Ronaldo just moved from Inter Milan to Real Madrid. This makes the most powerful club in the world, even more powerful. I can't imagine a club team who EVER had the caliber of offense of Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Raul, Figo, and Zidane. A case can be made that Zidane is among the top 5 or so midfielders of all-time. Ditto for Ronaldo at striker. This mass of talent is just insane. For you non-soccer fans, this is akin to having a 4 of your 5 starting players consisting of Shaq, Duncan, and Kobe. In this move, Real will be selling striker Morientes to rival, Barcelona to free up money to buy Ronaldo. As well as Inter getting 1 of 4 players of their choice, to go along with 30+ million dollars. THe problem is that supposedly, Morientes and Barca can't agree to contract terms. Real, talent-wise, is a mile ahead of who I think the 2nd most talented club in the world is, Man U.
ManU is overhyped. They also made the biggest transfer mistake this year by signing Rio Ferdinand for monster bucks before realizing that the market is stalling big time. They could've saved mucho $$ by waiting a month or two. They also made the biggest transfer mistake last year by signing Veron. Real looks darn good, but as far as Ronaldo is concerned, I don't trust his health. Zidane, Roberto Carlos, Figo, Raul etc. are all great players, but somewhat overrated, if you ask me. Take last years CL final - they won, but the game was completely dominated by Leverkusen, who just lacked the killer instinct, as they usually do when it really counts (they aren't called Neverkusen for nothing......).
damn, that is a killer line up of names. its like their team consists of all the guys in those tv adds that ran during the world cup. I think they were addidas spots. I personally would love to see some other teams wit the CL Leverkusen is a minor favorite of mine, they have my favorite stadium, and they were great last year. also I love Arsenal. always have always will. I personally dont concern myself with european soccer untill the MLS season and playoffs are done, but it is good to know when transfers like this happen
Btw, what would really scare me is if Realsigned a great defensive midfielder like Vieira or Hamann, some great defenders and a good goalie. Until that happens and guys like Hierro and Iker Casillas play in their defense, they're the soccer version of the Dallas Mavericks and beatable by a team that is capable of exploiting these deficiencies. Just look at their track record against Bayern to see what I mean.
Uh, have you heard of the transfer deadline? If so, then you would know that Man U couldn't really have waited another 2 months. Also, Man U had to get Ferdinand sometime in the beginning of August, so that they could register him for the Champions League. Yes they overpaid, but so what, they have plenty of money in the coffers.
England must have a very early transfer deadline then . Ronaldo signed yesterday or so, and you bet he will play in the CL. Also, wasn't the Robbie Keane transfer done just a few days ago? Ferdinand was signed on July, 20th. It was one of the first major transfers after the World Cup. Days later, the market stalled completely as evidenced by the "0 € for Rivaldo" thing. Manu was not forced to sign him that early. They could've waited a bit. Let's take a look at some top transfers of this season : Rivaldo : 0 € (!!!) Michael Ballack : 6 Mio € (!!!) Alessandro Nesta : 30 Mio € Ronaldo : 45 Mio € Rio Ferdinand : 46.7 Mio € Face it : he was more expensive than Ronaldo. He was more expensive than every player on this list. And he's by no means the best player out of this buch, I'd even argue he's not as good as the others. If you look at that, there's no way to deny the Rio signing was way too pricey and ManU misjudged the market big time. And it looks even more stupid if you consider that the reasons for the breakdown of the player market (stalling TV revenues) were known months before the transfer.
fire sale over at lazio... one of my fav teams just sold two of their best players: defender (and captain) nesta is going to AC Milan & striker crespo is off to Inter to take Ronaldos place. deservedly so, the fans have rioted (although lazio is in serious debt and really needed the $)
Lazio is bancrupt. It's like the Fiorentina fiasco all over again. And I love Nesta too. Great defender. But the Lazio fans - well they're a disgrace. Just as bad as the Hellas Verona fans. A bunch of nazis.
Soybean-Uh, the INTERNATIONAL transfer deadline was Aug 31. This goes for every club. That is why Real and Inter felt desperate to renew talks after saying that talks were closed after last week. If they hadn't made a deal yesterday, then Ronaldo would be stuck at the San Siro for 4 more months or so. Also, I agree that Man U overspent for Rio. However, what does it matter? Man U is not hurting for money.
