<div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" src="http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/uploads/assets/240x359/players/other/lee_young_pyo.jpg" align="right" height="359" width="240"></figure></div> Young-Pyo Lee has joined Dortmund after the club agreed to terms with Tottenham Hotspur for the South Korean fullback.
Lee’s survival at Spurs this long has been something of a oddity for us Lilywhites as he had fallen behind Gareth Bale, Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Jamie O’Hara and Gilberto in Juande Ramos’ estimation. He had been a Martin Jol favorite, but for some reason the Spanish boss didn’t rate him. And it couldn’t have been for effort, because Lee was a tireless runner. His continued omission from the squad, when BAE, Bale and Gilberto were all injured last winter, led to the use of nickname he was given in the title of this thread.
So when the rumors of him returning to PSV, from where he had been bought in 2005, or joining Jol at HSV, especially after Sorin was dumped, never came to fruition, Spurs fans were rather surprised. He had been a good steward in his time at the club and the thought of him rotting on the reserves bench was sad.
I am very happy to see him get a chance to play again. Here’s my take on what BVB are getting. He’s a decent defender with good lung power, who relies on positioning rather than tackling. His height can sometimes be a disadvantage. He’s good at getting forward, but he is a right footed left-back, which teams figure out quickly and know they don’t have to guard the by-line when he attacks. He would seem to be a sound partner for 20 year old Marcel Schmelzer, who was thrown into the fire when Dede was injured. If the two share the role, it will allow Scmelzer time to grow, while having an experienced player to rotate with and learn from.
Lee is a consummate professional, and has never complained about his treatment at Spurs. I think he’s a solid pickup for Klopp and I wish him all the best. And I do hope he realizes that while Ramos and Comolli never rated him, most Spurs supporters did and liked him.
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Why Pick Lee?

