Stefan Bienkowski

Fair play to Aleksander Ceferin. He stood up to the Super League and won and has now - very quickly and with no prior warning - assembled a full boycott of FIFA. Very impressive.

Chelsea have now spent €527m on new defenders since Todd Boehly & Co. took over in 2022. That's just €6m less than Real Madrid have spent on ALL their new signings in that time period. And more than Dortmund, Barcelona and Inter Milan.

Turns out buying a football club and trying to make them Premier League champions or even just a functional top-four contender is about as easy as building a 170km glass city through the desert...

FIFA give off big late-stage capitalism vibes. Founded 122 years ago to keep an eye on the rules and regulations for 22 men kicking a ball around a park, now a global corporation that steamrolls over national sovereignty, pays no tax and believes it’s accountable to no one.

Fascinating bit of business from Bayer Leverkusen with Kerim Alajbegovic. Plucked him from the FC Köln academy, effectively sent him out on loan to RB Salzburg for one season and now selling him to Juventus for €33m+. Not a single game for Leverkusen’s first team.

New Market Values Podcast with @SBienkowski We chatted: 🧒6 U21 players with a market value below €21m to watch 🇩🇪Can Jürgen Klopp rescue Germany? 🇫🇷Zinedine Zidane takes over France youtube.com/watch?v=8qgeww…

First game of the season. Lovely summer’s evening watching a preseason friendly at Dulwich Hamlet.

RB Leipzig will hold out for €130m in the sale of Yan Diomande. Which will make the winger the second biggest profit on a player in one season or less in the history of football:

@ChrisMc_LII Oh, I’m sure it is. But it doesn’t mean it’s the correct way to do it. Far be it from me to suggest that football clubs are fiscally irresponsible…

@SBienkowski I’d disagree there, it’s part of your evaluation of the transfer fee.

Yah Diomande for €130m. Bradley Barcola for €170m. Morgan Rogers for €138m. Just a quick reminder that less than a year ago Bayern signed Luis Diaz for €𝟕𝟎𝐦 and he’s since bagged 49 goals and assists in 51 games for them…

@ChrisMc_LII Resale value only matters if it’s necessary. Or, indeed, possible. If Madrid sign Diomande for €130m or Liverpool sign Barcola for even more, what are the odds on them making profits on those players? Or getting 7+ years of good seasons out of them? Small, in my opinion.

@SBienkowski We’ve had one good year out of Diaz. Remains to been seen if there will be 3/4 good years. And that’s when age kicks in: Diomande and Barcola have a much higher resale value.

@ChrisMc_LII An all-in window in what sense? A very good signing is by definition a very good transfer. If they get 3/4 seasons out of him it pays for itself. Contrastingly, how many years do you really think Madrid will get out of Diomande or Liverpool out of Barcola? Not much more, IMO.

@SBienkowski Wouldn’t necessarily agree with that tbh. It was an all in move from Bayern. Trying to maximise Kanes window. And just because the signing was very good doesn’t make the transfer very good. Remains to be seen how the deal will age.

@ChrisMc_LII Of course. A hugely outsized part of the evaluation, in my opinion. And, seemingly, Bayern’s too.

@SBienkowski And is 10/6 years years older, which is a massive part of the evaluation.

Vinicius Junior would be the biggest signing in Arsenal’s history - maybe in Premier League history. A piece for @TMuk_news comparing his numbers to all Arsenal wingers under Mikel Arteta 🇧🇷👇 transfermarkt.com/brazilian-supe…

Can’t believe Palace swooped in and got him for just €18m, when he could have been an excellent signing for Frankfurt, BVB, Leverkusen, etc.

Maxence Lacroix on the verge of a €60m move to Chelsea. Not to be all “I told you so!” but his talent was always so evident at Wolfsburg. Even when he was out of form.

@SBienkowski It's nice that old memes can still be relevant.

@unknowns_k33816 Ouch 😂

@SBienkowski I can only imagine how devastating it must have been for you to be confronted so abruptly by common sense.

That Elon Musk interview is a car crash. I know plenty are furious at the Economist for platforming him but if you watch it you’ll see a man given just enough rope to hang himself. He’s a blundering idiot on almost every topic. Quite reminiscent of Boris Johnson as PM.

@unknowns_k33816 I can’t even imagine how many boxes of tissues you went through watching it, Mr tech enthusiast restore Britain…

@SBienkowski But seriously, you can’t watch that and think he didn’t come across brilliantly?