Archive for July, 2006
Stuart Pearce has so far done well to strengthen Manchester City on a limited budget, and with the continued improvement of the club’s talented youngsters its reasonable to expect a top 10 finish.
My club, however, could be tantalisingly close to a more sustained period of relative success. For the first time in over 30 years I believe we have finally got a very talented manager, and to not back him now with more significant transfer funds would be a very good opportunity missed.
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Written by Bernard Roberts. 3 comments
Arsenal.com have just released a statement by Jose Reyes from the Gunners‘ training camp in Austria, stating that the latest quotes are baseless and that he’s not looking for a move.
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Written by Rocky Dixon. 8 comments
Hypothetically, were Chelsea, Man United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs to be relegated after a match fixing scandal who would win the next Premiership title? I suppose it’s unlikely to happen, but who will finish 6th this season and win the last UEFA cup spot is still an intriguing question, with many possible outcomes.
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Written by Bernard Roberts. 46 comments
Reports have just emerged quoting Spanish winger Jose Antonio Reyes’ desire to leave England for greener pastures in Madrid.
If Reyes gets his wish, and the clubs agree to a suitable compensation it would bring an end to a much-hyped, extremely promising, eventually lukewarm two and a half years in England for the former Sevilla winger.
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Written by Rocky Dixon. 7 comments
For some Manchester United fans, the 2-1 against Preston North End (who?) would not even have registered on the radar. But looking at the lineup gives us a peek into Alex Ferguson’s preparations for the 2006/2007 season.
Foster, Bardsley, Richardson, Fletcher, Solskjaer, Rossi, Miller, Pique, Evra and David Jones are all part of Manchester United’s first team squad, but if United are to make any progress in the Champions League and in the Premiership, a few of these fringe players will have to step up and provide Manchester United with the same bench strength that Chelsea and Barcelona can boast about.
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Written by Ahmed Bilal. 8 comments
The longer Silvan Distin’s new contract offer goes left unsigned the more likely his departure looms. The Manchester Evening News are today indicating that City will allow the French central defender to leave for £5million, and that Middlesbrough and Portsmouth are poised to acquire his services.
With £5 million in the City coffers how would Stuart Pearce go about replacing his regular centre half?
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Written by Bernard Roberts. 12 comments
Tired as I am of all these pointless rumours, the current crop, and especially that of Senna, worth mentioning in light of what I said earlier today on Manchester United buying further reinforcements for the midfield and attack.
We know that we still need to replace Keano with a holding midfielder, and we now also have to replace Ruud. Will Tevez and Senna provide the right answers?
And more importantly, will they even come?
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Written by Ahmed Bilal. 11 comments
Michael Carrick’s sale to Manchester United presents Martin Jol with the extra funds to pursue at least 2 new players.
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Written by Ahmed Bilal. 44 comments
Breakups are never pretty. No matter how dream-like the early years have been, there is always the inevitable fallout and backbiting that goes on after the relationship is over.
For Manchester United fans who have defended Ruud van Nistelrooy’s abilities as a world-class striker for so many years, to see him leave like this with Ferguson and Ruud pointing fingers at each other is sad. And that’s before you consider that we just lost a player who scored 150 goals in 5 seasons - an average of 30 per season.
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Written by Ahmed Bilal. Leave a response
Update: I’ve covered the Tevez and Senna rumours here.
What we’ve been saying all along finally happened - Carrick rejected the new contract, told Jol that he wanted to leave and with United finally having the money (from Ruud’s sale) in sight, the transfer of one Mr. Carrick from Tottenham to Manchester United is now a mere formality.
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Written by Ahmed Bilal. 7 comments
Sir Alex Ferguson has been quoted by MUTV as saying that “we’re close” to signing Carrick from Tottenham and that while there had been some agreement between Manchester United and Tottenham over the transfer, everything was not final although it should be “finalised over the day or so”.
The price is mooted to be 14.5 (The Sun) to 15 mil (BBC Sport), and that would mean United are left with less than 8 mil with which to buy a second player (more on this calculation later).
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Written by Ahmed Bilal. 6 comments
I’m not convinced that Manchester United have the transfer budget to attract another striker to fill Ruud’s boots. Actually, let me rephrase that:
I don’t think there is any striker available on the market (and I include Ibrahimovic, Tevez and Defoe in this list) who can fill in for the man.