Why Pick Lee? - World Soccer Talk

die Tabelle lügen nicht! Preview

die Tabelle lügen nicht! Preview - World Soccer Talk

<a href="http://www.bundesligatalk.com/the-new-gaffer-introducing-labbadia-at-bayer-leverkusen/45/bruno-labbadia/" rel="attachment wp-att-52" title="Bruno Labbadia"><div><figure class="external-image"><img src="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/8/files/2008/08/610x2.jpg" alt="Bruno Labbadia" align="right" hspace="15" vspace="15"></figure></div></a>A look at Bayer Leverkusen’s Bruno Labbadia concludes our The New Gaffer: Introducing… series this week. So far we’ve examined, in order: <a href="http://www.bundesligatalk.com/the-new-gaffer-introducing-klinsmann-at-bayern-munchen/24" title="Introducing Klinsmann at Bayern Munich">the journeyman</a>, <a href="http://www.bundesligatalk.com/the-new-gaffer-introducing-klopp-at-borussia-dortmund/25" title="Introducing Jürgen Klopp at Borussia Dortmund">the company man</a>, <a href="http://www.bundesligatalk.com/the-new-gaffer-introducing-rutten-at-schalke-04/31" title="Introducing Fred Rutten at Schalke 04">the stranger</a> and, er, <a href="http://www.bundesligatalk.com/the-new-gaffer-introducing-jol-at-hamburg/40" title="Introducing Martin Jol at Hamburg">Martin Jol</a>. Labbadia is a mix between a poor man’s Jürgen Klinsmann and a poor man’s Christian Bale (<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000288/" title="Christian Bale&apos;s IMDB entry" target="_blank">take a look</a>!). In other words, Labbadia was overshadowed as a player by Klinsmann, yet, like Bale, he has more coaching experience than Bayern’s new gaffer.
In his near 20-year long playing career he traveled the breadth of Germany from Kaiserslautern to Cologne (Köln) to Karlsruhe (and some cities not beginning with K, too). From 1991 to 1994 he played for Bayern München, making him the third manager profiled (alongside Klinsmann and Jol) to have played for the Bavarian giants. Interestingly enough he is the only player to have scored at least 100 goals in both the 1. (104) and 2. (101) Bundesliga.&nbsp; That’s quite an achievement for one’s resume, so immediately after hanging up his boots in 2003 he was hired as a manager.
He made his debut on the sidelines of SV Darmstadt 98, in the same stadium where he made his professional debut in 1984. He performed well enough in his three seasons with die Lillien (the lilies) to be offered a position with die Kleeblätter (the cloverleaves) of SpVgg Greuther Fürth, a step up in both footballing and taxonomic class. In his one year at Fürth Labbadia did little to upset the delicate equilibrium in place, keeping the club in its vexing “almost, but not quite promoted” table position (placing 6th last year and 5th the previous three). Not prepared to take part in the Germany’s most-played rivalry (the Frankenderby) with the relegation of 1. FC Nürnberg last season, Labbadia instead became Bayer Leverkusen’s 24th manager. He enters a fairly stable environment at the BayArena, although questions about the team’s strikers must be addressed before the team can seriously consider its first Bundesliga championship.
Dimitar Berbatov was the team’s last out and out striker, scoring 57 goals his last three years at the club. His move to Tottenham for 16 million Euros in 2006 left a void that has yet to be adequately filled. No Leverkusen striker remaining inspires much confidence. Patrick Helmes and Richard Sukuta-Pasu are still inexperienced, although Helmes did well in the 2. Bundesliga with Cologne and Sukuta-Pasu had an excellent UEFA U-19 tournament. The rest: Theofanis Gekas, Stefan Kiessling, Dmitri Bulykin are all older, but also relative newcomers to the club. None has stepped forward to take over Berbatov’s mantle. That is rather important because…
Leverkusen are consistent European competitors, except for the occasional unexpected blip caused by a marked decline in offensive output. If the trend holds (though there’s no reason to actually call it a trend) Leverkusen’s due for a fall soon. Each of the previous dismal seasons (1995/96 and 2002/03) were marked by lackluster offensive showings of 37 and 47 goals respectively. In all other seasons going back to 1990/91 Leverkusen have scored at least 50 goals and have placed no worse than 7th. The previous two seasons they’ve managed to scrape by with low topscorers, but that can’t last. Bernd Schneider can’t continue to provide goals and inspiration from the midfield at his age (he turns 35 this November). Labbadia must either find a true predator on the transfer market or hope that he is able to mold one of his current players into one, otherwise things look grim.
—
While this brings an end to the series itself there is one bonus tidbit as promised last week: a brief look at managerial changes in the Bundesliga over the years. Every 2008/09 Bundesliga club is listed except for Cottbus and Hoffenheim. Cottbus, as a former GDR side, and Hoffenheim, with their meteoric rise, would skew the numbers (also, it was impossible to find the information for either covering the 45-year time period).
Bundesliga-era number of coaches (teams with new trainers in bold)*:
Bielefeld: 42 
 Bayern: 20 
Bochum: 18 
Bremen: 25 
Cologne: 37 
 Dortmund: 40 
Frankfurt: 36 
 Hamburg: 26 
Hannover: 45 
Hertha: 33 
Karlsruhe: 27 
Leverkusen: 24 
Mönchengladbach: 21 
 Schalke: 38 
Stuttgart: 35 
Wolfsburg: 24
Bayern’s long-term dominance skews the statistics, but a pattern is discernible. My initial, unoriginal, thought that the number of trainers is inversely related to the degree of a club’s success is mostly true. Bayern, Mönchengladbach, Bremen and Hamburg are four of the five most successful Bundesliga sides and each have had 26 or fewer gaffers. Only Stuttgart with three titles and 35 managers is the exception.
* Not all clubs may have listed caretakers

