Football 2025-26

[thetime]

RIP Diogo Jota

[Skip997]

2 minutes ago, Henrik said:

 

In complete shock at this. 

 

Same here 

[Crazyfool01]

Gutted 😞 

[charlierc]

Ah man this is such a horrible story.

[kaosmark2]

@charlierc Reports that fee has been agreed for Elanga and personal terms being finalised. Personally, I'm pretty happy about this. While he was my 3rd choice of the PL right-wingers we got linked with, when Mbeumo declared his desire to go to Man U, and Semenyo signed a new contract, I'm still glad we got one of them. Pace, goal-scoring ability, and still happy to go outside and cross.

 

Also looks like the James Trafford transfer is moving. Chelsea hi-jacking our attempts to sign Joao Pedro is a bit frustrating, but part of me felt like he was a discount-Isak, and tbh, I'd prefer a different style of striker so that they can play together in some games.

 

Normally 2 transfers being close-to-over-the-line in early July would seem fine? But that earlier mini-window has meant it feels slow. Hard to judge.

[Ryan1984]

Do Newcastle need Trafford? Thought Pope was still doing pretty well (a bit out of the loop on top-level football!)

[kaosmark2]

30 minutes ago, Ryan1984 said:

Do Newcastle need Trafford? Thought Pope was still doing pretty well (a bit out of the loop on top-level football!)

Pope is 33, Trafford 22. General thought is basically a long-term first choice goalie that might be Champions League quality, whereas Pope is doing well as a top-8 Prem keeper, but his ball-playing distribution probably isn't quite good enough for competing in Europe.

 

I don't think Pope is a problem, and it feels harsh on him to either move him on or make him a reserve, but I do get where there's an attempt to sign Trafford as a long-term option.

[charlierc]

17 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

@charlierc Reports that fee has been agreed for Elanga and personal terms being finalised. Personally, I'm pretty happy about this. While he was my 3rd choice of the PL right-wingers we got linked with, when Mbeumo declared his desire to go to Man U, and Semenyo signed a new contract, I'm still glad we got one of them. Pace, goal-scoring ability, and still happy to go outside and cross.

 

Also looks like the James Trafford transfer is moving. Chelsea hi-jacking our attempts to sign Joao Pedro is a bit frustrating, but part of me felt like he was a discount-Isak, and tbh, I'd prefer a different style of striker so that they can play together in some games.

 

Normally 2 transfers being close-to-over-the-line in early July would seem fine? But that earlier mini-window has meant it feels slow. Hard to judge.

My attitude remains that I struggle to believe transfer rumours until the thing is done. I've been burned before in thinking somebody was imminently arriving only for the thing to not happen.

 

They do look like decent targets, mind. I didn't be necessarily think we need a new keeper but it makes sense to look for a long term upgrade on Pope and Dubravka. Plus yeah, Elanga is a decent option with the other two looking like no gos.

 

There's been links with an extra centre back which I think would also be useful given Schar, Burn and Lascelles are over 30 and Botman has recurring injury problems. 

[kaosmark2]

On 06/07/2025 at 07:11, charlierc said:

My attitude remains that I struggle to believe transfer rumours until the thing is done. I've been burned before in thinking somebody was imminently arriving only for the thing to not happen.

 

They do look like decent targets, mind. I didn't be necessarily think we need a new keeper but it makes sense to look for a long term upgrade on Pope and Dubravka. Plus yeah, Elanga is a decent option with the other two looking like no gos.

 

There's been links with an extra centre back which I think would also be useful given Schar, Burn and Lascelles are over 30 and Botman has recurring injury problems. 

Completely get the "wait until they're done" to believe them. I've been a bit less stringent on this since Ashley went, but I get it.

[gooner1990]

Few newspaper reports (online) suggesting Diogo Jota was 'significantly' over the speed limit when he crashed his car.

 

😞 

[pink_triangle]

8 hours ago, gooner1990 said:

Few newspaper reports (online) suggesting Diogo Jota was 'significantly' over the speed limit when he crashed his car.

 

😞 

I mean based on the car he was driving I doubt anyone will be surprised. Not sure there is much to be gained from releasing this, but hopefully it will make someone somewhere think and save a life.

[lost]

Pedro was fantastic last night, If he carries on like that Delap isn't going to get a look in.

[thetime]

Fees are a bit baffling, 50 million for Madueke. He has a worse record than Hojlund and he is rubbish. 

 

 

[charlierc]

10 minutes ago, thetime said:

Fees are a bit baffling, 50 million for Madueke. He has a worse record than Hojlund and he is rubbish. 

 

 

There's absolutely a sort-of Premier League tax going on if there's so many 50M+ transfers now as the price of getting somebody who's seen as PL worthy in attacking positions.

 

I even say this aware the Mags are playing this for Elanga, even if this seems like a Plan C after Mbuemo said he wanted to go to Manchester (even if that's been quiet of late) then Bournemouth wanting 70M for Semenyo before he accepted a new contract to stay in Dorset.

