summer transfers

[js1000]

you base your judgement on 1 game ? if kewell stays fit this season he'll be an important player for liverpool. olympiakos could not get such a player. the best players in the world play in england and spain those leagues are miles ahead of our league. hopefully football improves in greece but when an average premiership team like man city are able to persuade castillo to leave the greek champions for them it does say something for the greek league.

I HOPE I'M WRONG AND CASTILLO STAYS

Actually Castillo has made a statement that he's staying, because he hasnt been seduced by Man City. He'll probably leave but for other reasons. The Prem is obviously a more prestigious league and with that comes more money! Much like players leaving huge clubs like Boca Juniors to go to average Spanish teams like Villareal ;)

I'm not basing my judgement on one game, Kewell has been poor for some time now, at least 3 years! He's always injured, and when he does play he offers nothing! You make out as if the Greek league hasnt attracted players of Kewell's calibre! Rivaldo, Zahovic, Giovanni, Ze Elias, & Zetterberg have all played for Olympiakos in recent years, and Kewell isnt worthy of shining their boots.

The Greek league is stronger than you think. Giannakopoulos took the Premiership by storm, and Dabizas was considered one of the best defenders in the Prem in his first 2 seasons in England. Gekas finished top scorer in the Bundesliga last year and Kyriakos is widely regarded as being one of the best defenders in Germany (a recent poll in Germany suggested he's one of the top defenders in Europe at the moment!). Seitaridis is at a v. good spanish club and Basinas was hailed in his first season at Mallorca. Now lets look at the antithesis...

Biscan was also a Champions League winner and fringe player at Liverpool, JUST LIKE KEWELL, and what a flop he's been at PAO. Flavio Conceicao didnt last a 6 months and Dani offered nothing at Oly. Just beacuse you come from a more prestigious league doesnt mean anything. Kewell would not get into Olympiakos' starting 11, I guarantee that!

You should watch football outside England mate & dont believe the BS the British commentators try to sell you.

papadopoulos a regular for pao couldn't get in the burnley line up. giannakopoulos left a top greek side to join a team that had just avoided relegation and improved as a result of playing in a better league.seitaridis is probably the one exception who has always been excellent. if the greek league is so good why do none of our teams ever progress far in europe.

chalkias skopelitis lakis all flopped in england. as for biscan everybody knew he wasn't good enough to play in england and where does he end up ? a top greek team. i want our teams to do well as much as you do but the greek league is poorly attended and at a low standard. well behind the english spanish german italian french portugease and dutch leagues

[ZOOM]

I totaly agree with DUDE.

DO NOT BELIEV THE CRAP THAT THE ENGLISH MEDIA sells you!

Greek players and the greek league is a lot better than it is made out to be.

We do nto progress far in europe only becuase of our mental attitude is similar to js1000. We need to give our selves more credit and start beleiving that we are actually as good as we are!

When we play at home we can win, but when we go away we s%$#! ourselves nd never win. THAT IS WRONG.

We can mix it with the best!

GREEK FOOTBALL is better than we give it credit, the organisation of it is F***ed because their are to many theives but talent wise we are good!

[DUDE]

papadopoulos a regular for pao couldn't get in the burnley line up. giannakopoulos left a top greek side to join a team that had just avoided relegation and improved as a result of playing in a better league.seitaridis is probably the one exception who has always been excellent. if the greek league is so good why do none of our teams ever progress far in europe.

chalkias skopelitis lakis all flopped in england. as for biscan everybody knew he wasn't good enough to play in england and where does he end up ? a top greek team. i want our teams to do well as much as you do but the greek league is poorly attended and at a low standard. well behind the english spanish german italian french portugease and dutch leagues

Sorry mate but you're knowledge of the Greek league (and football in general doesnt seem to be too deep). I promise I dont mean that as an insult but its just that you're contradicting yourself. You say:

biscan everybody knew he wasn't good enough to play in england and where does he end up ? a top greek team.

Biscan left a top club in England and went to a top club in Greece. He was getting more playing time at Liverpool than Kewell is now! And did Biscan take the Greek league by storm?? No, he floped!

As for Papadopoulos, he was a young player at Burnley learning his trade. So you cant make that comparison. Look at David Platt, Man Utd got rid of him as a youngster because they thought he wouldnt be good enough and he became an England International. Gekas too was rejected by PAO and is a top hitman in Germany! One manager's opinion doesnt mean s%$#!. As for Stelios, yes he left Olympiakos, went to a struggling Prem team, became their best player and top scorer and fired them intro Europe!!! ;) Also there's the antithetical example, where Rivaldo rejected Bolton to sign for Olympiakos.

