2007/2008 European football thread

[Fallschirmjager]

By popular demand!

The other thread can be used until the Copa America is over
But in the interest of keeping things seperated by season I think a new thread is in order.
Hard to believe teams are already back in training and friendlies for some nations will begin next week!
By this time next month a few leagues will be back playing with most having kicked off by the end of the month.
The football offseason is winding down

Lets try and make this thread as pleasent and as successful as last seasons

[mlyons]

Excited for Bayern Munich? That's a hell of an attack they've got lined up now with the additions of Klose, Toni, and Ribery.

[Fallschirmjager]

Originally Posted by mlyons

Excited for Bayern Munich? That's a hell of an attack they've got lined up now with the additions of Klose, Toni, and Ribery.

Not really that excited
They had a down year last year and over compensated

Podolski is probably going to ask to leave the club since he did not get the playing time he wanted last season and I dont really blame him
Santa Cruz will be gone before the end of the window

The midfield had improved some but not as much as I would like
Ze Roberto coming back is not really the answer since the team needed help last season but loaned him out anyways
Altıntop will help in the league but I dont think is enough for the UEFA Cup

The defense is also aging and was not that great last season.
Almost nothing has been done to improve upon it

[LFC1892]

Is Tevez really on his way to ManUre? If so, is that close to 70 million quid thats been spent by grumpy Sir Alex so far?

[mlyons]

I thought Tevez was going to one of the Milan teams.

[Jordan]

Early predictions, anyone?

[Big Hugg]

Fulham will get picked to be relegated and won't be.

Just like the last 4 years.

[mlyons]

Tottenham shocks everyone and doesn't qualify for Europe.

[Muppetus Galacticus]

Southend lose Freddy Eastwood to Wolves for only £2M. With hindsight they would have been better off letting him for at least 3x that but without him they would had no chance to stay up.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...td/6270492.stm

Chairman Ron Martin has admitted that Southend have "reluctantly" agreed to sell star striker Freddy Eastwood to Wolves for a fee of about £2m.

Wolves chief executive Jez Moxey had claimed on Wednesday that Eastwood was poised to sign after agreeing a fee.

Martin then said Charlton had made an improved offer and were still in "a two-horse race" to sign Eastwood.

However, the 23-year-old is now set to put pen to paper on a four-year deal after passing a medical at Molineux.

Eastwood has scored 49 goals in 111 appearances for the Shrimpers.

And ManUre are closest to grabbing Tevez but take it for what you will. All I have heard lately is that nothing will be talked about until after the Copa America.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...td/6272664.stm

West Ham striker Carlos Tevez is set to join Manchester United, according to BBC Five Live Sport.

BBC sports editor Mihir Bose understands talks are under way and Tevez may move on loan or permanently.

Tevez, 23, is currently on international duty with Argentina in the Copa America in Venezuela.

West Ham have said they want to keep him after he helped them survive in the Premier League last season but doubts have remained over his Hammers future.

[edrooney]

Originally Posted by Jordan

Early predictions, anyone?

Top 4 remain the usual, but in this order:

Chelsea
Liverpool
Arse
ManUre

[Fallschirmjager]

Originally Posted by Jordan

Early predictions, anyone?

Lyon will not retain the Ligue 1 title

[mlyons]

Originally Posted by Fallschirmjager

Lyon will not retain the Ligue 1 title

That's just nuts. Marseille was the only team with a glimmer of hope last season, and they lost their best player this offseason. Who's going to overtake Lyon?

[darkhorse]

Originally Posted by Fallschirmjager

By popular demand!

The other thread can be used until the Copa America is over
But in the interest of keeping things seperated by season I think a new thread is in order.

bababui wept.

[Raderick]

Whoa, the Tevez move to Man U came out of left field.

[Fallschirmjager]

Originally Posted by mlyons

That's just nuts. Marseille was the only team with a glimmer of hope last season, and they lost their best player this offseason. Who's going to overtake Lyon?

Marseille or Lille

[edrooney]

Originally Posted by Raderick

Whoa, the Tevez move to Man U came out of left field.

The speed of it was a bit of a surprise. For weeks it was Tevez speaks to this club, this club wants Tevez, Tevez says this club has great history etc etc.