The New Gaffer: Introducing Labbadia at Bayer Leverkusen

The New Gaffer: Introducing Labbadia at Bayer Leverkusen - World Soccer Talk

<a href="http://www.bundesligatalk.com/the-new-gaffer-introducing-jol-at-hamburg/40/martin-jol/" rel="attachment wp-att-41" title="Martin Jol"><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" src="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/8/files/2008/07/hsv.jpg" alt="Martin Jol" align="right" height="339" hspace="15" vspace="15" width="300"></figure></div></a>Fred Rutten isn’t the only new Dutch manager in the Bundesliga, as ex-Tottenham Martin Jol took over the reigns of Hamburg earlier this month. It’s been nearly 30 years since Jol’s last appearance in Germany. He made 9 appearances for Bayern Munich as a midfielder in 1978/79 before returning to the Netherlands the next season. His managerial journey has now mirrored his playing career, rotating among the northwestern European triangle of the Netherlands, England and Germany. This time around he hopes to spend more than a year in the Bundesliga.
Jol will be Hamburg’s 26th gaffer in the past 45 years. While this seems like a lot it’s actually the norm for the league (as next week’s entry on Bruno Labbadia will detail). The only manager to last longer than 4 years at Hamburg? Ernst Happel. Yes, he of Ernst-Happel-Stadion fame (the stadium was named for the two time European Cup winner and not vice versa, in case you were wondering). While fans would love it if Jol could emulate Happel’s European triumphs, they’d be satisfied with replicating his domestic success. Coincidentally both Happel and Jol began their managerial careers at ADO Den Haag. Anyway, it’s been 25 years since he Happel brought home the team’s last championship. Since then they’ve been a steady, if not spectacular, club:
 <a href="http://www.bundesligatalk.com/the-new-gaffer-introducing-jol-at-hamburg/40/hamburg-position/" rel="attachment wp-att-46" title="Hamburg Position"><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" src="http://epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/8/files/2008/08/hsv-tabellenpositionen.jpg" alt="Hamburg Position" align="middle" height="200" hspace="15" vspace="15" width="480"></figure></div></a>
They own the unique distinction of being the only remaining original Bundesliga side never to have been relegated. To continue staying afloat in the Bundesliga and hopefully challenge for silverware Hamburg must first and foremost continue developing their Dutch pipeline.
Currently Hamburg employ four Dutch players in their first team: Joris Mathijsen, Nigel de Jong, Romeo Castelen, and captain Rafael van der Vaart. Chelsea-flop Khalid Boulahrouz is also a recent member of this group. Together they comprise the second-largest national contingent in the squad and arguably its most talented. Hamburg has developed in somewhat of a Dutch Portugal. Portugal, for obvious reasons, is the destination of choice for young Brazilian talent making their initial move to Europe. Those who display enough promise are then snapped up by larger clubs. A crude analogy, to be sure, but it effectively describes the situation. Like the Bundesliga at large, Hamburg in particular has evolved into a showroom for foreign talent before it moves on to more lucrative English or Mediterranean shores.
The most obvious example of this will soon be Rafael van der Vaart, who has made his feelings quite clear about leaving Hamburg over the past year. For a time the rumor was that he’d end up at the Mestalla with Valencia. Now the bids have centered around the Spanish capital, either as part of Atletico’s summer signing spree or as Real’s ersatz Ronaldo. Although his contract runs through the 2009-2010 season it is clear that he is on his way out and almost certainly to the land of his mother’s birth. Hamburg would be well-advised to sell soon rather than risk losing a hefty (approximately 15 million Euro) transfer fee thanks to the <a href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexplus!prod!CELEXnumdoc&amp;lg=en&amp;numdoc=61993J0415" title="Bosman Ruling Text" target="_blank">Bosman ruling</a>.
The best way to spend the van der Vaart money would be exactly how the club has in the past, on young players. While no one has or will likely ever confuse Hamburg for Arsenal, the club have made the decision to pursue mostly young professionals (three of the four Dutch players above are 25 or younger, for instance). It seems unlikely that Jol will alter this policy, although were he to try he’d find himself dealing with a much stingier board than Tottenham’s (and he won’t have a repeat of his run-in with Spurs’ director of football Damien Comolli).
Is Jol the man to have Hamburg fans partying like it’s 1983? Is there a limit to how many Dutch players German fans can stomach in the squad? Is it only a matter of time before Hamburg, taking their cue from North London, replace Jol with Sevilla’s current coach, Manolo Jimenez?
Next Week: Bruno Labbadia at Bayer Leverkusen

The New Gaffer: Introducing Jol at Hamburg

The New Gaffer: Introducing Jol at Hamburg - World Soccer Talk

<a title="Tiago Mendes - football player" href="http://www.serieatalk.com/is-tiago-on-the-juve-chopping-block/139/tiago-mendes-football-player/" rel="attachment wp-att-140"><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" style="width: 260px; height: 189px;" src="/files/2008/07/tiago-mendes.jpg" alt="Tiago Mendes - football player" width="283" height="200" align="left" border="0" hspace="15" vspace="15"></figure></div></a>Rumours of Tiago Mendes&nbsp;leaving Juventus are circulating,&nbsp;after vacating his home in Turin.&nbsp;&nbsp;The talented Portuguese midfielder was previously linked to both Tottenham and West Ham United of the English Premier League&nbsp;in January of this year.
Tiago, who is a regular in the national team, spent one season at&nbsp;Chelsea after Jose Mourinho took him from Benfica and he played a substantial part in the Premier League winning season of 2004-05, making 34 appearances.
Things&nbsp;have not been&nbsp;as bright in Italy&nbsp;after&nbsp;the 13 million euro transfer from French side Lyon. Manager Claudio Ranieri has&nbsp;played the Portuguese sparingly and Goal.com described&nbsp;Tiago in his first term as, the third biggest&nbsp;flop of the season.&nbsp; Missing a penalty Tuesday evening during the Trofeo TIM against AC Milan&nbsp;hasn’t&nbsp;improved&nbsp;the player’s situation.
References:
1. Football Italia –&nbsp;<a href="http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/jul31g.html">Tiago vacates Turin&nbsp;home</a> 
2. UK Telegraph – <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/2288351/Tottenham-line-up-bid-for-Tiago-Mendes.html">Tottenham line up bid for Tiago Mendes</a> 
3. FIFA.com – <a href="http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/clubfootball/news/newsid=538789.html">Juventus sign Tiago and Almiron</a> 
4. Goal.com – Calcio Debate: Serie A Awards

Is Tiago On The Juve Chopping Block?

