If true that is crazy. So despite all the emails which clearly in black and white show the directors deliberately miss reporting where money has come from they are going to be found not guilty of any of it!

I always go back to what PSR or FFP rules were really about. Quite simply you can only spend £105m (I think it is) more than you earn over a 3 year period......and clearly your 'earnings' can't be a cash injection from a rich owner - the rules were literally bought in because of Roman doing just this. So yes there may be silly loopholes, sister accounts, amortising players but fundamentally what we're being asked to believe is that Man City - a club with a very small successful history and an even smaller fan base just suddenly rocketed themselves to the club with the second highest revenue in world football and that their deal with Etihad (for example) would be all but the same deal in sponsorship they could have extracted from any number of typical club sponsors etc.

The City case was a watershed moment for English football, fail to prove they have done anything wrong and it opens the floodgates for any rich owner to just do the same thing in the same way City have, be creative and cook the books in a way that finds legal loopholes.

It is beyond time for an independent football regulator

I suspect that the final ruling, whatever it is, will not be especially negative for City.

They are spending like there's no tomorrow and have just signed a £1 billion sponsorship deal so I suspect they feel fairly confident of no more than a slap on the wrist.

Liverpool have submitted an offer for Etikite. 80m euros by all accounts

The strange thing now is that having cheated wildly to get to the top they kind of have a much more sustainable model. The Puma kit deal they have just signed is legitimate, because these big kit manufacturer's want to associate with winning teams who get maximum exposure and who have world superstar footballers wearing their brand. You will also develop greater numbers of fans and merchandise sales as kids and glory hunting fans and foreign fans will start to support your team. But, take away the false investment from the City owners and it comes crumbling down.

I haven’t seen too much of him. Would he have been a better option?

We are still arguing with sporting about the Gyökeres add ons. Latest is Sporting want 2.5 million paid to them every time there’s a new fast and furious movie released. Talks continue

Chelsea in for Eze. Would provoke a bit of anger


https://www.teamtalk.com/chelsea/eberec ... ce-arsenal

Strange that with all the players are linked with and have signed that they haven't addressed the two weakest parts of their team, a top class GK and a top class pair of CB.
I still find it farcical that in the last 2 years Chelsea spend 150m euros on 3 strikers in Jackson, Nkunku and Felix and just want to dump them all and have already spent 100m euros on Delap and Joao Pedro.

Mosquera for £13m is exactly the sort of signing Chelsea would make in an attempt to stockpile players.

If the premier league find it too difficult to enforce their P&S rules on finances because of various loopholes then make a very simple ruling to compliment the 25 man squad size rule and restrict the number of players a club can send on loan. You could detail it that if a player has trained at the club for say 4 years prior to them turning 18 then there are no restrictions on the number of those players you can loan out which would promote genuine academy trained players progressing - but would have some restriction on hoarding young players and farming them out on loan. But for any other players you should be restricted to a maximum of 5-6 loans each season.

I agree entirely. The biggest league on the planet and the tardiness with which the FA react to what are financial shenanigans is unbelievable. If as per the post above they will be fined and docked 3 points that would a travesty given what Forest and Everton were fined.

Clubs which cheat financially should lose all the trophies they won during the periods of cheating, this happens in athletics for positive drugs tests

Chelsea should lose everything they won under Abrahmovich and City the same under Guardiola

Weak punishments just make a joke of the sport, look the the two drugs cheats who won Wimbledon, embarrassing for the sport

Funny how transfer stories take different twists and opinions on who is/has done better.
First we had Liverpool supposedly bullying Newcastle by saying Sell us Isak or we'll come and take Etitike who we know you want' - win win for Liverpool and lose lose for Newcastle apparently. Then we have Newcastle saying no dice to Isak so Liverpool stomp in and put a bid for Etitike and Newcastle instantly turn to Wissa for £30m less than Etitike and now I see people saying Newcastle played Liverpool like a fiddle, Newcastle knew Etitike was on Liverpool's radar so made a move to force Liverpool's hand, knowing they could keep Isak, force Liverpool to move on and then go and get Wissa. Phew it's hard to keep up!

Also, on those who bemoan how long transfers take it is a lot easier and quicker when you don't really have to count up the pennies for PSR rules because you just sign another dodgy sponsorship, or buy a player from your sister company for a knock down price, or sell your womens team or hotel to yourself......you can stomp in to negotiations ask how much and then just pay it - easy peasy.

