Trent Alexander-Arnold

[vlahka]

I recall we got in trouble for approaching a player out of transfer season. Madrid do it blatantly and nothing happens to them.

[SB]

I recall we got in trouble for approaching a player out of transfer season. Madrid do it blatantly and nothing happens to them.

But they claim it’s not them it’s Marca or whoever speculating so they get away with it. We should get the Echo to do our speculating for us

[The_weatherman]

They will now go after Konate, IMO this is needs to be addressed, pretty unfair that one club can just go and cherry pick who they need for a bargain price.

[Doc_Piptorious]

They will now go after Konate, IMO this is needs to be addressed, pretty unfair that one club can just go and cherry pick who they need for a bargain price.

It is not something that is unique to Real Madrid, it is just they can do it with the best players in the world. It just stands out more with them as a result.


Look at Bayern in Germany. Another German club unearths a top class player, especially a German player, and chances are Bayern will be in for that player and often on a free.


Hell we were caught doing the same with VVD and ended up paying a premium to get him in the end.

Would be sure that a number of the players we got on a free over the years saw us having early contact with them as well.

[rudedog]

With the proliferation of agents, ‘tapping up’ a player directly isn’t really a thing anymore. Unless it involves a trip to Blackpool pleasure beach.

[kingfunk]

Just ban signing on bonuses / fees, give huge wages if they like but it will cause massive disruption within the squad.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Just ban signing on bonuses / fees, give huge wages if they like but it will cause massive disruption within the squad.

How?

Retainers, bonuses etc are perfectly legal under employment law in most walks of life so the same holds true for the contracts of football players.

[Exiled_red]

With the proliferation of agents, ‘tapping up’ a player directly isn’t really a thing anymore. Unless it involves a trip to Blackpool pleasure beach.

Yeah I would be interested to know what is deemed tapping up now. In the case of TAA (and players whose contract is expiring) I believe that the player can start negotiating with overseas clubs from 1st January that their contract expires, but clearly there have been discussions going on longer than that.

Clearly the club can leak stories through the media that they are interested in a player, and clearly the player's agent is going to want to know if interest is genuine, so contacts the club given in Trent's case this started 2 years ago it's naive to believe that his agent first had contact in January and that there hasn't been talk of running down his contract etc

[The_weatherman]

It is not something that is unique to Real Madrid, it is just they can do it with the best players in the world. It just stands out more with them as a result.


Look at Bayern in Germany. Another German club unearths a top class player, especially a German player, and chances are Bayern will be in for that player and often on a free.


Hell we were caught doing the same with VVD and ended up paying a premium to get him in the end.

Would be sure that a number of the players we got on a free over the years saw us having early contact with them as well.

I'm not sure we were trying to sign VVD on a free? They are tapping players up, year or two in advance to get them to reject contract offers and sign players for free? See Trent, Saliba, Konate, they tried it with Davies as well. Were successful with Alaba, Rudiger, Mbappe, albeit Mbappe was a bit extraordinary scenario.

We've not done that? Even Bayern do pay for the players they sign from rival clubs in Germany?

[Doc_Piptorious]

I'm not sure we were trying to sign VVD on a free? They are tapping players up, year or two in advance to get them to reject contract offers and sign players for free? See Trent, Saliba, Konate, they tried it with Davies as well. Were successful with Alaba, Rudiger, Mbappe, albeit Mbappe was a bit extraordinary scenario.

We've not done that? Even Bayern do pay for the players they sign from rival clubs in Germany?

No but we were in touch directly with the player about moving to us without the permission of his then current employer.


Tapping up is tapping up regardless of whether the player can move on a free or for a fee.

[Norbs]

Didn't get a chance unfortunately, was only there for a few days. Went to Sliema, Valettta, Gozo & Comino. I was told about Mdini alright by a guy that has been there a few times and it does looks amazing. My first time in Malta, Valetta is how I expected Malta to look, old worldly reminded me of Lisbon. St Julian's was a real let down aesthetically, random ugly apartments everywhere & the genuinely the most ridiculous amount of road works I've ever seen

I thought Gozo was a total let down, just way over developed. There was an ancient archaeological site we went to and it was **** beyond belief

[Sus]

I'm not sure we were trying to sign VVD on a free? They are tapping players up, year or two in advance to get them to reject contract offers and sign players for free? See Trent, Saliba, Konate, they tried it with Davies as well. Were successful with Alaba, Rudiger, Mbappe, albeit Mbappe was a bit extraordinary scenario.

We've not done that? Even Bayern do pay for the players they sign from rival clubs in Germany?

The players Bayern have brought in on frees over the years are ridiculous, and a reason why that league is so uncompetitive - Lewandowski, Gotze, Brandt (I think?), Goretzka, Guerriero

Edit - Gotze wasn't a free, 37m quid apparently

[Charly]

We got babbel, millie and Matip over like 20 years. Think we should be doing a little bit better, but it comes down to opportunity and need.

[Kenneth]

Bolo Zenden

[The_weatherman]

No but we were in touch directly with the player about moving to us without the permission of his then current employer.


Tapping up is tapping up regardless of whether the player can move on a free or for a fee.

The players Bayern have brought in on frees over the years are ridiculous, and a reason why that league is so uncompetitive - Lewandowski, Gotze, Brandt (I think?), Goretzka, Guerriero

Edit - Gotze wasn't a free, 37m quid apparently

I do think it's a bit different to plan with players a year or two in advance, if Bayern are also doing it, I feel the same applies there. Can't be allowed to go on IMO.

Right now we seem to be heading into a mixture of club transfers and free agents, which is really ****. Imagine if we bought Wirtz for 150 million euros, only for Real Madrid to tap him up to sign him for free when he's 27.