What's your question? Is Ligue 1 a top-tier league? Yes and no. If you take some factors in consideration only EPL and La Liga turn out to be top tier leagues at the moment. But if you take other aspects like history/tradition into consideration, the French league is up there with Serie A and the Buli at the top.

We can't say the same for any other club in the world. That's why Neymar's move makes perfect sense. It's a good push into a direction that makes "balance of power" slightly more possible.

Official: Neymar has bought out his Barca contract

Well let's put it this way

If La Liga/EPLA are the Ferrari or the footballing world for me Italy Germany are the Mercedes Benz while the French league is just a tricked out BMW 3 Series.

Ligue 1 has always been a feeder league to the others. That's what makes it a step down. Neymar is mostly looking at the financial gains he'll be getting but overall this is a step back for him as he won't get the exposure I'm sure he craves in France.

For me, I'd rather watch Dortmund v Wolfsburg than Monaco v Lille and I'm sure many have the same sentiment considering the viewership of the 2 leagues

Well, I'd rather watch Dortmund v Schalke, but yeah. I enjoy the Bundesliga (second to Serie A for me in terms of personal enjoyment). I tend to ignore the English league and will watch Liga games that don't include teams with 'Madrid' or 'Barcelona' in their names.

Meanwhile, during the game just now, PSG announced Neymar.

'Sh*t and a joke'.

Wow. You're one of the most reasonable guys on here but this is one occasion where such qualities are curiously absent.

But we move on.

It's reminding me of the (rightful) arrogance of the 90s and 00s Serie A fans had about all other leagues because it was clearly the best.

Now it isn't, but the opinion of other leagues seems to remain. Odd.

It took a miracle goal in the final second to put PSG out last season in the last 16, and a robust Juve defence to deny Monaco in the semi final.

Can't quite see how all this qualifies as a joke when your superior EPL didn't even do as well as this but each to their own

My question was: when was the last time a French side won a European competition? Can you please answer that for me?




Oh dear me. How does me saying that the French league is sh*t and a joke demonstrate that I am angry? It's an OPINION, Danny. Your logic is not very sound.



Did PSG and Monaco win the Champions League? No. That's all that matters. Don't make me repeat the question I've been making to Fillipo over and over again.

ManU won the Europa League in the meanwhile...

I'd rather Milan get to the UCL last 16 than win the UEL. UEL is worthless.

Man, I don't get your tone here really. You say over and over again you've asked me something we already know. But the truth is, even if the last CL win by a French team was in 1899, I'd still be saying the Ligue 1 is a good league nowadays.

Sure, winning silverware is a important criteria. You can argue that the Spaniards are better then the English in that department, Italy better then Germany etc. But is it, like you say, "all that matters"? I don't think so. And you're just making excuses here X-O, I'm sorry but you are. You obviously jumped the gun and used words like "shite" and "joke", vastly underrating the league we were talking about. Sure, it's your opinion and you can put it in words you like, but you ain't usually the one who jumps in and names things in that manner.

Mostly we agree. But you say Ligue 1 has been a feeeder league. Sure, up from the 1990s, yes. But Serie A is a feeder league as well nowadays, with the exception of Juventus and the lucky thing that Italians usually unlikely move abroad. Hell, even BuLi is mostly a feeder league if you don't make it to Bayern.

But you didn't answer my question, who do you think Neymar should have picked before PSG? Haven't you seen the sum they payed? So, who qualifies to do the same: Citeh, maybe United and who else? Why would he prefer any English club to PSG really? I honestly think that in the next 2-3 years PSG has a chance of getting the CL, whereas I don't exactly see that happening to City or United - apart from some miraculous season.

Ligue 1 stopped being a feeder league when Silva and Ibra went there.

I'd argue even Bayern is a feeder club. When was the last time Bayern made a marquee signing from outwith the Bundesliga? The only one to come close is a surplus Rodriguez from Real and that's only a loan!

When it comes to non-feeder, only the EPL and Spain's top two really qualify as desired destinations. EPL's standard is cr*p but it has the money and the fake reputation. And Barca and Real remain the absolute pinnacle of football whether we like it or not.

My 11 year old nephew is obsessed with them both despite being raised a Rangers fan. Those two are where all players want to go.

Not Milan. Not Juve. Not PSG. Not Man Utd. Not Bayern. But Barca and Real.

Yes. There is a more or less glorified atmosphere there. Interesting you brought up Barca, I honestly believe that with the departure of Neymar, they've got about 2 years left with the Messi halo still there to bring in players who could keep them at the same level.

Otherwise I think Barca are looking at a collapse and going back to the pre-Rijkaard levels.

Hopefully. But with the kind of money they possess, they won't be coming near to that pre-Rijkaard period.

Utd have more and are worse.