Havertz!

Wonder what effect this will have on his game. He can’t have done this without the clubs blessing

That’s gotta be filtered or doctored or whatever they call it.

That filter on the iPhone that makes munters look like Victoria secrets models

I agree, amputating his left leg is surely going to have a detrimental effect on his game.

Rich that’s clearly faked, apart from anything else I’m not sure it’s in the realms of human physiology to put on 10Kgs of muscle in 6 weeks.

Yes, I know Havertz has bulked up but that is a bit silly.
I don’t mind the idea of Havertz putting on some upper
Body strength, he’s always been quite wiry and never seemed overly strong when running with the ball but is quite good at positioning his body for some classic hold up play. Players who don’t already rely on speed or mobility can have extra bulk without in theory it effecting their game

Looks like we’ve signed Will Wright a 17 year old striker from Salford. Liverpool were close but lots of reports that we’ve got him. Fee is reported around £100-400k depending on who you believe

There isn’t silly money in football

Question is, run by whom? Certainly not the UK government which obviously can't even manage the things we want and expect them to do. Lisa Nandy overseeing football is not a pretty thought. Nor do we need another quango interfering. Despite what Bill Shankly said, in the great scheme of things football is not that important. Unless crimes are being committed, I'd just leave it be.

The second Billy Wright at Arsenal?

Even if it was possible, I'm not sure how having bigger biceps improves your finishing.

https://x.com/Arsenal/status/1946102642666520913
Who knew a football club needed a finance software partner? Arsenal really need to up their game commercially so its good to see these multiple partnerships happening. We're woefully behind commercially to far too many clubs in this country

Clothesline the defender, german suplex on the goalkeeper, open goal.

Madueke wears number 20

Shirt numbers 10 and 14 clearly being saved for a Swedish bodybuilder and another new arrival

The whole big announcement PR Marketing social media thingy around the new signing of Madueke is pretty pointless surely if the previous manager of the player bought has already announced it, there are photos of the player having his medical, photos of Madueke in an Arsenal shirt is already online leaked and the home fans have already vandalised a mural in protest against the idea of it

I'm still struggling to get my head around the last one. It's almost Monty Python / Goon show level silliness.

I wish they would hurry up with Gyorkeres. It's getting tedious. That Verandah cove seems like a real tit.

Mbeumo to Man U is getting done, £65m + £6m. He is a really good player but he has 1 year left on his contract, you'd expect to be able to negotiate down from his value rather than get pushed up.

In Cunha and Mbeumo Man U have a pair if really tidy players in their forward line, but as a word of caution, neither played in a 3-4-2-1 formation that Amorim likes and they were the two biggest over achievers of their xG last season - are they actually elite finishers of difficult chances or was last season a blip and the return to the norm is next season?

Quite. Especially Mbeumo, who has never scored more the 10 prem goals in a season before.

Also, especially Man United.

I do agree that he is a good player but not cheap at all.

United are basically where we were when we signed Partey Zinchenko and Jesus.

Having to pay massive fees and salaries to players who are good but probably not quite top tier in order to get back into Europe

Manure always seem to get their pants pulled down recently when it comes to transfers. Also midfield is their big problem. They have no quality midfielders.

Nwaneri has signed a new 5 year deal.

Berta is having an very good summer so far - just need a few things to finish it off. The to do list was

New: No.2 GK, utility def, def mid, striker, winger, attacking mid
contracts for: Gabriel, Saliba, Saka, MLS, Nwaneri
sell (and get good value for): Nelson, Vieira, Zinchenko and ideally Lokonga (rather than a loan)

So who are we fearing? Who are we fearing for? And who is the surprise package this year?

Liverpool need a midfield and central defence boost, but I think they’ve flipped the old narrative of ‘defences win titles’ to ‘goals win titles’ and hard to fault them at that. If they’ve managed to get Ekitike I’ll be officially envious albeit it’s still just the transfer window. Having said that I think with Salah at the ANC he’ll pick up an injury around that will see them miss him for a couple of months, added to the slightly threadbare Defense and Central midfield we’ll pip them this year..

