Outrageous summer transfer business.
Zidane, Iuliano, Vieri, Montero, Boksic in one season!!!
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Veron and Mendieta should have just stayed at their clubs lol.
Incredible how much Mendieta’s career dropped off after leaving Valencia while he was one of the highest rated midfielders in the world at time, while still relatively young.
Lazio losing Nedved and Veron at the same time looks catastrophic.
From one of the most powerful squad’s in Europe to a team that couldn’t get to the CL in just a few years.
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I reckon Veron would have done well at United if they adjusted the midfield to get the best out of him.
I saw on a podcast not long ago a United player say he was way too good for United and ahead of his time. The problem was they didn’t play in a way that suited him and didn’t adapt for him.
Even Neville said he was so good it was unbelievable but the United players couldn’t adapt to a 4-3-3 and he suffered because of it.
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The amount of Serie A clubs on this list. Football needs this league strong again.
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Yeah, their game just wasn’t suited to a 3rd midfielder at the time.
Direct, simple, straightforward… I guess Fergie’s idea was to add a midfielder to compete better with the European teams but their setup just wasn’t made for it.
They should have just invested more into their defence primarily, that still heavily relied on guys like Wes Brown or Silvestre. But the midfield was fine with Keane and Scholes dictating it, with the help of Becks and Giggs.
Also the GK position was a massive issue for them at the time too.
Knowing what a force they were defensively in that VDS-Vidic-Rio era, and also at the end of the 90s with Schmeichel, Stam, Johnsen etc, for me it often feels weird Fergie tolerated that defence (along the GK) from around 2001 until 2006, with basically only Ferdinand as a true elite player (even though he had his mistakes too at the time, and only reached his prime with Vidic and VDS).
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Incredible talent moving clubs that summer window.
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Unfortunately for them they’ve been left in the dust when it comes to money but what a great league it was back then.
Cassano being listed as a miss is definitely wrong though. He didn’t live up to lofty expectations but he was very good for a few years at Roma.
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What would you consider the most value transfer on that list?
Frank Lampard right? Him or Andrea Pirlo?
Pirlo
Lampard
RvN
Adriano
In that order
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Its crazy to say given how big the fee was at the time but Juve still got incredible value from Buffon. 17 seasons until he first left for PSG and was Serie A goalkeeper of the year 11 times while there.
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True. They also did brilliantly with Nedved.
Quite expensive at the time, but was worth every euro they paid. Absolute driving force of that team until they got relegated, and beyond it.
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Juventus must of not heard about ‘sale value’ and how you need to sell a player in a couple years to make your spreadsheet look good 
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That’s a very good point as well. Think your eyes are automatically drawn to the bottom end of the list when looking for value but Buffon could easily sit at the top of that list too.
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I absolutely did think of Buffon right away lol.
When you look at the career, the legacy etc, he was more than worth it.
Also when you think, they sold a guy like VDS, who is among the greatest of all times, to get him… You know he had to be special.
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Quite liked that there seemed to be more hesitation over Titi than pretty much anyone else
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Del Piero a secret Arsenal fan
It’s only because they are colleagues at CBS lol
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Need more Baggio love in this thread
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