Tag Archives: Manchester United

The REAL reason why Jose Mourinho “rejected” Alexandre Lacazette

4 Replies

Reports today that Manchester United scouts went back to Jose Mourinho with poor reports on Arsenal’s record signing Alexandre Lacazette, which in turn lead to Jose Mourinho rejecting a deal for him and instead signing Romelu Lukaku.

What a load of old bollocks. There is one reason, and one reason only, why Mourinho went for Lukaku instead of Lacazette.

Mino Raiola.

Riola is the Italian-born Dutch football agent who has become very rich in recent years moving his clients around Europe, and pocketing himself millions in the process.

He has become Jose Mourinho’s agent of choice in the last 12 months, with him being involved in the Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Romelu Lukaku deals.

The Paul Pogba deal alone will potentially make Raiola £41.39m.

£22.8m of this has come from Juventus as part of the £89m fee paid by Manchester United. Whilst this is paid by Juventus, Manchester United would have had to have paid the Italian side an additional £22.8m as part of the transfer fee to cover this.

Had Juventus not had to have paid such a big amount to Raiola, Manchester United would not have had to have paid so much to them.

You then have 5 future instalments of £16.39m paid to Raiola. It is not clear if Manhcester United are paying for these direct, or through Juventus. But ultimately Manchester United will be footing the bill.

Finally Paul Pogba is set to make a payment of £2.2m to his agent. Once again this would come from the signing on fee that Manchester United have paid to Paul Pogba. Like the Juventus deal, Manchester United have had to pay Pogba more to cover what he pays to Raiola.

One way or another, Manchester United have paid £41.39m to Mino Raiola.

In the 2016/17 season, Manchester United paid £19m to agents.

Last season they signed Ibrahimovic, Pogba, Mkhitaryan & Eric Bailly. Only Bailly was no a Raiola client.

Now Pogba’s agents fees are outlined above. The only payment made direct from Manchester United to Raiola would be the first portion of the 5 instalments. If equally spread over the 5 years, this would be £3.27m. That then leaves £15.72m across the other 3 players.

Split this equally – and I am sure this will be underestimating – Manchester United would have paid around £11m of the £19m to Raiola for Ibrahimovic and Mkhitaryan.

We then come to Romelu Lukaku.

Reports earlier in the summer were that he was on the way to Chelsea. But the London side stalled on the deal after they were unwilling to pay the agents fee that Raiola was demanding. Manchester United then snuck in and did a deal. The agents fee was reported to be £12m.

So another £12m paid to Raiola this summer, on top of the £11m paid for Ibrahimovic and Mkhitaryan last summer. Add the £3.27m paid for Pogba, the £2.2m paid “by” Pogba, and the £22.8m paid “by” Juventus, Manchester United have paid £51.27m to Mino Raiola since Jose Mourinho took over as manager.

£51.27m. Let that sink in a little bit.

You have to wonder why Mourinho clearly favours a single agent, and a single agent who ends up pocketing so much of Manchester United’s money.

Jose Mourinho is currently facing tax fraud charges in Spain. Leaked documents suggested that Mourinho’s own agent, Jorge Mendes was involved in a massive tax avoidance scheme with both Mourinho and Ronaldo accused of not paying taxes by using offshore accounts.

Alexandre Lacazette is not advised by Mino Raiola. If Raiola was Lacazette’s agent, you feel he would have joined Manchester United.

Raiola is Mourinho’s agent of choice at the moment.

Keenos

Arsenal need to make Bundesliga star their Number 1 target

2 Replies

There is nobody better available is a common line put out by many Arsenal fans to justify our poor dealings in the transfer market.

Occasionally it is justifiable, but in the majority of occasions, there is someone else better available.

The line is also often used when we miss out on a player. Again, sometimes you can be genuinely frustrated that we missed out on an available player that is better than what we have, other times it is just idiots trying to create a stick to beat Arsene Wenger with.

One such occasion I read recently is some plonked tweet DANI ALVES IS AVAILABLE. As if it to make the point that:

  1. He is available and;
  2. He is better than what we have

This is a perfect example of fans chatting rubbish.

Dani Alves is only available because Manchester City are offering big money in terms of wages for a 34 year old, and the chance to one more work with Pep Guardiola. Alves has mutually terminated his contract with Juventus. If it was not for the Manchester City interest, Alves would not be available and would still be contract to Juventus.

Secondly, whilst Alves has had a stellar career, he is now 34. Is he really a better option than Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain or Hector Bellerin – men 10 years his junior? Alves would be a short term option, a very short term option.

So if we are going to bring up names of players who are available, and are better than what we have, let’s be sensible with it. Let’s not just name names for RTs and blog or vlog hits.

One player who is most certainly available, and is clearly better than what we have is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. And I am baffled as to why it seems we are not in the race for him.

