We obviously can win them in one off matches, but the point is right now they are viewed as double serie A champions and on the up by most players. Definitely viewed as better than us.

Not to mention they have always been a huge club in europe.

Are people genuinely suggesting that we're a level above Juventus? Madness.

Players nowadays want to play in La Liga or the Premiership. They're the top leagues. Everything else is a step below. Now obviously players will chose top sides in lesser leagues over the likes of Swansea, etc Now obviously Germans will favour Bayern, Italians the big Italian sides, etc Italy does have a big pull of players from the Balkans though so I could believe Jovetic would prefer them.

Generally though I just think if it was between us and Juve for a player they'd take whoever offered them more money.

If I could have one player from Juve, it wouldn't be Pirlo or Buffon as amazing as they have been. Give me Chiellini. A Koscielny - Chiellini pairing would be spectacular. But back to the topic at hand, can we start getting linked to players of Jovetic's ilk more than Grenier? Color me unimpressed by this silly summer if we get 5-6 10 million pound players as opposed to 3 20 million pound players.

Tony Montana wrote:

Do people really think La Liga is that great?

Yeah, misconception. Generally, other than the big 2 the others are no fight for us, even Valencia and Atletico.

Italy is a different case. Even Milan, Inter and lure players away from us just based on their club reputation.

Hmm..but Bilbao tore United a new one in the Europa. I think its a good league.

Tony Montana wrote:

Do people really think La Liga is that great?

I sure don't but many, many people do.

As for who we'd get from Juve, well the only player moving from Juve to Arsenal this summer will be Nikky B.

If Juventus wants to sign Jovetic and both them and Arsenal have bids accepted - we would have to offer him significantly higher wages for him to choose us. There is no way Jovetic, or any other player that has played in Italy for some time, is going to think we are a more attractive suitor. It really is as simple as that.

Tony Montana wrote:

Do people really think La Liga is that great?

It's just a pre Rangers demise glorified SPL.

Spain's dominance in both CL & Europa league over the last decade suggests very much that La Liga is a pretty good league.

Teams tend to flame out quite quickly though, but I guess we're now in the post-hipster age where slating La Liga is cool.

Oooooow, going against what's hip is soooo hip asa. You're two steps ahead of the game!

asajoseph wrote:

Spain's dominance in both CL & Europa league over the last decade suggests very much that La Liga is a pretty good league.

Teams tend to flame out quite quickly though, but I guess we're now in the post-hipster age where slating La Liga is cool.

I'm not saying it's a bad league.

I'm saying is it that good that you'd rate it second given the competitiveness of the German and Italian leagues?

And it's the English teams that have been the most dominant in the CL in the last decade. Really it's just Barcelona who have really taken hold in the competition. Real Madrid should have won it with the amount of resources they have had.

3 winners each for Spain & England in last 10 years in the CL, 2 for Italy & 1 each for Germany & Portugal. Picture changes when you include runners up & Semi-finalists, but Spain has only 2 real 'premier' teams - we all know that.

Picture changes when you consider Europa League / UEFA though - Spain has won 5 of the last 10, and most of the teams that have done so have been good sides. Obviously the dynamic is a bit different, with not all clubs taking the EL 100% seriously, especially recently, the fact that CL group-stage loser can feed into the competition, and the fact that the format has been different (and changed). But people always seem to parrot the idea that La Liga is Real, Barca & nothing else, when most years that just isn't true.

DM are reporting that our move for Jovetic is at "breaking point" because Fiorentina want £25m and we're not budging from £20m.

Just pay them already! :gah:

Not a hope 🙁
He'll be off to Juve and they'll return Bendtner to us.
Such is our lot

Didn't the DM report that yesterday? I want new news!

Sorry, it is indeed dated the 27th.
They're so short of news for us that it's still amongst today's other headlines.

asajoseph wrote:

3 winners each for Spain & England in last 10 years in the CL, 2 for Italy & 1 each for Germany & Portugal. Picture changes when you include runners up & Semi-finalists, but Spain has only 2 real 'premier' teams - we all know that.

Exactly. We produce decent cup teams in Europe's top competition.

That may change soon though.

Well, I guess it depends how you measure it the strength of a league & the quality of the football played there. Not sure how to do that objectively, but personally I tend to think that good quality football is played successfully by more teams in Spain than seem to get real credit for it right now.

Do you just look at the quality of the 'elite' teams? Spain's probably ahead of England there.

Number of elite teams? Probably England.

Quality of elite teams just his season? That'd be Germany.

Or do we look at the overall quality of the elite & 'second tier' teams? I'd probably have Spain again, if we're basing it on more than just this year.

I don't really know, but personally I think that if anyone bothers to watch La Liga beyond Real & Barca, most seasons there'll be quite a few good other teams there, with some good players, who play some good football, who get a fraction of the attention of the Big 2. Is it a great league? Absolutely, IMO.

The truth is that there are quite a few quality teams in La Liga. They don't have the quality to compete with Real Madrid and Barcelona over the course of a campaign though, much like Arsenal in England.

spanish teams (except barca and real) are english championship level. No way they would resist the exigence of the EPL

europa league level teams in la liga do play pretty good stuff, which is why they've been pretty successful in europe. but if we look at the entire league, i wonder how their bottom 10 would fare against the english bottom 10. might depend on who's reffing - if you let the games get physical, i reckon the spanish sides would be pretty put off and might have trouble scoring despite being better possession sides.

Well, europa league is for losers, I don't get why would anyone celebrate being the 17th best team in europe.

AAStyle- wrote:

spanish teams (except barca and real) are english championship level.

AAStyle- wrote:

spanish teams (except barca and real) are english championship level. No way they would resist the exigence of the EPL

😆

Possession? The whole of Ligue 1 doesn't play tiki-taka...

Isn't that just a glorified way of saying "They may look good, but how would they cope on a wet February evening in Stoke"?

Spanish league is letting itself down due to the money distribution factor. The English sides will be so much better off financially they can cherry pick the best talent from La Liga.

That inequitable TV money situation is going to change next time around by all accounts, looking forward to that. Take Barca and Madrid down a peg and make that league more interesting.

This story has gone to dogs! First Juve and now CFC in the fray.

TBH i think he wasn't even our target. I think we might be interested in Ljajic

Never mind our brand valuation—what do the thinkfluencers say about us?

What's our Klout score vs Spurs and Madrid? Where's Evgeny Morozov when you need a smackdown?

Apparently Fiorentina will only take cash for Jovetic.
Juve were going to cobble together a cash plus players deal.
Ha! We win, if we can persuade him to leave Italy that is

Really want him especially with all the other bigger names going elsewhere. I believe hes one of the only players we've been linked with that with the proper training under Wenger could develop into a world class player at either left wing, behind the striker or a #9 a la Suarez. If they want 25 million pounds, I say pay it. We've got the cash, let's spend it.

After Fiorentina rejects Juve's opening offer of 16m euros + Maronne, Juventus GM Marotta said "€ 30m for Jovetic is out of our budget".