All the latest transfer news and transfer rumours from the Premiership and Europe. Note that we try to keep this collection as ‘factual’ as possible, so you’re not going to find hair-brained rumours like Zidane being signed by the Rangers. You will, however, find an open discussion on all transfer rumours, so come in and have your say.
Today’s transfer roundup won’t be too long, because I’m being generous. I’m sure you all have much better things to do than to sit and read for an extended period of time…right?
Written by Eddie Griffin. One comment
Today’s transfer roundup starts with transfer-related news, but not a big rumor. Instead, I give two thumbs-up to Real Madrid’s Wesley Sneijder for looking out for his brother’s best interests, as he stepped in to prevent Real from making an offer to former club Ajax for his brother Rodney, a promising youth team player.
Written by Eddie Griffin. Leave a response
So, what’s going on in the world of transfer rumors today? As always, chime in and chip in with opinions - and with rumors!
Written by Eddie Griffin. 2 comments
Today’s transfer roundup starts up as the last one did, so Arsenal fans, feel free to jump a couple of paragraphs.
Written by Eddie Griffin. 15 comments
Guess who’s back? That’s right, me and the transfer roundup.
The season’s winding down and the rumors are heating up, so you’ll be seeing me in this space regularly.
Anyway, on to the good stuff!
Written by Eddie Griffin. 13 comments
Last year, with Tottenham’s season winding to a close and Jol already looking towards strengthening the squad in the summer, I suggested that Tottenham go for age and experience in midfield to compensate for the lack of composure (spine) that they’ve shown in the middle for the last couple of seasons.
That day the person I had in mind was the German international Torsten Frings, but a better player has, if rumours are to be believed, put himself on the market by saying:
“I don’t want to speak because I don’t want to inflict my personal problems on the group because our aim is fourth spot.
Afterwards there will be time to talk about my things. Right now we have an important objective, fourth place.
I would like to have the possibility to play in the Premier League. It’s a dream I’ve always had and have never realised.
I think I have the right characteristics to play in that championship.”
Gennaro Gattuso, AC Milan midfielder.
Now if you remember correctly, every summer we hear Gattuso being linked with a switch to the Premier League. It’s happened the last two summers with United being linked with him (and every time United go out and buy a defensive midfielder, just not Gattuso), and Ferguson himself has declared his interested in the player in the past.
And ordinarily, if Gattuso was to come to the Premier League you’d expect the big four to snap him up, but at least three of the big four (Chelsea (Mikel, Essien) Manchester United (Carrick, Hargreaves) and Liverpool (Alonso, Mascherano)) have enough players in that area and / or are going British anyway.
That leaves Arsenal, and while Gattuso would break Wenger’s piggy bank he would also be the ideal replacement for Flamini if the Frenchman chooses to leave Arsenal - in fact he’d be a better influence on the young Arsenal team with his experience and would add a real combativeness to the Arsenal side.
Other clubs (Villa if they lose Barry) are likely to be interested as well but when it comes down to big transfers it’s a matter of Champions League football and deep pockets and while Arsenal can offer the former, Tottenham have the pockets to at least attract Milan’s attention, and after that it’s the ‘promise of the Champions League’ and the promise of the Ramos revolution at White Hart Lane.
Arsenal v Spurs for Gattuso? Sounds a bit far-fetched, but it could be something to look forward to this summer, especially if Milan fail to qualify for the Champions League.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 7 comments
The move to Liverpool will tick several boxes for the Aston Villa captain: he gets to make more money (in a short career that’s always a consideration), he gets to play Champions League football and he gets to dream about the Premier League title as opposed to Champions League qualification. It’s a lifestyle upgrade, and although it won’t matter as much (I’m sure Barry has friends at Villa too) Steven Gerrard is being touted as another reason for Barry to leave Villa for Pool.
And then there is his candidacy for a midfield berth with the England national team. He is not my favourite footballer mainly because he has pushed Michael Carrick down the pecking order but the man’s game is more complete than Carrick’s and his versatility and ability to influence a game gives him an edge.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 4 comments
Both Internazionale and Milan have balked at Barcelona’s asking price for the former World Player of the Year - supposedly valued at 30 million Euros by the Catalan club whereas the Italians are rumoured to offering 16-20 million euros (reasonable, if you factor in that he is ‘damaged goods’ and commands high wages).
