Transfer News, Rumours and Bollocks Thread

[Niall_Quinn]

England players are sought after and overpaid only in England. Guess why?

Because they grow up playing the unique type of football common to England. 100mph, limited technically, bleed for the cause, all that shit but that's the way it is nonetheless. So they aren't valued in Europe maybe, but they are extremely valuable in England or else nobody would pay the prices. You can't say something is overpriced if it always sells. We should definitely have more English players in the defence, it's just the smart move.

[Letters]

In 2004 the only English player we had was Campbell. Great but no British backbone.

We had Cole too. And Keown but he didn't play that much I don't think.
And Parlour.

But I agree it was hardly a backbone, the attack, most of the midfield and half of the defence and 'keeper were foreign.

[Daniele]

I'm taking a wild stab here but is it 'cos our media massively over-hype them and they're not actually that good?
Plus there's the 'home grown' rule.

It's the same here in Italy. They have bigged up Ranocchia and Bonucci for instance, two Italian CBs who have proven nothing at all. It's the same everywhere.

[Boss]

In 2004 the only English player we had was Campbell. Great but no British backbone.

Had Cole as well. Not to mention that we had a truckload of players who weren't English but were suited to the league (Vieira, Pires, Henry, Bergkamp, Gilberto, Edu etc).

Now we have little of either.

[Daniele]

We had Cole too. And Keown but he didn't play that much I don't think.
And Parlour.

But I agree it was hardly a backbone, the attack, most of the midfield and half of the defence and 'keeper were foreign.

oh sorry I forgot Cole, who was magnificent back them. Right. I'm not against English players and I'd sign Parker for instance but to say that Cahill is a great Cb and Mertesacker mediocre is far from the truth. Cahill is decent, Mertesacker is good, Campbell in 2004 was great.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

I'd score 30 goals in the Spanish league! never seen Almeria or Getafe play? When in Italy he was average and was left out of the 2010 WC squad. Which was rubbish anyway :-)

It's not so much the amount of goals, although that helps, it's the way he plays and to a greater extent, how Villarreal play. It's perfect for us really. As for the quality of the defending, well only 18 of those goals were in La Liga, about 11 or so were in Europe. Also, I'm not really sure how much better the defending on the whole over here is in comparison to Spain.

Of course, Barcelona and Real Madrid hammer most teams more than convincingly but that has been the case when they have faced English teams too!

[Daniele]

Had Cole as well. Not to mention that we had a truckload of players who weren't English but were suited to the league (Vieira, Pires, Henry, Bergkamp, Gilberto, Edu etc).

Now we have little of either.

Oh come on, how many times have we said that Gilb was too lightweight in midfield and do you remember Bergkamp's first ten games? needed time to adapt.

[GunnerFan4Life]

AW is in Souchaux apparently? - twitter

Marvin Martin

[Boss]

Oh come on, how many times have we said that Gilb was too lightweight in midfield and do you remember Bergkamp's first ten games? needed time to adapt.

Which is fine if you have players used to the league that can carry you while you do so.

We don't.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

Revista is on Sky Sports soon, I'll quote any (important) piece of Balague transfer bollocks in here when he says it. Which he surely will.