A bad transfer is a bad transfer. Yes, ManU will survive it, but it wasn't a smart move. Also, look at ManU's recent history : they were highly successful before the spending spree. Most of their players were bought rather inexpensively or products of their youth teams. They won the CL and then, something happened. El Ferg decided to spend lotsa dough and they look like AC Milan / Inter now : lotsa money no result
Bayern will kick Real's ass again this season. BET ME!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I know, I can only try to be as annoying as heypartner...can't beat the original in that case...). Seriously, judging by the names, no team in the world, including all national teams, should be able to beat Real. However, I totally agree with Soybean's statement that Real does not have a good defense - and getting a team of stars to gel is quite difficult. Let's just wait and see whether Raul and Ronaldo can play together. I do believe that Bayern will win the Champions League this season - if anyone is up for a bet, I will bet. Bayern has the best goalie in the world, a much better defense than Real, they have a team which has had its core together for a while and they have, imho, the best coach in the world. I can go through the matchups: Goalie: Bayern: Kahn - Real: Casillas - Edge: Bayern (by far!) Left Wing Defender: Bayern: Lizarazu - Real: R. Carlos - Edge: Even (Carlos more dangerous, Lizarazu much better defensively) Right Wing Defender: Bayern: Sagnol or Salihamidzic - Real: Salgado (?) - Edge: Bayern - Salihamidzic, with his speed and toughness, usually more than neutralizes Carlos, that's why Real fans hate him Central Defenders: Bayern: R. Kovac, Kuffour, Linke - Real: Hierro, Helguera, Pavon - Edge: Bayern (faster, tougher, better in the air) Midfield Players: Bayern: Ballack, Ze Roberto, Deisler, Scholl, Jeremies, Hargreaves - Real: Zidane, Figo, Guti, Conceicao, McManaman - Edge: I say even. Yes, Zidane is an amazing player to watch (it's like listening to Mozart or something like that...he seems to have a magic touch), but I think Figo is past his prime now and I think every single one of the Bayern midfielders I mentioned is better than all Real midfielders other than Zidane and Figo. Plus, Bayern has a better balance of offensive players (Ballack, Ze Roberto, Scholl, Deisler (who is injured)) and defensive specialists (Jeremies, Hargreaves, also Fink and N. Kovac). Let me predict right here that Ballack will lead Germany to the World Cup title in 2006 in Germany. He has the potential to be on the same level with Zidane in one or two years. Forwards: Bayern: Elber, Pizzarro, Roque Santa Cruz, Zickler - Real: Ronaldo, Raul, Morientes, Munitis - Edge: Real, but not by much - Elber has scored more goals than any other foreign player in 40 years in the German "Bundesliga", Pizzarro is probably just as dangerous and Santa Cruz, at 20, might be the most talented striker in the world at his age - he brings the full package - speed, perfect technique, dribbling, a knack for scoring goals - too bad he is injured - the only player that is faster than Santa Cruz is Zickler, who is rumored to be able to run the 100 m clearly faster than in 11 seconds...something around 10.7 or so. Perfect player for counter attacks once you have the lead. Coach: Hitzfeld is the best. He won the Champions League with both Dortmund and Bayern and I cannot even remember the last season a team coached by him did NOT win a title (Bayern only won the World Team Cup against Boca Juniors last year, which means they had a bad year). Financial Health: Real is spending money like crazy. They had to sell their real estate to be able to finance this. In my opinion, it could be a bubble that might burst at some point. Bayern is probably, together with Manchester United, the most "healthy" club in Europe from a financial standpoint. Overall: Edge: Bayern
After 1 signing (Veron), you've come to this conclusion? With Rio, it's too early to speculate anything. And Van Nistelrooy led the EPL in goals last year. Also, what is a "bad signing"? Man U did overpay, but if they win the EPL, is it really that bad? I think what they need to do is get rid of Keane while they can. He's a cancer to the team. You MIGHT be able to count this with Barthez. However, they did win the EPL, in Barthez's first year at Man U.
Sir Jackie, yes Figo is past his prime, but you are overexaggerating if you think Owen Hargreaves is better than Figo. There is NO WAY that Bayern's MF is better than Real's. Not to say that Bayern's is weak, but Real has arguably the best player in the world in Zidane. You're also forgetting Makelele, who is a very good DM. Also, you give Real "not much" of an edge over Bayern at striker? Come on man. Real beat Bayern last year, and with the signing of Ronaldo, they are probably even better than last year. Bayern did get Ballack, who played well in the WC, but he is not in Zidane's class right now. I would give the slight overall edge to Real because of their star power. The fact that Bayern has the best keeper in the world, is why I only give Real a slight edge overall. Your right in that Madrid has a pretty weak defense, however the best defense in soccer/football is offense (possesion), and Real has the MF's who can win the 50/50s (Makelele) and the MFs who can hold possesion (Figo and Zidane). I'm not sure if you watched the Euro Super Cup, but Real looked great on the attack.
Sir Jackie-What do you think of Bayern's CL draw? I think they got a tough break from UEFA. Paired with AC Milan, and Deportivo, one team in that group will go home disappointed. http://www.soccernet.com/championsleague/news/2002/0829/20020829champsdraw.html
Rio is probably the best English defender which makes him one of the best in the world so I dont think that Manu overpaid that much for him. the most important thing is that a team can play together. Real will have to prove that they can do this. That said, Real has by far the most talent.
I think I said all Bayern midfielders I mentioned are better than all Real midfielders except Zidane and Figo...but I did forget to mention Makelele, he is, or at least was, decent. Have you seen some of Elber's or Pizzarro's or Roque Santa Cruz' goals? These guys are damn good... Anyway...it will be an exciting matchup...I would not be surprised if these two teams ended up in the finals again. I agree that Bayern has a tough draw, and I think Deportivo will be the team that will be sent packing. Milan is also not that great, even though they have Rivaldo. Bayern should definitely make it out of that group.
By the way, I have no respect for Ronaldo as a person. Inter supported him all the way through his awful injuries and now he comes back to kick them in the face. Yeah, it's all a business and whatever...but I don't like the guy.
Ya I agree with you... One of my friends who knows a guy who speaks Italian, said the guy told him that Ronaldo SUPPOSEDLY wanted out of Milan because his hot wife/girlfriend and Seedorf may have had some kind of relationship. As you know, Seedorf was at Inter, and is now at AC Milan. I'm not sure about the validity of the story though.
That would be a bad move. While Keane is a monumental ass, he is the one who adds much needed toughness to ManU's midfield. It would be very difficult to find an adequate replacement. As long as he can play on a high level, there's no way losing him would make ManU better.
