2017/18 (Soccer) Football Thread

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.
I would like see Modric winning Balon D'Or this years, however, a lot people thinks that UCL is more important than World Cup, so, Ronaldo will get it, even if he didn't that much with its national team in this tournament, instead, Modric was the best member of its squad in their success in this cup...
 
Are Roma in some sort of financial trouble? They keep selling their stars every year.
No, we're just a shitty club like that. Even dumber is that we sell to domestic rivals and to the same club two years in a row. Though to be fair, we really only got out of FFP issues this year, so we had to sell the past few years. The Alisson sale is inexcusable.
 

destinyunknown

Banned deucer.
Are Roma in some sort of financial trouble? They keep selling their stars every year.
Short answer: yes, they are, and their financial model is largely based around buying players and selling them for bigger fees 2 years later.

No, we're just a shitty club like that. Even dumber is that we sell to domestic rivals and to the same club two years in a row. Though to be fair, we really only got out of FFP issues this year, so we had to sell the past few years. The Alisson sale is inexcusable.
This is a very shortsighted statement. Having FFP issues means that either the club is really struggling with their income and accumulating debt, or that the club is splurging cash thanks to a billionaire investing money. When your case is the former, being threatened by FFP rules is only a symptom, getting ''out of FFP'' does not mean the club economy is fine.

If you want a more detailed view on Roma's finances give this a look:
 
This is a very shortsighted statement. Having FFP issues means that either the club is really struggling with their income and accumulating debt, or that the club is splurging cash thanks to a billionaire investing money. When your case is the former, being threatened by FFP rules is only a symptom, getting ''out of FFP'' does not mean the club economy is fine.

If you want a more detailed view on Roma's finances give this a look:
I've seen that, but rather than sell our best players year after year, wouldn't a more sustainable model be remaining competitive to ensure we at least qualify for the Champions League for a more steady flow of cash? We barely made it to directly qualify for CL this past season, and we're lucky that top four automatically qualify starting this season, though Inter have gotten better so realistically we're now fighting for fourth.

With Ronaldo coming over to the Serie A, the TV rights got more expensive and we'll get a good share of that, too. Eventually we'll run out of players to sell. I mean who else is left that will get us a chunk of cash? Manolas, Pellegrini, Under? Maybe Kluivert if he doesn't turn out to be a flop?
 

destinyunknown

Banned deucer.
I've seen that, but rather than sell our best players year after year, wouldn't a more sustainable model be remaining competitive to ensure we at least qualify for the Champions League for a more steady flow of cash? We barely made it to directly qualify for CL this past season, and we're lucky that top four automatically qualify starting this season, though Inter have gotten better so realistically we're now fighting for fourth.

With Ronaldo coming over to the Serie A, the TV rights got more expensive and we'll get a good share of that, too. Eventually we'll run out of players to sell. I mean who else is left that will get us a chunk of cash? Manolas, Pellegrini, Under? Maybe Kluivert if he doesn't turn out to be a flop?

Have you really read it? Roma has qualified for the Champions League in 4 of the last 5 seasons, and their numbers are still negative. If it weren't for player sales Roma would be in the same situation Milan is. I don't think you're quite grasping how difficult it is to have a 'sustainable' model that doesn't involve selling players. Every big team in Italy is operating in a similar way, only Juventus can afford keeping their players, thanks to their revenue being much higher. With the club's financial situation it is impossible to guarantee ending 2nd in the league every year, going for that would be a massive gamble that wouldn't even be worth it.

The 'sustainable' model Roma could be looking at is Napoli's, but it is worth remembering that Napoli are, in essence, a selling club as well. Napoli's finances are more sustainable right now because their wage bill is smaller. However, it is rather obvious that by keeping wages lower you're forced to sell players once they ask for more money.

They're not ''running out of players to sell'', that's where their recruiting comes into play, and considering the players they've managed to 'find' the last few years (Salah, Alisson, Benatia, Pjanic, etc), it's clear they're doing a good job on that front.

Seriously, give it a closer look, there's a lot of information in the thread I linked, more than enough to figure out why Roma can't stop selling players. They need to increase their stable revenue, sure, but that's easier said than done and they're forced to sell in the meantime. Apparently they have plans to expand the stadium, which is good and will help their commercial growth, but that's a slow process.
 

