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do you think Bale is £85m worth?

do we have the best league in the world when the best 5 players are atually in Spain?

Messi, Ronaldo, Iniesta and soon to be Suarez and Bale....

really hope Man Utd get Fab though

A player is worth what someone else is prepared to pay for him.

Spurs know that Real will sell Bale shirts aplenty and the lad only needs to have a decent game against Atletico/Barca to be become a Madrid legend. They must have made Beckham's £25m back inside six weeks.

He's also worth money to spurs, who know that he makes Champions League football so much more likely.

Levy only sells for more than he thinks a player is worth. In Levy we trust, say the fans.

And we still have the best league in the world IMO because of how competitive the games are. There's a reason 90% of the Spanish games on telly have either Barca or Real in them.

We might have a competitive league but it is clearly not the best. Last year I thought the EPL was the poorest quality in memory, evidenced by how far United won it (and not the best United side by any means) by and English team performance in the champions league

The best players available eg Neymar, Cavani etc are not coming to England

the new TV deal and privately funded rich clubs can attract the likes of Negredo, Jovetic etc but when push comes to shove the very best are going to be heading to Spain and maybe soon Germany or PSG, whereas a generation ago the players headed to Italy

La Liga will be a lot weaker this season, been a constant stream of departures purely because the mid/low ranking clubs are brasic

I think the top leagues are coming closer together than ever in terms of quality.

Competetive and exciting trumps the top quality of 2 teams imo.  Best thing premier league ever did splitting the TV revenues equally as opposed to in Spain where Barca and Madrid take the lion's share.

I can agree with this, but no match in our league can live upto the expectation of Barca and Madrid. Those games have flair, brilliant players, actual hate for each other, managers fighting (lol)......

Man Utd v Liverpool is so far behind and far behind numerous other games too......

True - but we have far more "lesser" exciting games.

The Barca v Madrid games happen twice, and then the rest of the time someone like Villareal pop in from midtable and get smashed 5-0.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Fungus leaves Man Utd = instant decline?

Missed out on Thiago to Bayern. Seem to be spending a lot of effort on Fabregas which is delusional. If they dont sign anyone can see Man City and Chelsea overtaking them

One thing that just gets worse and worse every year is the amount of crap that gets written in the press. People taking "In The Know" sources from twitter, and just so much BS - 90% of it is just made up nonsense. I just try and shut myself away from it all in the summer, easier said than done though

oh yeh and this

http://havearsenalspentanymoneyyet.com/

Do the big clubs really waste their time chasing players that they have no chance of signing. I can't see teams putting in the effort if they haven't had a green light somewhere!

Someone from United has surely spoken to someone representing Fabregas and hinted that he would be welcome to the move?

Does the above happen or is that considered as tapping up the player?

Cardiff will complete a £9m deal for Spurs defender Steven Caulker later today


That would be a terrific signing. Young, only going to improve. Surprised Spurs are a seller

Very good bit of business for both teams, if that is possible. £9m for a fringe player but who has good potential.

9m seems a little steep to me.

correct me if I am wrong, but I think young British players still command a premium from British clubs?

Part of the reason why so many are importing from places like La Liga/other leagues where sellers need the cash because their particular TV deals emphasise the big clubs so

Well Barca said they wont sell, and Fab said he doesnt want to go. Several times. Who knows what goes on privately but selling him makes no sense for club or player

It may be down to agent talk... Darren Dein in this case

I'm sure they havent wasted that much time on it, just seems to keep cropping up in the press

 :)

It seems true, but why?

Not sure

For me Caulker is about right for me at that price thought he stalled a bit at times last season and looked a bit positionally naive

Presuming Kaboul is fully fit which he must be if selling then it seems ok business for both sides.

Caulker is an awful player.

Spurs are laughing.

Come on,  he can not be described as awful. Not going to have any credibility with such nonsensical hyperbole.

