Bundesliga 2015/2016

What? Did the De Bruyne transfer become official?

There was something on Transfermarkt.de today that Praet is joining Wolfsburg and that de Bruyne has agreed personal terms with City now they just have to negotiated the fee. Their source seems to be a Belgian journalist named Stéphane Pauwels, no idea if he is reliable or not. But there is nothing really official yet.
 
What? Did the De Bruyne transfer become official?

I don't expect much from Gladbach or Wolfsburg in the CL, I hope they'll get a lucky draw and can finish 3rd in their group and continue to play in the EL. Dortmund and Schalke need to do really really well in the EL if we want to finish on more points than Italy. And Leverkusen needs to step it up to beat Lazio tomorrow, which would be really important in the battle for 3rd in the country coefficient.

I've no idea what to expect from Augsburg. They might surprise me by playing above their level in the EL because of the excitement to take part for the first time, similar to Hannover a few years ago. Or they fall apart completely and just suck.

Either way, we're lucky that Italy already lost a team and we'll have all 7 teams in the group stages (unless Dortmund totally fecks up on Thursday). Worst case would be that Leverkusen don't make the CL but have to play in the EL, but that doesn't necessarily have to bad for our points total. If they take the EL seriously, they can easily collect as many, if not more, points than they collected in the CL the last years.

I just read in another forum that it's supposedly done, but tbh i didn't see any source.

Don't Gladbach still have Raffael and Herrmann? Or are they not good enough without Kruse?

Dortmund I think should do well and Wolfsburg will still be decentish. Leverkusen is probably gone though.

I think Gladbach's main problem atm is their injured CB paring and that the backup doesn't seem to be good enough.

My impression was that Drmic is not nearly as good as a passing outlet at the moment and their Kramer replacement Stindl is a lot more attack minded which causes a lot of balance problems their play.
 
Yeah, Gladbach basically miss their entire central spine in Kruse, Kramer and both centerbacks. Maybe they just need a bit more time, it took Favre a while until the team performed well after they lost Reus, Neustädter and Dante in 2012 as well.
 
Heung-Min Son is rumoured to move to Tottenham for 30m Euro with the medical taking place today. Anyone know if there's any truth to that? In theory a fantastic deal, but can they really afford to let him go today and not have him as an option in the game against Lazio tonight?

I don't think he has developed at all at Leverkusen and no one in Germany would pay more than maybe 15m for him. I'd love to see Brandt start every game instead of him anyway, so it doesn't really matter for their first eleven. But they clearly lack depth in attack. If true they definitely need to buy someone this week.
 
Heung-Min Son is rumoured to move to Tottenham for 30m Euro with the medical taking place today. Anyone know if there's any truth to that? In theory a fantastic deal, but can they really afford to let him go today and not have him as an option in the game against Lazio tonight?

I don't think he has developed at all at Leverkusen and no one in Germany would pay more than maybe 15m for him. I'd love to see Brandt start every game instead of him anyway, so it doesn't really matter for their first eleven. But they clearly lack depth in attack. If true they definitely need to buy someone this week.

Spurs are throwing crazy money around. Bidding 30 million pounds for Berahino, and 30 million euros for that guy.
 
Son didn't get any better at Leverkusen then he was at HSV.
 
I think you guys underrate him a bit, starter for a Bundesliga team with 19 and over 10 goals in every season three years in a row now at the age from 20 to 22. 21 in 61 at Leverkusen, that's not bad for a winger. Contract till 2018, gets you a big fanbase in South Korea, quite experienced for his age at every stage - I think the fee is reasonable and 22 millions is nothing for Spurs in todays market.
I agree that Brandt has the higher ceiling, so it would make sense for both teams involved although Leverkusen might lack a bit of depth in their attack with Kruse (injury prone) and Mehmedi as their only back up options.
 
I've been impressed by Son for club and country myself. It's a lot of money but I'd be surprised if he wasn't a significant upgrade on Lamela for Spurs.
 