Freeroamer

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I’ve not read that report or whatever but how exactly can the Alisson sale be called unforgivable? He was signed for 7.5m euros, didn’t play at all in his first season, played 37 games this season and has now been sold for 72.5m euros which puts him in the top 20 players of all time by transfer fee as well as being the most expensive goalkeeper ever. This is a frankly outstanding return and it’s easy to see why even disregarding any kind of financial issues, when Roma got that offer they decided it was in their best interest to sell. Any club that is not a true European elite (Real Madrid, Bayern Munich etc.) is going to face regular pressure to sell their players because of the vast sums over market value these clubs can put up, as well as the player being attracted to the notion of playing for said elite club. Liverpool might not be on the level of those clubs quite yet but after the season they’ve just had they represent a more attractive proposition than Roma, and have stumped up the money to make it happen, as will always happen in football.
 
Have you really read it? Roma has qualified for the Champions League in 4 of the last 5 seasons, and their numbers are still negative. If it weren't for player sales Roma would be in the same situation Milan is. I don't think you're quite grasping how difficult it is to have a 'sustainable' model that doesn't involve selling players. Every big team in Italy is operating in a similar way, only Juventus can afford keeping their players, thanks to their revenue being much higher. With the club's financial situation it is impossible to guarantee ending 2nd in the league every year, going for that would be a massive gamble that wouldn't even be worth it.

The 'sustainable' model Roma could be looking at is Napoli's, but it is worth remembering that Napoli are, in essence, a selling club as well. Napoli's finances are more sustainable right now because their wage bill is smaller. However, it is rather obvious that by keeping wages lower you're forced to sell players once they ask for more money.

They're not ''running out of players to sell'', that's where their recruiting comes into play, and considering the players they've managed to 'find' the last few years (Salah, Alisson, Benatia, Pjanic, etc), it's clear they're doing a good job on that front.

Seriously, give it a closer look, there's a lot of information in the thread I linked, more than enough to figure out why Roma can't stop selling players. They need to increase their stable revenue, sure, but that's easier said than done and they're forced to sell in the meantime. Apparently they have plans to expand the stadium, which is good and will help their commercial growth, but that's a slow process.
The thing that I don't quite understand is actually how we sold Salah and essentially reinvested all of that money into Schick. I get that we had to come up with the funds before June 30th for FFP purposes, but then spending all of that onto Schick if the situation was that bad? The money is payable over a few years, but surely there was a cheaper alternative for what Schick has provided the past season.

But back to the original money issue, I guess I see where the issue arises, but as a fan it sucks that it's been so long since we've seen a trophy. From my perspective it just seems like the club isn't committed to winning. We have plans to build a new stadium (the plan was only finalised on the day we finished first in the Group of Death this past Champions League), but that won't be done until around 2020 from the last report I saw.

We've been able to flip players for profit like you mentioned, but we've also had our share of flops (Doumbia, Ibarbo, Trashley Cole, Defrel, and the verdict is TBD on Schick).

I’ve not read that report or whatever but how exactly can the Alisson sale be called unforgivable? He was signed for 7.5m euros, didn’t play at all in his first season, played 37 games this season and has now been sold for 72.5m euros which puts him in the top 20 players of all time by transfer fee as well as being the most expensive goalkeeper ever. This is a frankly outstanding return and it’s easy to see why even disregarding any kind of financial issues, when Roma got that offer they decided it was in their best interest to sell. Any club that is not a true European elite (Real Madrid, Bayern Munich etc.) is going to face regular pressure to sell their players because of the vast sums over market value these clubs can put up, as well as the player being attracted to the notion of playing for said elite club. Liverpool might not be on the level of those clubs quite yet but after the season they’ve just had they represent a more attractive proposition than Roma, and have stumped up the money to make it happen, as will always happen in football.
I don't know what the bonuses are, but I think the deal is €62.5m plus €10m in bonuses. At the very least we should've started a bidding war between the clubs that were interested.
 