He is no Upson

call him over-rated, say that £9m is too much but "awful"?, just a lazy post. We can do better ;-)

He's good already with loads of potential & definite re-sale value, it's at worst a decent signing. Risky but interesting focus on youth from Cardiff, 2 signings aged 20 (Andreas Cornelius) & Caulker (21) for the best part of 16m

David Luiz "not for sale"

Nice try Chelsea, just trying to stay fashionable!


As an aside thou, I have never seen so many aggressive transfer targets this year (and therefore rejections). Its really interesting. I appreciate most of it is led by players wanting out but still a nice change

I did think "hmmm" when I saw Cardiff had paid £9 million for him.  Only worth about half that imo.

Reason british players cost so much is that teams with European aspirations need british players in there squads so and therefore teams selling them want more for them too journeymen go for 2-3 times what a player brought up in france or germany would

Is there a rule that you have to have X amount of English players in your squad for a european game?  That is against EU law surely?

• From 2008/09, clubs in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League required a minimum of eight homegrown players in a squad limited to 25. These rules are also in force in several national leagues across Europe.

• UEFA introduced the rule in three phases:
Season 2006/07: minimum of four homegrown players in 25-man squad
Season 2007/08: minimum of six homegrown players in 25-man squad
Season 2008/09: minimum of eight homegrown players in 25-man squad

• Clubs have no obligation to put a certain number of homegrown players on the field of play, or on the matchsheet. They are entirely free in their team and matchday squad selection.

• UEFA defines locally-trained or 'homegrown' players as those who, regardless of their nationality, have been trained by their club or by another club in the same national association for at least three years between the age of 15 and 21. Up to half of the locally-trained players must be from the club itself, with the others being either from the club itself or from other clubs in the same association.

• The UEFA rule contains no nationality conditions whatsoever because within the EU such conditions are illegal (following the Bosman ruling). The European Commission stated that the UEFA rule was legal in a statement in May 2008, and that a review would take place in 2012.

http://www.uefa.com/uefa/footballfirst/protectingthegame/youngplayers/index.html


Hence UK players for those top six buying are more expensive

Only so much supply, plenty of demand to fill those squads up

thats what I said with less detail and less c&p

I don't see how this drives prices up that much for english players.  Stick 8 youth players in and you've still got a squad of 17 to play with?  And as you say all the expensive youngsters count that have been brought in from abroad. 

I doubt many teams think "I must go and buy Rooney instead of Aguero because he will count as home grown in my CL squad".

And I certainly don't think it's a factor in the Caulker transfer.  i.e. Spurs didn't think that they needed £9 million because he wouldn't be there for a slot in their Euro squad as a home grown player.

It simply does, there is 5-6 years of evidence for it. Joe Allen and Jordan Henderson off the top of my head without even thinking about it

Over a Long European League season no top six English side is going to risk having 7 or 8 youth players in a squad of 25 which will mean, once you get a senior injury or two, that you are filling your bench with 17-18 year olds

Its one of the reasons, as well as La Liga sides facing problems, that so many sides in the Premiership look to foreign leagues for experienced signings, Swansea most notably but lots of sides this offseason too

I don't dispute the fact that players signed from english clubs cost more. I am disputing the reason why.

I think the reason they cost more is that english clubs are simply under less pressure to sell and thus is takes a larger bid to attract a player.

Sunderland were under little pressure to sell Henderson.  Whereas a European side with one sided TV deals need to generate income on player sales.

I don't think nationality comes into it.  Put simply,  it costs more to buy generic player XYZ from Swansea than it would cost from Villareal.  (assuming both teams are equally keen to keep the player). 

It's a combination of Premier League clubs generally being under little financial pressure to sell, which with the recent TV deal has further reduced (Bony, Wanyame, Van Wolfswinkel signings illustrate this, to mention a few).... but also pressure to not sell homegrown talent by the club's fans i.e. we're only accepting as financially it would be daft not to

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/tottenham-hotspur/10232239/.html

Funnily enough, I'm following the Bale transfer chat pretty closely.

