Dembele's still young
Coutinho, kinda, yeah. He's at least been available for them for the most part though. Still, him scoring a brace against them in the 8-2 will never not be hilarious
Eden Hazard | "It's time to enjoy life drinking beers"
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Coutinho, kinda, yeah. He's at least been available for them for the most part though. Still, him scoring a brace against them in the 8-2 will never not be hilarious
How much of that was due to his reporting overweight? He was able to get away with playing overweight in Chelsea and EPL apparently not in Madrid
Dembele and Coutinho were younger. Hazard is already 30. No resale value and has just spent 1.5 seasons
Hazard was signed at 28yrs 6months
He's maybe suffered two injuries because of it, both in pre-season, and the second one wasn't a real pre-season either
The far more likely scenario is that he was unlucky, and the ankle injury was the devastating, career-altering type. Likely the subsequent injuries are a result of forcing him to move differently, putting undue stress on other parts of the body
The broken ankle kinda was more impactful than being his usual few pounds overweight for pre-srason.
If Real Madrid were expecting Hazard to be as professional as Ronaldo, they didn't do their due diligence at all. Ronaldo is one of the most driven and focused althletes in the history of the sport whereas Eden famously likes his burgers.
Bale, on the whole, has been severely underrated and undervalued by Real Madrid.
Funny how Zidane had a hard on for bringing Hazard to Real but he's been worse than Bale, a player he couldn't wait to get rid of in every way, injury record included.
We sacked the manager of la decima because he couldn't get the best out of Bale
Undervalued/underappreciated my arse.
Zidane couldn't wait to get rid of an overpaid, unmotivated, past-it diva who couldn't outperform Lucas fecking Vazquez anymore, after being at the club for 6 years. Hazard suffered a bad injury. Shit happens
I agree, Hazard was a world class performer for years, and was very influential to his team. I think it’s a shame regarding the injuries, it’s definitely massively impacted his time at Madrid and it’s a shame for football players in general that we’ve not been able to see him at his best since his move.
Bale, Sanchez and Torres was down to them losing the physical tools they heavily relied on, Hazard is injury's combined with lax lifestyle, not sure about Kaka.
Gotta say I respect him for his attitude. He’s a good pro and a bit of a football genius but knows himself that he didn’t fulfil his maximum due to lifestyle choices but it happy in life. Or at least was at Chelsea. He didn’t care much. Perhaps at Madrid his self confidence has taken a hit but in general he was a goofball.
reminds me of the r9 stories where he was too fat to run in training, and simply told the guys telling him “run you fat bastard” that “you run, I score goals” - you do get the feeling though that had r9/hazard behaved more like cr7, they would overcome their knee/ankle injuries.
Well, since Hazard was always good at creating chances for others, maybe he can move from the wing to a number 10 role, but don't think they will do that...
I wonder if he goes back to Chelsea, will he regain back his form? Seems like for a world-class player, going to Real Madrid is make or break. I feel kind of sorry for him as comical as this transfer is, it's never nice to see one of the PL best players having such a spectacular fall from grace. He was such a joy to watch in the Premier League.
Hes turned 30. Chelsea have moved on and have far too many attacking midfielders as it is. Cant see him going anywhere at moment with the way football finances are.
Probably worthy of its own thread. Why so many big money transfers end up as failures?
Off the top of my head:
Neymar to PSG
Joao Felix to Atletico (those there is time for this to turn around.
Coutinho to Barcelona
Dembele to Barcelina
Hazard to Madrid
Higuain to Juventus
James Rodriguez to Madrid
Kepa to Chelsea
Pepe to Arsenal
Morata to Chelsea
Jovic to Madrid
Zlatan to Barcelona
Lemar to Madrid
Kaka to Madrid
Naby Keita to liverpool
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RM have had some stinkers with their transfer business recently:
- signing Hazard for €100m (when he only has 1 year of contract left)
- signing Jovic,
- giving Bale €600 k per week contract;
- not letting Bale goto China when it was clear he was done;
- extending James’ contract so they could sell him for a fee;
- Selling Hakimi for < €40m when you spent c. €40m on a Brazilian kid the season before who is yet to get a game (and you already have 2 more)
- Buying Mendy for €60m when you have Hernandez and Reguilon;
- signing Hazard for €100m (when he only has 1 year of contract left)
- signing Jovic,
- giving Bale €600 k per week contract;
- not letting Bale goto China when it was clear he was done;
- extending James’ contract so they could sell him for a fee;
- Selling Hakimi for < €40m when you spent c. €40m on a Brazilian kid the season before who is yet to get a game (and you already have 2 more)
- Buying Mendy for €60m when you have Hernandez and Reguilon;
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Could add CR to Juve on that list - sure he's looked good but was it worth it?
300million€ spent (signing fee+ wages)
His 60million a year salary is basically crippling Juve's transfer market busines
Higuain and CR scored goals for Juventus, but they were primarily bought for one purpose only. To help Juventus win the Champions League. If CRs time at Juventus ends without a CL trophy then it could be judged a failure though some may say that is harsh.
I can't post links yet, but there's a good YouTube video which looks at this if you have 10 minutes spare.
The title of the video is "Why The Ronaldo deal was a winning bet" by the Athletic Interest channel.
In short - his brand pretty much paid for the whole deal due to increased social media revenue . Interesting insight into how modern football economics work
Dislike Madrid as much as the rest of us but it’s a shame to see a player of such quality lose out on the best years of his career. Still time to come good but you always feel a player needs to hit the ground running when joining those lot.
It’s an interesting question - Ronaldo has been a top 3 scorer in Serie A since he moved there but should he be considered a failure if they don’t win the CL. Given that was the primary reason for signing him, logic would dictate that it should be the metric by which he is judged.
