Metro1962 wrote:Onto Transfer stuff.
Would Leeds fans take Rashford if he was cheapish and available?
Apparently Kalvin is only on 38k/week.
It is criminal there was no push to PL contract for him last summer.
There were massive news reports of him being close to sign a new contract in September.
I wonder why it didn't come through at that stage, we were still surfing on last season even if the new season started subpar and there was no signs of Bielsa leaving at that time.
gilesdriveby wrote:First of all we are in a way better position than if Weghorn had scored and Harrison had missed. Which doesn’t bear thinking about.
I think we need to be realistic and accept that if the right offers come in for the likes of Raphina, Phillips or Meslier they will likely want to move and the club will be forced to reluctantly accept. Last season has shown that we need to strengthen the squad.
So my preferences are
Replacement goalkeeper I would even consider Caprile coming back off loan.
Full back. Sell Firpo. Decide on whether Drameh is staying or sell him on.
Centre back I think we are okay. If someone comes in then we need to sell one of the existing 4/5 CB
Midfield Replace Raphina or Phillips and a future replacement for Klitch. Summerville stays or goes on loan.
Forward Greenwood needs to go on loan. Same with Gelhardt unless he is going to get game time.Roberts is sold or goes out on loan.
Finally we need leaders to replace the likes of Ayling Dallas etc.
We should forget this "he is young, send out on loan" reflex. Greenwood, Summerville and Gelhardt are all good players, they are not 16 year olds, so play them or sell them if we think they are not good enough.
But our only successful story nowadays has been finding young players. This season was very risky for them because of the danger of relegation, but next season we must play the youngsters, otherwise they will quit and they will be right. It's no point accumulate 20-21 year old players and not give them opportunities, so I would want a serious role for them, also Bate and Cresswell.
Barca think they can walk all over us with their same old tactics. Dortmund pulled their pants down and so can we.
Once Barca say they want a player they hate to look weak by not getting him. The president is always given grief in that situation.
We have a world class player on our hands who will blow up when he players with a better team. Everyone knows it.
Madrid just paid 80 million for a DM. We can get 100 out of Barca here I really think we can. Or we can take Puig and Dest off their books and get like 70 mill.
They already think we are stupid and that is clear. There is a distinct lack of respect being shown and they already had our pants down. It would not shock me if they really think they can offer mingueza and 50% below asking.
All I can say is this should be the last test for Orta, If he can't get more than what our players are worth, he should be run oui of the club.
It is actually a KGB tactic what they are doing. Get one party to say something ridiculous like "Raphinha for 35 million". Then then get 10 people to come in and say no no he is worth 50-60. The second sounds sensible so people agree. Now they bring the ceiling down on price. The ceiling in the beginning is probably a round figure like 100m euros which is what Leeds should be trying to get them to pay. If Leeds play hard ball here we can get it. I hope at least Radz shows some balls and knows how to play this. He should come out and say we we think with the world cup Raph will be a world superstar. His price is closer to 150 million to us and we don't sell him for less. Or another way to play it is mock Barcelona for being so poor on the clubs Twitter account. (this is what I would do) they will get gutted in the Spanish media for being so weak in the transfer market and the president looking weak in Barca is culturally unacceptable there. They expect to always get what they want. See the Madrid meltdown over Mbappe.
I still feel Orta will show real weakness here. It is clear he is not respected. Barca will try every dirty trick in the book and I honestly think he is a fraud who will bow to have friends in the Barca board room etc. He shouldn't be anywhere near this.
Barca coming out and getting their engines revving online should show Leeds fans he is worth more than they think. Turn this into a saga and we get paid.
The Brazil press see him as the successor to Neymar and their hopes at a world cup depend alot on Rapha. Leeds can't be brainwashed into a small club mentality here.
Every club in the world want this guy and for good reason.
I'm not sure Barca have the money to buy Raphina, especially if we are looking forward to £50m+. Barca's summer signings atm are all free signings. I wonder if Raphina had a gentlemans agreement with Radz and Orta that if he helps us stay up he can leave and we wouldn't haggle over a huge fee for him. So, it wouldn't be surprising to see Raphina go for something around the £30m mark
DominanceUK wrote:I'm not sure Barca have the money to buy Raphina, especially if we are looking forward to £50m+. Barca's summer signings atm are all free signings. I wonder if Raphina had a gentlemans agreement with Radz and Orta that if he helps us stay up he can leave and we wouldn't haggle over a huge fee for him. So, it wouldn't be surprising to see Raphina go for something around the £30m mark
This absolutely must be a hard nosed business decision for Andrea Radrizanni (leave Victor Orta out of the decision as it can't be left to him) and it simply cannot be the case of letting a player go for a fraction of what he is worth in the market place. That kind of "gentleman's agreement" if that is what has happened is foolhardy to say the least and would be damaging for the football club as it builds for the future. Can Leeds United throw £50m down the drain? I think not!
Honestly, I don't think AR would be mad enough to agree to such a thing.
That would be insane. We have to beg players to do their job now?
That is degeneracy not a gentleman's agreement.
Barca don't have the money it is not our problem. Who do these clubs think they are like.
The arrogance and entitlement is astounding and it is weird to see people actually buy into it.
I would raise the price even further if they scream poor. We are not looking for a fair price for Rapha. People keep saying fair price
And just as a side note.. Seem Newcastle and Spurs are interested in Harrison. I would absolutely take 35 mill for him. He won't work in a narrow system and we can do better.
He is very very inconsistent as a player too. Go after the Likes of Johnson at Forrest if they don;t go up and the Langs of this world. You would probably have 10-15 left over. I would get it done fast though and have a full preseason with as many players as possible, I reckon it will be a very crazy summer for Leeds in terms of numbers moving.
I posted at the time about when Marsch first arrived. There were photos of him meeting the players and I mentioned that Raphinha looked very pleased about it all. This was when many assumed that the players, especially R, would have been upset at Bielsa's exit. To me, the look on his face made me think that JM would be assured Raphinha would give his all for the boss... because maybe he had received certain assurances himself, for instance being allowed to leave for someone like Barcelona, if he so wanted. I still hope he wants to stay, same with Kalvin. The Barcelona rumours have been around for months, but they're far from the only club who act scummily in apparent pursuit of specific players, and the media love it, as do many fans talking complete hogwash as well as trying to 'outdo' and put down other fans.
With regards to Barca my gut feeling is they were hoping we would get relegated so the could use the clause in his contract to get him cheap. feeling their interest may melt away now.
Nothing concrete just my prediction.
Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you.