Levy is being Levy and Madrid's sudden change in rhetoric from bullish inevitability to respectful supplication reflects just how badly Perez wants his man. But there seems to be a sense that this transfer won't go to the wire at the end of the month, as the players at Real seem to be questioning the value of this welsh chap against their own values and spurs's insistence at driving a hard bargain might push Real to stop short of making a concession too many.

The clubs are €20m apart and that's without worrying about the players in part exchange. Spurs know they can't just buy a great left back or a CL quality striker without paying over the odds, as we don't have the lure of good European competition. Di Maria doesn't seem to want to come to Spurs and that's understandable. But it is also potentially a deal breaker. Same for Morata, who Perez was likely relying on to show the club can produce a Spanish star.

It's a much more complicated story than most and another reason why I really hope one day Daniel Levy publishes his memoirs!

I think Rooney is treading a very dangerous line with his World Cup chances tonight.

If he tries to make a fool out of Moyes, he could easily find himself not being released for England's qualifiers if he doesn't get away from Utd. Hodgson needs to play it really smart IMO.

Surely no chance that happens.

well if there is a genuine dispute between him and utd (assuming he stays under duress) and he isn't playing every game, the forfeit of him missing a league game isn't an issue to Utd is it?

Won't happen

Moyes needs Hodgson and Hodgson needs Moyes

eg Moyes needs Hodgson when he only wants Welbeck, Phil Jones, Carrick etc to play 45 minutes of some International friendly 3 days before a big league game at some stage

All about scratching each others backs

OMG Palace are now 1/5 to get Darren Bent. Would be over the moon with this.

Would be a cracking signing for Palace I think, and could well scupper T4T's bet on Palace to finish bottom! Still think they'd go down though... ;)

Should have consulted me before getting that on! :) I think we are staying up tbh, rather than not coming bottom.

I hate the bullshit in football/politics/life in general



http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23722256

of course he hassssssssssssssssssssssss!

Just think what he'd be worth if he weren't injured

Nicely timed to the end of the transfer window. No doubt if a deal can't be done he'll suddenly be available for selection come September 1st, stating his love for the fans sped his recovery

I am just wondering what % of bales transfer fee Southampton are going to get normally the saints will have put in 10-20 sell on clause when they sell talented young stars

zero they sold the clause a few years back

a lot in the media about how stupid they were to do it but that is classic aftertiming. Sell on clauses are sold on all the time

Feck not good

Southampton claim this is lies though, and that there just wasn't a sell on clause.

even worse

Right. That was many agent. He says a premier league club have come in for me and my club have accepted their bid. I'm flying today to London to finalise terms and complete the deal. I should probably wear something suitable to show how delighted I am to be there.

(http://www.101greatgoals.com/wp-content/gallery/gimages/bsx8-gbicaaf5rp.jpg)

Vlad Chiriches arrives for his medical at Spurs.

OMG! Bale to Madrid, who would have thought !

GL to the lad

What's the betting he'll trade upwards in the WAG stakes within a year now he's in Blighty?

I love the fact that you spend 100m euro on a footballer and as part of his induction, he has to do "keepie-upies" in front of the crowd. Always makes me chuckle!

Worst still if you just paid €100m, and he doesn't do them that well!!

BBC Sport's Ben Smith reports: "Southampton will receive £2m as a result of Bale's world-record move to Real Madrid but that figure could have been 10-times as much, had they not decided to allow Spurs to buy out the player's 15% sell-on clause in 2007. At the time, Southampton were struggling financially and so decided to sell the clause back to Tottenham for £3m.

"As part of the deal Southampton got Spurs youth goalkeeper Tommy Forecast although he never played a senior game. So instead of an £11m windfall, Southampton will have to make do with a £2m Fifa solidarity payment, which comes their way because they developed the player."

