One Mailboxer is furious over Chelsea’s sale of Mason Mount to Man Utd, while another uses ‘Southgate’s son’ to sift the bright from the braindead…
Get your views in to theeditor@football365.com…
Mourning Mount
How far Chelsea have fallen. And quickly.
Last season was a disaster. Almost entirely because of Bohley, Eghbali and the rest of the Clearlake C**ts.
Money spunked away on trash with no plan whatsoever. The only players bought over the last year that I have any faith in are Madueke and Fernández (and he must be massively regretting his move now).
And now they do it. They F**k it. They F**k it big time.
Selling our best player over the last 3 seasons, only 24, been at Chelsea his whole life, loved by every manager who’s managed him. Sold him to a supposed direct rival (more on that below)
C**nts the lot of them.
I can’t blame Mount, he was disrespected by the ownership by paying far less talented, newly signed players far more money. And what player would not look at the shower around him at Chelsea and not want to get the hell out.
Well done United fans, you’ve got a bloody brilliant player, yet to hit his prime. To all the Chelsea fans that never warmed to him, you can go lap up the rest of the BS from Bohley and Co.
Mount hasn’t gone to a rival. Chelsea won’t finish anywhere near United or the CL places, neither do they deserve to. A soulless husk of a club.
Will (James needs a move now, wasted at a mid table team)
Son of Gareth?
Mason Mount is my litmus test as to whether people know anything about football or not. The mail yesterday which suggested he was average and Southgate’s son is the type of sh*te I hear which reaffirms that so many people watch football but don’t have a clue. Surely you realise that every single manager Mount has had rates him and starts him?! Klopp wanted him, Ten Haag is getting him, Tuchel built a team around him… But he’s Southgate’s son.
The guy is 24, has won Chelsea’s POTY in 2 of the last 3 seasons. Since he’s broken into the team he’s been their highest scorer, assister, chance creator and most possession won in final ⅓. That sums him up. He has a bit of everything in his game. The people who point to last season are clueless. Literally nobody could say they were good for Chelsea last season, but Mount who missed a lot of it through injury gets the blame. People will still compare him to someone like Foden even though they’re completely different players. Mount is literally a midfielder. He will be Eriksen’s replacement. I think the reason that people don’t rate him is because he isn’t as aesthetically pleasing as many other players. I’ve always said it but he reminds me of a Ramsey or Wijnaldum type of player. Great engine, knows which spaces to occupy and very good technician. I’d imagine he will be better than both of them.
Dion, Arsenal.
Swerving sponsors
I had a Spurs supporting mate who would never buy JVC products.
In contrast, I have bought JVC products when there was a cheaper alternative.
I also used to drink Holsten only on days when we won the North London derby. Trouble is I found I liked the taste and these days don’t need an excuse to buy it.
However, after Brewdog having a pop at us for ‘bottling’ the Premier League on social media, I would never drink their beer or enter one of their establishments now. And the great thing is Arsenal-supporting Camden Ale is a much better alternative anyway.
Graham Simons, Gooner, (My uncle told me JVC stood for Japanese Video Company and I believed him), Norf London
…To Martin, LFC and his question of boycotts;
An old mate of mine – a staunch Man United fan and committed Carlsberg drinker (you can already see where this is going, can’t you?) Would drink literally anything else in a pub, up to and including tap water, rather than touch a drop of his erstwhile beloved Carlsberg, once Liverpool put in on their shirt.
Now that’s dedication!
Luv N’ Bubbles.
Adrian.
Bayern show how it should be done
Just a quick response to Mike, LFC, London who claims people don’t care about their clubs in a way that it matters.
I give you Bayern Munich, who after much heat from their fans have backed away from extending a very lucrative deal with Qatar Airways.
It can be done, it just takes a club run in a responsible manner.. the German 50%+1 structure does seem to have some benefits.
Stijn (Football needs a salary cap) Amsterdam
Coutinho fallacy
Alex from Denpasar is the latest to parrot the lazy idea that Liverpool struck it lucky with the Coutinho sale.