As for Skopelitis, Chalkias and Lakis: Skopelitis wasnt even a good player in Greece, F*** knows what Zajec was thinking! Chalkias was poor but we know Greece are poor in the GK department, and Lakis wasnt really given a chance at Palace! Having said that, he's now gone to PAOK so its not like he's a superstar in Greece and was terrible in England.

You say only Seitaridis is a good player... what about Karagounis and Katsouranis being fans favourites at Benfica? How about Gekas? Kyriakos? etc. Of course the Prem is better than the Greek league but the difference isnt that great. The top 4 are miles better but the rest aren't! As for why Greek teams dont perform that well in Europe, its got nothing to do with talent. Greece won Euro 2004, and when those players were u-21 they got to the final of the Euro Championships. Now we have our u-19's in the semis. PAO have been to the quarters of the CL and semis of the UEFA Cup in recent years, and AEK Athens were very unlucky to be eliminated the last 2 times they were in the CL. First time they went out while being undefeated and last season they only went out because Milan played a reserve team against Lille. The point is, there is a fine line between success and failiure so what is that line? Its simply the fact of strength in depth. For example, while players like Djordjevic, Castillo, Konstantinou, Rivaldo, Yaya Toure, Giovanni, Ze Elias, etc, were capable of playing at a higher level, there were also those who were not good enough... Anatolakis, Nikopolidis, etc. Hence, its all about depth. In the CL you cant afford to have 6 good players and 5 s%$#! ones! I mean England's excuse for not being able to win a trohpy has been that they dont have a naturally left sided midfielder!!! If the absense of one player can prevent success then the absense of 5 is HUGE! That doesnt mean that the other 6 players aren't very good. In this case, they are better than Harry Kewell! I told a Liverpool season ticket holder that Kewell's been offered and he said "TAKE HIM PLEASE!"... some player! <_<

Hence, the reason Greek teams flop is... MONEY not talent!!! Look at what England's top 4 spend!

[bar7]

Cristian Raul Ledesma is a joke. I mean jus look at his profile he's played on 10 teams in 10 years.hes never played on the same team for more than a season.So hell just suck at olympiakos and go somewhere else next year and suck and he will keep his streak alive and never play 2 seasons on the same team.great signing :tup: :tup:

:LOL:

dont understand the excitement on this one that the gavri are jumping for joy :blink:

[HOLLYWOOD]

i think ur both right and your both wrong (Dude and JS1000)

Dude i think u sell the Greek League abit to high and JS abit to low...

Granted Kewel "was" a really really good player when he was at Leeds... However 4 year later things change!!! his form has dropped because of his injuries since joining Liverpool (his just been unlucky) Dude can make the point in saying "he spoke to a Liverpool fan and he said TAKE HIM PLEASE"

on the flip side Js1000 can say (ill help you out here) every time Kewel has sorta "over come his injuries" Rafa Benitez always manages to find room for him to be either in the starting 11 or to be subbed into a match (Cl final Ac Milian?) straight after he recovered from his injury (meaning no reserve grade which most players would play to get there fitness high and form back) Some might say this is a complement to Kewel the player and recognizes that he is still a good/important player for Liverpool and some others might say his the coaches Pet?

Look in the end a fit non-injured Harry Kewel would run rings around the Greek League however that isnt reality; reality is he spends more time with the medics rather then playing football... i still think he would be a good addition to oly if they got him but i wouldn’t build a team around him....

As for the Greek League and English Prem; English prem wins hands down and is at least and i mean at least 3 times better then the Greek league is... Here are the following reasons as to why:

* Better standard of football

* Better stadiums

* 95% better player’s hence better football

* Much less corruption as opposed to our League

* More Supporters not better though

* More $$$ then ours

These are just some example to why our League sucks as a comparison to the English football... Some times i would watch a match between Pao and Oly the equivalent to Man U and Arsenal and I tell you I would rather watch (if I wasn’t a fan) a match between West Ham and Middlesbrough coz the standard of football that is sometimes played in Greece is like watching ball park and that’s no joke!!! At least when u watch a prem match with the top clubs 8/10 it will deliver a good and entertaining match where as Greece’s top tire matches would only deliver maybe 4/10 times (Im also excusing the fact that Im a Pao fan)

And finally as for comparing teams from both Leagues; our top 5 teams (Oly, Aek, Pao, Paok, Xanthi) against there’s (Chelsea, Man u, Arsenal, Tothnham, Newcastle); Put it this way we couldn’t even clean there boots let a lone match them…

Finally u compare our middle to s%$#! class teams with there’s and those team would struggle against there second division teams (championship league)..