Is Tiago On The Juve Chopping Block? - World Soccer Talk

Deals are heating up on the eve of the Euro 2008 tournament so let’s dive straight in and get caught up.
This morning’s big news is that Mexican striker Giovani dos Santos has left Barcelona to sign for English club Tottenham Hotspur after the two clubs agreed an initial £4.7m fee which could rise to £8.6m. The BBC also reports (<a href="http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/noticies/futbol/temporada07-08/06/n080606104518.html">confirmed on the official Barca site</a>) that Barcelona have retained the right to 20% of any fee should the 19-year-old move on from Spurs in the first two years of his spell with the club and 10% on any transfer after that.
Dos Santos can play in midfield or attack and may solve the right, is set to sign a five-year contract with Tottenham. Spurs entrance in the UEFA Cup, rather than the Champions League, may be one factor to this deal as Barcelona are said to have turned down offers for Dos Santos from AC Milan, Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool. 
 
Staying with Barcelona, Goal.com is reporting that they have concluded a deal to sign Daniel Alves from Sevilla but that has not been confirmed yet. A couple of deals that were done at the Nou Camp saw them acquire Villarreal’s Uruguay defender Martin Caceres for 16.5m Euros. Caceres is a 21-year-old central defender is widely regarded as one of the most promising young players in Spain.
They’ve also signed former trainee Gerard Pique from Manchester United. After rising through the youth team ranks at Camp Nou, Pique opted to try his luck at Manchester United in 2004 but, after failing to establish himself as a first-team regular, he jumped at the chance to return to Barca. The fee was reportedly £4 million.
Moving out is full-back Gianluca Zambrotta, who completed a move to AC Milan at the beginning of the month. The move is a return home for Zambrotta who left Italy following the demotion of former club Juventus for their part in Italy’s match-fixing scandal. Zambrotta who can play on either flank will ease the recent departures of Cafu and Serghino.
AC Milan recently sold forward Alberto Gilardino to Fiorentina and are in the market for at least one new striker. The 25-year-old Gilardino spent three seasons at the San Siro and has now signed a five-year deal with the Viola reportedly worth 1.65m euros a season. Fiorentina beat the Rossoneri to the fourth and final Champions League spot in Serie A this past season.
The promising young Yoann Gourcuff has agreed to join Bordeaux on loan from AC Milan with an option for a permanent deal. The French midfield player, 21, had attracted interest from Tottenham Hotspur, Marseilles and Ajax.
AC Milan is trying to sign Emmanuel Adebayor according to various rumours out there. What helps fuel the stories is the fact that the Serie A side have already lured away French midfielder Mathieu Flamini on a free from Arsenal.
Arsenal would be reluctant to sell Adebayor as they are looking to build upon last season’s squad. The hope would be to keep the core of their young stars together and supplement it with new signings like Olympique Marseille playmaker Samir Nasri, whom Arsenal are in the midst of negotiating for.
The 20-year-old Nasri, who has been tagged in France as ‘the new Zinedine Zidane’, is part of France’s squad for this month’s Euro 2008 tournament. He has won seven caps, scoring two goals for Les Bleus. Nasri extended his contract with the club this year until 2012 so Marseille will want good value for his sporting rights. The fact that Nasri can operate on the left side of midfield, where Alex Hleb has been playing, has fuelled rumours that Hleb is also going to leave the club for either Inter Milan or Barcelona.
Another Arsenal exitee is Jens Lehmann, who will continue his career after Euro 2008 with Bundesliga side Stuttgart after signing a one-year contract with the 2007 German champions. Raphael Schafer failed to give the Stuttgart defence a sense of security in his first season since joining from Nurnberg, so the club began the search for a new number one in May.
The Telegraph reports that Arsene Wenger has his eye on yet another promising young African, this time 16-year-old Torric Jibril. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accra_Hearts_of_Oak">Heart of Oak</a> (based in Accra, Ghana) midfielder will take part in a two-week trial before signing for a fee of around £1.5m, with Arsenal having beaten off competition from Atletico Madrid and Lyon.
I’ll run an update again next week with more deals and rumours.

Transfer Moves: Dos Santos Departs Barca, AC After Adebayor

Transfer Moves: Dos Santos Departs Barca, AC After Adebayor - World Soccer Talk

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die Tabelle lügen nicht! Preview

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