Heung-Min Son is rumoured to move to Tottenham for 30m Euro with the medical taking place today. Anyone know if there's any truth to that? In theory a fantastic deal, but can they really afford to let him go today and not have him as an option in the game against Lazio tonight?

I don't think he has developed at all at Leverkusen and no one in Germany would pay more than maybe 15m for him. I'd love to see Brandt start every game instead of him anyway, so it doesn't really matter for their first eleven. But they clearly lack depth in attack. If true they definitely need to buy someone this week.

At which point he becomes the best winger in the world for Glaston.
 
According to Sky Sport News it's not true anyway. At least it won't happen today, he's part of the squad for the CL playoff game tonight.
 
No chance he meant that...

Agreed, his first look actually went into the box and not towards the goal. Thats a classic example of a cross turning into a shot. If that was intentional, pretty much all coaches I know would actually scold a player for such a shot. You only go for something like that if you have no other good options, because the chances to score from that angle are extremely slim. In this case there were three better positioned team mates in the box with way higher chances to score.

Regarding the Son topic: I think the biggest problem I have with him is, that he was always fairly one dimensional and did not flesh out his overall play at Leverkusen either. He has decent to good end product but offers little outside of it. 30 Mil. € for him is of course a lot of money, but in a world where Fimino costs 41 Mil. € not a rarity. It would still be unwise by Leverkusen to sell him without having a replacement lined up, though. It would be a lot of cash and probably give Brandt more game time, but would also stretch them pretty thin in the offense. Their luck in terms of injuries seems also have run out after a couple of very good years in that regard.
 
Of course he didn´t meant that. Anyway, after a sloppy start our second team starts to look better. We actually played with a back3 a couple of times – at least match reports indicate that. Interesting to see that our second team uses such tactics. It sucks that Regensburg is so fecking strong. They have won all their games; we have to win at least 4 points against them if we want to get promoted.


Son offers so little for the team. I don´t think that he is a good fit for their current system. If they can sell him for 30m, they´d snap anyone’s hands. He is not worth the money and they can get better players for a lot less.
 
I hope Regensburg go up again, great city, likeable club, nice stadium. The promotion system is shit tho, it's bullshit that the team that wins the league doesn't get promoted immediately, although I'm happy it prevented the second teams of 1860 and BM two years in a row from going up - second teams in professional football just suck, they should establish the english system.
 
Hopefully the Son deal goes through, would be some money for us to use before the transfer window ends. As others said Son is a good player but his best season imo was still the 12/13 season he had with us. He played in a 2 striker formation and him and Rudnevs were just a great combination back then. Ripped Dortmund to shreds both times in the season. On the wing he sometimes looks lost, his dribbling and passing isn't anything special.
I think he will do well in England, he's always a player for the big games and his shooting technique is just great.
 
Hopefully the Son deal goes through, would be some money for us to use before the transfer window ends. As others said Son is a good player but his best season imo was still the 12/13 season he had with us. He played in a 2 striker formation and him and Rudnevs were just a great combination back then. Ripped Dortmund to shreds both times in the season. On the wing he sometimes looks lost, his dribbling and passing isn't anything special.
I think he will do well in England, he's always a player for the big games and his shooting technique is just great.

Not that hard given how fecking poorly we played in both fixtures. Part of me is still pissed about these games, especially the second one which was an insult for every fan who went into the stadium that day (drove 600 km for that shit). If they would have had more time until the game in Donetsk, i would have send them there running 20 km each day between Bus drives instead with a plane.
 
Völler basically confirmed right now, that Son is not in the stadium but in England. Seems like a done deal. He is also not really convincing when it comes to deny the interest in Hojberg :lol:.
 
Völler basically confirmed right now, that Son is not in the stadium but in England. Seems like a done deal. He is also not really convincing when it comes to deny the interest in Hojberg :lol:.

If the German teams play it smart they can really upgrade their squad with all the crazy English money. 12 for Okazaki, 20 for Baba, 30 for Son, 41 for Firmino, God knows for DeBruyne. English teams especially love the Asians for their marketing. I was a team from Continental Europe I´d just buy them all from Asia on the cheap and then sell the best to England for 20 times the money.
 