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Written by Ahmed Bilal. 10 comments
Having scrutinised Ashley Cole at the World Cup I came to the conclusion that, despite the controversy surrounding him, Arsenal and Chelsea and despite his rather adept impressions of Bambi-on-ice at times, the left back would make a valuable addition to the Stamford Bridge squad. (This conclusion may have been reached purely on the merit of his last ditch tackle to bail out Chelsea captain John Terry against Ecuador, but still.)
As the world and its Mother expected, the Chelsea/Arsenal/Cole ‘love’ triangle hit the ground running after England’s exit from the World Cup. Even though he was on honeymoon. Impressive.
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Written by Guest Authors. 5 comments
The draw for the Champions League third qualifying round for the coming season has been made and there are a few interesting ties to look forward to.
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Written by Rocky Dixon. Leave a response
There’s a very good reason I subscribe to UEFA.com Magazine’s RSS feed (in fact, you should as well): well written articles, always a fresh perspective and news that you tend to miss in the hype created by today’s tabloids.
Case in point - today’s Off the Ball column on the gossip and transfer rumours in Europe.
My favourite bit of the article:
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Written by Ahmed Bilal. Leave a response
The Sun, The Independent and the Guardian are all harping about Manchester United signing Carrick from Tottenham next week.
Let me clear things out for you - the only thing these people know is that now that Ruud is definitely going to Real Madrid, Manchester United will be using the money to sign a midfielder. The player closest to a deal for United is currently Carrick, so everyone is on their case talking about how Carrick will be signed next week.
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Written by Ahmed Bilal. 11 comments
I’ll spare you the rumours and give the ‘confirmed’ news first:
Manchester United are saying: “Manchester United give permission for Ruud van Nistelrooy to travel to Real Madrid for a medical. “However, terms of agreement are yet to be finalised between the two clubs.”
Real Madrid are saying: “Real Madrid announce they have an agreement with Manchester United for the transfer of the player Ruud van Nistelrooy. The player will be contracted with the club for the next three seasons. He will undergo a medical on Friday morning and will be presented in the evening at 7pm at the Palco de Honor at the Santiago Bernabeu.”
What Soccerlens is saying:
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Written by Ahmed Bilal. One comment
Unrelated rant: I’ve been accused of turning SoccerLens into a Manchester United soapbox - the idea is, and always has been, to bring in more writers so they could take over specific clubs and cover their news. Till that happens though, I’ll keep writing about what I feel is most important (and what I know most about): Manchester United.
Three ridiculous rumours have spread today - the first a Manchester United bid for Javier Mascherano, the second a swap deal proposed by Valencia (Simao for Ronaldo), and the third a piece of dren offered up by The Sun in a rerun of the “Nistelrooy for Carrick” swap story.
None of them are true, and here’s why:
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Written by Ahmed Bilal. Leave a response
Also Read: Juventus Garage Sale Part 1 and Part 2.
Juventus coach Didier Deschamps is adamant that “no one is going anywhere” and that even in Serie B Juve’s star-studded cast (albeit shorn of its defenders) is set to stay.
Juventus chairman Giovanni Cobolli Gigli has a different grasp on matters, saying that:
“If there are some departures there will also be some arrivals and whoever leaves will certainly not be sold cheaply.”
It’s worth noting that this statement was made right after the original match-fixing verdict, while Deschamps’ interview is recent.
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Written by Ahmed Bilal. 4 comments
If you are an Arsenal defender, you usually stay with the club until you’re too old to run (with Cygan’s case Arsene seems to be making an exception).
Sol Campbell then, is not your typical Arsenal defender. He could be likened to Ashley Cole in some respects - greedy, self-involved and the owner of a massive ego (wait, that’s an Arsenal / footballer thing, aint it?), although Ashley Cole is the better player overall.
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Written by Ahmed Bilal. Leave a response
When I first read the original Serie A match-fixing verdict, it read like a political decision - this was a case where making a public example of justice being handed out was more important than anything else.
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Written by Ahmed Bilal. One comment
Bellamy, Pennant, Aurelio, Gonzalez and Paletta. Unfancied players but each of them possessing undoubted talent. And for Liverpool and Benitez, they represent a bid for challenging Chelsea’s stronghold in the Premiership and another foray into Europe.
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Written by Ahmed Bilal. One comment
I am sorely tempted to write a rose-tinted article exhorting the virtues of the current Manchester United squad and boasting how, if fit, we can beat any team in front of us, be it Madrid, Barca, Milan, Bayern or Chelsea.
