There are no reliable random ITK's on Twitter regarding transfers. The only people to listen to are a select number of journos who work for the big papers and even they are wrong some of the time.
Koke
- Thread starter Rozay
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Their finances are poor. They owe a lot of money - maybe a much as 500m and they don't have the turnover to pay wages and service the debt. If the EU decide Spanish clubs are receiving state aid, then Atletico will be one of the hardest hit. At the moment they have a deal with the tax office to pay off their 150m tax debt at a rate of 15m per year plus about 4m a year interest. The De Gea/Aguero money went on paying the tax man and the players, who got their wages 6/12 months late.
They are surviving on transfer fees (like Aguero, De Gea, Falcao) and shared ownership deals with Mendes's syndicate (like for Oliver Torres and maybe Diego Costa). This year they'll have to sell again, they'd probably prefer to sell Diego Costa rather than a couple of homegrown rising stars, but they might have to do both unless they can keep Courtois and find a new striker cheap.
CL football is great for them and in a better time for the Spanish economy they might be getting more benefit in terms of match day revenue and new sponsors. As it is, money's tight in Spain and Atletico don't have enough marketing profile outside Spain to compensate.
I am not going to pretend that I am an expert about them, but I have heard this dozens of times. Every club thinks that during their purple patch. Everyone thinks that they are continuously going to build on that and get better and better, and that nothing can go wrong. Usually it does not happen. Some players are priced away, some glorious talent does not turn out as expected, star players inexplicitly loose form, after getting every transfer right suddenly some transfers flop etc. A lot can go wrong. A club like United can take a couple of hits. For a club like Atletico it is harder to recover from setbacks.
I don't have anything against Atletico, good luck to them! But the originally thesis was that their future is brighter than the future of ManUtd. I think that's quite the stretch unless we speak about the next couple of months. I think it is highly likely that 5 years from now ManUtd is still the bigger and more successful club. Their revenue is much higher, they have a bigger brand name and a much bigger fan base. That won't go away that quickly.
Can't remember who they were, I just had a quick look before. I think one was quoting ESPN as his source, one was saying he got it from a '#1source' and one was saying we want Mata and Koke.
Goal.com are usually clueless...my only hope is that Ballague said that there is no chance we re getting Koke.
He has apparently.
They owe money yes, but most clubs in La Liga do to some extent. Only Real, Barca and Athletic Bilbao have favourable debt cover percentages. Most of the money they owe is to the taxman and they have been reducing those bills within the last 2 seasons as revenue has increased and through the sales, as you say, of Aguero, De Gea and Falcao. Reports suggested the tax authorities claimed the Falcao fee in full. Depending on who you believe the debt could be anything up to 300 million euros. Reports of 500 million are wide of the mark I feel.
They can afford to buy, they looked at Negredo in the summer but when City became interested it was obviously a no-go. Yes they probably will have to sell but they have sold talent before and are still on the rise. If and when the Spanish TV rights are spread more evenly (and their is every sign they will be within 3 years), and they remain in the Champions League, their situation will continue to improve. They still hope to build a new stadium within the next 5 years and that could move them onto another level in time.
Great post, mate. (And not just because it's a positive one regarding our club.)
Spot on. Remember Villarreal got to a Champions League semi? Where are they now?
Yes good points and I do agree with your general view that it is easier for United to absorb hits. United have more resources of course, but if you waste those resources in the face of intense competition then they are rendered pointless. I actually think Atletico are much better placed now than in the past. They are reducing their debt levels, their academy is booming, they have a younger progressive coach and a close knit squad.
I think we're more likely to get Rakitic from Sevilla and he'd be just as good for us
Rakitic would be a quality signing, but surely we can be greedy and hope for both
Given our history with signings in this kind of position, my only hope is that we dont sign another Fellaini. They could 100% play in the same team given Koke already plays each week in a wide role for Atletico. The likelyhood of us going for both and getting both of them? Grim
Atletico Madrid will have to sell Diego Costa and Koke this year. I'am not saying it will be to Manchester United, but they are attracting alot of interest from other clubs aswell and given then financial situation they can't hold out on selling them. I feel they could get a good €45M for Costa and €35M for Koke. That €80M and the income from the CL will be more than welcome to settle some off their debts off this year and next year. They won't sell them this winter as they need to get as far as they can get in the CL and need to keep up the title CL and secure CL for next season. But once that is done with and we'll go into the summer and Costa and Koke showed their skills on the worldcup, they will be sold, I have no doubts about this. Maybay they will only sell Costa and keep onto Koke for next season, but the general mechanisme at AM is that have to sell to settle debts (rather sooner than latter). The trick ofcourse is to also keep up a team that is capable off securing CL and having a number off high priced stars every year to sell. So far its amazing they have been able to keep doing it, Aguero, Falcao, Costa. Unfortanutely for them they need the money more than they need the players and if they get a figure that will be difficult to beat, than they will sell.
Getting Koke this winter will be very difficult, unless crazy money is paid. Getting him this summer for €30-€40M won't be much off a problem. We might not be the team to get him, but the chance is high that Koke won't be an AM in the 2015 season.
For the curious - Koke's just about to start for Atletico against Malaga, kicks off in 2 minutes
A final goodbye to the fans then.
He's playing in the middle as well. Just thought I'd mention that.
Is Woody there poised with a sack? If not, why not?
They're in Malaga. My guess he's on a yacht parked just offshore. We'll make our move at the end, posing as the drug test team. He'll be in Gibraltar before they even notice he's missing.
Genius, just textbook.
To Brits it sounds like coke-eh.
Everyone be on alert to analyse any possible waving or body language at the end of the game.
that's how I have been saying it.
Ohh Athletico are teasing us. Probably a last minute negotiation tactic to get a couple of million more, to show us he's exactly what us muppets want- a two-man-midfield player. But our master negotiator Woody will see to this.
How is he playing in his penultimate game for Atletico? Surely they will want him to face Barca next week before he joins us?
Just scored.
Sign him up.
He scored?
Ah, goals from midfield...we can only dream.
Ah, goals from midfield...we can only dream.
I refuse to believe he's scored. Midfielders never score in football.
Market value goes up another 100k. What are we waiting for? He obviously wants to come here. We should try to sign players before we are actually out of the CL!!
Toying with our emotions 
Any waving?
In a dream world we'd throw out 100 million to get this guy + Vidal. Job done at that stage.
Ah well.
Ah well.
Imagine spending ~£100 million on Koke and Vidal.
Imagine.
Imagine.
Don't forget Barkley, Shaw, Mata and that bloke from Sporting.
I would put initial bids of 40m total for both.
Hope Woodward sees this and offers me a job.
I remember once upon a time we had a midfielder called Paul Scholes who scored a volley once for us.
I may have dreamt that.
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