De Bruyne to City is a done deal according to kicker, €75m transfer fee. That's my fantasy team fecked :(

In third division news, our U23 team is playing much better football than our first team. We're currently winning away to Münster, would make it 2W3D from the first five games. Great start after the relegation battle last season.
 
De Bruyne to City is a done deal according to kicker, €75m transfer fee. That's my fantasy team fecked :(

In third division news, our U23 team is playing much better football than our first team. We're currently winning away to Münster, would make it 2W3D from the first five games. Great start after the relegation battle last season.

It can appearanty increase even more with bonus payments...

That´s seals it. Whoever want Reus in the future better start with bids in the tripple digits :lol:
 
If the German teams play it smart they can really upgrade their squad with all the crazy English money. 12 for Okazaki, 20 for Baba, 30 for Son, 41 for Firmino, God knows for DeBruyne. English teams especially love the Asians for their marketing. I was a team from Continental Europe I´d just buy them all from Asia on the cheap and then sell the best to England for 20 times the money.
Well, it's kinda great that we get a share of the English tv money and some of those buys are ridiculously overpriced. But De Bruyne leaving the league really really hurts and to see Firmino leave was also kinda sad. Let's hope that Wolfsburg can find a gem to replace De Bruyne and stay competitive.
 
Especially Premier League clubs. With so much TV money coming into the league and the high value of the £ compared to the Euro the transfer fees will keep rising.

The really frightening thought is that Reus could have transfered for a third of what De Bruyne costs if he wanted to. This transfer would have been always fantastic in terms of quality value, but now it would be unbeatable. Thank god he stayed...
 
Well, it's kinda great that we get a share of the English tv money and some of those buys are ridiculously overpriced. But De Bruyne leaving the league really really hurts and to see Firmino leave was also kinda sad. Let's hope that Wolfsburg can find a gem to replace De Bruyne and stay competitive.

I actually feel it hurts the league more than anything. The best players are leaving and all the money won't help if the teams can't find quality replacements. If the trend keeps up the next couple of years the Bundesliga will have suffered quite a lot in terms of quality I'm afraid.
 
Well, it's kinda great that we get a share of the English tv money and some of those buys are ridiculously overpriced. But De Bruyne leaving the league really really hurts and to see Firmino leave was also kinda sad. Let's hope that Wolfsburg can find a gem to replace De Bruyne and stay competitive.

Well, if Dennis Praet (a talent I highly rate) is their answer, then they are screwed. Unless Allofs pulls something really magical out of his hat in the coming days this is nothing short of a desaster for them.
 
The really frightening thought is that Reus could have transfered for a third of what De Bruyne costs if he wanted to. This transfer would have been always fantastic in terms of quality value, but now it would be unbeatable. Thank god he stayed...

While we talk about staying. You think there is a chance that Hummels might actually extend his contract with you if your squad can get back to their best under Tuchel again?
 
While we talk about staying. You think there is a chance that Hummels might actually extend his contract with you if your squad can get back to their best under Tuchel again?

There is certainly a chance, yes. It depends how our development goes this season (the start is certainly promising), but if he would not think that way he would probably be gone this Summer. He certainly would have left if Klopp had stayed, though.

Now there is a chance he signs his biggest contract with us, gets one on a similar salary level as Reus and wants to become a proper club legend. The talk of Watzke about increasing the wage bill significantly is mostly a sign to the top players and Hummels and Mkhitaryan are the next in line for that.
 
I actually feel it hurts the league more than anything. The best players are leaving and all the money won't help if the teams can't find quality replacements. If the trend keeps up the next couple of years the Bundesliga will have suffered quite a lot in terms of quality I'm afraid.
Well, it's not really something new. We've always lost a top player to a foreign top club. Diego in 2009, Özil in 2010, Sahin & Vidal in 2011, Kagawa in 2012. If Bayern hadn't bought Götze and Lewandowski, both would play abroad now as well. It's not something new. At least the players aren't bargains anymore but leave for crazy amounts of money now.

