The Guardian 12 best value deals of the summer

[Russell]

Stuck between Pulisic and Messi:

 

Ylber Ramadani (Aberdeen to Lecce, £1m)

Born in Germany and raised in Kosovo, Ramadani has “spent 12 years away from home” to pursue his dream of playing elite football. Last summer, Aberdeen paid £120,000 to sign the midfielder from MTK Budapest. Ramadani made 44 appearances last season as the Dons finished third – but was on the move again after Lecce sought him out as a replacement for the Sporting-bound Morten Hjulmand. Aberdeen allowed the 27-year-old to pursue his Serie A dream, and he has quickly earned comparisons with Gennaro Gattuso. After more than a decade on the road, Ramadani appears to finally be in the right place.

[Arthur FN Shelby]

Pity we couldn’t have kept him longer but by the same token it would have been wrong to deny him his move. Case of finding  the replacement which is not easy.

[Durrant Dived]

Ffs, the disappointment when i opened the thread. I was hoping for newspaper cheap Butlin's vouchers. 

[Helmet]

Hasn’t spotted that, cheers for sharing.

[Footballs coming Rome]

Sold on the cheap then!

[Millertime]

4 hours ago, Russell said:

Stuck between Pulisic and Messi:

 

Ylber Ramadani (Aberdeen to Lecce, £1m)

Born in Germany and raised in Kosovo, Ramadani has “spent 12 years away from home” to pursue his dream of playing elite football. Last summer, Aberdeen paid £120,000 to sign the midfielder from MTK Budapest. Ramadani made 44 appearances last season as the Dons finished third – but was on the move again after Lecce sought him out as a replacement for the Sporting-bound Morten Hjulmand. Aberdeen allowed the 27-year-old to pursue his Serie A dream, and he has quickly earned comparisons with Gennaro Gattuso. After more than a decade on the road, Ramadani appears to finally be in the right place.

@thurso

[thurso]

10 hours ago, Millertime said:

@thurso

They can’t have watched him n at least half our games last season where he was average at best.
To compare him to gattuso is bit of a joke 

[zeroisgod76]

Clear how much we are missing him this season. The fact he's not been replaced is a shocker. May have made 10 times our money on him but it won't have been worth it if we have a shite season, which is looking highly possible.

[DelMonte]

Think Barron is seen as replacement judging by the sounds I’m hearing and his recent interview with Scotland U21s.

[CCB III]

8 minutes ago, DelMonte said:

Think Barron is seen as replacement judging by the sounds I’m hearing and his recent interview with Scotland U21s.

Needs to sign a contract then, surely?

 

Got a year left on his current. 

[DelMonte]

11 minutes ago, CCB III said:

Needs to sign a contract then, surely?

 

Got a year left on his current. 

Ideally but I’ve heard he’s not signing because we wants game time. 

[WesthillWanderersFC]

22 minutes ago, DelMonte said:

Think Barron is seen as replacement judging by the sounds I’m hearing and his recent interview with Scotland U21s.

Meh. 

[CCB III]

13 minutes ago, DelMonte said:

Ideally but I’ve heard he’s not signing because we wants game time. 

Was getting plenty when he initially rejected 

[Footballs coming Rome]

1 hour ago, CCB III said:

Was getting plenty when he initially rejected 

Exactly. The boy thought he was signing for Celtic and now he’s spat the dummy out not getting game time  

Still think he is a good option in a deep midfield role  

 

[DelMonte]

I’m not sure why he initially rejected but I know he is wanting to play regularly. 

[Don_Corleone]

3 hours ago, DelMonte said:

Think Barron is seen as replacement judging by the sounds I’m hearing and his recent interview with Scotland U21s.

Seen by who? Clearly not the manager as he's hardly picked him so far this season.

[DelMonte]

1 hour ago, Don_Corleone said:

Seen by who? Clearly not the manager as he's hardly picked him so far this season.

Been carrying an injury last season and into this. Fully fit now.

[Guest Matt Armstrong's Dog]

8 hours ago, thurso said:

They can’t have watched him n at least half our games last season where he was average at best.
To compare him to gattuso is bit of a joke 

If I were Ylber Ramadani, I would be mightily pissed off with that comparison. 