United just did no planning for a post-Alex era. Maybe SAF himself was responsible wanting to be the only king on the throne or whatever. In the end, perhaps his heart melted for a fellow Scot who had no business managing a club with the ambitions of United.

You're very argumentative today!

Well, Utd still haven't really replaced Cristiano Ronaldo. They'd started selling off the family jewels before that. Sure, they have loads of $$$ hut their management has no long term plans and they've badly overpaid for some guys (Pogba). I haven't seen anything cohesive there from a sporting perspective since Ferguson retired.

Ditto fwiw for Barca since Laporta left. (Plus the Catalonian martyr complex)

Lol. Well yeah, but at least Milan can claim they sold the family jewels coz they had no food to put on the table. What Utd's excuse. And surely Pogba vs Silva is a few magnitudes of difference. Granted I think it was Juve who got the worse end of the stick than Utd in the Pogba deal. That just makes me happy. :-D

They got 90M for an overrated pile of shite! I'd take that!

No they didn't!! Raiola took a big chunk of it into his own pocket. They didn't really make more than 70 in the end I think.

The transfer was 105m, Raiola took 15-20m , which leaves Juve with 85-90m. Now compare that with 64m we got for Kaka

Actually Juve got around 70m as confirmed by Moratta

Juve might have made huge profits on him but they got played by Raiola in the end

As for Ligue 1, Danny, I just noticed your comment about the league not being a feeder league since PSG bought Ibra. 1 club being bought out by Qatari oil money does not change the quality of the league in fact it made is far less competitive.

Fact is, all clubs in the league end up selling their best players, either to PSG or abroad. That's why it's a feeder league and has been for as long as I can remember. Look at Monaco this summer. They had a break out year with all of their young talent showing great potential and they've basically been dismantled in a couple of months. And they supposedly have rich owners as well.

@ Fillipo, I think Neymar should have stayed where he was. Messi is not getting any younger and his time to shine would have come sooner rather than later. EPL would have been a sideways step, but going to a club like United and resurrecting them would have always been a huge opportunity for him to reach Messi/Ronaldo levels in the coming years

Uhhhh Monaco just won the title. Och you and X have a chip on your shoulders about Ligue 1 and you won't hear otherwise.

So I will move on!

Did I deny that Monaco won the league? They were great last season no doubt about that, but look what happened after. They've sold practically all their best players, so even the French champions, unless they can sustain wages like PSG, can't keep their squad intact. Simply because players would rather make the move to England/Spain/Italy/Germany

And why does it have to be a chip on my shoulder? Can't I just not rate Ligue 1 simply because I think it's not as good as other European leagues? Do you have a chip on your shoulder about Pogba? Did he do something specific to you? Or are you well within your right to not rate him as a player simply because you don't see what the fuss is about?

Sorry, this will easily sound like a provocation but - when you say other European leagues in plural, you mean - England, Spain, Germany and Italy, right?

Well why would that be a provocation? It's obvious I was referring to those and that's why you also easily came to that conclusion, because I feel like it's common knowledge that those leagues are better than the French league

Look at Monaco, the team they had last season is basically dismantled completely, Mbappe most likely going to PSG along with Fabinho. The gap is about to become light-years apart now from the rest of the league, while they'll still struggle as a collective in the CL

Yeah because losing Rodriguez destroyed Monaco (!)

Yeah because losing Contrao destroyed Monaco (!)

Yeah because losing Love destroyed Monaco (!)

Yeah because losing Martial destroyed Monaco (!)

Yeah because losing Berbatov destroyed Monaco (!)

Yeah because losing Kondogbia destroyed Monaco (!)

Yeah because losing Carasco destroyed Monaco (!)

Yeah because losing R Carvalho destroyed Monaco (!)

Yeah because losing M Carvalho destroyed Monaco (!)

'yeah but...'

Conte's Chelsea wheels have already come off.

They signed no one they wanted and lost at home to Burnley opening day of the season on top of a shitey pre-season.

If they'd actually done good work in the window they'd be cementing their place as best in England.

But they did what we did in 2011 after winning the title. Hee haw.

English football is getting worse. Arsenal pushed all the way by Leicester, Man Utd unconvincing in the window so far, City also not doing great in the window although at least they won, Liverpool look diabolical.

Only Spurs seem to be keeping their heads above water although I guess how high will emerge today.

What's that? Alexis Sanchez going to Ligue 1 you say?

'yeah but...'

1 qame hardly spells the end for Conte, he's the best coach in that league imo and he'll make it work.

Man U looking good today btw.


Yeah, for the cash, the only thing he seems to be chasing now. He could have gone to Bayern but his demands were too much, his last option is PSG as they're the only club willing to meet his 500k a week request.

As said before, no one is denying that PSG are a good team, they have world class players sure, but the majority of them were lured there for a single reason only, the money. They apparently offered Donna 13m a year. That says it all. No other club would offer an 18 yea old 13m a year. PSG bought their way to the top, but that doesn't make the league great. In fact the league is even more boring nowadays compared to when Lyon were the top dogs, at least they achieved their success in a more organic way.

