Summer Transfer Window 2017

[MDK]

3 minutes ago, Mad Jack said:

Raheem Shaquille Sterling... born in Kingston and I don't mean the one in Hull. 

Oh come on, we all know that Ireland is the England B Team.

[Adam]

1 hour ago, Mad Jack said:

Raheem Shaquille Sterling... born in Kingston and I don't mean the one in Hull. 

Kingston is in the River Hull? I always wondered why my feet are wet whenever I go there.

[TCO]

2 hours ago, MDK said:

Seán Patrick Maguire... born in Luton  

To be fair, he has Irish parents who moved back to Ireland shortly after he was born.

We have many more plastic Paddys for your amusement though!

[The Lusophone]

Considering how 5% of World Cup winners have not come from the country they won it with (including Simone Perotta of Italy's 2006 team who was born in that most exotic of places - Ashton-under-Lyne but excluding anyone who won it with West Germany/Germany and was born into East Germany/Pre-Split Germany/Pre-reunification West Germany), does place of birth really matter?

[MDK]

Not if you are Alfredo di Stefano 

[TCO]

12 minutes ago, Mad Jack said:

Considering how 5% of World Cup winners have not come from the country they won it with (including Simone Perotta of Italy's 2006 team who was born in that most exotic of places - Ashton-under-Lyne but excluding anyone who won it with West Germany/Germany and was born into East Germany/Pre-Split Germany/Pre-reunification West Germany), does place of birth really matter?

Nah birth place doesn't matter, as long as you're eligible and want to be Irish then I'm happy to cheer you on.

Bless Cyrus Christie, but I'd imagine he'd never even been to Ireland before he found out about his eligibility. But he shows up and give it his all for the country, so he's Irish to me. The likes of Grealish and others who are just playing to get experience until England come calling though, they can fuck off.

[Cymbols]

Just now, TCO said:

Nah birth place doesn't matter, as long as you're eligible and want to be Irish then I'm happy to cheer you on.

Bless Cyrus Christie, but I'd imagine he'd never even been to Ireland before he found out about his eligibility. But he shows up and give it his all for the country, so he's Irish to me. The likes of Grealish and others who are just playing to get experience until England come calling though, they can fuck off.

I don't think you can blame Grealish for picking England. I mean, he's lived in Birmingham all his life. I guess you could argue that he probably shouldn't have played for Ireland at youth level, but realistically, if a national team comes calling, are you really going to say no at that point in your career?

[TCO]

Just now, Cymbols said:

I don't think you can blame Grealish for picking England. I mean, he's lived in Birmingham all his life. I guess you could argue that he probably shouldn't have played for Ireland at youth level, but realistically, if a national team comes calling, are you really going to say no at that point in your career?

I don't blame him for picking England, I'm annoyed he played for us for years and strung us along the whole time until he got a call from the England U21s. He then did a quick 180. I'm pretty sure he played GAA in Birmingham growing up so he definitely identifed as Irish a little.

That being said, his Dad is a knob and I'd be delighted if he never gets a sniff of an England cap.

[Adam]

1 hour ago, TCO said:

I don't blame him for picking England, I'm annoyed he played for us for years and strung us along the whole time until he got a call from the England U21s. He then did a quick 180. I'm pretty sure he played GAA in Birmingham growing up so he definitely identifed as Irish a little.

That being said, his Dad is a knob and I'd be delighted if he never gets a sniff of an England cap.

From what I hear Grealish prefers to inhale rather than get on the sniff anyway.

This all reminds me of when Matt Ritchie got called up by Scotland for the first time, his reaction was that he'd never even been to Scotland! Sums it up.

[Nerf]

Lots of chatter doing the rounds on Twitter that van Dijk has agreed terms with Liverpool. This follows stories emerging on Saturday about him specifically asking Wijnaldum what it's like to play for Klopp. Not sure how much substance there is to any of this, but fucking hell it's unbearable. Promised myself I wouldn't get sucked into silly season until there's a lean or I have otherwise solid information, but genuinely can't help but be desperate for this move to happen. Would arguably be our biggest signing of the Premier League era - a genuine world class talent in his prime for big money while fending off interest from two richer clubs. Madness.

Oh, Ladbrokes and William Hill have both suspended betting on him moving to Liverpool. Stop playing with my heart like this.

[Nerf]

Update #3! Echo now reporting he's informed Liverpool his intention to move to Anfield.

[Baddar]

Are Southampton confirmed as a feeder club for Liverpool yet?

[DavidMarrio]

4 minutes ago, Baddar said:

Are Southampton confirmed as a feeder club for Liverpool yet?

We could just save the time and money and get their scouts or something but WHERE'S THE FUN IN THAT!!

[Adam]

Van Dijk will be a great signing for Liverpool. I thought they'd be priced out of it by City or Chelsea in all honesty, could be a game changer for them.

[FLiam]

L'Equipe are saying that Arsenal will submit a second offer for Kylian Mbappé worth £122m.

In other news, Jeremy Corbyn will be Britains new PM on Friday morning.

[Matt]

Is he even that good? Okay he has lots of potential because if his age but his record was 1 in 2 in Ligue 1 this year. That doesn't scream 100m+ player to me

[Adam]

I don't believe anyone is worth £100m much less a teenager who has had one good season in the professional game, but one goal every two games is a great record for anyone, and at his age I can see why people want to pay high amounts for his potential. But no, a world record fee seems excessive.

[FLiam]

I personally think he's the best young talent in the world at the moment.

But £122m...

[Kaney]

I'm conflicted. Im glad arsenal are finally getting the cheque book out and showing some serious intent but that's a shocking amount of money for an 18 year old. I'd much rather he spent 40m+ on 3 or 4 proper world class players across a few positions than spunk the entire "warchest" on any single one guy. I'd be happy to spend that much on Messi a few seasons ago, but he's got proven talent and success. Mbappe could become one of the world's best but it's a lot of pressure at this age as well. I dunno.

[FLiam]

I still just think it's a smokescreen for somebody else.