Winter Mercato 2015 (5 Viewers)

[CrimsonianKing]

You just need to look at the 5 most recent Champions League Semi Finals to find out how constant are Spanish teams and how non-existent are English teams(except Chelsea).

That only proves that the 3 top Spanish teams are better which we already knew. Not that the league itself is in fact a better league. It's a bit like Serie A in the early 00's.

We were no different from La Liga then where 2 or 3 of the same clubs were always top of the table. It wasn't a strong "league" as some here say. Serie A was strong in the mid 80's to mid 90's when clubs like Atalanta, Sampdoria, Torino and so on were in the same level as the big ones. Now that was a competitive and strong league.

 

Buy on AliExpress.com

[Spath]

That only proves that the 3 top Spanish teams are better which we already knew. Not that the league itself is in fact a better league. It's a bit like Serie A in the early 00's.

We were no different from La Liga then where 2 or 3 of the same clubs were always top of the table. It wasn't a strong "league" as some here say. Serie A was strong in the mid 80's to mid 90's when clubs like Atalanta, Sampdoria, Torino and so on were in the same level as the big ones. Now that was a competitive and strong league.

I can accept that it is not so "strong" league as EPL but Sevilla,Valencia, Villareal and Bilbao also played in Europa League Semi's and Final's these 5 last years.
I can't accept that Bundesliga is stronger though.

 

[Klin]

That is not representative for the whole league 'though. Those are only the top teams...

Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico, Seville, Bilbao and Valencia.

 

[Robee]

Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico, Seville, Bilbao and Valencia.

Yes, and beneath that it's all irrelevant. Hell, Bilbao and Valencia are already a huge step down. Other competitions sub top teams match them.

 

[Lion]

i wish we would sign Diamanti

he would be the creative spark that this team needs. and at the age of 32, he is young enough to be a 3-4 year solution.

 

[IliveForJuve]

 

[Orgut]

If Llorente doesn't improve until the end of the season he has to be sold. He's a top 5 earner here if I'm not mistaken but in fact he didn't do jack $#@! this season. We're not a charity organization. In fact he'll be 30yo very soon on a big salary contract with very poor form and actually not suiting our style.
Zaza will suit our game much more, he's in a very good age to take next step in his career. Sure none of us know how he will do when he comes here but he doesn't look fragile to me at all. Strong, aggressive with willingness to run and fight with defenders. He's faster than Llorente and better with ball at his feet. Decent finishing and very strong left foot.

While I agree that Zaza is a gamble it doesn't change the fact Llorente will have to leave if he doesn't improve. I'll take a risk of giving a chance to Zaza instead of waiting for Llorente to come back to himself. Also because of the fact Zaza will be cheaper than keeping Llorente. If Zaza turns out to be good we'll have a better forward, younger and also costing us less. If he doesn't we save some money while we'll have a chance sell him which won't be the case with Llorente due to his age and salary.

It's not a perfect situation to choose from but the financial constraints are there. It's useless to delude ourselves we can do better when forwards cost so much these days.

We should sell Llorente as we wont be able to get more if we sell him later.. He is not exactly 19..
About Zaza I think he could be a good rotation system kind of player and I`m for getting him BUT I still wish us to get a proper striker! The kind that fit TOP CLUBS

- - - Updated - - -

i wish we would sign Diamanti

he would be the creative spark that this team needs. and at the age of 32, he is young enough to be a 3-4 year solution.

While at it lets get Baggio..

Just kidding.. I think he is a talented player but I`d want us to sign him if he is ready to be a sub with normal wages+up to 5M purchase fee

 

[Ahmed]

Gasperini has pretty much confirmed that Sturaro is leaving Genoa for Juve.

 

[j0ker]

i wish we would sign Diamanti

he would be the creative spark that this team needs. and at the age of 32, he is young enough to be a 3-4 year solution.

hehehehehe

 

[Vlad]

Yes, and beneath that it's all irrelevant. Hell, Bilbao and Valencia are already a huge step down. Other competitions sub top teams match them.

We don't know how second tier clubs would fair against their English or German counterparts, but for the better part of the last 10 years Spanish clubs have absolutely dominated European competitions. Most of their 1-7 ranked clubs have regularly reached the later stages of either CL or EL, and consequently overall won most coeff. points. There's a big gap in points between La Liga and EPL and that is not negligible fact in determining the strength of any competition. Currently among top 50 clubs based on Uefa's coeff. ranking you'll find 8 Spanish clubs, 6 from EPL and 5 from each Bundesliga and Serie A.

Another thing, we can look at difference in pts between 7th place team and relegation battlers, in determining the quality of those middle ranked/2nd tier clubs and is there indeed such a huge gap as people tend to suggest. In La Liga there's 15 pts difference, EPL 17 pts, 12 pts between Bundes 7th ranked team Hoffenheim and ultimate Freiburg (only 18 clubs), 10 pts margin in Italy, etc... Doesn't really seem there is notable difference across the top leagues (EPL, La Liga and Bundes) when it comes to this aspect. If anything one might conclude that Serie A provides the most entertaining and equal competition between underdogs atm.

 

[Robee]

We don't know how second tier clubs would fair against their English or German counterparts, but for the better part of the last 10 years Spanish clubs have absolutely dominated European competitions. Most of their 1-7 ranked clubs have regularly reached the later stages of either CL or EL, and consequently overall won most coeff. points. There's a big gap in points between La Liga and EPL and that is not negligible fact in determining the strength of any competition. Currently among top 50 clubs based on Uefa's coeff. ranking you'll find 8 Spanish clubs, 6 from EPL and 5 from each Bundesliga and Serie A.