Don't get the point of this

Monaco reached a peak last season, now they're selling their best players same as every other club in Ligue 1 bar PSG

They got BETTER after they lost their best players, Han.

Nope, for me it's done now. Tone was set pre-season and it's continued.



Didn't City offer Donna 12M? Didn't Real offer Mbappe nearly 10M?



Wow, your ligue 1 knowledge stinks. No offence. If you knew anything about Lyon you'd know it was anything but organic.

Actually, no, I said before I was done on this topic and it's p*ssing into the wind. You can have all the last words you like, I ain't chatting about this again.

Against a woeful West Ham! At home! I'd peg Bilic's men as relegation candidates.

Really? Even though he had several key players like Hazard missing and Cahill got himself a early red? Well, I'll be waiting still. Lot's of room for improvement, surely.

He willfully benched one of his key players, ditched another (Costa) and honestly Hazard aside there was no one else missing of enough gravity that the defending champions can say they were justified in losing at home to Burnley, who were fourth bottom last season if I'm not in error?

They had an awful pre-season and it's continued. You say room for improvement but maybe they've already peaked and they're on the slide, Jose style.

The only top five team I'm fairly convinced by remains Spurs. Best team in that division over the past two years. Hate their fans though.

So this weekend I was playing around with translating Italian renaissance embroidery patterns into a sweater design. I had the English league games on in the background and admittedly wasn't paying close attention. But....good lord, is the defending always that appalling in that league?

They've been losing their best players for years now aside from that 1 season when they got new ownership. Then he had divorce drama and started to sell again. Last season was a flash in the pan for them. They didn't build up gradually to it. I can't remember them having such a great season is recent history


Your finality and rash judgment are a real mystery to me Danny. There's obvious tension at Cheslea, not denying that, but Conte is one man I'd bet on to pull through it. He went through similar tensions at Juve and with the NT, yet he was successful with both.

Chelsea played with 10 men for more than an hour. That plays into it, obviously they've got things to work on as they didn't look good before the red card either, but to completely dismiss them after an off day is ridiculous

Plenty of teams have bad pre-seasons btw. Carlo's teams for example always have a bad pre-season, yet they generally do the job when it matters


Sky confirmed yesterday that PSG offer him 13m a year, which basically means he'd be earning twice what he does with us. Don't know about City, I don't think that was ever concrete, Pep wanted a ball playing keeper and Donna is hardly that


When did Lyon spend nearly spend a billion dollars in players? They had a great scouting system, and sure they bullied the other French sides, as generally happens when there is a top dog, but they rarely bought finished products, unlike PSG

Also what is up with you continually cutting off good discussions. We're discussing a footballing topic in a civil manner, why the need to have the last word and peace out? And you do this constantly with practically every topic we disagree upon.

Can't we just continue the discussion in the civilised manner we were carrying on in?


Last season they were awful, even against the relegation sides. They played well yesterday, it doesn't matter who their opponents were, at least they showed flowing cohesive football which is something I haven't seen from United since the Ferguson days


Conte is a character no doubt about that. If you get on his bad side he won't stand for it. Juve were so great under him because he drilled them like robots, and that drilling continues to show it's fruits even to this day. Some players have trouble with that kind of coaching style, no doubt about that, but I believe he'll do well. We'll see if he can win the league again, I think he has the team to do it


Yeah, week one was a terrible advert for defending. But I generally find that the art of defending is just taking a massive hit with each new season. We're seeing worse defending, the game is tilted to an attacking style anyway, so it's gotten to the point of teams outscoring each other

Because I'm too old to get embroiled in pointless arguments

My principle is to exchange views, and if everyone disagrees, leave. No one is going to change their mind.

Peace, my friend.

Morata has been really awful today.

Also, anyone know why Spurs are playing in Wembley?

White hart lane demloshied

They will play every game this season at Wembley.

Wanted to watch but fell asleep instead. Didn't think Chelsea was the right move for him.

Don't think EPL in general was the right move for him. But alas

We'll see. Give him time to adapt. Before the Spurs game he did very well in his debut.

Slightly comical. Ibra signs for Utd again - but won't be available till January.

I mean ffs. He's being paid for getting fit. I'd accept them signing him in January, he is quality however old - but now?!

Mourinho really has lost the plot. 90M for Lukaku and now this?

Of course, if Utd keep winning I suppose he feels vindicated.

He's reportedly lowered his wages

And have you seen that vid of him kickboxing? The man is a machine, would have loved to have him with us.

Barça have apparently signed Dembele from Dortmund for 150M.

We're seriously shifting to insanity here. That much money for someone who's yet to prove all his worth? No wonder Cairo doesn't want to sell Belotti for anything under 100M. Mbappe next?