The whole board at Juventus have resigned and remember the Agnelli family own the club with Andrea Agnelli the grandson of the late great owner who built a car empire owning Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo buying Ferrari and doing deals with the Americans at GM. Basically to finance winning the league and going for the Champions League under Antonio Conte that bankrupted themselves. Conte wasn’t given the funds he wanted the season before last so he walked away and joined Spurs. FIFA have today announced an investigation regarding transfers, actual transfer fees paid/transfer fees declared, forensic investigation of accounts….. When you look at some of the great clubs of Europe you see a pattern and it’s a debt mountain trying to win leagues, cups etc but most of all the Champions League. PSG sacked Tuchel for losing in the final, then they sacked Pochetino for winning the league and cup but getting knocked out of the CL in the semis. In Italy they have huge problems as can be seen by Juventus who have a total debt of €858m which includes bank debt. Due to player trading Juventus owe €400m, the debt reduced to €301m this season and AC Milan owe €207m on players and Roma €191m. These are the top 3 Italian clubs in debt. I’m guessing that Conte will wait and see what happens and who takes over and then will ride in on a white horse and have another go. He loves the club and has won the league, but in reality put the club in debt. Lots of talk about Aaronson and Adams doing well in the World Cup, especially Tyler Adams, but one player we all seem to have forgotten is Luis Sinisterra. He got injured in pre season and has hardly played, so we haven’t seen the best of him yet. By all accounts he has been seen wearing a protective boot again, so maybe a long term injury. Sinisterra has only played 10 times for club including the EFL Cup and has scored 3 goals. This is a pretty good return for a winger and I would say we are not seeing the best of him yet. Looking at Sinisterra in more detail because he has played on both wings, attacking midfield, Left midfield and Centre Forward for Feyenoord. Playing as a left winger he scored 31 goals and got 29 assists from 105 games. As a right winger he scored 14 goals and got 3 assists from 39 games. As striker in 10 games he scored 3 goals and 2 assists. He played 113 games for the Dutch giants scoring 39 times with 29 assists. I suggest we need Luis back as we need his goals. One other player we forget about because he’s a kid is Willie Gnonto. A full Italian international in Mancini’s reinvented Azuries. Remember the Italians didn’t make IT to the World Cup so Mancini got rid of many of the big names and said he is now giving youth a chance and wants to concentrate on developing the next generation. We have seen the kid once or twice and if he’s used in the right way we get goals from the striker and the front players So lots of options open to Marsch this January. we need a striker or do we gamble again hoping Rodrigo keeps scoring, hoping Bamford gets form back, hoping Summerville carries on, hoping Gnonto chips in a few goals and assists, hoping Gelhardt scores, hoping Joseph can come good, hoping Perkins starts…… lots to think about for next season regarding the strikers required. Looks like Drameh has had enough and is leaving, will Ayling get a new contract, does he deserve it, is he passed it at 32yo Midfield for next season is key because we hope to keep Adams Roca and Harrison, but will we add another top player, or will we take a punt on Greenwood, we also have Bate coming back, Archie Gray, Perkins Centre Backs is going to be a pick and mix just from you guys on here. Struijk, Cooper, Hjelde, Cresswell, Koch and Llorente, but should we offload anyone, bring anyone else in, loan some out This is funny but shows what a complete shytshow FIFA are and how money corrupts our sport. The Qatar fans were not from Qatar because to be frank there’s not enough people in Qatar, so the Qatari government/sheiks sent a team to Lebanon to round up a few thousand paupers and pay them to come to Qatar, teach them chants and organise them into something resembling Ultra’s
What is the point in this game being played? This wasn’t the Leeds Utd U21 team but it faced a top notch Spanish team and got humiliated 8-0. Van Den Hueval first game back after breaking his neck ffs Minus the likes of Sonny Perkins, Mateo Joseph, Leo Hjelde, Darko Gyabi and several other blue-chip youngsters, the Under-21s were a goal down to Valencia’s superior starting XI inside five minutes. Making a return to the field after a horror injury over the summer, Dutch goalkeeper Dani van den Heuvel conceded to 26-year-old striker Marcos André after four minutes, as the Brazilian netted twice more before the break to complete his hat-trick.