Of course, we could be moving up on sly like a Love Island alpha male muscling in on another man’s girl without the bloke she is currently coupled up with knowing. But at the minute, it just seems we are not interested. And it baffles me as to why not.

Here is a striker who is amongst the best in the world. A world where there are not too many top, top strikers. At 28 year old, he is at the peak of his powers. In 4 years at Borussia Dortmund he has scored 120 goals in 189 games.

Last year alone he scored 40 goals in 46 games for the German outfit.

He is big, he is strong, he is quick, and he knows where the back of the net is. And according to reports, he is available for as low as €70 million – in the current market, for a player of his ability, that is relatively cheap.

At the minute, it seems Liverpool are leading the race for him, with the offer of working alongside former manager Jurgen Klopp a key factor. But then you look at who else is in the race. Manchester United and Chelsea. But both clubs seem to have him as second choice if they are unable to sign Alvaro Morata or Romelu Lukaku respectively.

So you have two clubs interested in signing him as a second choice, and one club looking to signing him who can not really offer him the chance of winning trophies. Meanwhile Arsenal sit their with 3 FA Cups in 4 years and Danny Welbeck upront.

Aubameyang would come straight into the first team, and would surely be the type of stellar signing that makes Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil think I am staying here.

And imagine Aubameyang himself getting told Arsenal want to sign you and play you infront of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil. It is the type of thing dreams are made of. He would get 30 league goals next seasons without even trying.

Arsenal do not have Champions League football, which might be a down point, but I am becoming a believer that players do not actually care about the Champions League – unless they win it – and just feign an interest in clubs needing to be in the Champions League to eek out an extra 10%.

I can imagine how the conversation went with Manhcester United and Henrikh Mkhitaryan went last summer.

Man U: Henrikh, we want to sign you
HM: OK, but Arsenal want to sign me, and they have Champions League football
Man U: How much is their contract offer?
HM: £120k a week
Man U: We will pay you £140k a week
HM: Deal

Not having Champions League football is not an issue. If will not affect Arsenal financially a great deal, it will just mean we have to pay a little more for Aubameyang’s services.

With Dortmund saying a deal must be done before their pre-season training starts on July 26th, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is a player who Arsenal should not just be targeting, but should be going all out to sign.

Yaya Sanogo leaves Arsenal – But who are the other Premier League flops?

Leave a reply

Yaya Sanogo has finally left Arsenal. And the fanfare in the British media highlighting him as one of the biggest Premier League flops in history is laughable. Yes, he did not do much in his time at the club, but it should always be remember that he did cost Arsenal nothing.

He was essentially a youth team player who failed to play a game. There are hundred of Yaya Sanogo’s who have joined a Premier League club for a free transfer (or nominal fee) and done nothing. I guess it just shows, stories about Arsenal sell.

In the interest of fairness, I decided to write a few words on some strikers who have failed to make the grade at top clubs, some of which were much more expensive flops than Yaya Sanogo, and all of whom garner less criticism than the Frenchman.

I will start with the man himself…

Yaya Sanogo – Arsenal – Free Transfer

On paper, Yaya Sanogo joining Arsenal should not have made headlines.

A 20 year old French youth international signed on a free transfer. A risk free punt. If it pays off, it is a sign of ArseneWenger’s genius in spotting top young talent. If it does not pay off, well no one really know about him, he would be forgotten about quickly and we would move on.

The problem with the Sanogo signing is the circumstances he came in under.

https://twitter.com/Highbury_74/status/872012160905478144

The summer of 2013, arsenal begun it by courting Stevan Jovetic, quickly moved on to Gonzalo Higuain, and finally settled on Luis Suarez, activating his release clause. Liverpool stood firm. Arsenal ended up with just Sanogo.

The reality is Arsenal should have secured one of the above mentioned names, and Sanogo should have gone into the youth team, but we cocked it up and Sanogo was suddenly thrust into the limelight. A figurehead of everything that had gone wrong in the summer.

Sanogo actually ended up playing 20 games for Arsenal, scoring 1 goal. 1 curious performance was when he was picked to start against Bayern Munich. He also played 120 minutes of the 2014 FA Cup semi final against Wigan.

Whilst he did almost nothing in his career, Arsenal fans should always be grateful to Sanogo for winning the corner that led to our equaliser against Hull City with 19 minutes to go of the 2014 FA Cup semi final.

Sanogo leaves Arsenal with an FA Cup winners medal (more than what Harry Kane has won at Spurs).

He might not have had the career at Arsenal he would have dreamed of, but it should always be remembered he cost nothing. A flop. But an inexpensive one.

Bebe – Manchester United – £7.4m

Sir Alex Ferguson famously spent £7.4m on Portuguese striker Bebe without ever having seen him play.