Another thing, we can look at difference in pts between 7th place team and relegation battlers, in determining the quality of those middle ranked/2nd tier clubs and is there indeed such a huge gap as people tend to suggest. In La Liga there's 15 pts difference, EPL 17 pts, 12 pts between Bundes 7th ranked team Hoffenheim and ultimate Freiburg (only 18 clubs), 10 pts margin in Italy, etc... Doesn't really seem there is notable difference across the top leagues (EPL, La Liga and Bundes) when it comes to this aspect. If anything one might conclude that Serie A provides the most entertaining and equal competition between underdogs atm.

Serie A is the most level competition in my opinion as well, of course this is all a subjective given and no exact science. But like Barca today a 6-0 win, happens almost every week... I'm havin a hard time calling that the best league. It barely happens in elsewhere. Bayern has the occasional trashing, but they also do that in Europe sometimes...

Anyway about how we got there... Every striker still confirms Serie A is the toughest league TO SCORE IN because of the attention to organisation. So I wouldn't look to hard at Llorente's figures in Spain. He still brings something to the table 'though, eveen without scoring.

 

[Valerio.]

Please God not Zaza. Gonna be a huge waste of money.
Either this summer you bring a Star instead of Llorente so we'd have Tevez,Morata,STAR,Coman,Berardi or pls don't waste 15m on a useless player.

 

[Lion]

i hope we do. just to see your heart break.

 

[Valerio.]

i hope we do. just to see your heart break.

it's a lost cause dude i already know this is the kind of buy Marotta would make. If it was a Udinese player we'd pay the double.

 

[LiquidPLP]

Please God not Zaza. Gonna be a huge waste of money.
Either this summer you bring a Star instead of Llorente so we'd have Tevez,Morata,STAR,Coman,Berardi or pls don't waste 15m on a useless player.

Who is the 'star' player you want? Is there even one that's available to Juve and fits the description?

I'm not a big fan of Zaza but you can't do better without money I guess. What we do is a risky business for sure, imagine both Berardi and Zaza will cost us 30m.

 

[Valerio.]

Who is the 'star' player you want? Is there even one that's available to Juve and fits the description?

I'm not a big fan of Zaza but you can't do better without money I guess. What we do is a risky business for sure, imagine both Berardi and Zaza will cost us 30m.

Dunno that's Marotta's job. I "just" wish he will not waste money on common players such as Zaza.

 

[LiquidPLP]

Dunno that's Marotta's job. I "just" wish he will not waste money on common players such as Zaza.

I expected better than this tbh You'd want to do it differently, you show the way

 

[lgorTudor]

I expected better than this tbh You'd want to do it differently, you show the way

Imagine Pogba was a forward rather than CM. How epic would it be to grow another Trezegod considering our Midfield would not feel as naked anyway.

 

[Badass J Elkann]

Guy who was in charge of Odegaard's transfer: I spoke with Juve and Roma, two teams that IMO could've done more regarding the boy. Roma went in more depth regarding the talks and they loved Martin but they were afraid of the competitions from the big clubs.

And then he said something which is very true "For a foreign player, the Serie A no longer has the charm of the past."

done more? in terms of what? neither clubs could afford or would be stupid enough to give him a 80k a week contract

and the second line is utter BS... Pogba, Tevez, Cuadrado, icardi, Dybala could go on...

 

[PedroFlu]

About La Liga, I haven't followed in years now.

But when I see any game featuring: Granada / Almeria / Levante / Elche / Getafe / Córdoba / Celta de Vigo / Rayo Vallecano / Eibar, regardless of the opposition, I can't spend 2 minutes watching it.

This is almost 50% of the league clubs. Every game they are in is either horrible or a massacre. What's the point?

A good league is all about competition. Spain has definitely some of the top teams of the world and some very good teams like Atletico, Valencia, Bilbao. But 50% of the league teams are disgusting. For my taste, it hinders the quality of the league.

Not saying Serie A is ahead, of course not. But in La Liga, most games have very low appeal to me.

In Germany the difference is that the quality of lower teams has improved a lot, they have so many bright youngsters spread around the league.

EPL is ahead all of them, even though I really find Chelsea, Man Ud, etc games very boring.

I've stopped watching other leagues games a good time ago though.

- - - Updated - - -

About Zaza - I really like him.

I think 15M is a bit over his real value, which is of around 12M IMO.

But he would be an interesting signing. Young, very very hardworking, is a pest against defenders. His athletic features are excellent. The guy is aggressive, strong and fast.

Also he has good technical skills. Great left foot, good first touch.

Even though he doesn't seem to fit our tem now, look at Morata. He makes our team so much more aggressive. He creates a lot of situations with his movement off the ball. I think the same would happen to Zaza. And he's strong enough to play with his back to the defenders when needed.

And he would actually save us some money. We'd sell Llorente probably to an medium/low EPL club who'd offer like 10 to 15M for him. His salaries will be probably 3x bigger than Zaza. We'd finish the first year at least even in financial terms. And with a young guy with upside and resale value.

I'd really be ok with Tevez - Berardi - Coman - Morata - Zaza.

We'd have a lot of talent and upside with those guys.