Going to be a big loss Michael Morton has left Leeds United during the World Cup break and become part of the management team at York City, Phil Hay reports. Morton was one of the academy coaches at Elland Road and was highly rated, but has been lured by the prospect of a first-team job elsewhere and now won’t be part of Leeds going forward.
Moreton was our lead academy coach when he was poached by Man City thanks to Ken Bates. He spent 7 years at City before taking over at Taddy as head coach he was then brought back to the club as lead coach again for the last 4 years and been heavily involved in the development of our 23s that won the lot in the National league under Carlos Corberan and then working with Jacko winnng Prem2 Div2?
Cody Drameh a player I have raved about since he arrived, seems to be on his way out. I dont get what Marsch has against him. He has a player who is the natural successor to 32yo Ayling who is out of contract in the summer, but it seems that Marsch has other ideas. Big clubs in Italy and France are in for Drameh as well as Dortmund and Leipzig from Germany and then there is Everton, Newcastle Palace and West Ham who are also chasing him, plus Middelsboro under Carrick and countless other championship clubs. How can these clubs see something different to Marsch? Don’t say attitude because having so many clubs chasing a player plenty of research and due Dilligence has taken place including speaking to Cardiff and coaches?
Who are these top clubs chasing Drameh?. How much do Leeds think he is worth?. Does he want to be first choice at some other BIG club like Cardiff. Or maybe his Agent has promised him a big wage rise which is more than likely. Now i admit to not remembering see him play for Leeds but also can't remember any rave reviews when he made the odd appearance. So i think sell him and concentrate on a tight knit squad. Sell sell sell.
Drameh didn’t play well when he played for the first team last year but no shame in that really… as it’s a big step up from 23s. You would hope/expect that his time at Cardiff, where he did really well, would make him better prepared if called upon now. He started in our heavy defeat at Brentford this season - Can’t recall how he played but the goals weren’t his fault. He’s a good prospect. We just happen to have 3 fit right backs and no left backs. Be interesting to see where he goes and for how much. It’s unlikely to be as first choice at anywhere above champ level though.
As for this ‘loads of clubs’ interested stuff. I’m sure he’s been scouted by a stack of teams. Every decent prospect is. Every club would take loads of players if they could get them for free and pay them fck all. It’s always agents making noise… to get those who are serious to come to the table. What’s relevant is which of those teams are prepared to cough up £5-10m plus add ons - and pay him the wedge of cash he’s after. It’s probably a smaller number. my hunch is that someone like Newcastle have offered him a better contract - and told him he can sit on the bench behind trippier - whose not getting any younger. Probably sounds better than being third choice at Leeds doesn’t it.
It suited Drameh more playng in a back 5 at Cardiff rather than our back 4 system. However it's always been one start us and then not seem for months which can't be easy. Probably a pretty pointless discussion anyway as without the new contract he's definitely going.
That is the big question mate, because Ayling is now not a prem player for me. Age doesn’t help, but neither does hardly playing for the last couple of seasons. From being starter for years to only playing half what he did the season before because of injury and this season hardly been seen due to injury and that isn’t going to get better. So to me Marsch doesn’t fancy him and that’s the coaches choice, but Marsch hasn’t been up front with Drameh or Joffy
Think it was Milky who quite rightly wanted to know why the hell Drameh wasn’t given a go at LB. Hes played there for the 23s as well as CB so if you have a specialist full back/wing back why never tried?
I think if you look back at Ayling's time with us, he always seemed to need a good few games to get going, a few season's back, fans were calling for him to be dropped as after coming back from injury he was awful, then he had that worldy at Birmingham and never looked back. Bit parts will do him and us no favours.
Who knows Doc and it may be they tried it in training and he stunk the place out. Or maybe Jesse suggested it and he wasn't receptive to the idea. Also Cody doesn't seem like the shy retiring type so he could have banged on Jesse's door and let it be known he wanted to give it a shot. Maybe all of the above happened, but it's more likely there's another reason...errr like a bad attitude, or not training to the right standards, or maybe just impatience on his part. Marsche likes to give young players their opportunity so there's definitely something we don't know.
I said that a few weeks ago Doc. If we’re playing a CB out of position because we have no left backs at the club why not play a pacey right back there?
Maybe because Pascal has shown the right qualities as a team player and is willing to listen and learn from the coach. Also if Drameh is not considered good enought to play right back so why would we play him where he's likely to perform even worse.