nyblue23

One chose to go to the Russian league to earn a fortune, the other was at Bayern for 17 years before moving to one of the most successful teams in England as his career in Germany was stalling and then unceremoniously dropped by their new manager (Uniteds I mean, but wouldn't be surprised if Pep had too).
 
Witzel couldn't get the deal he wanted (so it seems at least) so he'll see out the rest of his contract so he can leave for free to his 4th club in 10 years and get a bumper signing on fee, the other, who had only played for 1 other team before signing for United, is looking to move so he can play more.
 
Not even close to being a mercenary, I don't even get how you could compare or confuse the 2.

The mega rich all over the world also have resources like people who know how and where to move their money, what form to keep it in, and how to access it without paying a lick of taxes. Capital isn't fixed in place. You and I use regular old banks and invest at a small level within one country. Moshiri has "assets" throughout the world in several forms, and he can pay people to keep him losing very little in taxation.
 
The rich tend to be rich because of their networks, having the right last name or alma mater, and, well, because they started life at the top. We can always point to the Horatio Algers of the world as examples of meritocracy working and that social mobility is easy with a little hard work and frugality. But, generally, "self-made man" myths work to perpetuate a culture of blaming the poor for their own poverty rather than explain why the well-to-do are well-to-do.
 
(I'm gearing up to start teaching another 3 sections of Intro to Sociology next week hahaha)

Not sure who you're referring to... I very much do not want him to leave, and will continue to pull for him while he's with us. The man scores goals - with our upgrades in both pace and (hopefully) delivery in I see no reason why we should get rid of him now. SHould see his goal output only increase.

To be fair, I'm convinced Howard's decline was down much more to age than to RM. It's not like Klinnsman organized the best defense in the World Cup in 2014. Howard was just otherworldly. His decline happened nearly immediately after, and that after one season playing very well under RM.
 
For a couple years, Howard was top three to five in the league. If Hart is even an equal to Howard in his prime, I'll be alright with it.

Imagine what it would have been like if he was told Haf had got the job

Krychowiak only just moved. He played for Sevilla last season soI think Pad is googling this stuff.

Kroos Madrid, Vidal Bayern and Krychawiak (sp) PSG I think. Khedera (sp) Pogba Juve, busquetes Barca, all top class players Toure, Matic, again all massive names. Position means fuck all if you're a class player it will shine through. 
If I have any wrong I apologise.
 
Edit I forgot Alonso.

Im in Croatia, search function does not work here. Think its drunk on Slivovitz.

If City fans came here to check out the John Stones thread right now, they'd get the impression that we're selling them exorbitantly priced snake oil. I'm just not sure there isn't some sort of social/psychological thing going on with their relationship to a player who was there for one season, a season in which they got relegated. They might not be attached. They might think everything (bar some youth team gem) is absolute trash around there right now. I just wouldn't put too much stock in fans' opinions, given the context.

Two takeaways from this:
 
1. He seems resigned to Lukaku's departure, and that scares me.
 
2. Goddamn, it's refreshing to hear an Everton manager say they're not happy with a 3-1 win and to say that they didn't play well in a 45 minutes that they more or less dominated and outscored an opponent. So many of the squad looked like they just needed a little fire up their asses last season, and here it looks like they might finally be feeling the burn.

Second the Russian League comment. And Niasse's stats weren't even that incredible; they were just better than average.
 
I don't know when Aston Villa fans became the moderators of good, but yeah, I'd rather trust a guy who just won a title at Leicester with 22 million pounds in his starting 11 than a bunch of fans who hate everyone in a squad that was just relegated for the first time in nearly 30 years.

Just remember that the Everton way is to do everything in private and not leak information. We always do something. Usually there's a few pleasant surprises, too. All will be fine. Come September 1st, we will be convinced that we're going to win the league.

Reckon this is the sign of things to come from Walsh, this is exactly the sort of signing he's made his name from. Given his track record, I'm backing him.
 
Personally I think the only way we'll go 'big name' is if/when Lukaku/Stones leave, with perhaps a Mata type signing as a bonus. The reality is we're currently a mid-table club with no European football to offer, we have to box clever to get ourselves in a position to attract 'bigger' names. Notice how everyone we're linked with is also linked to Chelsea, City and Man Utd? Wonder where they'll end up going?
 
If Koeman and Walsh reckon this lad can improve us, great. Now bring in a keeper please and let's start getting excited for the new season.

Didn't Niasse have good stats???
 
If the Villa fans don't rate him then it's a no from me.
 
The bar of expectation is higher now so expect steak........yet we seem to be ordering spam.

We are paying top dollar for someone to recruit players. Let him do his job and we will see

The way I see it is this..... we have a new director of football who can spot a player.... the players he has form for spotting are from France. This lad played in France before going to villa where he was rated.
 
I'm going to trust walsh.

Metric you dope, imperial is a fuckton.

This is my general rule of thumb.
 
But, did you know that a group of pugs is called a "grumble"?

I'm excited to see us play as a well-drilled side again. We might not have been especially dynamic under Moyes, but at least we were well-drilled. I'm hoping Koeman's style marries attacking dynamism with organization and tactics. I'm sick of waiting for the season to start already. I want to know if we are shit or if we actually have something about us that was lost under Roberto in the past two seasons.

I think that's the exact reason he will thrive there.

No thanks you were an awful president.

I don't think we'll see much in the transfer market for the next few weeks with the drop in the pound.

Honestly, you make a general assumption and miss out by 66 thousand and they pull you on it .

I don't see this. Koeman is a good manager with a longer CV than De Boer and one that includes some success in the prem. To say that Southampton only marginally over-performed the last two years is a bit disingenuous; I could point to Arsenal, Chelsea, Man U, Man City, Everton, Liverpool, Tottenham, West Ham, and potentially even Stoke, Swansea and Palace who, on paper, should have been better than Southhampton the last two seasons, not to mention Leicester who found a way to win the league. Southampton's marquee signings this past season were van Dijk and Charlie Austin - not exactly world beaters.
 
I'm just not sure who you expect us to sign. Emery I understand, but he's about the only option I see as having a higher ceiling than Koeman, and as we all well know, Spanish managers don't always transition well to the Premier League. We're not stealing Pochettino, we were never signing Mourinho, Pellegrini has less promise and is a far more known quantity. Just who is exactly is all this money supposed to get us and which bigger club (because there are bigger clubs than us) are we stealing him from?