Still, if clubs like Dortmund, Schalke, Wolfsburg can't keep their best players after successful seasons, the league will suffer :(.
 
What a funny goal :lol:. Leverkusen deserve the lead though, I hope they can keep it up. They've been the better team over both legs so far.
 
Still, if clubs like Dortmund, Schalke, Wolfsburg can't keep their best players after successful seasons, the league will suffer :(.

Exactly. I mean the main problem is that apart from you lot no Bundesliga team can even remotely compete with what even teams like Tottenham can now pay their players. I'm a bit afraid that the Bundesliga now might not only lose the absolute top players to the best clubs in the world but also the second grade of players that are still very important to those teams.

On the other hand I think it's great that Bundesliga clubs finally get some great fees for their palyers. I always felt that in the past most Bundesliga clubs sold their players way to cheap if you compared it to for how much teams from other leagues would change teams.
 
I actually feel it hurts the league more than anything. The best players are leaving and all the money won't help if the teams can't find quality replacements. If the trend keeps up the next couple of years the Bundesliga will have suffered quite a lot in terms of quality I'm afraid.

I like Keita and Anderson. If Leverkusen kicks Lazio out I´d throw the money their way, if I was Wolfsburg. They´ll surely put a bid in for Goetze, too. Wolfsburg needs squad depth desperately.
 
apart from you lot no Bundesliga team can even remotely compete with what even teams like Tottenham can now pay their players.
Well that's not true. Tottenham couldn't have attracted a Dortmund or Wolfsburg player this season and can't really pay more than those clubs either. If I'm not mistaken, Tottenham never paid more than 30m for a single player, which both Dortmund and Wolfsburg can easily do as well. Just because Tottenham seemingly waste their money on a easily replaceable Leverkusen player and make him one of their most expensive signings ever, doesn't mean they're actually ahead when competing for key players.
 
Exactly. I mean the main problem is that apart from you lot no Bundesliga team can even remotely compete with what even teams like Tottenham can now pay their players. I'm a bit afraid that the Bundesliga now might not only lose the absolute top players to the best clubs in the world but also the second grade of players that are still very important to those teams.

On the other hand I think it's great that Bundesliga clubs finally get some great fees for their palyers. I always felt that in the past most Bundesliga clubs sold their players way to cheap if you compared it to for how much teams from other leagues would change teams.

But they also don´t pay that much in transfer fees. It´s like some sort of silent agreement. It´s like the Bundesliga somehow avoid the inflated prices in both directions. Aubameyang for 12M. If he goes to England or Spain at the same stage it´s probably 20-25. Do your business early and silent. That´s the key. Depay and Costa look like absolute steals.
 
Well that's not true. Tottenham couldn't have attracted a Dortmund or Wolfsburg player this season and can't really pay more than those clubs either. If I'm not mistaken, Tottenham never paid more than 30m for a single player, which both Dortmund and Wolfsburg can easily do as well. Just because Tottenham seemingly waste their money on a easily replaceable Leverkusen player and make him one of their most expensive signings ever, doesn't mean they're actually ahead when competing for key players.

Yeah, at least for us there is not much difference now. Getting players from abroad might be a bit trickier now, but the likes of Stoke or even Tottenham are still not dangerous when it comes to losing top players. If they leave, they go to European elite clubs as they have done in the past. Even with the new TV contract most English clubs can not overpower us financially and those who can could do that before.

We also should not forget that Leverkusen could not convince a way more important player than Son to stay, who would rather play EL for another team in Germany than Cl with them and that guy was homegrown. Leverkusen has simply not the name to compete with a lot of English clubs.

We thankfully managed to reestablish a certain reputation as club again in the last years. Many players, including Aubameyang and Mkhitaryan could have earned more money elsewhere but still chose us over the other options. And given the change in club strategy of putting any profit now into the squad I´m not really scared.
 
Is this how WW3 starts? Bundesliga and Premier league fans arguing over who is richer and besterer?