Flash Gordon
Striker
The Bundesliga starts tonight with the reigning Champions Bayern at home to Wolfsburg.
Obviously at the moment, this is a one team league and Bayern should be even stronger with Lewandowski replacing Mandzukic. The sale of Kroos still baffles me but Bayern have more than enough strength in depth to cope with his loss. The battle for 2nd place is much more interesting though.
Dortmund have brought back Sahin permanently and have spent big on Immobille, Ramos and Ji to try and replace the goals scored by Lewandowski. They should have enough to be favourites for 2nd place again.
Schalke's main recruit was Sidney Sam from Leverkusen for a bargain fee of under £3m due to a clause in his contract. After starting slowly last season, they will hope to be closer to Dortmund this time around.
Levekusen have lost Emre Can and Sam, but have reinforced with Calhanoglu from HSV (check out the wonder goal of last season on you tube), Drmic from Nurnberg who had an impressive season last year, and the loan signing of Papadopoulos from Schalke which is surprising and potentially excellent.
After spending much of the summer trying to get a marquee striker on board (Lukaku), Wolfsburg finally achieved their goal with the signing of Niclas Bendtner on a free transfer. They've made some solid signings this summer Aaron Hunt on a free, Sebastian Jung and Guilavogui on loan, and with a lot of money burning a hole in their pocket, I wouldn't be surprised to see them spend big before the transfer window closes.
Gladbach started well last season and after a bit of a second half stutter, they finished 6th. They've lost Ter Stegen but replaced him with a very solid keeper in Yann Sommer from Basel. I'd expect them to be in the mix again.
Finally a mention for Hoffenheim, the leagues most exciting team. Last season their games averaged more than 4 goals a game, scoring 72 and conceding 70 in 34 games. They finished 9th. This year, they have made a few signings including highly rated Oliver Baumann in goal (who was awful last year) and the Hungary striker Adam Szalai from Schalke. Hopefully they'll be as exciting again next season.
My Bundesliga top 7 this season:
1) Bayern
2) Dortmund
3) Leverkusen
4) Wolfsburg
5) Gladbach
6) Schalke
7) Hoffenheim
This thread is obviously for any European Football leagues that aren't British. Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing a bit of Eredivisie this season in the hope that it's as good as @forzamilansafc says it is.
My really bold predictions for the other major leagues are Real Madrid, Juventus, PSG and Ajax.
Will @The Bridge Lad @Maravilla @Steesafc @MarcoG @IAmZlatan @KarlM @SAFC 2012 be watching this or the 2nd leg of the Spanish super cup tonight? Any opinion on transfers this summer or predictions for the season ahead?
Obviously at the moment, this is a one team league and Bayern should be even stronger with Lewandowski replacing Mandzukic. The sale of Kroos still baffles me but Bayern have more than enough strength in depth to cope with his loss. The battle for 2nd place is much more interesting though.
Dortmund have brought back Sahin permanently and have spent big on Immobille, Ramos and Ji to try and replace the goals scored by Lewandowski. They should have enough to be favourites for 2nd place again.
Schalke's main recruit was Sidney Sam from Leverkusen for a bargain fee of under £3m due to a clause in his contract. After starting slowly last season, they will hope to be closer to Dortmund this time around.
Levekusen have lost Emre Can and Sam, but have reinforced with Calhanoglu from HSV (check out the wonder goal of last season on you tube), Drmic from Nurnberg who had an impressive season last year, and the loan signing of Papadopoulos from Schalke which is surprising and potentially excellent.
After spending much of the summer trying to get a marquee striker on board (Lukaku), Wolfsburg finally achieved their goal with the signing of Niclas Bendtner on a free transfer. They've made some solid signings this summer Aaron Hunt on a free, Sebastian Jung and Guilavogui on loan, and with a lot of money burning a hole in their pocket, I wouldn't be surprised to see them spend big before the transfer window closes.
Gladbach started well last season and after a bit of a second half stutter, they finished 6th. They've lost Ter Stegen but replaced him with a very solid keeper in Yann Sommer from Basel. I'd expect them to be in the mix again.
Finally a mention for Hoffenheim, the leagues most exciting team. Last season their games averaged more than 4 goals a game, scoring 72 and conceding 70 in 34 games. They finished 9th. This year, they have made a few signings including highly rated Oliver Baumann in goal (who was awful last year) and the Hungary striker Adam Szalai from Schalke. Hopefully they'll be as exciting again next season.
My Bundesliga top 7 this season:
1) Bayern
2) Dortmund
3) Leverkusen
4) Wolfsburg
5) Gladbach
6) Schalke
7) Hoffenheim
This thread is obviously for any European Football leagues that aren't British. Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing a bit of Eredivisie this season in the hope that it's as good as @forzamilansafc says it is.
My really bold predictions for the other major leagues are Real Madrid, Juventus, PSG and Ajax.
Will @The Bridge Lad @Maravilla @Steesafc @MarcoG @IAmZlatan @KarlM @SAFC 2012 be watching this or the 2nd leg of the Spanish super cup tonight? Any opinion on transfers this summer or predictions for the season ahead?