The theory being that because Neymar went to PSG for £200m then Barca overpaid for Coutinho allowing Liverpool to snap up Alisson and Virgil.
But if Neymar goes for a sensible price then so does Coutinho and Pool buy VVD and Alisson for a fraction of what they actually paid.
The Neymar transfer escalated the price of every footballer, without it Liverpool would still have bought the same players.
Fred Riley
Read more: Liverpool have shown West Ham and Brighton how – and how not – to spend biggest transfer windfalls
Poor Harry Kane
Tom, no reader of F365 gets to be ignorant of how football transfers work, England captain or not. Kane signed a contract with Spurs until 2024. So Kane made the decision to commit himself to the club, their chairman is simply holding him to his legally binding, incredibly well compensated word. Should a club meet Spurs’ valuation then he’ll be allowed to leave as F365 say virtually every day. Considering the last time Kane jostled for a transfer only to immediately sign a contract extension when it all fell apart, don’t expect him to go anywhere for free next year.
Also, MAW, do you really need the concept of wages explained to you? “Why should Declan walk in and be anywhere near the highest paid player right off the bat” is such a puzzling thing to say. You’d expect Arsenal to pay Mbappe £150k per week if he joined because he hasn’t been there longer than Martinelli? Arteta hasn’t made any transfer mistakes (post Raul, different story) but yet you feel that you know better about a player that you’ve not watched much of? Really strange mail.
SC, Belfast
…Thanks Tom, Arsenal fan, for feeling oh so sorry for Harry Kane. Bless you.
The truth is, however, that only one person is to blame (if there is any blame) in all of this, and that is Harry himself. No one forced him to appoint his (seemingly inept) brother as his agent, and subsequently no one forced him to sign contract after contract at Spurs in order to earn millions and millions of pounds.
Had City paid what we deemed to be a fair price for him last year then he would’ve received his “dream move”. But they didn’t.
Trophies? Yeah, I get it, but I shouldn’t think Harry or his wife (lets not pretend that family have no say or influence in these matters) will be all that upset, sitting back in their beautiful home, financial future secured ten times over… Harry will have to settle for his millions, his goalscoring records, and for being Spurs greatest ever player. Considering he is a Spurs lad, it’s not a bad career is it.
Dave (Berkshire spurs)
Wish they were here
In response to Morris’ question about players who we would have loved to see in the Premier League:
Batistuta (obvious)
Totti (ditto)
Romario (and again)
Stefan Effenberg (once kicked out of the German 1994 World Cup squad for giving the finger to the German fans – his battles with Keane and Vieira would’ve been lots of fun to watch)
Juninho Pernambucano (if only for his free kicks, but he was capable of more
Juan Roman Riquelme (just an exquisite player)
Juan Carlos Valeron
And in response to Eric’s request for the near miss (ideally hitting the woodwork) that sticks in the brain – two words: Ronnie Rosenthal. Honourable non-woodwork hitting mention to Eidur Gudjohnsen’s miss wide in the 95th minute of the CL semi in 2005 which would’ve sent Chelsea to Istanbul instead of Liverpool.
Chris Mac, LFC
Overrated stars
It seems mailbox readers kind of liked my question on Wednesday “Who is a retired player that never played in the prem but you really wish they had done?” but they hated my rules so today I have a new question but no rules. Happy now?
Todays question is…Who is a retired Premier League player you always thought was a bit rubbish?
My personal pick is Darren Huckerby. The hard working and pacey forward who other than for a couple of double figure goal scoring seasons at Coventry, including cracking solo goal against Utd never really looked like a Prem quality striker. This was never more evident that when he got his transfer to Leeds and scored a pathetic 6 goals in 57 games. This Prem level naffness was continued for City and Norwich too where he only managed 11 goals in 75 games for both clubs in all competitions while in the top flight.
Wikipedia says he played 522 career games scoring 140 goals which seems pretty good but most were not in the prem. He did have a 26 goal season for City in the old First Division though which is nothing to sniff at I guess.
