Men's Soccer (Football) Thread Soccer • Page 225

Not sure if most EPL teams understand the meaning of “long-term” anymore

 

Porro not being selected for Spain’s Euro squad is a surprise.

 

Definitely. He's still got age on his side, I guess? He could make another Euros and 2 World Cups in theory.

 

Is Maresca tipped to be the next big thing in management, because just on the face of it, Chelsea got rid of the guy who took them to 6th this season and are about to appoint a guy who's never managed in the Premier League. Obviously would have been the same with McKenna, but - you have De Zerbi and Frank on your shortlist and your top choice is the guy who won the Championship?

 

Yes, in short. Of course, I'd suggest not to overlook the factor that he's trained with Guardiola. That's quite a big deal on a modern CV.

 

Kinda sounds like United are very split on what to do with ETH

 

if Ten Hag stays but relinquishes transfer power and lets the board do its thing I can get behind it

 

That Maresca move to Chelsea has disaster written all over it. I can understand it from Maresca's point of view with potential points deductions for Leicester coming in to the league but Chelsea? nah.

The man failed at Parma and nearly blew Leicester's automatic promotion. He obviously done a good job up to that point and he was so heavily linked to Celtic before that Leicester job. I still don't feel like we've lost out, Chelsea are rubbish.

 

Minimum 5 years is crazy

 

So who is the most likely to take over for Pep?

 

My money is on Xabi and Wirtz to come with him when the time is right.

 

Mikey Moore with another banger goal today

 

Míchel is getting a shout

 

haven’t paid attention to the Russian league in forever, didn’t realize Zenit is on six in a row

 

A very Everton move, this.

 

Apparently one of the main points of contention that led to Xavi’s sacking is he asked for Lewy, Cancelo, Felix, and Roque to all go. Two of those are loans that we couldn’t afford to buy, so not sure why that’s so angsty of an opinion. Lewy probably has one good to great season left, and he never wanted Roque in the first place.

I just don’t know what front line you play with the three CFs gone, though. Ferran? Raphinha?

 

Unfortunately, it's the best kind of deal we can hope for given our financial situation (Moshiri selling up). Hopefully he shows why City signed him in the first place?

 

Agreed! Hopefully Dyche can stick a rocket up his arse and he can be a useful body in the middle for you. Worst case, it's a bit of depth that is no worse than your current options.

 

Genuine question, would Barcelona fans be okay if they sold these players, and maybe relied more on La Masia for a few seasons? This would help with sorting out their finances right, even if it meant not being overly competitive for a few years?

 

My surgery is the day before the Euros. Oh, no, guess I’ll just have to stay at home and watch all the football for a week or two.

Truly a terrible existence.

 

I think the FANS would if it was expressly stated like “we need to fix finances, but you’ve seen the talents,” but the board seems to refuse to be honest about it. And the board would be budgeting for UCL late rounds and then react when it’s not feasible, etc.

Balde and Gavi will be back from injury next season. Pretty much already have a starting X through 2026 just missing a high-scoring CF.

Torres - Raphinha - Yamal
Gavi - Frenkie - Pedri
Balde - Christiansen - Araujo - Kunde

That line-up alone competes with 95% of teams in Europe. The bench gets a lot lighter with Gundogan, Cubarsi, Fermin, Fort, Martinez being the main players seeing the field. Dest, Eric Garcia, Ansu Fati, and Pablo Torre all come back from loans, but I suspect they may try to sell them all.

To me, let as much go as you’re willing to risk because that remaining group of players should easily qualify for UCL in La Liga as it stands. And maybe makes room to go for a goal scorer who isn’t unproven or near retirement. Like an Oyarzabal, maybe.

 

Who will be playing next to mainoo in midfield next year?