Maureen
- Thread starter Woland
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You make some very good points. But both Real and Barca have a habit of hoovering up young and promising talents from the rest of the league whenever they make a breakthrough.
Isco, Jordi Alba, Sergio Canales, Sergio Ramos, Illaramendi, Kiko Casilla. Out of that only Ramos and Alba have been successful but the others were considered major talents before their Madrid move.
They also hoover up the best young talent and then sell them to other clubs with buyback clauses and exercise their buyback clause whenever they start showing any promise (Lucas Vasquez) or outright buy them and loan them out (Marcos Asensio, Jesus Vallejo). All three are really good young talents by the way.
I am also a little bit nervous about how we laugh at Mancs with their Madrid galactico policy comparison. For all their flaws, Madrid galacticos have delivered two champions leagues in the last 3 years. If not for the greatest club team of all time, they would have dominated the CL and La liga.
Are there many obvious examples of a club signing a player just to weaken a rival?
The only one I can think of is when Chelsea signed SWP to supposedly stop Arsenal getting him but even that is kinda tenuous.
All top clubs poach the best players of the lesser teams in the league because well a) you're not going to sign the shit ones and b) you can't sign everyone from abroad.
The only one I can think of is when Chelsea signed SWP to supposedly stop Arsenal getting him but even that is kinda tenuous.
All top clubs poach the best players of the lesser teams in the league because well a) you're not going to sign the shit ones and b) you can't sign everyone from abroad.
Scum buying Berbatov, Podolski, Keane...
Baconface buying Andy Cole from the Toon back in Keegan's time in charge there.
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I've always been intrigued by the obsession we seemed to develop for scouting and signing really mediocre players from Norway. Low prices, maybe?
Hummels
Gotze
Lewandoski
Neuer
Mario Gomez
Gustavo
Mandzukic
Lucio
Ballack
Ze Roberto
City tried to do it to Arsenal at one point? Chelsea also did it to Arsenal. Signing Cole and Gallas, improved Chelsea and weakened Arsenal.
Some overactive scout trying to justify his retainer probably.
Oh yeah I agree but it doesn't hurt knowing the fact it also weakens their rivals.
That was really weird in all honesty. Leonardsen, Kvarme, Bjornebye, Kippe. Mediocre players but with a great attitude. Think thats why we had so many Norwegian players in the Premier league at that time. Decent prices, good professionals and a great attitude. Some of them were talented aswell. Bohinen, Solskjær, Johnsen, Berg.
We just bought the wrong ones, as usual.
Now we (Norwegian players) cant even get into the Championship teams....
Podolski went to Arsenal.
Van Persie.
Yea. My mistake. I'm thinking of the Czech guy with the disgusting hair.
You'll have to narrow it down a bit
Karel Poborsky
Star of Euro something or other along with teammate Patrick Berger.
Who had far superior hair
I always saw that as Baconface making one very ambitious, expensive last tilt at winning the league, as much as a concerted effort to weaken Arsenal, who hadn't won it for ages anyway
Worked
Someone too into Championship Manager 01-02?
Although the lack of interest in Cherno Samba and Tonton Zola Moukoko would seem to put paid to that theory
Rooney should get totally banjoed more often. He's scored one and made one tonight.
3-0 now
The reliably calamitous Brad Jones scores an OG
3-0 now
The reliably calamitous Brad Jones scores an OG
Dutch fans are so thoughtful: chanting abuse in English so we can all enjoy it
Rooney's accent is strange
Yeah agree with your first bit, but think he loved the fact that it fucked Arsenal and Wenger off royally over it weakening them in any way.
I think it's undeniable that it's part of Bayern's strategy to poach the best players from their rivals – ask anyone in Germany (including Bayern fans). A lot of times it made them marginally stronger or not made much of a difference, but has thrown the selling team into a tailspin. They could sign players from anywhere in the world, but most of their business has been focused on the local market. That's the #1 reason why they are the most hated team in Germany.
As for Real, I think it's equally undeniable that they are deliberately weakening their rivals, but maybe the main tool for them is the lopsided financial advantage through an inequitable TV deal, which makes all other Spanish teams paupers compared to the big 2. Them and Barca have almost total control over the Spanish market and have always had a lot of Spanish players on loan or with buy-back clauses playing at smaller clubs (Getafe is a favorite destination for Real loanees). Juve is another one who are doing it in their league, particularly through the uniquely Italian part-ownership structure and some of United's best players of Ferguson years (Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Roy Keane, Andy Cole, Yorke, Berbatov, RVP etc) have been poached from rival EPL teams. The fact that under Woodward they've stopped doing it and almost exclusively focused on foreign players is in my opinion one of the factors for their recent lack of success.
As for Real, I think it's equally undeniable that they are deliberately weakening their rivals, but maybe the main tool for them is the lopsided financial advantage through an inequitable TV deal, which makes all other Spanish teams paupers compared to the big 2. Them and Barca have almost total control over the Spanish market and have always had a lot of Spanish players on loan or with buy-back clauses playing at smaller clubs (Getafe is a favorite destination for Real loanees). Juve is another one who are doing it in their league, particularly through the uniquely Italian part-ownership structure and some of United's best players of Ferguson years (Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Roy Keane, Andy Cole, Yorke, Berbatov, RVP etc) have been poached from rival EPL teams. The fact that under Woodward they've stopped doing it and almost exclusively focused on foreign players is in my opinion one of the factors for their recent lack of success.
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Makelele, Figo, Helguera, Sergio Ramos, Albiol, Michel Salgado, Isco, Morientes, Solari (you forgot the last 2) etc are all squarely in the "galactico era." Yes, some of the biggest stars came from foreign leagues, but the bulk of the team was comprised from the best Spanish league had to offer and almost all the best Spanish talent was scooped very early either by Madrid or Barca. And the few foreign stars they were supporting were invariably the very best of the best – not your Darmians and Blinds.
This was Real's starting 11 in 2000 CL Final, the second of the 3 CL titles they won in 6 years between 1998 and 2002 (players brought from foreign leagues are in bold):
Casillas (Madrid youth team)
Karanka (Athletic Bilbao)
Helguera (Espanyol)
Ivan Campo (Mallorca)
Michel Salgado (Celta)
Roberto Carlos (Inter)
Steve McManaman (Liverpool)
Fernando Redondo (Tenerife)
Raul (Madrid youth team)
Fernando Morientes (Zaragoza)
Nicolas Anelka (Arsenal)
And this was 2002 CL final, which was the high point of Perez's first galactico era. Think there were more foreign-bought players this time? Nope!
Cesar (Valladolid)
Fernando Hierro (Valladolid)
Helguera (Espanyol)
Michel Salgado (Celta)
Roberto Carlos (Inter)
Claude Makelele (Celta)
Luis Figo (Barcelona)
Santiago Solari (Atletico Madrid)
Zinedine Zidane (Juventus)
Raul (Madrid youth team)
Fernando Morientes (Zaragoza)
So I'm sorry, Brendan, but it's simply not accurate to say that "Real had no interest in Spanish league whatsoever" – when Madrid was truly successful, the lion's share of their players came from other Spanish clubs, including direct rivals like Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. Celta was also pretty good at that time. It's when they started to buy lots of foreign players they lost their way and entered a barren period until the 2nd galactico era. BTW that Real Madrid team of roughly 1999 to 2003 is still one of my all-time favorite sides – they played incredible attacking football and were just a pleasure to watch. Everything went south after they got rid of Del Bosque, Makelele and Hierro and signed Beckham.
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Ac Milan signing Gianluigi Lentin for world record fee at the time.
What he said
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