On the other hand, can any player really guarantee you the CL ? Messi is generally considered the best footballer of all time but yet Barca haven’t won’t a CL in the last 5 years.
To be fair, Mendy has been a great success, a very reliable left back, very appreciated by the fans.
The rest, or at least most, seemed reasonable decisions at the time. Supposedly, Zidane asked / accepted the signing of Jovic and insisted for years with Hazard.
Returning to the club and after 3 champions, he deserved some freedom to make the squad.
The problem with the Brazilian kids is the enormous risk but I think that if they wanted to sell them in the medium term they would surely recover the investment.
About Bale, that renewal was clearly a problem but I think that if I could go to the past, knowing what I know, I would renew him anyway.
"winner" goal in la décima, winner in la Copa del Rey destroying Bartra, with the BBC at its peak.
The players wanted and deserved new contracts ,like the "I'm sad" from Cristiano.
Definately a top contender for worst signing in history, along with Alexis, Kepa, Coutinho and Dembele.
Kepa is by far the worst. Can't remember him having a good game at all, not only that, but he also cost Chelsea in every other game basically.
Mendy has indeed been a success, though i still think we probably need to either upgrade on him or switch to a back 3. He's really too poor in attack to play LWB for this side. You know I also disagree about most of the signings looking reasonable at the time
i am simply against spending big money on backups or slight upgrades. Courtois, Odriozola, Jovic, Militao...they never made any sense to meThe brazilian kids, i think Rodrygo will come good, Vini i expect we'd be able to at least sell for big money, and Reinier isn't playing in Dortmund...but still, there's still an issue of a disconnect between expectations for these seasons and reality. Invest in kids, focus on developing them, can't act as if this team should win everything and be the best. Patience...
Bale's renewal happened in 2016. At the time it would have been mad not to extend him. But it was also insane at the time to extend him until 2022
I remember reading something a year or so ago about Hazard. Something about that he wasn't actually hugely competitive as a person. He would by and large do his own thing on the pitch and was more interested in playing great football rather than necessarily busting a gut to win. The two objectives mesh together most of the time but not all the time.
I paraphrase obviously, but at Chelsea where he was the main man and others did his running that was OK, but its not going to cut it at Madrid.
His casual attitude towards his weight is also concerning, whether he can lose it easily or not is irrelevant, it puts unnecessary stress on your body. Only have to look at Ricky Hatton's career to see how that can affect someone.
I paraphrase obviously, but at Chelsea where he was the main man and others did his running that was OK, but its not going to cut it at Madrid.
His casual attitude towards his weight is also concerning, whether he can lose it easily or not is irrelevant, it puts unnecessary stress on your body. Only have to look at Ricky Hatton's career to see how that can affect someone.
I don't think it's fair to say the Ronaldo transfer is a failure because Juventus haven't won the CL, football is a team game and you need a lot of luck to win a cup, however I would say being outscored by Quagliarela and Immobile in much less dominant teams should be considered a failure.
To paraphrase Wesley Sneijder:
'I could have become like Messi or Ronaldo. I simply didn't feel like it. I enjoyed my life, maybe I had a glass at dinner (of wine) at dinner. Leo and Cristiano are different, they have made many sacrifices.
'And that's fine with me, my career however, was still amazing.'
'I could have become like Messi or Ronaldo. I simply didn't feel like it. I enjoyed my life, maybe I had a glass at dinner (of wine) at dinner. Leo and Cristiano are different, they have made many sacrifices.
'And that's fine with me, my career however, was still amazing.'
I don't think he could have to be honest.
It really can't be stressed enough how much of a competitive weirdo you have to be to dedicate yourself to football as much as some of these players do even when they have net worths in the tens of millions. There is nothing wrong with giving 90% and having a life.
This sums up his issues perfectly. What you can get away with at other clubs you cannot at Madrid
Madrid is where all the main players at every club gather. So you have to push yourself very hard and work hard for the team, No one will work for you at Madrid unless you are out of everyone's league like Messi and CR7
It's very, very unlikely he could have been as good as either of those two though.
It's a bit of a stretch, isn't it? I think he'd had more than the one glass with a meal when he said that.
Not sure how Fernandhino is thee only reason City dont get over run in midfield. They dont get over run now with him out of the team. I mean its not like Peps team dont run and press alot, and dominate possession. And you add the fact they love a tactical foul, this all helps Fernandhino.
Still find it a bit odd you have him over Hazard, i mean its easier to destroy than it is to create.
To think Fernandhino at his peak was just a destroyer is a disservice
Firstly i never said he was just a destroyer but that was the main part of his game, but he also isn't mr technical. I mean there is a reason Pep wanted Jorginho, started playing Gundagon infront of the back four and bought Rodri. Secondly its much much bigger disservice putting Fernandinho infront of Eden Hazard.
Perhaps that's because he 35?
Jorginho, Rodri are different types of players to Fernandinho though. He could of gone more like for like but he didnt'. Rodri is playing now and City aren't getting over run and most on here dont rate Rodri.
So good to see a smile back on his face today. I truly hope he can stay fit for a while.
a. Because people really overrate world cup and UCL performances ( Bakayoko should have been added).
b. Due to fear of further hikes in price or going elsewhere, teams take punts on players with single class year performances.
c. Traditionally, the French, German, Dutch and Portuguese leagues used to be able to get you low figures for players as viewership, therefore hype, was low for these players in the past. Due to access to highlight packages off youtube and video games like Football Manager, fan knowledge of players has increased their hype and hence transfer fees. There are hardly any obscure signings anymore.
Man of the match today. Buzzing for him tbh.
Thought he’d retired.