El Profesor

From the comfort of a sofa, every goal could be avoided. In many instances, goalkeepers and defenders are unfairly blamed.

Some observations from the 1st half of the Girona friendly: - Araújo and Trincão are good, they will be important for Barcelona this season; - Coutinho looks impressive in the pressing, the Bayern loan after all might have done him good, he is stronger physically and more commited to his defensive obligations as well; - Front three without Suárez is much more athletic and pacy; - Messi... seems happy? ; - Koeman has a much better idea of what he wants from this team than Setién; - Playing with this motivation and hunger, Barça can definitely fight for La Liga. @Carnivore Chris

Everton is showing interest in Torino's young brazilian defender Bremer.

Interesting midfield formation, Chris. I have a serious gut feeling that Koeman actually, deep down, wanted Messi to leave. He obviously will never admit it, but that's what I feel. That doesn't mean I think Barça would be better without Messi, but I think Koeman planned to rebuild this team with the attack centered around Griezmann, with intense pressure and athleticism from all players. It will be interesting to see how he will fit Messi on that equation. From what I read on Twitter, people were impressed by the effort and commitment put by the 2nd half formation to win back the ball. I still think Barça will regret the Arthur deal. Many Barça fans are writting him off as a failure because of 2 games after the pause, but he was one Barcelona´s best players in the early part of last season and under Pirlo, he will grow a lot.

Hazard seems to gain weight very easily. They're not happy about it in Spain.

This is interesting. I remember saying in a convo with Sir Balon that La Liga was condemned in the long-term because middle and small teams in Spain are just too fragile financially but maybe the pandemic will accelerate the process of weakening of domestic spanish football.

Marcelo Pitaluga to Liverpool is a done deal. Liverpool will pay Fluminense 1 million euros and could pay an additional 1 million euros in bonus. Marcelo is a 17-year old brazilian goalkeeper. He's a big goalkeeper, 1,91m tall, and is said to be really good. Marcelo is a starter for Brazil's U-17 team. Fluminense is so broke, this is peanuts for a player of his potential. Alisson's brother, Muriel, plays for Fluminense and Alisson trained with Marcelo last year, so it's not much of a surprise that Alisson played a big role in that transfer in convicing the kid to move to England.

I'm not sure if Jean Lucas can become an adequate full-back, but if he does, adding this versatility would be huge for his career prospect. There is a huge talent scarcity at that position. I read that Barça was looking to offer Emerson in a Depay deal. Juninho should definitely take him if he's indeed offered. Emerson is a good player.

Chelsea fans, I´m curious, what do you think the objectives should be for this new season? What would you guys consider as a success or a failure?

Just another day in brazilian football.

This reminds me of Robinho. Back then, everyone in Brazil thought he would be a great player, it was just a matter of improving his finishing. Well, he didn't really improve at it and never became the player he was projected to be.

Marotta was right about the Ronaldo transfer.

I'm not sure who his agent is, but I believe in these figures. Juve has been trying to offload him for years and never found a taker. This is a disaster.

The Kulusevski signing was one of the few good moves Juve has done in recent times. They are quickly repeating Barcelona's steps. I mean, look at these salaries. ( This is from Gazzetta dello Sport.)

I agree. The league impacts in the price of a player. Also, @Mpache has a point when he says nationality affects the evaluation of players. Brazilian young players at any of the big 12 clubs, for example, are way too overpriced. Mid-size and small european clubs in this case, should put more effort in identifying talent in other south american countries ir at smaller brazilian teams. Real Madrid bought Reinier for 30 million euros and they had to loan him to Dortmund because they're not sure of what they've really got in Reinier. Nobody knows, actually. He barely played at the profissional level. I mean, this is not a very smart use of money. Real can get away with it, but mid-size and small clubs don't and this is why I think they should look for different profiles of player.

They're really smart at identifying talent and using market inefficiencies at their advantage. Atalanta sells young players at a premium, they mostly use the young players to make cash, like Kulusevski. And they build their squad buying undervalued players in the 25-30 age range. If I'm not wrong, the average age of their squad last season was above 28 years old.

Young players are overpriced. The market inefficiency which mid-size and small clubs should explore is players in the 25-30 years range, especially those playing out of the big 5 leagues. This is what Atalanta does and more teams should follow their lead.

Official, Bravo to Betis. Who will be City's sub goalkeeper?

Totally forgot Portugal had also Ricardo Pereira at that position. I'm not sure why, perhaps because Semedo plays for Barcelona?

- Nélson Semedo is an above average right-back and he will be an important player for Barcelona in their rebuild. - Ante Rebic is a world-class forward.

Manchester City is already putting in motion a plan to sign Messi.

Putting your hands in the air has become a natural reflex for brazilians.

Northern Brazil is really dangerous. There's also been there a sense of lawlessness in that part of Brazil. The government is not equipped to put a firm grip there, considering the distances and how remote that region is. It's okay, unless it's matchday for Corinthians or São Paulo. In that case, you shouldn't even wear green if you need to take the subway.

Greater than in São Paulo. I now I live in a small town, so it's much safer here. My dad almost died when I was 16, when a robber shot him in the chest.

It was -1 where I live. It's really cold in the winter here in Southern Brazil. This is from yesterday, in Santa Catarina, the state where I live, it was snowing. I support Athletico Paranaense, a team from Curitiba, my hometown. The team I despise the most in Brazil is Flamengo.