 

On another 50M+ plus signing, I think its funny Kudus joined Spurs when his last appearance there for West Ham back in October saw him essentially do his best to accumulate 4 red cards at once by trying to fight half the Spurs team.

[thetime]

54 minutes ago, charlierc said:

There's absolutely a sort-of Premier League tax going on if there's so many 50M+ transfers now as the price of getting somebody who's seen as PL worthy in attacking positions.

 

I even say this aware the Mags are playing this for Elanga, even if this seems like a Plan C after Mbuemo said he wanted to go to Manchester (even if that's been quiet of late) then Bournemouth wanting 70M for Semenyo before he accepted a new contract to stay in Dorset.

 

On another 50M+ plus signing, I think its funny Kudus joined Spurs when his last appearance there for West Ham back in October saw him essentially do his best to accumulate 4 red cards at once by trying to fight half the Spurs team.

 

I get it with Elanga, Mbuemo and Semenyo as they had good seasons. 

 

Even more so Arsenal paying 50m for him, as they need to be winning the league now. Arteta has had a free run really last few seasons. Is Madueke going to do that? 

 

Whilst Spurs and Utd have a catalogue of problems so need to get them in. Newcastle need another top 4/5 finish, to give them consistency at the top level. Elanga good signing, a bit limited at champions league level but good signing for the prem. 

 

 

[thetime]

Forest are taking risks imo, selling Elanga and gibbs-white. With extra games they will have in Europe and less rest, wouldnt be surprised if they are in a relegation battle this season. 

[charlierc]

26 minutes ago, thetime said:

Forest are taking risks imo, selling Elanga and gibbs-white. With extra games they will have in Europe and less rest, wouldnt be surprised if they are in a relegation battle this season. 

Yeah a lot of Forest fans on Premier League subreddits aren't particularly impressed with this double call to offload both Elanga and MGW. Both were exceptional last season and I thought being in Europe might keep them there. Even moreso if UEFA kick Palace out of the Europa League and promote Forest to the higher calibre European competition. But apparently not.

 

Brentford is an obvious shout for trouble next season. Losing Thomas Frank, replacing him with a first-time manager and seeing many of their key players bail in a squad that was already one of the Premier League's lowest spenders on wages means they could be in for trouble if they've got this wrong.

[thetime]

Im a bit confused on the Palace story. Why are Palace getting relegated to the conference, whilst Lyon broke the rules and stay in the Europa? Any ideas?

 

Also City and Girona were in the same tournament last season. Salzburg and Leipzig? United and Nice?

 

 

 

[charlierc]

5 hours ago, thetime said:

Im a bit confused on the Palace story. Why are Palace getting relegated to the conference, whilst Lyon broke the rules and stay in the Europa? Any ideas?

 

Also City and Girona were in the same tournament last season. Salzburg and Leipzig? United and Nice?

 

 

 

While I think Palace's chairman is a bit over the top in calling it "the biggest injustice in the history of football", it is still a pretty odd situation.

 

It feels like a mess of UEFA's own making given there are clubs in multi-club models that have been allowed to get away with this before. To say nothing of the central arguments around it as Textor is saying he wanted out of Palace due to the other owners there essentially ignoring him whenever he wanted to do something different.

 

We'll wait and see what the Court of Arbitration for Sport has to say on it I guess. The case is almost certainly going to wind up there.

[thetime]

Not many would of picked Chelsea to win it. 

[pink_triangle]

1 hour ago, thetime said:

Not many would have picked Chelsea to win it. 

It feels one you would like to win, but the PSG players won’t be losing sleep about not winning.

[thetime]

1 hour ago, pink_triangle said:

It feels one you would like to win, but the PSG players won’t be losing sleep about not winning.

 

Im unsure.

 

Its certainly had more of a pull than the previous version of the competition. Clubs buying players early, instead on a free (trent), buying players early to play in it.

 

It certainly gives kudos to the Club. I didn't watch the final, so cant comment how serious PSG took it. I did watch there semi though, they were up for it that game. 

[charlierc]

I watched the England women's game instead. To think people were worried about a group stage exit after the loss to France in the tournament opener. 

 

Presumably when Wales qualified for the first time, they weren't expecting to be thrown into such a tough group.

[charlierc]

8 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

It feels one you would like to win, but the PSG players won’t be losing sleep about not winning.

I think they'll be annoyed to reach a final only to not win and ponder if this may have revealed a vulnerability ahead of defending their Champions League crown next season. Though it would've hurt more to have lost that Champions League final a few weeks ago than it did to lose last night.

[pink_triangle]

20 minutes ago, charlierc said:

I think they'll be annoyed to reach a final only to not win and ponder if this may have revealed a vulnerability ahead of defending their Champions League crown next season. Though it would've hurt more to have lost that Champions League final a few weeks ago than it did to lose last night.

Annoyed, but I don’t think it’s crushing like losing a champions league or World Cup final. It takes years for a tournament to build up that emotional pull.