Meanwhile, Everton just bought Richarlison for 50 mil. This is the same guy who didn't get 1 goal or 1 assist in the entire half of last season. Great job, Everton. Selling your talented prospect Lookman for 15 mil and getting this guy instead.
 
Saw that.. pretty funny.No way the market is that competitive, esp for him lol..


Anyways.. predictions on top 4 for PL so far?

Has to be Man City on top, just for the fact that they did win it comfortably.

Man City
Liverpool
Man Utd
Spurs
---

Chelsea, idk what's going on with them and who is leaving.. so that's a huge TBD. But they do love winning fast with new managers.

Arsenal, no chance.
 
After all the money we splashed this summer (Coutinho money, mind you), I will be disappointed if we are out of the title race by Christmas. Hopefully we can push City all the way.

Man Utd only bought Fred and Dalot. No right wingers again but Mourinho always gets results though so they'll be up there.

Chelsea is in trouble with both their stars wanting out. Jorginho is good but he's no Hazard.

Spurs is Spurs. Relying on their core players should be enough for top 4. Not sure how long Son is going for national service though.

Arsenal - no idea what to expect.
 
City
Chelsea
United
Spurs
Liverpool
Arsenal

Not as easy as last year but this is still City's league, KDB is ridiculous.

If they stay Chelsea still have 2 of the 3 best players in the league. Jorginho is a great signing. If they get Higuian (or a forward that can actually score 15+ goals) they should do very well.

I can't see Salah having a repeat of last season and Liverpool have one gameplan; they will get caught out.

No idea with Arsenal, they still seem to be a team of bottlers and want to rely on Ozil who has proven he can't have more then 1 good game in 3. How many of their team would get in to any of that top 5? Aubameyang?

United to go far in the Champions League. Martial and Lukaku to step up this season.
 
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Amazing. Both Bordeaux and Roma announce that the Malcom-to-Roma deal is done, only for Barcelona to swoop in at the last minute after multiple failed attempts at Willian to hijack the deal, leading to Bordeaux canceling Malcom's flight to Rome. Not only do teams just buy all our best players, but now they won't even let us bring in reinforcements/replacements smdh.
 

Freeroamer

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He should be smart and not join Barcelona. What do Barcelona need him for when they have Coutinho and Dembele?
For Brazilians, joining Barcelona or Real Madrid is the absolute pinnacle of a career as they get to follow in the footsteps of great players such as Romario, Rivaldo, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Roberto Carlos. You are probably right from the point of view that he won't get the game time Roma could've given him, but there was no way he was going to turn down Barcelona when they came in. I can only imagine Willian is furious with the collapse of his own move there.
 
Monchi said we matched their offer and then it became an auction so we withdrew from it. Rumour also has it that Barcelona offered double the wages we did so yeah, Brazilians will continue chasing money until the end of time so there's no way we could've had him. But it's okay, 18 years as a Roma fan has me numb to anything this club can do and have done to them.
 
Monchi said we matched their offer and then it became an auction so we withdrew from it. Rumour also has it that Barcelona offered double the wages we did so yeah, Brazilians will continue chasing money until the end of time so there's no way we could've had him. But it's okay, 18 years as a Roma fan has me numb to anything this club can do and have done to them.
To be fair, anyone working would have jumped ship at the chance to double their wages.
 

shade

be sharp, say nowt
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this season is gonna be so shit can't wait for us to absolutely hammered by stoke on the opening day

up the lads tho ALAW
 

destinyunknown

Banned deucer.
Meanwhile, Everton just bought Richarlison for 50 mil. This is the same guy who didn't get 1 goal or 1 assist in the entire half of last season. Great job, Everton. Selling your talented prospect Lookman for 15 mil and getting this guy instead.
Fwiw Richarlison's underlying stats are very good for a 21 year old, he consistently managed to get the ball in the box despite playing for a subpar team like Watford, he ended up scoring less than what one would expect but his shot distribution was great and if his finishing picks up he'll be a threat.

That being said the price tag is still more than it should, something around €30-40 million would be more accurate, though there are claims that part of the reason for the fee being so high is that Everton is compensating Watford for Marco Silva (apparently, Everton want to prevent Watford from suing them)
 

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