If Wissa leaves Brentford as well as Mbuemo and Thomas Frank I’d seriously fear for them with a manager in that role for the first time. The promoted teams look like they might have a bit more fight than last year. Bournemouth ditto having lost two outstanding defensive players but Iraola staying gives them a huge edge. Wolves I think go down.

Villa also one in some hot water that will quell their ambitions.
Utd will be awful apart from against us and City

Brighton I think will pick up majorly from last season and Everton too.

Spurs - roll the dice they could be anything but they’ve bought really well and Frank is a sensible human being
Chelsea I’m not buying the CWC win. They’ll be unstable yet again.

My predictions

1. Arsenal
—————————//
2. Liverpool
3. Manchester City
4. Newcastle United
5. Brighton & Hove Albion
————————-//
6. Chelsea
7. Aston Villa
8. Tottenham Hotspur
9. Everton
10. Fulham
11. Nottingham Forest
12. Crystal Palace
13. Manchester United
14. AFC Bournemouth
15. West Ham United
16. Leeds United
17. Sunderland
————————//
18. Brentford
19. Burnley
20. Wolverhampton Wanderers

https://x.com/Arsenal/status/1946238615065113028
Madueke is official - No. 20

Mikel Arteta: “Noni Madueke is one of the most talented wide forward players in the Premier League.”
“At just 23, Noni brings experience of club and international football. Having seen the quality of Noni’s performances up close, we’re really excited.

Not bad, personally I think Chelsea will cope with the CL+ prem combo better than Newcastle and Spurs so I see Chelsea as 4th. Brighton are a strange one, they seemt o do well against big clubs but drop silly points - I'll go 7th at best for them. Agree on Forest to drop away but not be in any trouble - if they keep their back 5 together they will have done well this summer. Spurs about right no higher, I think man U will be higher than 13th, 8th/9th and fighting spurs and brighton. Villa - a lot will depend on the rest of their summer, they've been very quiet, they have to sell to buy so could end up just sticking.

top 3.
Arsenal, City, Liverpool - on the basis that these 3 teams simply can't have the bad luck/good luck with injuries again this season - if all 3 return to the norm or average I don#t think Liverpool's defence holds out. City have by far the greatest depth.

hard to look past the 3 promoted clubs to go straight back down, Sunderland are making a good fist of it with signings - but signing quite a few African players like they don't know the AFCON is on....

Noni Madueke was eager to cut short his post-Club World Cup holiday to join in his new club’s pre-season plans immediately and be involved in the trip to Singapore and Hong Kong.

Ultimately, Arsenal have urged him to get some rest. They want him recharged and mentally fresh before a long season, and have convinced him to take a two week break, during which he will have access to one of the club’s strength and conditioning coaches.

Arsenal accidentally uploaded a picture of Mosquera’s first interview in the Arsenal training kit as part of the Madueke reveal. Safe to say Mosquera is done - £13m initial fee. You just cannot buy a 20 year old who is a regular in the U21 side of a big nation and 2 full seasons at a big team. It’s a great deal for a back up who can grown and learn from Saliba and Gabriel

Yes unfortunately I can see that being the case with Chelsea, I did a good job of talking myself into them self imploding every now and then! I think they have got the potential to overplay their hand with their big squad balancing Europe and the league.

Yes Brighton, they are my surprise package, I don’t think they should finish that high, that’s why it will be a surprise! Funnily enough they spent uncharacteristically big for them last year and weren’t quite as good as they have been previously, but they backed a new manager coming in rather what Liverpool have done in given him a season to properly assess the squad then investing. But they were all typical Brighton signings: young and bags of potential so they’ll just get better and better.

Yep, Sunderland sold the guy who scored the playoff goal to promote them to… Brighton! And also Jobe Bellingham. Possibly they and Brentford should be reversed.

Leeds have been spoken of as the strongest to come up in a while. Who knows what that will mean though.

Some Xavi Simons talk, apparently available for £56m plus add ons.

Simons, 22 £56m+
Eze, 27 £68m release clause

Who do you prefer? Very similar players from that left 8/10 position and covering left wing

Just haven’t seen lots of Simons. I suppose he’s had a down year like most at RB last season?

I assume that the recent arrivals and future ones won’t bother joining the team in Asia but will commence training now and then join the team when they return to London. Mandueke has already been mentioned on here so I know he won’t be going and is rightly having a rest.