Spurs end up with a net spend of 3m in the transfer window

suprised they havent spent to try to break into the top 4 ;whistle; ;whistle;

infact spurs have made a 15m profit over the last 5 years in the transfer window and built this squad, got to take your hat off to Levy. ;hattip;

http://www.transferleague.co.uk/premiership-transfers/tottenham-hotspur-transfers.html

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugUAgG4POQk

cant say I seen this on forum if its been on tough its on again lol

noticed english players were a hot property this transfer window

off the top of my head downing carroll and barry on loan the pick of them

FYP

i just put it down to english players being useless

there is some big fa speech today planning for the england teams future should be a good laugh to hear what they come up with

It's a long debate but I think a lot of it is that the players are built around the premier league now above all else. Someone like Gerrard has been run into the ground through playing 50+ games in a very competitive season, where he played 80+ minutes in the vast majority. When the summer comes, he simply can't be the same player as he was in October.

Our biggest players can't bring the same performance as others who have had much less gruelling seasons. The Real and Barca Spanish players play as many games but nothing like as demanding week in week out.

One option is to have centrally contracted players like the cricket team does, but then you alienate the agents, the prospective buyers and the parent clubs, who lose out on their biggest assets. It has happened in cricket but it won't happen in football.

Another is for Roy to do what Sir Clive Woodward did and announce he will build a team for 2016. He then brings in a squad of 14 or so players likely to be there or there abouts in three years' time: Sterling, Caulker, Carroll, Jones, Smalling, Sturridge, Welbeck, Hart, Walker and so on. The intention with this is to get a team working together whenever the opportunity arises so that they are used to playing together come the big occasions. Worked ok for the Germans, albeit with a different set up.

Premier League holds all the power now, though, and no one really seems to mind.

Think it goes back earlier than that Tal.  The English youngsters are playing full matches very early, whereas in other countries ball work focus is more common.  In kids' football in England the big strapping early developer is gold dust whereas the scrawny skilful guy finds it hard.

Anyway - realistically most people rank success for their clubs above success for the international side, so nobody would really care that much if England didn't qualify for Brazil imo.  Although Hodgson would have displayed utter incompetetence if it happened in this group.

Waaaay too strong for me. He'd have failed in his primary objective, but it doesn't make him a bad manager. The England job is a poisoned chalice. He's not my favourite manager but he's been brought in partly to oversee St George's Park and everything that comes with it. This team cannot win the world cup. Quarter finals would be an achievement worthy of more praise than it would get.

the premier league wont budge an inch on anything but surely the fa has some power in the championship and below they should give more tv money for the more english qualified players in the team or point deductions for not hitting quotas. worst case it gets a load of foreign players qualified for england and pick them it doesnt bother cricket rugby etc

ive never bought the excuse the premier league is too competitive for english players to perform when tournaments come round - it doesnt affect the foreign players who play over here and theres loads of games the best teams just walk through to easy wins same as abroad. or the excuse of too many games, if there is too many games scrap the league cup - league and fa cup the first teams dont play anyway. half the england team probably arent first choice for there clubs either

england are going to struggle to get 2nd place in qualifying then they still have to get through a play off - supporters have always gone club over country but the country loves a tournament most sport fans would be gutted if they didnt qualify and we would have to hear all the excuses and plans to fix it that have been trotted out for 25 years again.

Quarter finals would indeed be a good achievement.  But we are talking about potentially finishing third in a qualifying group behind Ukraine and Macedonia.  Massive difference.  Whatever you think of Hodgson, that would be epic failure.

Malty,

They may not be as good as we'd like, but they are not useless

Not useless, but you'd be able to take the salary received by any English player in the squad, and get a player from any other country who would be a significant upgrade for the same pay I think in every position.  They are over-paid and pampered by their clubs since the age of 16, and this contributes to their woeful performances for the national team imo. 

I used to like Joe Hart, but the last 18 months I've thought he should concentrate less on dandruff adverts and more on practising the simple goalkeeping act of catching a lofted cross or even a corner.