Was hoping she would re-sign but that seems unlikely?
Alessia Russo | leaves United for Arsenal
- Thread starter jojojo
- Start date
Doesn't seem likely, they've been negotiating since before the season started
Missing out on a ‘world record’ transfer fee and getting nothing for her if she leaves in the summer shouldn’t really be a factor, given how small the transfer fees are in the women’s game and how wealthy United are.
If Russo stays we still have a chance at the title - if she leaves now, with no time to get in a replacement, we have little to no chance, and could even lose out on a Champions League spot. The title and Champions League football are worth a hell of a lot more than £500k.
If Russo stays we still have a chance at the title - if she leaves now, with no time to get in a replacement, we have little to no chance, and could even lose out on a Champions League spot. The title and Champions League football are worth a hell of a lot more than £500k.
United are a lot of things but wealthy isn't one of them!
You don’t think the fourth highest earning club in the world is wealthy?
Doesn't matter what we earn when the owners take it all
United have the second highest net transfer spend in the Premiership over the last five seasons.
And the sort of money we’re talking about to adequately fund the women’s team would barely be a rounding error in terms of the club’s overall budget.
For those wondering why she hasn't signed a new deal there was an article in The Athletic just last week about her contract along with Battle & Earps. For those without a subscription it essentially says she bet on her value increasing when she rejected the offer pre-Euros and her staying now depends on whether United finish in the Champions League spots as she'd now have the options of most top European clubs. So based on that it seems clear she isn't hell bent on leaving and I'd say with her being a United fan she's likelier to stay if we get top 3 unless we lowball her again.
500k is obviously pocket change for Manchester United.
Hope Polly can persuade the old farts in the boardroom to keep up with the times and keep us competitive. If that is what is missing that is.
Players lika her, Toone, Batlle are essential to keep.
Hope Polly can persuade the old farts in the boardroom to keep up with the times and keep us competitive. If that is what is missing that is.
Players lika her, Toone, Batlle are essential to keep.
We don't know. We know the pay offer we made last season wasn't generous and wouldn't have put her into our top pay category. The wages she can get now are a lot higher - she'll be a free agent soon, she's established herself as a top forward, she's high profile in the women's game.
Basically we missed our prime negotiating window with her. Now, we're trying to convince her (and Earps and Batlle) with wages, CL place, trophy ambitions and even mundane stuff like the promised training ground upgrades. Other teams are circling.
United are playing catch-up and she's going to have a lot of options.
I think that's a fair summary.
United rejecting an offer like this - designed to strengthen a direct rival and weaken us - is a real test of our seriousness about becoming a top club. If we're don't reject, then it won't just impact her, it'll impact how we look to other top players.
It's nothing like that. Barcelona didn't like being pushed around by PSG, but got 200M in the bank for their troubles.
We would get 500K.
Hopefully United is stirring Arsenal up and says they will accept a bid only to pull out in the last minute of the window to ensure Arsenal dont have time to buy someone else, that would be smart and just what Arsenal deserves!
That's a shame. Looked like we had something really good going from the admittedly little I've followed the women's team.
Surely guiding your lifelong fan club to their first title and European football would be enough motivation to stay. If I was in her shoes I wouldn’t dream of going provided promises to improve facilities and investment to the team were kept
United have something good going on regardless if Russo leaves or not, if we finish in the top 3 we have all the chances in the world to join City, Chelsea and Arsenal going forward, if the club is backing the team financially. We have had the team for only 4-5 seasons, so the catching up we have done in no time is insane! Now its up to the club to make sure we capitalize on this by upping our financial game for the women! We are in the best position we could ever be in and we have reached this point while spending way less than Arsenal and Chelsea, which is a huge credit to United actually.
It's a short career and United have no history of winning anything in the women's game. She was signed by Casey Stoney - Stoney left because she felt let down by the club in terms of investment and facilities.
In terms of her heart, we may still be in the driving seat. In terms of her head, she's got to think about the rest of the story. As far as I'm concerned, I don't care if we've already lost the battle for her head - players move, it happens.
What this is about is United proving they aren't soft targets for bigger teams and proving to players that we're serious about becoming a power in the game, not just a PR tickbox.
At the end of the day it's her job, she'll want to earn as much as she can, this isn't the men's game where she can earn millions in a season, she's probably gonna earn in her career what top male player earns in a couple of months, any of us would do the same = of course the non-signing might be about something else, we don't know
Seriously feck off Arsenal.
We should counter bid for Miedema just to piss them off.
We should counter bid for Miedema just to piss them off.
I would imagine that just like all of us she is waiting to see what happens with the new ownership. If new owners are in before her contract runs out and prove that they are going to invest in the womens team properly she will surely be tempted to stay.
She did her ACL last month - part of the reason for them to push for Alessia.