Unfortunately I don’t do biased bullshit very well. Considering what it does for revving up your side’s fans, it’s a skill worth learning.
But until then, here’s an unbiased, no-holds-barred look at where Manchester United stand on July 27, 2006.
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Written by Ahmed Bilal. 17 comments
This week is going to be (has been) really tough on me - something you might have noticed by the lack of posting since Monday afternoon.
While I’ve been itching to get back into Soccerlens mode, I simply cannot do that before next week. I would have posted news summaries but you can read all the bullshit from BBC Football (who have started mentioning baseless rumours with almost as much abandon as EatSleepSport - shocking, I know).
And if you’re wondering - here’s my take on the news for the last couple of days…
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Written by Ahmed Bilal. 2 comments
Valencia and Liverpool, both in the market for a right-sided midfield player, will be monitoring the situation at Benfica very closely as the club admitted that Simao had been left out of the squad because “he had not acted according to the club’s directives” and that a decision will be made very soon.
The kicker here is that Simao has been talking about a move away from Benfica for a long time now - before the World Cup in June Benfica were adamant on keeping the winger but near the end of June there were rumours that Benfica would be willing to let him go.
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Written by Ahmed Bilal. 3 comments
Surprise surprise - according to Newcastle United’s statement to the Stock Exchange, Duff has moved from Chelsea to Newcastle (leaving behind Tottenham in the process) for the small sum of 5 million pounds.
Here’s the statement you’ve undoubtedly seen on other news sites:
“The directors of Newcastle United PLC are pleased to announce that Damien Duff passed his medical and his transfer from Chelsea has been completed for a fee of £5million. The player has agreed personal terms and signed a five-year contract ending in June 2011.”
Excellent buy for Newcastle and congratulations to the club. But I’m wondering - what did Tottenham exactly bid for Duff (did they really come back with the 7 mil bid or did they stick it out at 5?), and why have Chelsea decided to sell good players so cheaply?
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Written by Ahmed Bilal. 5 comments
I come bearing good news and bad news…
According to The Sun, Barcelona are believed to have made a move for Patrick Vieira in a player-plus-cash bid, offering 6 mil pounds and Thiago Motta.
Vieira now has three clubs chasing him - Inter, Manchester United and Barcelona. Vieira’s destination? Despite Inter’s interest I think that Barcelona and United must be better placed to sign him. I don’t have much confidence in rumours reported by The Sun, but Barca have the financial muscle to outbid United and Laporta would want to sign as many new players as possible before the supposed re-elections to strengthen his position. If Barca are really in the race, then Manchester United’s chances for signing the player would be very little.
But things get worse…
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Written by Ahmed Bilal. 6 comments
Update: Ruud returns to Manchester United for training.
May 7th seems such a long time away - Ruud van Nistelrooy was thrown out of the team hotel for showing ‘dissent’ at being benched in place of Rossi (read the story here), and scores of Manchester United fans wondering what had gone wrong with Ferguson.
As news emerged after the season ended, Ruud’s interviews to the media placed the blame squarely on Ferguson - he had denied Ruud a chance to be at Keano’s testimonial, he had kicked him out of the team hotel, etc etc. The striker went to train with the Dutch squad hoping that a successful World Cup would turn things in his favour. Lack of form and a 4-3-3 system not suited to his style of play hampered him to the extent that he sat out Holland’s final game (in which van Basten made the mistake of not replacing Kuyt with Ruud) and ended up looking like a washed up striker past his prime.
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Written by Ahmed Bilal. Leave a response
Following up on some ‘Bayern and Ruud‘ rumours, I dug up the source and found out something interesting:
Bayern have verbally agreed terms with Ruud van Nistelrooy and have already made a bid to Manchester United for 13 million euros (9 million pounds) - lower than the 14 mil euros (10 mil pounds) bid made by Real Madrid and rejected by United several days ago.
What’s more - this is old news - The news of Bayern’s bid came out a day after Manchester United rejected Madrid’s offer.
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Written by Ahmed Bilal. 2 comments
This is not an attempt to start ‘another’ pointless argument between Arsenal and Manchester United fans. I have two goals here:
One, to understand (through the knowledge of fans of both clubs) what happened in specific incidents between Manchester United and Arsenal in the recent past.
Two, I’m hoping that knowing more about the incidents will help me present a more balanced and authentic view of the events instead of myopic bullshit being peddled by both sides.
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Written by Ahmed Bilal. 7 comments