Now, in the space of a day, it seems a done deal that he's going to ManU. I think this is a great signing for them. Perhaps overpaying only on the basis of half a season in the EPL, but he looks like a younger fitter hungrier Paul Scholes. And that can't be a bad thing.

[mlyons]

Originally Posted by Fallschirmjager

Marseille or Lille

How do you see them making up a 17 point differential (31 points in Lille's case)?

The Lille scenario seems amazingly unlikely, having lost their two top goalscorers to Lyon.

[Big Hugg]

Looks like the league is going to block the Tevez move unless Man U pays the transfer fee directly to West Ham. Which means they'd have to give them "fair market value" and then still give his handlers or whatever that deal is the money they're planning to give them.

Nice to see the league take a stand on this, too bad they didn't do so 3 months ago.

[LFC1892]

Originally Posted by Big Hugg

Looks like the league is going to block the Tevez move unless Man U pays the transfer fee directly to West Ham. Which means they'd have to give them "fair market value" and then still give his handlers or whatever that deal is the money they're planning to give them.

Nice to see the league take a stand on this, too bad they didn't do so 3 months ago.

Carlos Tevez's move to Manchester United is in doubt after the Premier League last night ordered that West Ham United must receive his transfer fee.
The Premiership champions expected to conclude a deal for Tevez once his international duties at the Copa América in Venezuela are fulfilled, with the Argentina forward joining their squad during their tour of the US in the middle of this month. But the league's intervention has left West Ham and Tevez's agents on a collision course to the courts.
Article continues
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West Ham had been prepared to let Tevez go to Old Trafford without receiving a fee but have been forced to reposition themselves. "As far as we are concerned any deal to take Carlos Tevez away from West Ham has to be done directly with the club," said a Premier League spokesman.
That is because the player's registration lies with West Ham and not with the offshore companies who had brought Tevez to the Premiership: Media Sports Investments and Just Sports Inc.
After being fined £5.5m by a disciplinary commission in April for illegally registering the player last August, the Hammers chose to rip up the third-party agreement that connected them to MSI and JSI.
That meant West Ham were effectively taking a £20m-plus-rated player as their own, despite never having paid a transfer fee. MSI and JSI refused to recognise West Ham's decision and instead prepared a path for the player to Old Trafford.
After the disciplinary commission, West Ham had the choice of renegotiating terms with the player's handlers, who are led by Kia Joorabchian, in a deal akin to that which took Javier Mascherano to Liverpool in January. But that would have been a potentially complex discussion and Tevez was needed in a relegation fixture at Wigan the next day. The most expedient route was to rip up the contracts.
That, however, appears to have stored up problems, and these were coming home to roost last night. MSI and JSI have retained the experienced sports lawyer Graham Shear to act on their behalf and a courtroom battle appears inevitable.
West Ham are bound by the terms of their undertakings in response to a letter sent to them by the Premier League on May 4. According to the transcript of the arbitration proceedings concluded on Tuesday, they agreed "to contend that the Tevez Agreement was invalid and unenforceable and, from the club's perspective, terminated, and the club would not perform in accordance with it".
This was interpreted by the Premier League as a commitment to treat any transfer of Tevez as being from West Ham and as having no consideration for the perceived rights of MSI and JSI. On that basis alone was Tevez permitted to continue playing for West Ham, scoring the goals that saved them from relegation.
The difficulty now for West Ham is that they must attempt to defend in court a situation that Sir Philip Otton, a former Lord Justice of Appeal, described in his arbitration judgment as probably not being "legally watertight".
The player's handlers insist the old agreements are still enforceable and that they entitled West Ham only to a one-year loan for Tevez. They claim any attempts to prevent his move to Old Trafford will be an actionable restraint of trade. The only way West Ham and the companies Joorabchian represents may avoid the courts is if a negotiated settlement can be reached. The Premier League will permit the club to share a transfer fee with MSI and JSI but West Ham would have to secure a fair market rate for themselves before forwarding any surplus. But with Manchester United's directors seeking to pay only £6m to take Tevez on a two- season loan with a future option to make the deal permanent, that looks unlikely.

[Hageneezz]

Originally Posted by mlyons

That's just nuts. Marseille was the only team with a glimmer of hope last season, and they lost their best player this offseason. Who's going to overtake Lyon?

Paris Saint Germain