I also must mention I have a deep burning hatred for Huckerby on Championship Manager 3 98/99 as he always used to score against me, like every single game without fail. This hatred is only in the game though, I’m sure he is a pleasant chap in real life.
Thank you to Exiled Gooner, The Admin @ At The Bridge Pod, Eric and Lee for yesterdays answers, some top class picks there. In regards to Lee, honestly as good and legendary as Salas was back then I think if you asked 100 people my question none would have come up with the Chilean. He seems obvious to a footballing scholar I guess but others less so, that is why he was my pick.
Morris
What every club needs
Lets have a look at Tim’s one specific thing each club needs next season
Bournemouth: They need a replacement for Jefferson Lerma. McTominay seems ideal.
Arsenal: They need to keep the faith In Artetas Process. Exchanging Partey and Xhaka for Rice and Havertz is a big upgrade, but it likely won’t work perfectly from the start and squad depth is a real problem especially with Champions League football added to the workload. Top four would be a result.
Aston Villa: They need to get rid of Phillipe Coutinho to make room in the financials if they want to compete for Pau Torres et al.
Brentford: They need a striker to both cover for Toney while he is suspended and medium term to replace him as he seems unwilling to extend his contract.
Brighton: They need to sell Caicedo. It’s vastly unfair after also losing Mac Allister, but Brighton have made themselves hugely attractive to superb young players by being very open to the fact they are a Premier League shop window. Caicedo has made it extremely clear he’s ready to go, if they stand in his way again they will hurt themselves as a club as the next load of exceptional youngsters won’t be keen to join them.
Burnley: They need to sign a striker, Weghorst doesn’t want to be there and arguably isn’t at Premier League level in any case. Tella would likely return but Southampton may need him themselves.
Chelsea: They need to sell Mount. And 12 other players, but financial crap aside Mount will be a real problem for them if they don’t sell this window.
Crystal Palace: They need to keep Zaha. Pay the man whatever he wants, let Croydon FC train on Roys front lawn, whatever it takes.
Everton: They need to brace themselves. No board, no money, no squad depth, maybe two saleable players both of whom they desperately need to hang onto.
Fulham: We need to keep Palhinha. Please. PLEASE.
Liverpool: They need to accept reality. Top four is suddenly far less likely year on year, the backroom staff is no longer top rate. Compete for excellent players with Brighton, not Real Madrid.
Luton Town: I don’t know enough about them. Their chief executive has stated that their plan for their unexpected Premier league earnings is to invest heavily in club infrastructure rather than players which is both entirely sensible and a little concerning for competition. They need to enjoy the ride.
Manchester City: They need to f*ck off out of the league for long enough that no-one else so egregiously pisses all over the rules ever again.
Manchester United: They need to sell to the Qataris. Without removing the millstone of debt and infrastructure neglect the Glazers foisted onto the club, United will always be hugely handicapped. Ratcliffe just changes the signature on the debt repayments the club has to make.
Newcastle United: They need to continue to be realistic about expectations. Chelsea and Tottenham both were atrocious last season, neither are likely to be so this season. Top 6 for Newcastle next season should be seen as a huge success.
Nottingham Forest: They need to sign Dean Henderson. Navas isn’t going to return.
Sheffield United: They need to keep Sander Berge and Jack Robinson.
Tottenham: They need to keep Harry Kane. Sorry United, sorry Bayern. It’s not about Levy’s completely made up negotiation powers, its that they can’t possibly replace him and have no chance of a top four finish without him. Lose him on a free next season if you have to. He could even decide to stay at that point, who knows.
West Ham: They need to spend the Rice money well. Onana from Everton makes a lot of sense.
Wolverhampton Wanderers: They need to continue to sort their finances out. Lopetegui will walk if they don’t, and then they’re in real trouble.
Any club who finished below the top 8: They need to sign Gyokeres from Coventry.
I’m glad you all agree with me on all my points
Tim Sutton (my mortgage is locked at 2.8%)