Pre season friendlies started, a good win last night scoring 4 goals. Mainly U21s used (getting used to calling them 21s instead of 23s this season) promising performances from Roca, Firpo, Greenwood, Drameh, Gelhardt, Gray, Rodrigo, McGurk and Mateo Joseph Fernandez. Early days of course and only Blackpool. What will happen with Leif Davies as he also did pretty well and does seem to cover for Firpo, however Ipswich want to buy him. What about Drameh who again bossed it against championship wingers and bombed down the line well. Kristenson starts with Ayling as back up but Ayling not ready for the start of the season. Could Drameh be sold? What about Shackelton who also played a bit last night but going to struggle to get a game. We then have Kiko, Costa, Poveda to sort out and with Roberts already gone and wont be back. Our transfer window has been excellent and whatever your views on Victor Orta you have to hand it to him this time. Yes we dont know how the players will settle, but on paper we have 5 first team players who are all starters, so a massive improvement on last summer and the squad in general. Young Darko will also be pushing for some game time at some stage, which could mean we also send Lewis Bate out on loan. We are still looking for a striker and that will then close our transfer business, except for the Raphinha fiasco which runs on. Will he be on the plane Sunday? The strikers most mentioned are CDK who we offered over £30m for, so a very serious offer. The other target although there will be more we dont know about, is Arnuad Kalimuendo from PSG. This guy excites me more than Special K because he is a strong lone striker, a speedy powehouse anywhere in a front 3 and does the job of striker. CDK is a swiss army knife type player who can play anywhere in the middle, the wings and as number 9. These type of multi-purpose players are all the rage and we hear about false 9s all the time. Great if it works for the team and goals are created and scored, but I still like a proper striker. Hopefully all our ins will be finalised with a few days and then we can concentrate on the outs. Coaching staff is still being sorted and Jacko will again be part of Marsch’s coaching staff, which says to me the U23s of last season will have a few of them part of the first team. Taylor the stand in 23 coach from last season is going back to his role as head of loans which means he can keep an eye on Cresswell etc. so a new U21 coach is being recruited. Lots of stories about Carlos Corberan coming back after walking out on the dogz yesterday. The biggy for me if this is true, is that Marsch would be under notice that his replacement is already in the building. Corberan was assistant to Bielsa as well as coaching the 23s to the title. So far this window we have spent £91.7m which is equivalent to what we spent the summer before last. However we have also brought in £45m so far. There will be loan fees and sales for Caprile and anyone else sold, plus Raphinha so may well actually spend zero and make a profit but have brought in 6 players so far? Gary Rowett at Milwall made me smile yesterday when talking about Charlie Cresswell. “He's a 19 year old kid and already putting big seasoned strikers on their arse. Our squad now knows we have a unit with a loud voice telling them their jobs…” Looking a lot like Raphinha will be a Barcelona player within days and dont expect him to be on the plan to Oz this weekend. It sounds like a deal is being done that suits Leeds. It will not be the same £60m up front payment from Chelsea but fee spread over 3 years. Leeds are being forced into a corner and having to decide on what value the player will be in January if he has a bad world cup. His value is falling now and in 6 months time it will be lower as his contract is falling. If the wait is until next Summer his value could be less than half. For his value to stay the same in January as it is now the player would need to have had a great season leading up the world cup and a great world cup. There is also the fact that having him overseas rather than playing for the opposition is also a factor. We will have to wait and see but for me Barcelona is too risky as some say they will go bust and out of business in the next couple of years?
If that's the way the Rapha deal goes, there needs a clause inserting that in event of any payment being late, he reverts back to being our player. No ifs, buts or maybes
Barcelona have reportedly made a “final offer” for Raphinha with the Brazilian keen to get his future sorted as soon as possible. Diario Sport are reporting the Catalans have offered €55 million plus variables and are now waiting to hear back from the Premier League side. There’s a similar line from Ben Jacobs at CBS Sports who reports “Barcelona’s offer for Raphinha matches Chelsea’s in total. The base fee is less but the total package now the same.” Leeds appear to be putting pressure on Barca and Chelsea as Raphinha wants his future decided. It’s thought he prefers to move to the Camp Nou but doesn’t want to wait too long which could give Chelsea a chance to bring him to Stamford Bridge. Leeds boss Jesse Marsch has already confirmed he does not know if Raphinha will be on the plane for his team’s pre-season trip to Australia. The White are due to fly out on Sunday.
Chelsea offered £60m all up front, Barcelona are offering €55m which is only £46.5m so how the hell does that plus add ons equate to the same as Chelsea’s £65m in total because they would need to find another £20m in sterling. Its crap
Is there VAT involved in one but not the other? Ive no idea, just asking but suspect either way, well be shafted
I'd just say to Rapha and Barca that it's 60 million now or he remains a Leeds player for the next two years. Tell Rapha he goes to Chelsea or stays because Barca can't afford you.
Chelsea would have to pay VAT as its 2 UK clubs. No VAT involved with Barcelona, however they would try and dodge a retail form of tax… so the actual cash Chelsea would be shelling out dwarfs the so called best skint club in the world
Short answer Eire is no. Figures are quoted net of VAT. Leeds would invoice Chelsea for 72m (60m + 12m VAT). Chelsea pay 72m to leeds, but Claim 12m back from HMRC. Leeds pay 12m to HMRC.
I won’t he’s not worth the quoted figures and he doesn’t want to play for us so let’s move on. I don’t think he’ll choose either
Dembele the greediest twat in football is still telling Barcelona he may sign a new contract. This twat isnt wanted by any of the top clubs because of his wage demands. Bayern laughed when asked about him, he is now a free agent and if he does sign Barcelona will not be able to do Raphinha. So all the Raphinha nonsense has been because of this cnut who has been trying to get a pay rise for a year when the club are demanding a pay cut. You would think it simple for Barca to just fk off but they paid £100m+ and he just ran his contract down, so getting him back is a big win and if on reduced wages too…. So Raphinha should just say fk off Barca sick of being messed
We as a club are coming across as very weak in our Phillips and Raphinha transfers this summer. It's time to get tough with Barca, Deco and Rapha. WE hold all the aces here. He is under contract for two more seasons. That's a huge chunk of a footballers career, especially as he is nearing his peak years. Time for us to toughen up a bit and lay the law down as we can't let this drag on for another 3 or 4 weeks.
In january, with 6 months left on his contract he asked for a €30m signing on fee plus another €15m for his agent and wages of €30m a year! Barca being skint said no, so he touted himself around other clubs but nobody wants him. Latest is he will accept the 40% wage cut to sign a new 2 year deal. Not bad when he currently earns €76,000 a day!
Probably, but I don't think barca are dishing out the mega wages they were a few years ago. Not sure if Laporta is playing poker or Russian roulette , they seem to be linked to every player they can not afford.
New game this weekend is flight to oz watch, to see the players left behind. Shacks going to Milwall, Poveda wanted by clubs in USA, Spain and UK and still has 2 years left on his contract. We should sell as all profit as he was a free. Costa, Kiko and whoever else left behind?
