I'm most surprised that so many people seem to think that no Basque players exist outside of Bilbao that they may be interested in buying, or want transfer funds for.
Ander Herrera is a Manchester United Player!
- Thread starter pocco
- Start date
- Status
It does seem to me that we've gone to the LFP, and that's most likely how the story broke on Tuesday, someone within the LFP let slip of what's happening. That would indicate that the papers were put in Monday, which would also signal that Bilbao rejected our bid on the Monday too. Chances are we're far along in the deal now, and I don't see us backing out or failing to complete it before his buyout clause rises. The technical issue could be something pretty trivial, or it could be something major, but I'd be sure that United have their best lawyers on it sorting it out.
The problem is, it was our official photographer who said he was in Carrington, and i'm sure he'd probably know if that was the case or not. I've met Craig, and I know he's a pretty trustworthy guy. He's not the type to just make stuff up for no reason at all. Either he saw him with his own eyes, or he's been fed some misinformation that others have picked up on, but he wasn't the first person to report that Herrera was in England if I remember correctly.
Is there anything stopping Bilbao from getting a 'foreign' player at age 14/15 and training him until he gains Basque nationality?
I know from FM that they could get Ruffier and Griezmann etc.
I know from FM that they could get Ruffier and Griezmann etc.
Ah right, no panic then. At least this year we've got more than a few hours to get it sorted properly.
Are Basque players free?
And once again we look like mugs in the transfer market, its embarrassing when you compare us to Chelsea in that respect. If LVG thinks he's worth it I've no problem.
Well, this is gonna be fun. isn't it?
Basque bastards.
Nothing stopping them, but they wouldn't as it's against their ethos.
Ruffier, Griezmann, etc are French Basque.
There are obviously some players, but you must admit it's probably a pretty small pool.
I don't think that anybody ever has thought that. It is just that the pool from where they can choose is much smaller than for all other clubs. When people say that they don't need money cause they can't sign players, they mean that there are only a few players good enough that Bilbao can sign (like Xabi Alonso, Raul Garcia, some of Sociedad players etc).
That maybe the case, but poo poo happen. 36m is an excellent price for them IMO. Fabregas went for as much. If they hire a Moyes and drives them outside the top ten? They have CL money now, but next year this may not be the case. Besides they are not the oil rich club that can bail themselves out if poo poo happens.
I guess that's their policy. It may not backfire today or this season or next but at some point it may very well.
As I said - local youngsters that don't want to be caught in 5 years contracts for example. What message does that send to the local players? Not only their transfer market is incredibly limited, but now the best basque players may prefer Sociedad for example, and why shouldn't they?
I think we can all see that Bilbao are just being difficult for the sake of it. Whether he is their player, formally, or not does not really matter. We'll do what is necessary to push this transfer through.
Ok, fine. They're in a position where the revenue they generate far exceeds a reliance on selling players to service costs. They're limited to an incredibly small amount of players and, whilst they are in a position to buy in the case of exceptional players leaving, for example Javi Martinez, Ander Herrera, and (to a lesser extent) Fernando Llorente they're forced to replace them either with a reliance on their centera or the off chance that another club happens to be bringing through a basque superstar (ironically, in the case of Herrera and Martinez.
Because of this, Athletic are in a some what unique position. Most clubs in the world would have 'no need for money' if they didn't have to find money 2 times a year to buy players. The fact they've built a new stadium in the past year, the fact they've attempted to shoe Bayern off, firstly, and us, secondly, and the fact they would rather freeze out Llorente than sell him all points to that.
It's a small enough pool, but it exists, and there are great players they'd be happy to have.
That's Woodward's fault too, though!
