He may be abbot flabby, but I dare say Rooney does a fair bit of exercise.
He may be abbot flabby, but I dare say Rooney does a fair bit of exercise.
Mental, can't imagine what it's like to eat that much.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sir Andy Mahowry
@Mahow ?
Them World's Strongest Man lads are all doing about eight to twelve thousand a day, and they're on every substance known to man, so a fourteen stone swimmer requiring those sort of numbers - even if he lives under water - ought to raise a few eyebrows.
:harold:
:lol:!
Sign Morata.
It obviously will be trickier to maintain your level if you've been overplayed (whether he has is arguable), but it's taking the piss turning up to pre-season training alarmingly overweight and has undoubtedly hurt every season of his since it was clear he wasn't taking care of himself. The best professionals (Maldini, Giggs and co.) make the extra effort.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lewis
"However, they are not willing to match the fees Lukaku's agent Mino Raiola would earn if the forward joins United."
He's ours.
Mino Raiola is everywhere, isn't he? He's the agent of Donnarumma, the Keane lad at Juventus born in 2000, and Lukaku now too. Must be the sneakiest bastard.
EDIT: And Pogba, Ibra and Mihkytarian. Lol.
Born 20km from Naples, there you go.
Chelsea showing who's boss.
Have United really been 'chasing Lukaku for most of the summer'?
He is clearly predisposed to a certain amount of fatness, which, whilst making it more difficult to stay in shape as he has got older, also enabled him to have played first team Premiership football at sixteen. But this isn't a new thing. He said himself he turned up to pre-season in 2009 half a stone overweight, and that was his best season. With that in mind, the fact he likes a bit of crap food strikes me as being less of a factor for his current state than the fact he has played - and played hard - 755 top, top flight games by thirty-one (and that he still wears strapping on his ankle from his 2010 injury). Ryan Giggs didn't reach that amount of games until he was thirty-five. Paolo Maldini likewise. Didier Drogba has only recently surpassed it. He's just worn out.Quote:
Originally Posted by Reg
Fair play to Chelsea (to the extent that one removes any knowledge of the existence of Jorge Mendes* from one's mind) for balling in with an offer like that. It's probably the only way the proper parasites are going to be rid from football (arf, as if).
*I was going to call him Pedro Mendes and then confused myself with a bit of wiki'ing, wait, the guy that Ben Thatcher put into a coma/advertising hoardning is the arch nemesis super agent?
Lewis- I agree he was always chubby but he was also unusually explosive as a young player and played at a quick tempo in every match. I'm not sure which season it was (more recent than 2009) but he was much more than half a stone overweight then.
I'm not suggesting my tennis matches without ball boys are on the same level as a World Cup, but as an amateur player I can say from experience how important diet is.
If memory serves he's been taking the piss for over 5 years. There's a clear correlation between his diet going to shit and his decline as a player.
By the way how does being 'predisposed to a certain amount of fatness' help him play football at sixteen?
He was as big (heavy) as a man by that age, which is perhaps rare (and important).
According to Sky, who obviously have nothing to gain from hyping up nonsense, the Lukaku transfer has "so many twists and turns."Quote:
Originally Posted by John
Which proves it must be a SAGA because the bits I've seen of it goes thusly: He wanted to leave, United made a bid, Chelsea matched it.
You truly couldn't write it.
Man torn between the manager that ditched him and the club that ditched him. I say torn, he's probably just looking at their respective personal terms.
Players who are playing top flight football every week from sixteen or seventeen usually break down physically by about thirty, if not before. Current examples that come immediately to mind; Rooney, Kompany, Aguero, Torres. Mario Gotze and Jack Wilshere are both fucked already. Past examples include Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler.
He was a manchild, which enabled him to physically compete with actual men at a young age. He could well have handled himself better, but he was never going to go much longer than he has done. Think about it. With the exception of freaks like Ronaldo, how many all-action attacking players actually get to this many games at the absolute highest level? Thierry Henry had played a similar amount of games at a similar age, and he was realistically done by thirty-two.Quote:
Originally Posted by Reg
Being fat at 16 meant he was 'solid' as opposed to weak, look at Fabregas when he was 16 compared to Rooney. The difference between paella and pie.
If only we could combine the two into some sort of super dish. Pie-ella. No, that'll just confuse people.
