork done so teams know to have a deadline earlier to get a signed agreement/personal terms done. For example, Chelsea with Papy Djilobodji. I believe they agreed on transfer amount and personal terms by the end of the day yesterday and then had the paperwork finalized today. I might be wrong but I think for the most part that's how it went down. Probably best for certain teams (like one in particular based in Manchester and owned by the Glazer family) to not wait to get both things done on the final day.
Thing is United still f'd up by waiting until late before getting serious with discussions. Sure they can say Madrid were mucking about and not making a serious bid but either way, United and Woodward could have got things seriously going a lot earlier than yesterday. Both United and Madrid have a singular favourite agent they love to deal with. I'm sure he'd have been ok with setting up a dinner for Perez and Woodward at some point over the last month or so. (I'm sure if that happened it would have been in the tabloids at some point). It'd be interesting to hear Jorge Mendes' side of things if he ever chose to discuss it. (I doubt he will since he enjoys earning money from both clubs for his clients and himself).
We never wanted to sell De Gea in the first place. We set our valuations early in the summer and Real Madrid never made a bid close to what we want... until yesterday.We could easily turn the tables and say, "what in the hell is Real doing, jacking around when they had 3 months to negotiate?" Right, they were using Marca to unsettle the player and lowballing a ridiculous amount (£13m was the last number I heard in July). I'm fine with De Gea leaving on a free next year. It will give us a full year to assess who we want as a GK (Bernd Leno is my choice as Lloris is too expensive). I think Keylor is a great keeper and it's such a shame to see Real Madrid treating him this way. It's good to see that the fans are supporting Keylor, with an overwhelming majority of them even wanting him over De Gea. De Gea will need reassess his situation because as soon as he walks through that door in Madrid, he's going to be a villain and every move will be scrutinized.
News: City has always been good in the national league yet always underperformed in the Champions League in the last years /old news
Yeah, it's in AT&T Stadium. I've been there a couple times, never for a soccer game though. This should be a good time!
You're fine with De Gea leaving for nothing? I'm not sure that's great. True the tables could be turned to ask what Madrid were doing since they were also diddling around and were lowballing (while some could say United set a ridiculous value for DDG). Main thing is United knew for the last year they had a player who was casting glances back at his former city and wanted a move. It's not as if United have issues with DDG's agent or didnt know someone who could facilitate the move (DDG's agent), get a better offer from Madrid and engage in serious discussions to get the ball rolling earlier. It'd be great if someone in the media could interview Mendes to get his side of the story but he is not as media friendly as Balotelli/Zlatan's agent.
Breh you should've told a brotha you were gonna be at that match. I was there too. We could've had a bro-down.
We have enough of that here with our sports in America. Part of the appeal of European football is the different structure. From no playoffs in the league to the youth systems and transfer windows I wouldn't change any of it.
Madrid would be silly to buy him then when they can get him for free in the summer. But then again he might renew now with United because if he doesn't get PT at the club level he won't be getting any either with Spain in the Euros in 2016. Comical stuff. I love it!
This is the most interesting part. He has to basically rebuild his relationships with the club and especially with LVG. He not only needs to play, but play well if he wants to make Spain's squad. If he doesn't make amends then LVG won't hesitate to keep him on the bench considering how notorious he is for his stubbornness. If United somehow pull off a miracle and he signs a new deal at some point, this was a huge win for them.
So the Martial transfer is 22m pounds up front. 3.5m over the next four years adding up to 36m. And the add ons are 5m euros each time he's the top goalscorer in the BPL to a max of 15m, 10m if he wins the ballon d'or and 5m if he wins the Golden boy award. Ridiculous sum no matter how you twist it, but with those add ons Monaco clearly rates him. I've only seen him play three times, so I don't have much to base an opinion about him but here's to hoping Man Utd has to pay the whole sum. Have turned out to be one hell of a player then. New Sanogo or Henry 2.0? Time will tell.
Hence my use of the word Europe. The team has finally filled it weakest position and is multiple players deep in the most important areas. End Discussion.
I'm a believer in them this season both domestically and on the continent but the striker position is right now the weakest for them. If anything happens to Aguero, they might be in some trouble despite Bony and Iheanacho. Not ideal but they are solid and have quality depth at every position but that. Anyway, I think this is the year City go far in the Champions League. (Past the group stage=far :grin: )
With Sterling / Silva / De Bruyne out there, I'd imagine even Bony could put a few in the back of the net.