Put it this way u drop Pao and oly and Aek into the English prem for one year and all these teams would finish in the bottom half of the league with at least one of them getting relegated….

[Crazy]

In getting back to the transfers subject the president of San Lorenco is not giving the OK fot the transfer of Ledesma because he wants more money.

[Akritis_1944]

I hope Ledesma's transfer gets sorted out with San Lorenzo as I think he's a great player. Obviously very restless as he's moved on from club to club, but if he comes he might be a great aquisition.

I'm expecting big things from all our Argentinian signings this season. I don't have great expectations of Raul Bravo, but hopefully he'll prove me and many others wrong.

Also Kovacevic should be a great mentor for players like Mitroglou who I expect a lot from even at his age. Let's hope that Lemonis and his replacement manager when he's sacked puts some faith in this kid and gives him a chance to play.

[js1000]

papadopoulos a regular for pao couldn't get in the burnley line up. giannakopoulos left a top greek side to join a team that had just avoided relegation and improved as a result of playing in a better league.seitaridis is probably the one exception who has always been excellent. if the greek league is so good why do none of our teams ever progress far in europe.

chalkias skopelitis lakis all flopped in england. as for biscan everybody knew he wasn't good enough to play in england and where does he end up ? a top greek team. i want our teams to do well as much as you do but the greek league is poorly attended and at a low standard. well behind the english spanish german italian french portugease and dutch leagues

Sorry mate but you're knowledge of the Greek league (and football in general doesnt seem to be too deep). I promise I dont mean that as an insult but its just that you're contradicting yourself. You say:

Biscan left a top club in England and went to a top club in Greece. He was getting more playing time at Liverpool than Kewell is now! And did Biscan take the Greek league by storm?? No, he floped!

As for Papadopoulos, he was a young player at Burnley learning his trade. So you cant make that comparison. Look at David Platt, Man Utd got rid of him as a youngster because they thought he wouldnt be good enough and he became an England International. Gekas too was rejected by PAO and is a top hitman in Germany! One manager's opinion doesnt mean s%$#!. As for Stelios, yes he left Olympiakos, went to a struggling Prem team, became their best player and top scorer and fired them intro Europe!!! ;) Also there's the antithetical example, where Rivaldo rejected Bolton to sign for Olympiakos.

As for Skopelitis, Chalkias and Lakis: Skopelitis wasnt even a good player in Greece, F*** knows what Zajec was thinking! Chalkias was poor but we know Greece are poor in the GK department, and Lakis wasnt really given a chance at Palace! Having said that, he's now gone to PAOK so its not like he's a superstar in Greece and was terrible in England.

You say only Seitaridis is a good player... what about Karagounis and Katsouranis being fans favourites at Benfica? How about Gekas? Kyriakos? etc. Of course the Prem is better than the Greek league but the difference isnt that great. The top 4 are miles better but the rest aren't! As for why Greek teams dont perform that well in Europe, its got nothing to do with talent. Greece won Euro 2004, and when those players were u-21 they got to the final of the Euro Championships. Now we have our u-19's in the semis. PAO have been to the quarters of the CL and semis of the UEFA Cup in recent years, and AEK Athens were very unlucky to be eliminated the last 2 times they were in the CL. First time they went out while being undefeated and last season they only went out because Milan played a reserve team against Lille. The point is, there is a fine line between success and failiure so what is that line? Its simply the fact of strength in depth. For example, while players like Djordjevic, Castillo, Konstantinou, Rivaldo, Yaya Toure, Giovanni, Ze Elias, etc, were capable of playing at a higher level, there were also those who were not good enough... Anatolakis, Nikopolidis, etc. Hence, its all about depth. In the CL you cant afford to have 6 good players and 5 s%$#! ones! I mean England's excuse for not being able to win a trohpy has been that they dont have a naturally left sided midfielder!!! If the absense of one player can prevent success then the absense of 5 is HUGE! That doesnt mean that the other 6 players aren't very good. In this case, they are better than Harry Kewell! I told a Liverpool season ticket holder that Kewell's been offered and he said "TAKE HIM PLEASE!"... some player! <_<

Hence, the reason Greek teams flop is... MONEY not talent!!! Look at what England's top 4 spend!

[Crazy]

[DUDE]

OFI lost yesterday in the intertoto cup against a team from KAZAKHSTAN.

So what if OFI lost away in Kazakstan... Atheltico Madrid lost to a pub team!! We'll see who qualifies, then we'll can talk again ;)

the best greek players leave this league and top foreign players don't come.

sorry guys for this being off topic but dude thinks we can compete with the likes of barca and man utd.

