Black_XistenZ

This. Their position in the Bundesliga, with its revenue stream and attractiveness to young prospects who can then be sold on for a profit, has become more or less self-sustaining. So you still have a lifeless village club without history or fan culture taking up a spot in the top flight while massive clubs like Schalke or HSV are stuck in the 2nd league. Hoffenheim would never have gotten above Regionalliga level (fourth tier) without Hopp's money, so the damage is already done, even if he divests now.

The thing is that the top teams in most leagues are rather stable and can plan on playing international football (and reaping the corresponding revenue and prize money) every season, so that they can afford to build large squads geared toward playing in 3/4 competitions. On the #6 or #7 spots, there is typically far higher volatility from year to year, so these clubs neither have the large squad, nor can they build one based on a one-off participation in international competition.

It could also have spelled disaster for them in most other seasons when competition at the bottom of the table is tougher. This season, 30 points will most likely be enough to stay up because there's 3-4 teams which aren't PL-ready and completely outmatched.

Him making this list in spite of spending almost his entire career at a B-tier top team is impressive. Put him at prime Barca or City and his numbers would be even higher.

All 3 of MSN were in their prime at the time, while Messi and Neymar were already past their prime when they played together with Mbappé at PSG. And 2015 Barca had a much better midfield than 2022 PSG.

I think he meant it's surprising that Kane isn't higher up that list.

Same. Messi at PSG still feels like a fever dream.

The memes would be endless if Bayern miss out on the championship for the first time in 11 years as soon as Kane plays for them.

By 1.42 points, which is perfectly normal. Like I said, top clubs typically overperform their xPoints by a bit. Leverkusen, by contrast, is overperforming by a whooping 7.72 points according to understat.

For totally unselfish reasons, I think this is a great idea and Real should sign Grimaldo next summer to fix their LB position.

Top clubs typically overperform their xG and xGa (and thus their xPts) by quite a bit because they have the best strikers and keepers. So what Leverkusen is doing is actually in line with the quality of their squad, it's Bayern which is actually underperforming due to defensive lapses in key moments. This notion is also confirmed by Bayern's fantastic GD.

They are far and away a top2 team so far if we go by actual performances, and they're already 8/10 points ahead of Leipzig/Dortmund.