When Henry was approaching 30 he was playing world class football and earned a transfer to Barcelona. Rooney, meanwhile, was looking like this. He's done at 31 and his level has dropped every year for the last 5 years. You can be 'pre-disposed to fatness' but you can also take care of yourself.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lewis
The guys John mentions were done by injuries. What do you associate Rooney with? Injuries or being a bit fat?
Henry went to Barcelona at twenty nine and was in the MLS at thirty two.
It's an observable trend. Players who play loads of football really early tend to burn out early, unless they're particularly well made.
It's definitely a trend, yeah, but Rooney's contributed to his decline.
Anyway I'll stop because it sounds like I'm way more passionate about this than I am, and we need more "Lukaku decides on Chelsea after his girlfriend buys a goldfish from London" rumours.
How's the "Rooney to Everton" SAGA going on?
Seems done and dusted.
Both, but mainly just being worn out.Quote:
Originally Posted by Reg
How do Chelsea expect to sign somebody without paying their agent off? Presumably the fees they receive are in their contracts, so somebody has to pay them, which will mean Everton losing out or the player stumping up. I used to refuse to do it on Football Manager and all of the agents hated me. :cool:
That is quite a lot of things. If Alex Ferguson was still in charge Bill Kenwright would have caved at forty after a few drinks and a Billy Connolly story.Quote:
Originally Posted by Guardian
I was going to ask earlier which fat scouser Chelsea were throwing in to 'match' United's offer, but I didn't realise he really was a part of the deal.
Giggs passed 750 games in the 2006-2007 season so right around turning 33 and played until he was 40.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lewis
Maldini got there in 2001 right before turning 33 and played until he was 40.
Rooney got there at 31 (and a half) and looks shot.
Clearly his physiology doesnt help him but he hasnt helped himself at all. We all knew he was going to fall off a cliff. United should have let him go to City and let him be their problem.
Vurnon Anita to Leeds. Hope he does well there.
I must have worked it out wrong, but they're different beasts (and exceptions in their own right). Samuel Eto'o was doing badly in Russia by thirty-two, David Villa was on the slide by that age, Gabriel Batistuta was gone... I think his lifestyle has taken months off him rather than years.Quote:
Originally Posted by Danny
Actually I think he's still good just not as good as when he was in his prime.
Rooney has been a shadow of his former self for a good five years now. The odd moment of brilliance or run of form but he hasn't been a top level player for 5 years.
His decline started at 25/26 and a huge part of that has to be the way he looks after himself. I'm sure the amount he's played is a factor too.
He was awful in 2012/13 when RvP was donning it and has been shit ever since.
I've never really got what he was good at. I mean, he's scored a lot, sure, but he's been a first teamed since his head popped out of his mothers growler. All we hear is 'he's not a striker', well what is he then? Long diagonal passes does not a midfielder make.
That's the key point, 'did' score - his record over the past 5 season has been average, at best - with a slight exception in 13/14.Quote:
Originally Posted by Spikey M
https://gyazo.com/384e90604fc39ae6119b1612e743966d.png
Wolves have broken the Championship spending record again this morning, paying around £15m for Ruben Neves of FC Porto. Five year deal, Jorge Mendes is of course the agent.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DEMmsVXX...jpg&name=large
Yeah, he has scored a lot regardless. He's England's top scorer of all time and I imagine he's pretty far up the Utd rankings. Again, a lot of that will come down to him playing top level football before he could even drive legally.Quote:
Originally Posted by John Arne
His best season was about 6 years ago. This isn't a "he's 31 and suddenly can't play" , this is a steady descent. Lost his pace, motivation and ability to control the ball.
Anyway, big Rom Is in the house.
That Ruben Neves deal is deeply bizarre. He's the youngest captain in that club's history and has about a hundred games by the age of twenty. There must be a serious underlying issue if fucking Porto are letting a player go on the relative cheap.
There is. They have massive financial problems.
Porto's manager is Mendes' best mate and got him into the agenting game. If it was just a case of needing a few quid sharpish I'm sure Mendes could have found a bigger club to take him for a load more money.
Lingard must be heartbroken.
Who do you think takes all of their pictures?
He's furiously learning French this summer.
Need to drop ITKiko down a tier after his Morata declaration earlier in the week.
One of Pogba's brothers so he can say he's 'involved in the bantz' probably.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lewis