Open Thread: August 20, 2021

The Open Thread/Daily Merengue is a place where you can discuss anything and everything related to football. Feel free to discuss the topics presented here, or start your very own discussions! The Open thread will be posted every day by one of the mods: Valyrian Steel, Felipejack, YoSnail, Ezek Ix or NeRObutBlanco.

You thought Nasser Al-Khelaifi was the big daddy?

You thought wrong!! There’s a certain emir of Qatar, Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani that controls Mbappe’s summer transfer in the palm of his hand. Al-Khelaifi simply does his bidding. There are two Thanoses.

Fact: Mbappe hasn’t signed a contract agreement yet.

If all was well he would have signed an extension by now but his head has obviously been turned by the allure of the Bernabeu. It will be down to the Emir and Florentino Perez to negotiate, although the position of the Qatari-owned club is that Mbappe is not for sale at any price.

You have to factor in the importance of politics when accepting that states are somehow allowed to own football clubs.

There is not necessarily just sporting matters on the agenda, and with Lionel Messi having just signed up to the Qatari project in Paris and the 2022 Qatar World Cup just around the corner, now is not the time for the Emir to suffer an embarrassment. Thanos Flo will have to bring his A game.

Football is all set to return to the Bernabeu.

AS confirmed that Real Madrid will play against Celta Vigo at the Santiago Bernabeu on September 12 in front of 32000 fans. The players and coach visited the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on Thursday to see the progress being made at the stadium. Ancelotti was accompanied by Dani Carvajal, Lucas Vasquez, Nacho Fernandez, David Alaba, Luka Modric and fitness coach Antonio Pintus at the club’s famous home ground.

Remember when Luka made em dance? He did it again, in training this time

Odegaard is in London but might not feature against Chelsea this weekend.

There appears to be some minor visa issues that will prevent the young Norweigian from playing this Sunday but otherwise his transfer is complete and will be made official soon. Good luck Martin.