Bebe joined Portuguese top-flight side Vitoria on a free transfer from Estrela da Amadora in 2010 and played well in their pre-season friendlies, scoring 5 goals in six games. A few weeks later Manchester United made their move, signing the street kid.

Just two league starts for Manchester United in 4 years, Bebe was loaned out 4 times before joining Benfica who then loaned him out within 6 months. Two years and two loan deals later, Bebe found himself on the move again, joining Spanish side Eibar in 2016.

Spending £7.4m on a player you have never seen play is one hell of a risk. A risk that never paid off for Sir Alex Ferguson. At least Sanogo was a free transfer.

Iago Aspas – Liverpool – £7m

In 2013, Liverpool signed 26 year old Iago Aspas from Celta Vigo for a fee in the region of £7m off the back of a single season in La Liga.

Aspas played 14 league games for Liverpool, failing to score a single goal.

A year later he was sold to Sevilla, who immediately sold him on to Celta Vigo where he has recently re-found his scoring touch.

Fabio Borini – Liverpool – £10.5m

The second Liverpool flop on this list.

Fabio Borini was Brendan Rodgers’ first signing when he joined Liverpool for £10.5m from Roma. Big things were expected of the former Chelsea trainee.

2012/13 saw 1 goal in 13 games saw him loaned out to Sunderland for the 2013/14 season. Mysteriously, Borini was not sold by Liverpool after his poor spell on loan and in 2014/15 was once again part of the Liverpool first team squad. 1 goal in 12 games led him to have the fabulous record of 2 league goals in 25 league games for Liverpool.

Somehow Liverpool managed to recoup nearly all of their money for the Italian when they sold him to Sunderland for £8m, despite 3 poor seasons in the Premier League. I guess signings like Borini is why Sunderland went down.

When you add in Aspas, Liverpool spent £17.5m on 2 strikers who scored 2 league goals between them.

Romelu Lukaku – Chelsea – £17m

When you have millions to spend on players, no need to balance the books, and a sugar daddy with pockets that are amongst the deepest in the world, you can spend big on the likes of Andriy Shevchenko and Fernando Torres for a combined £100m and get very little return.

Whilst both of these are often labeled as expensive flops due to their return against their cost and hype, they did score 67 goals between them.

Romelu Lukaku was a different case.

Signed in 2011 for £17m from Anderlecht, he was immediately labeled as the next Didier Drogba, due to the fact he was a big, black striker.

In his first season at Chelsea, he struggled to make a start, playing just 8 league games and not hitting the net once. He was loaned out to WBA where he showed his ability – scoring 17 goals in 35 games.

A couple more games at the start of the 2013/14 season also failed to see a goal materialise and he was then loaned at once more – this time to Everton. 15 goals in 31 games was still not good enough for Chelsea to give him the chance and he was sold to Everton for £28m. A nice profit for a player who had failed to make the grade.

Last season he scored 25 goals in 37 games, which ha sled rumours of a big money move back to Chelsea this summer – likely in the region of £60-70m.

His transformation into one of the most dangerous strikers in the Premier League has made people forget about his Chelsea years. But there is no doubt if you spend £17m on a striker to only play him 15 times in all competitions over 3 years (and get no goals from it), he is a flop.

Lukaku could go on to be one of the highest scoring strikers in Premier League history. It makes it even more stupid that Chelsea signed him for so much and did not play him.

Jo – Manchester City – £19m

Brazilian striker Jo was signed in July 2008 under the Thaksin Shinawatra regime. 2 months after he signed for the club, Manchester City were sold and Robinho was signed.

At the time, Jo was being courted by many around Europe, seen as the next big striker to come out of Brazil.

His stay at Manchester City saw him loaned out 3 times (twice to Everton!). In 21 league games for the Citizens, he scored just once, and in 2011 he returned to Brazil.

Hélder Postiga – Tottenham – £8m

Under Jose Mourinho at Porto, 20 year old Helder Postiga led the line as the Portuguese outfit won a historic treble. Postiga scoring 19 goals in the process.

What followed was a big money move to Tottenham, as the North London club declared they had signed the new Thierry Henry.

As it turned out, Spurs had secured an average player who only got 71 caps for Portugal because there were no other options.

In his time at Spurs – 1 year to be exact, Postiga playued 24 games and scored just twice. He was sold back to Porto with Spurs recouping most of their original outlay.

Grzegorz Rasiak – Tottenham – £3m

On the final day of the 2005 summer transfer window, Tottenham Hotspur spent £3m on Derby County’s Polish striker Grzegorz Rasiak.

Rasiak had failed to fire Derby to promotion out of the transfer window, and, under pressure to raise cash to keep the club afloat, Derby sold him to Tottenham.

Rasiak was at Spurs for just 143 days – starting 5 games; scoring 0 goals – before he was loaned (and later sold) to Southampton.

Like many of these players, he is not an expensive flop, but a flop none the less.

Keenos