You're right, we cant compete with Europe's elite and top players in their prime dont come Greece, but Harry Kewell is FAR, FAR, FAAAAAARRRR, from being a top player!

[Crazy]

Guys our league is not the top but for sure not the bottom of Europe.We are trying and hope to be somewhere in the middle.We luck organization,stadiums,referees,one authority that everyone would have to obey and follow rules,laws about people who dont behave,way to much pressure for succes of any kind and other little things.

We do have loyal paying fans,good or decent greek players and some good foreign players have played or still play in greece(Vazeha,Giovvani,Magdi,Ribo,Souza,Zahovic,Karembeu,Toure,Asanovic,Boreli,Sabanajovic,Ivic k.a) and lately the presidents got the message that they need to spent more money every year if they want to do something better. We can not compete money wise or any other way wise with Barca or Man utd or lets be honest, teams from England-Spain-Italy-Germany no way but Austria,Poland,Belgium,Portugal,Turkey,Ireland,Norway,Sweden,and a bunch others f-u-c-k yeah baby.

[CH-Thrylos]

i'd say that our leagues biggest problem is that we don't produce that many talents and have a much weaker youth program than other leagues. even portugal and turkey are way above us money wise, at least the top clubs.

if you look at the money teams in portugal, the netherlands and maybe belgium get for their players, they are able to lure talented players from other countries to their leagues. and after a few years they are able to sell them for a lot of money to the big 4 championships.

things have changed a bit, and honestly i'm happy that some teams like paok and panionios refuse to let their young players go for a few hundred thousand euros, because they know that like that these teams have a chance to keep competing for higher ranks in the super league and get more money if they sell them directly to a team abroad.

after the euro other countries started to have an eye on our teams too. if there will be some more talents in the future, i'm sure we can also rise the level of our league, get more money, invest it wisely (hopefully), sell the youngsters for more money, invest it etc etc...

by just bringing in foreign players our leage won't becom much stronger imo. we have to invest in our youth too...

[Genome]

(Vazeha,Giovvani,Magdi,Ribo,Souza,Zahovic,Karembeu,Toure,Asanovic,Boreli,Sabanajovic,Ivic k.a)

How could you not include Rivaldo in that list ? :o

Edit: sorry, read over the "Ribo"

:nw:

[Crazy]

[HOLLYWOOD]

This Thursday Cristian Raul Ledesma is supposed to sign with u guys...

Not a bad transfer..

http://sports.phantis.com/soccer/news/read...D=2007072473933

[Crazy]

If he is half as good as his little video highlights we will be straight.We need someone helping poor Stoltidis because he is one man running for 10 all his years with Osfp.I dont see Ne doing anything special this year.

[DUDE]

If he is half as good as his little video highlights we will be straight.We need someone helping poor Stoltidis because he is one man running for 10 all his years with Osfp.I dont see Ne doing anything special this year.

I agree file mou. We need a proper, old fashioned, hard-working, defensive midfielder to protect the defence. However, We were hearing about players like Dudu, Ze Roberto and Makalele for this position, Ledesma is not exactly at their level. I hope I'm wrong but I'm afraid mas koroidevi o Kokkalis!

[Crazy]

You see i dont believe that Kokkalis mas koroideuei.I believe that we have never any real plan when it comes to big names transfers.If you are a serious team you dont wait summer time, mid of June to start negotiating.You start a year or at least 6 months earlier trying to psisi the player.Not when everyone else is trying to get him.Also you got to spent a lot of money on one player and with this year reconstruction of the team with 9 players leaving you have way to many needs to cover.Also what i did not like this year was the idea that we will make offers to 20 big names and maybe 1 or 2 might sign with us.By far the stupiest thing i heard, ever.Thank god that Ivic came and finished some transfers because otherwise they would have to call me and you to go and play. :D

[Crazy]

[Crazy]

The latest name that i saw today that Ivic wants to bring and Lemonis agreed is ukranian left midfielder Evgeni Levtchenco from Groningen for 500.00 euro.

[DUDE]

The latest name that i saw today that Ivic wants to bring and Lemonis agreed is ukranian left midfielder Evgeni Levtchenco from Groningen for 500.00 euro.

<_<

[evalagoal]

this guys is a TRUE Left winger and he does a agreat job of scoring as well. It's going to be intersting to see him play in the Superleague.

I like this pick-up. :tup:

[Crazy]

[Crazy]

[george21]

Olympiakos are after Ioannis Papadopoulos who plays for Iraklis.