2017/18 (Soccer) Football Thread

destinyunknown

Banned deucer.
Ronaldo the stat padder :-)

They should go for Hazard, he is better then Neymar and Mbappe and cheaper. Get rid of Benzema whilst they are at.
Hazard’s not better than either of those (he’s on par, and arguably worse), while also being older than both. Both Neymar and Mbappé get into goal scoring opportunities at a much higher rate (more than double) than him. Hazard’s main upside over them is his playmaking, but the difference isn’t enough to make up for his lack of productivity compared to Mbappe and Neymar. Hazard would be cheaper, as you said, but is also older and soon to be past his peak.

Considering that Real Madrid already has plenty of playmakers, it’s clear that what they need is a goalscoring threat to replace Ronaldo, and Hazard doesn’t fit that mould. The difference could be made up for with the signing of a striker with an elite higher shooting/scoring output, but needless to say there aren’t many players like that, and most of the current ones (Lewandowski, Cavani, Suarez) are also ageing and not a long term solution, while it would be extremely surprising to see Madrid going for a younger, less proven striker. All in all, I think replacing Benzema this summer is a tall task for Real Madrid, there aren’t many (if any) younger players who are better than him, while players who are as old as him are just a short term solution. There’s the possibility that, with Ronaldo gone, and a new coach who’s able to make Madrid a more coherent unit, Benzema and Bale (and Hazard if he’s signed) will increase their goalscoring contribution.

Finally there’s a last thing to consider and that’s Isco’s role in the team. He operates in the same area and in a similar way as Hazard, and just as we have seen De Bruyne clash with him when playing for Belgium, the same issue could arise here. Honestly, I just think Mbappé is a way better fit, not only he provides more of a goal threat and is younger, but he also provides more flexibility due to his ability to play both as a winger and as a striker.
 
Hazard has been possibly the best player this world cup, top 3 in the premier league since he pretty much arrived(bar 1 year) and carried Chelsea to a league title.

Neymar was not that good in his last year at Barca, lost the ball constantly with his dribbling just like this world cup and has got worse because he isn't tested in the weak French league.

Mbappe is excellent and potentially better but overhyped because of his age. He would probably cost 3 times as much as well. Everyone looked good in that Monaco side, he is surrounded by better players and plays weaker competition mostly.
 
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WaterBomb

Two kids no brane
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Mbappe's price tag is probably going to be massively inflated because of his outstanding world cup run, tbh. He's good no doubt, but i don't think he's worth as much as people are going to say he is in the coming weeks.
 

Myzozoa

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doubt he is gonna be sold since he is unproven and psg dont care abt the money. they already payed 180million or thereabouts when all totaled on getting mbappe. that is the real inflator and i doubt any club would be willing to spend the 200 million+ euros that would be needed to make it a profitable deal (as you have to cover the 180m spent by psg to sign him, + 100m at least for another player of equivalent value). the ronaldo price is outrageous, but really he only has a few years left and is proven, mbappe could get injured any time and be done forever so to me it's even more insane to think he would be sold, but it's football i guess.
 

Soul Fly

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Hazard is the most prudent choice atm.... He's consistent, proven, and gave a decent audition last night. But Harry Kane has a decent chance of ~bringing it home~ which will inflate his value and standing dramatically. Even though he has been dramatically underwhelming and almost completely absent from regular play aside from penalties, which makes it hard to take his "golden boot" seriously. Ah well he still has a chance to earn his wonder boy mantle.

e: lol nvm
 
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As a fun fact, this is the first World Cup ever where none of Argentina, Brazil, Germany and Italy make it to the Top 4.

It's the second World Cup ever where they don't make it to the Top 2 either (the first one was in 2010).
 

shade

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croatia better team in second half and beyond and deserved the result. said to my mate after they scored that we might need penalties here, shame we didn’t hold out for it

gutted but proud of the lads. also enjoyed seeing people get butthurt over its coming home, hopefully more of the same in 2020 euros

i did want croatia to win it all until i read this morning that dejan lovren said he is one of the best defenders in the world. cant be supporting them now after that bullshit. allez les bleus i guess?
 
It helps when Vida has had the tournament of his life. He has been an absolute machine, best defender in the competition for me.
 

destinyunknown

Banned deucer.
doubt he is gonna be sold since he is unproven and psg dont care abt the money. they already payed 180million or thereabouts when all totaled on getting mbappe. that is the real inflator and i doubt any club would be willing to spend the 200 million+ euros that would be needed to make it a profitable deal (as you have to cover the 180m spent by psg to sign him, + 100m at least for another player of equivalent value). the ronaldo price is outrageous, but really he only has a few years left and is proven, mbappe could get injured any time and be done forever so to me it's even more insane to think he would be sold, but it's football i guess.
PSG do care about the money, they have been forced to sell a lot of players in this transfer window to avoid being banned from the Champions League due to Financial Fair Play rules. They are (supposedly) safe now, but as it stands they can't spend much (if at all) on new players, so they'll be reluctant to sell Mbappe or Neymar. If FFP guidelines are followed by UEFA more strictly we might see the inflation stop as it will scare off teams trying to pull off a PSG. In any case I agree that Mbappe's price can't go up much more than it already did last summer.

There's been some talk of PSG thinking about selling Mbappe or Neymar so they can sign Coutinho for some crazy sum but it seems unlikely to be true, in my opinion at least.

Also on: ''Mbappe could get injured at any time'' - that applies to every player, and it's not a valid argument against signing him. There are players who are injury prone and might be considered a risk (see Robben and Fekir for example), but those are exceptions and not the norm. So far Mbappe hasn't had any injury concerns.

Hazard has been possibly the best player this world cup, top 3 in the premier league since he pretty much arrived(bar 1 year) and carried Chelsea to a league title.

Neymar was not that good in his last year at Barca, lost the ball constantly with his dribbling just like this world cup and has got worse because he isn't tested in the weak French league.

Mbappe is excellent and potentially better but overhyped because of his age. He would probably cost 3 times as much as well. Everyone looked good in that Monaco side, he is surrounded by better players and plays weaker competition mostly.
Hazard is definitely better at keeping the ball than Neymar, who often loses the ball for no reason. However, both players are often more selfish than they should, and at the end of the day Neymar's production is simply much higher than Hazard's. As I already mentioned in my previous post, Real Madrid need a prolific goalscoring threat, which Hazard, for all his might, has never showed he can be.

Real Madrid has plenty of creators: Isco, Modric, Kroos, Marcelo and even Benzema are among the best playmakers in the world, and with a supporting cast of Asensio, Carvajal, Kovacic, Casemiro (and maybe Odegaard if he finally gets minutes), it's fair to say that what Real Madrid needs is a goalscorer. Spending €150m on Hazard or whatever he would cost (some newspapers go as far as saying £200 million) wouldn't give Real Madrid much room for signing a striker.
 
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So Modric wins the Player of the Tournament. Does that mean he stands a chance to win the Balon D'Or? (I know Ronaldo will get it). The third place will probably go to Messi or Griezmann.
 

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