I think Arsenal made this bid just to destabilise us - there was no way we would accept a bid at this point in the season, sat at the top of the table, with no time to get a replacement
As for her contract, I'm hoping she's just waiting to see if we qualify for CL - the club should surely be able to match the offer anyone else gives her so then it just comes down to whether they can convince her that she can win trophies by staying here
As for her contract, I'm hoping she's just waiting to see if we qualify for CL - the club should surely be able to match the offer anyone else gives her so then it just comes down to whether they can convince her that she can win trophies by staying here
The window is closed now, right?
Yeah this is sure sign they fear us this season,suspect we will fall short for title but finishing high as possible sends message
And just to add to the story:
I suspect there are a fair few United fans who'd have hesitated before saying no to that deal.
As well as being a windup to us, this may have been Arsenal's attempt to woo Alessia by showing how highly they value her.
I'm not quite sure what message it sends from Arsenal to Stina Blackstenius though.
I suspect there are a fair few United fans who'd have hesitated before saying no to that deal.
As well as being a windup to us, this may have been Arsenal's attempt to woo Alessia by showing how highly they value her.
I'm not quite sure what message it sends from Arsenal to Stina Blackstenius though.
If this was a sign to Russo that they're serious why did they leave it until the last minute? Just makes it seems like they were being annoying.
Plus the whole point surely is they lack players in attack so although swapping Russo for Blackstenius would probably improve their quality, it wouldn't improve the number of options. It also never really made sense for her to go now, she will get better offers financially in the summer with no fee involved and there will be better teams to pick from than Arsenal.
Pardon for asking, cant recall right now. Does any team from the WSL (1st or 2nd place team) go straight to the champions league group stage? Or does all 3 teams have to play a qualifying stage where City have been knocked out before the group stage 2 straight seasons? The reason I am asking is that many people seem to think that finish 3rd in the league GUARANTESS massive attendance revenue from many champions league games when in fact thats not correct as we have to win the qualifying round first.
You're right, even if we finish top we don't go straight to the group stage. The winners of this year's CL + the champions of Spain/France/Germany are the automatic qualifiers. In principle we do get an easier pathway if we win the League, but easier is only easy after you win.
The rules for next season are described here:
https://www.uefa.com/womenschampion...s-champions-league-dates-provisional-access-/
Yes, the other top teams are starting to respect us. Hope this sends a message from Utd to Alessia as well!
Seems a strange way of doing it. Surely you want to make sure the traditionally (men’s game) bigger clubs can get in and grow their fan bases. Is it just because there isn’t enough high quality teams to support expansion?
The system is based on Spain, France and Germany clubs having more success in the womens champions league and therefore get higher ranking with their league winners getting a guaranteed slot. I dont have a problem with that. The english clubs just have to do better in the champions league and change the ranking. If Manchester City loses in the qualifying round every season they dont belong in the group stages since they are clearly not good enough.That said I believe atm the top 4 in england is better than the top 4 in any other country. But the likes of PSG, Lyon, Wolfsburg and Barca have crushed europe for so long!
But why the need to have a qualifying round with so few teams in the main draw. Just expand the draw and spread the money out to increase the overall quality.
I'm sure Chelsea went straight to the group stage this season as champions. Has that changed for next season, then? Or have I got that wrong?
Yep.
2022/23 France, Germany and England Champs go to the group stage.
2023/24 France, Germany and Spain Champs go to the group stage.
Spain and England were very close on coefficient. Don't know if the performance in the remainder of this year's CL will change anything - England have 2 sides still in it, Spain have 1.
The womens champions league was recently expanded to HAVE A GROUP STAGE at all. I assume they will take it one step at a time. They also need to have enough prize money to give out to everyone if expanding which is not a given in womens soccer :-)
The money isn't really there yet. The group stage is a recent change (it used to be a straight knockout) - it gives 4 groups of 4. The money's not really there to jump straight to a similar structure to the men's game. I'm sure UEFA would love to have the PL clubs guaranteed places but it's hard to add them and still have the system look credible in a sporting sense.
It's a bit like where some clubs were a few years ago in the Europa League. Add the gate receipts to the TV money to the prize money then take away the travel and other costs - it used to cost some clubs more to compete than they could earn by playing. Women's teams can't operate like that.
Rosengård in sweden lost money taking part in the womens champions league group stage this season. Travel costs and additional security costs from UEFA was the biggest factor in them losing money. Also Rosengård does not draw very large crowds, so they have that issue as well. But I just wanted to point Champions league does not mean automatic riches for every team taking part in the competition! Which also explains why they cant double or triple the amount of teams as clubs would lose money if they are not more money to take from.
Absolutely. The women's game has made massive progress in sporting and financial terms in the last few years, but it's got a long road ahead.
Her red card has been rescinded! Good news for our title push