The Transfer Thread

[Krebstar]

Re: The Transfer Thread

These Chinese clubs can just **** right off with this nonsense.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: The Transfer Thread

These Chinese clubs can just **** right off with this nonsense.

I guess I don't understand how it's any different than what the EPL does. They just use more money. I mean, yeah it sucks because they go there and we can't watch them on TV. But it is what it is.

[rdnk]

Re: The Transfer Thread

Dortmund is one of my favorite teams to watch, and I'd definitely like to see them keep Aubemeyang for a deep Champions League run. That being said, it has to be tough to turn down 150 million.. Holy moly!

150 M is worth more than half of the teams in the Bundesliga, La Liga, and Serie A or 85% of teams in Ligue 1 or Liga NOS. One could build a team that could qualify for Europa with 150 M. Transfermarkt has him valued at 45 M. I can understand a big club saying no though.

[Brahvocado]

Re: The Transfer Thread

I guess I don't understand how it's any different than what the EPL does. They just use more money. I mean, yeah it sucks because they go there and we can't watch them on TV. But it is what it is.

Yep.

Prem fans think of the Chinese league the same way that the rest of Europe thinks of the Prem.

[Leon]

Re: The Transfer Thread

Yep.

Prem fans think of the Chinese league the same way that the rest of Europe thinks of the Prem.

At least the Prem is, you know, competitive. Someone like Aubamayeng, who is super young and looks to be the real deal, would do himself a disservice by going after the money in a league which is clearly below his talent level.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: The Transfer Thread

At least the Prem is, you know, competitive. Someone like Aubamayeng, who is super young and looks to be the real deal, would do himself a disservice by going after the money in a league which is clearly below his talent level.

Yeah, but for every player like him, there's an Oscar who quadruples his salary and actually plays instead of sitting on the bench.

[Krebstar]

Re: The Transfer Thread

José Fonte has submitted a transfer request.

[~LiverpoolRed~]

Re: The Transfer Thread

I think the vast majority of players that do end up signing in the Chinese Super League will get a quick pay day and quickly leave the same way Didier Drogba did.

Drogba lasted 6 months at Shanghai Shenhua and pocketed £200,000 a week.

[Leon]

Re: The Transfer Thread

Yeah, but for every player like him, there's an Oscar who quadruples his salary and actually plays instead of sitting on the bench.

Ain't gonna fault someone for doing that, but if you're clearly at a certain level, you get offers from the top leagues in Europe and you have that huge (huge) Chinese money on offer as well, would you really pick the money over potentially achieving success and making a mark on the biggest stage(s) of club football?

It's like if Jordan or Gretzky were in their primes and they had huge offers to play in China and Russia respectively; they'd probably dominate the heck out of those leagues and earn a lot of money but they wouldn't really be the best ever because they weren't playing in the best leagues.

[Krebstar]

Re: The Transfer Thread

Ain't gonna fault someone for doing that, but if you're clearly at a certain level, you get offers from the top leagues in Europe and you have that huge (huge) Chinese money on offer as well, would you really pick the money over potentially achieving success and making a mark on the biggest stage(s) of club football?

It's like if Jordan or Gretzky were in their primes and they had huge offers to play in China and Russia respectively; they'd probably dominate the heck out of those leagues and earn a lot of money but they wouldn't really be the best ever because they weren't playing in the best leagues.

Bingo. The quality of the league is the thing that trips me up and doesn't allow me to view it as "well, that's how everyone else views the EPL" or something similar.

To me, it's not equal to a player heading to the EPL just because they can offer more money. Everything I've read or heard (not a ton, but some) clearly paints the Chinese Super League as incredibly poor in quality, and incredibly poorly run.

If anything, this reminds me more of older players heading to MLS, and there seems to be a general consensus of it being one step towards retirement, not saying "well that's just the way of the world and how money works" or something similar.

[Brahvocado]

Re: The Transfer Thread

Bingo. The quality of the league is the thing that trips me up and doesn't allow me to view it as "well, that's how everyone else views the EPL" or something similar.

To me, it's not equal to a player heading to the EPL just because they can offer more money. Everything I've read or heard (not a ton, but some) clearly paints the Chinese Super League as incredibly poor in quality, and incredibly poorly run.

If anything, this reminds me more of older players heading to MLS, and there seems to be a general consensus of it being one step towards retirement, not saying "well that's just the way of the world and how money works" or something similar.

Oh I'm well aware of that, and I agree it isn't the same thing as a player going to the Prem.

However, that is still how the rest of Europe views us. The Prem is basically the Boss's son of the top European leagues; dad put in all the work to to take the company to the top, and the son inherited the company and is just coasting by on the dad's success.

We hoover up top talent from leagues all over Europe and then promptly do nothing with them. We've become a perennial joke in Europe, hell even SAF's United started sucking it up in his last few years. And yet, despite all that, we still have more money than everyone and we just throw it around with little purpose or end result.

People probably think this is rich coming from a Chelsea fan, but the lower level Prem teams are actually far worse than anyone else in this regard.

[JHedges2]

Re: The Transfer Thread

People probably think this is rich coming from a Chelsea fan, but the lower level Prem teams are actually far worse than anyone else in this regard.

As a new(er) fan, can you elaborate on this?

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Operation Sports mobile app

[Brahvocado]

Re: The Transfer Thread

As a new(er) fan, can you elaborate on this?

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Operation Sports mobile app

We buy lots of players and don't play most of them.

If you meant the bit about the lower level teams: they buy tons of relatively talented players from all over the world, not just Europe. The difference between that and what Chelsea does though, is that these players bought by lower level teams are immediately thrown into usually a crappy club situation in a very unforgiving and mildly violent league. A lot of these players actually come from better teams, or at the very least better situations (say, a top team from a slightly lower level league somewhere else in Europe to a garbage team like West Brom).

Players are quickly labeled flops in the Prem if they don't perform, despite the fact that coaching in general in England is pretty well behind the rest of Europe, and these players are almost never utilized properly. Some young and promising player gets bought by a team desperate to avoid relegation, gets played out of position every other game and then gets injured by some orc from Stoke. Happens all the time.

These lower level teams aren't buying players with any kind of plan, they just have a ton of money and need players that can hopefully save them from relegation or mediocrity. Players like Altidore, Niasse, etc. go from lighting it up to everyone hating them in an instant, it's pretty demoralizing and hard to recover from.

Look how much money teams like Sunderland and Crystal Palace spend on all kinds of players every season. Sunderland outspends half of Europe and still looks absolutely awful every single season. West Ham nearly poached Milan's starting striker despite being objectively inferior to Milan in literally every conceivable capacity, simply because they have so much money.

[Zac]

Re: The Transfer Thread

Apparently the Chinese government wants to stop all these teams spending all that money.

[ImTellinTim]

Re: The Transfer Thread

The thing I don't understand is what's their end game? Do they think this is going to snowball into their league becoming a player in the worldwide TV market? Do they think they're going to recoup this insane initial investment?

This has already happened and it didn't work. It was called 1970s NASL.