Ranking the Most Expensive PL Transfers Ever

Happy New Year, Rank Squad! It's our first episode of 2021and we thought it was time to wheel out a classic (with a twist) and take a look at some predictions for 2021. Dean bravely took on the mantle that Sam vacated to look ahead to the year to come, making predictions based on a big transfer saga that's been rumbling on for a while between Dortmund and United, his attendance at games, Cristiano breaking international records, will Messi stay or will he go and who will win the European Championships this summer! Sam pipes up with his own couple of predictions about Messi and Tottenham, separately (!) and we take a look back at his predictions from last January, which to be fair to him, have been slightly affected by a worldwide pandemic and the cancellation of football for a couple of months. There's also things we love, where Sam discusses Ralph Hasenhüttl's tears at beating Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool, and Jack talks about Nadiem Amiri's Puskas winner being scored just two days into a new calendar year. Finally, Dean crowns a Melon of the Week from El Gran Derbi in Spain, and Sam's Gibberish Rankings take a look back at his most-used websites in 2020. It's family-friendly, don't worry. It's Ranks! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

6 Jan 202151min

Happy Holidays Rank Squad, and welcome to the last episode of 2020. With this year one to forget in many ways, we wanted to throw things forward to January and the first Dean Jones ranking of the Ranks FC era! We take a look at some of the most unconventional rumours coming out of the camp for the transfer window - from former Arsenal widemen being linked to Inter Milan, to Arsenal actually thinking about some sensible business, to AC Milan marking some targets that nobody was expecting! There's also a quick look at some of our favourite things - recently Sam has reignited his love affair for Chelsea's Ben Chilwell, and Jack very much enjoyed Fiorentina hammering Juventus 3-0 and Fede Chiesa's face afterwards. Meanwhile, Dean pens a bit of an ode to why football was so important to him in this year of all years. And, as usual, there's the awarding of a Melon of the Week before Sam rounds things off by talking about his New Year's Resolutions from the previous year and his new ones for 2021, in this week's Gibberish. It's Ranks! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

30 Dec 20201h

SAMta Claus is...not coming to town, because he's in tier 4, but if he weren't, he'd come to your town and give out some presents! We take a look at some of the things that Europe's most in-need clubs are after - players, managers, Presidents, the lot. With his elves in tow, Santa leaves some gifts under the tree for the clubs that need them most. Then it's on to the festivities, as we name five footballing guests at our respective Christmas parties - nominating who's in charge of the food, entertainment, cracker jokes and snowball fighting - before talking about our favourite Xmas Present stories, and finishing off by signing some magical elves for our own respective clubs. It's Ranks! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

23 Dec 202056min

The Champions League Last 16 is set and the draw is done, which leaves us salivating at the prospect of eight blistering ties to come in the New Year. Still, with the matchups now set, it felt like a good time to rank the contenders left in Europe's pre-eminent club competition, and so we set Sam to work building a list. We take a look at Bayern, Leipzig, Dortmund, Gladbach, Real Madrid, Atleti, Barcelona, Sevilla, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Juventus, Atalanta, Lazio, PSG and Porto and put them in order of who is best placed to win the competition, before flipping our attention over to the Europa League draw, where Jack picks out three games to watch from a phenomenal Round of 32, and also takes a quick look at some of the favourites. We finish with another London Colney-based Melon of the Week, and Dean takes on responsibilities for the Gibberish Ranking, where he picks the best games to play with a three-year-old. It's Ranks! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

16 Dec 20201h 11min

On Monday, before United's game against Leipzig, Paul Pogba's agent Mino Raiola came out to say that "I can say it’s over for Paul Pogba at Manchester United." Given Pogba had scored in United's game against West Ham at the weekend, and was about to play in a do-or-die game for United in the Champions League, it's worth pointing out that the timing could have been better. And so it proved, with the German side knocking Pogba's side into the Europa League in a thriller in Saxony. There's perhaps more than meets the eye here though, and it's just the latest in a series of chapters which have pitted a club record signing against his employers in almost every sense. So we decided to look at all of it, looking at the reasons we love Paul Pogba, and the reasons we can find the man frustrating; before getting a United viewpoint from an old friend of the pod - Mina of the brilliant Goal Diggers pod, and self-declared President of the Pogba Agenda. Then we kick it forward - if this really is the end, then what next for Pogba? Sam and Dean come together to rank five possible destinations for the World Cup winning midfielder based on how likely they are as landing spots, and also how well they would fit Pogba's playing style and his ambitions. Finally, there's time for a quick Melon of the Week, which is based around foul throws (if you know, you know) and Sam ranks his Spotify Wrapped in this week's Gibberish Rankings. It's Ranks! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