Gennaro Gattuso was one of the most fortunate and overrated players of modern times. A 5/10 player at best and that's being generous.

[minijc]

8 hours ago, thurso said:

They can’t have watched him n at least half our games last season where he was average at best.
To compare him to gattuso is bit of a joke 

Lecce will have watched a lot of his games and went deep into his data, they deemed him to be worth over £1m, so I think you're wrong.

[dave_min]

33 minutes ago, Matt Armstrong's Dog said:

If I were Ylber Ramadani, I would be mightily pissed off with that comparison. 

Gennaro Gattuso was one of the most fortunate and overrated players of modern times. A 5/10 player at best and that's being generous.

Great hair though.

[Don_Corleone]

1 hour ago, DelMonte said:

Been carrying an injury last season and into this. Fully fit now.

He has more Ramadani like energy and style than Polvara I guess. My only concern is we would have a very small midfield with him, Shinnie and Clarkson - all about 5ft tall.

[Guest Matt Armstrong's Dog]

46 minutes ago, dave_min said:

Great hair though.

Shame it never covered his face though.

A horrible, niggly,  talentless player.

[Footballs coming Rome]

1 hour ago, DelMonte said:

Been carrying an injury last season and into this. Fully fit now.

Been carrying an injury and doesn’t want to sign a new deal because he’s not getting enough pitch time? Weird one that. 

[Ke1t]

1 hour ago, Matt Armstrong's Dog said:

If I were Ylber Ramadani, I would be mightily pissed off with that comparison. 

Gennaro Gattuso was one of the most fortunate and overrated players of modern times. A 5/10 player at best and that's being generous.

I'm going to disagree there. What we saw of him was a 19/20 year old guy who played for the Huns (RIP) and was still a way off being the finished article. 

But he was the engine room in a Milan team that won 2 Champions League Titles, 2 supercups, 2 Seria A titles, a Coppa Italia, and Supercoppa Italia, whatever the fuck that is. 

He filled a role that every winning team needs.. the ball-winner who never stops running and tackling in the middle... and he did that REALLY well for Milan. 

 

[1903Fitba]

Barron is not the answer. 
 

Unless the question is, which player would you like to see leave after Morris?

[Fridge]

19 minutes ago, Ke1t said:

I'm going to disagree there. What we saw of him was a 19/20 year old guy who played for the Huns (RIP) and was still a way off being the finished article. 

But he was the engine room in a Milan team that won 2 Champions League Titles, 2 supercups, 2 Seria A titles, a Coppa Italia, and Supercoppa Italia, whatever the fuck that is. 

He filled a role that every winning team needs.. the ball-winner who never stops running and tackling in the middle... and he did that REALLY well for Milan. 

 

Agreed the wee Hun fuck was good at breaking up play, see Brian Grant, Michael Carrick.

[DelMonte]

27 minutes ago, Footballs coming Rome said:

Been carrying an injury and doesn’t want to sign a new deal because he’s not getting enough pitch time? Weird one that. 

No, he just wants to play regular football so isn’t committing. I don’t agree with it but it’s what’s happened. He also has been carrying an injury, he says it himself on Scotlands YouTube. 

[Hoofball]

6 hours ago, DelMonte said:

Ideally but I’ve heard he’s not signing because we wants game time. 

He needs to show he’s worth more game time, was shite all of last season

 

45 minutes ago, Don_Corleone said:

He has more Ramadani like energy and style than Polvara I guess. My only concern is we would have a very small midfield with him, Shinnie and Clarkson - all about 5ft tall.

Height in midfield doesn’t matter when Robson only plays route one football

[Millertime]

4 hours ago, DelMonte said:

I’m not sure why he initially rejected but I know he is wanting to play regularly. 

Maybe he should sign the contract then

(He will, by the way)

[NEM]

6 hours ago, CCB III said:

Was getting plenty when he initially rejected 

Exactly - fuck the droopy faced cunt. Clearly got ideas way above his station and probably panicking now as his big dream move likely up in smoke cause he’s not kicked a ball for donkeys ages