Swap for Young?
lol im confusing things? probably becuase it a pretty confusing situation. and it making my head a little skewey
i honestly dunno if martinez had his medical before the deal was concluded or not, i just know from the moment bayern agreed to meet the buy out till he was thier player took about 2 months and god knowes how much legal wrangling.
but it still seems pretty unethical and unprofessional to have a player at your club before a deal to buy him has been confirmed, arguing it okay becuse where breaching his contract, dosn't seem a good answer to that
How exactly do we look like mugs? Bilbao's rejection was likely days ago, hence why we went to the LFP and down the buyout clause route. They're announcing it now to save face, chances are the deal is far advanced, to a point where Bilbao know they're going to loose the player, so they're trying to appease fans, showing that they did reject a bid and didn't want to sell. They can't escape a buyout clause. We've hit a snag with paperwork, but it's nothing we can't sort out. Remember, we have a lot more time now in respect to last season when things were attempted on deadline day.
Ahh fair enough.
The reaction on here to the latest news has been laughable but also predictable.
Maybe, but it also has to work the other way too. Think we're down to a puddle!
They didn't act like you've taken a dump on their mother's grave for trying to buy the player. They acted like that when you went the release clause activation route after the "friendly approach" was denied. Whatever way you want to look at it, activating a release clause is an aggressive move. Not that they shouldn't go about this professionally either way, as it's just business, but it's still not the same as "buying" a player.
Hopefully they've found he has Basque ancestry.
Maybe they have Basque origin (there are a lot of Basque people on France). As for the question, no they don't do it. Not signing non-Basque players is a tradition of them that they respect. There is no rule that can stop them from signing non-Basque players but they have chosen to do things that way. On other words, they are the biggest wankers.
It is, but they don't accept transfer bids anyway, making the aggresive move the only way for the transfer to happen.
1.4 million euros to Zaragoza?
IIRC, they are softening their stance, and would consider say, a kid who grew up in Bilbao, despite not being born Basque, and there was the alleged interest in the Mexican Jonathan Espericueta, who, again allegedly, they claim counted as Basque because of his surname.
That's the thing. The law doesn't state that clearly so there is ambiguity which Bayern and a few others have exploited and no one has challenged this yet in a court. So just hope everything goes according to plan, everyone gets their monies and shuts up and we get our player. Like how Bayern got theirs.Ahh right. I was under the assumption that the player himself had to deposit the money at the LFP headquarters.
Well, I'm no law expert. But I think there is no negotiation. You just trigger the clause by submitting the paperwork. Anyways if you don't like (a) then just assume it was (b )
IINM, we submitted a bid matching the clause. That got rejected, so now we're going to trigger the buy out clause. Everything is pending paperwork and taxes right now. Apparently.
There's nothing they can do to drag it out if the clause is triggered. And the posturing is not meant to do that at all. It's meant to appease the fans. And presumably take the piss out of United supporters having a meltdown in the forums.
Last edited:
Why is activating a release clause an aggressive move? Everyone knows why it's there. To then claim the moral high ground when it's used is just a bit daft. Especially if you won't negotiate beforehand.
Just as a curiosity off topic, why is a random norwegian journalist student being quoted from Twitter all the time? Does he have some special knowledge? Or does he just sum up news from around the internet?
Is El Correo reliable?
Why on earth didn't we do this in the first place though? surely we'd have known how to go about things with Bilbao from last summers farce.
i dunno, maybe it one of those rumors that got out of hand, i mean think of the rumors that have got out of hand in last few years, Gill in italy sorting out the sniejder deal, the three amigos, woodward flying hom for urgent transfer buiness.....
i dunno. ive never met graig and wouldn't want to judge the bloke, you say he sound then i believe you, but it possible he was fed bad information, i dunno.
but id say if the media where confident he was at carrigton it would be in the bbc article, as it not i'd say it far from that cut and dry
Athletic are not the only basque club in the country. I'd say that politics can be negative in the future trying to get the best talent in the county when competing with Sociedad for example.
If you know that if everything turns good and you can either - filfill your contract and never get the chance to get a transfer at top club(Atletic) or again have the chance to play in La Liga and also have the chance to get yourself a dream transfer (Sociedad). It will cross your mind before signing a 5 years contract with 40m release clause..
Their fans have many time reiterated that they'd prefer to be relegated with Basque players, over winning the league with others, even when it was a very real threat.
- Status