9 Dec 20201h 7min

In the first interview of the Ranks FC Era, we meet a man whose star is on the rise at Bayern Munich and a key part of the US Golden Generation coming through, 20-year-old centre-back Chris Richards. It's been a huge year for Chris - he made his first Bayern appearance in June, his first Bayern league start in October, earned his first US senior cap in November and made his first Champions League start just last week. We talked to him about the whole lot - David Alaba being his mentor at Bayern, Hansi Flick's demeanour and influence on this squad, his time playing for Bayern II in the third tier, Leon Goretzka's transformation, marking Robert Lewandowski in training, his friendship with Alphonso Davies, his first USMNT camp, the U20 crop coming through for the national team, Yunus Musah, his perfect defender, playing with Manuel Neuer, what he misses about the US, who the fastest player at Bayern is, his favourite films, Jamal Musiala, and a whole lot more! It's all sorts of fun, and Chris is brilliant insight and entertainment. Aside from that, we announce the three winners of last week's competitions and Sam ranks the weirdest combinations on Earth that work well together in the Gibberish Rankings. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

2 Dec 202053min

There was only one place we could start today - in tribute to a genuine legend in this game we love. An icon. A behemoth. The one and only Diego Armando Marandona. There will, simply put, never be another like him and the football world is a darker place without his presence. That said, he was a football man until his last breath, and the game, beset as it is by grief, must go on. The Champions League provided some inspiration of its own this week, as we take a quick flash through Europe's finest, before heading on to the games you need to watch this weekend. Dean starts us off with Chelsea vs. Tottenham, bitter London rivals vying for the Capital's top berth and perhaps even more, in a game which has the subplot of Frank Lampard facing his old boss and friend, Jose Mourinho, who returns to the Bridge. Sam takes a look at Southampton vs. Manchester United, where high-flying Saints will look to continue their good start against a United side that still haven't quite worked out what they are. Jack finally takes us out of the Premier League to head to Italy, where Sassuolo, currently second, host Antonio Conte's Inter Milan, knocked unceremoniously out of Europe on Wednesday night by Real Madrid, and looking a shadow of the side they were last season. It's an intriguing match-up between a side who know exactly how they want to play against one very uncomfortable in their own skin at the moment, as well as being another chance to watch Sass. Finally, Sam takes us to Holland for this week's Scouting Spotlight, flicking the torchlight on PSV's Donyell Malen. The former Arsenal and Ajax man has returned from last season's injury woes in fine style, and is fronting the charge for his side in the Eredivisie. Still only 21, but already a leader in this side - sharing captaincy duties with Denzel Dumfries, there's so much to come from a player who has been quietly doing the business for some time in Eindhoven. It really is Ranks FC. If you've loved three episodes a week and want to join the squad permanently after this week's loan period, come and get involved on Patreon. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

27 Nov 202058min

Welcome to 2025, where the halcyon days of Ronaldo and Messi are long consigned to the past and a new battle rages to be the world's best. There are many contenders, but who tops the award they all want more than any other - Sam Tighe's Player Rankings. We take a look at some of the young superstars who are well on their way to the top of the game and will be the pantheon of the elite in the future (if they're not already). Before that though, there's Things We Love - which in this case involve Tanguy Ndombele's return to both the side and to his blistering best; the madness of both Barcelona and Manchester City being placed 13th in their respective leagues; the title races we didn't expect; Leverkusen's pure chaos approach to playing football, and, as the more eagle-eyed of you might have noticed, the new Ranks FC logo. There's also a special Melon of the Week ranking, which tops out with a refereeing display that put all others to shame, and in this week's Gibberish, Sam ranks the best responses he got to a 'where you're from and who you support' survey. If you want to enter our competition, hit this link or go to bit.ly/RanksFCComp. And if you wanna skip the lottery and just become one of the Ultras anyway, join us on Patreon here. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices And remember, if you’d like more from the Rank Squad, including extra podcasts every Monday and Friday (including our weekly Postbox taking a look at the whole weekend of football) and access to our brilliant Discord community, then why not join us here on Patreon? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

25 Nov 20201h 5min