However, Ronaldinho is more than just a player. According to Forbes.com he is the second richest footballer (Goldenballs has the #1 position locked in again) and his brand value, regardless of his injuries and form, is high enough for a club to throw a few extra million Barcelona’s way.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 23 comments
Since Tottenham crashed out of the UEFA Cup on penalties back in March, its fair to suggest that cruise control mode has set in a White Hart Lane. The north London club are guaranteed a spot in next season’s UEFA Cup following their Carling Cup victory. But with just two games of the season remaining, the height of the club’s current ambition is to leap frog West Ham into tenth position in the Premiership table.
Spurs’s league form has been consistently inconsistent throughout 2007/2008 and to emphasise the point, Juande Ramos‘ team have managed just one win in their last eight games. It’s hardly the kind of form expected from a side talked about in many quarters as being top four material last summer.
Written by Andy Greeves. 9 comments
I have to admit I didn’t know much about Mauro Zarate before he joined Birmingham City on loan in January.
In truth, I didn’t know a lot more until after he announced himself to the Premiership with his second and third goals of his spell in the Blues’ 3-1 home win over Manchester City. Then I did some research.
It seems like I may not have been the only one. Manchester United assistant manager Carlos Queiroz made the short trip to Wigan Athletic last week to see their match with Birmingham City, reported as a mission to spy on the Latics’ Luis Antonio Valencia and Wilson Palacios.
Written by Betfair. 2 comments
Sometimes the bleeding obvious gets lost in the speculative hype the media creates. So here’s a clear-the-air edition focused on some misconceptions about Manchester United:
Written by Ahmed Bilal. One comment
Once the world’s most feared attacker, injuries and a drastic loss of form have Ronaldinho a shadow of his former self.
For a long time, Ronaldinho has been widely rumoured to be on the way out of the Nou Camp and today, numerous reports [Goal, Soccernet, International Herald Tribune] have emerged claiming that the former FIFA World Player of the Year has already agreed to a deal with Italian Giants AC Milan.
Ronaldinho is said to have to have agreed to a 4 year contract worth €8 million a year and all that is left for the deal to be set in stone is to work out a fee with Barcelona.
More as this develops.
Written by Kenny. Leave a response
Recently Rafa Benitez talked about how he had already signed three Liverpool players for next season, two of those youth prospects while the other a senior “ready for the first team”.
This player according to ‘The Daily Mail’ is believed to be the FC Schalke right-back Rafinha. With Guilleme Balague, La Liga expert and close confidant of Rafa Benitez, somewhat reticent on who this player is in his weekly podcast ‘The Game’ can anyone shed any light on this matter?
Written by Arvin. 18 comments
Heard a rumour the other day that Thierry Henry might be moving away from Barcelona after just one season. Henry’s name may not be synonymous with loyalty for most fans but why would he pack up and leave so quickly when he’s taken so much time to get settled in?
And then I heard that he would be coming back to England. Not to Arsenal, because that story has ended, but perhaps to Chelsea or some other big club. But the rumours didn’t stop there. Now we’re hearing that Henry could move to another London club, namely Tottenham, to be close to his daughter. Not far behind are the rumours linking Henry to Newcastle United and Manchester City, the former getting over-excited whenever their club strings a couple of wins in a row and the later already dreaming about next season and that big big big signing that Shinawatra has promised them.
Speculation can be fun, but this one is absurd.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 35 comments
Paul Tomkins has written an interesting article over at liferpoolfc.tv, in which he talks about tonight’s game at Anfield, the falsity of the notion that Liverpool are a 2-man team, and hypocrisy of the media in lauding Arsene Wenger’s transfer record while trashing that of Rafa Benitez.
Here are a few excerpts:
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 48 comments
The basis for this very short piece lies in a phone call received from my brother after work today, which comprised predominantly one-way traffic on his part, proclaiming all that was great about Ronaldinho and how he would be joining Manchester City in the summer. He never seems to be aware of the hyperbole created during these conversations.
Indeed, the fact that the story was on the BBC website, quite a reliable source – WMD’s aside - when this blue trundled through the front door and flicked on the laptop, only served to whet the appetite in some ways.
That said, one can’t help but be pessimistic in some ways. While writing this, the atmosphere of the partisan locals as Glentoran take on Linfield in the Setanta Irish Cup match is clearly audible, and it is hard to believe it is ten years since City were plummeting into the second tier of English football for the first time playing at grounds not too dissimilar to the Oval.
Written by Anthony. 2 comments
On one hand, he’s a good looking chap (when he can keep a straight face) and an ‘effective’ striker (when he can find his bearings, is motivated and doesn’t have to jump).
On the other hand, he’s woefully underused at Liverpool, even though he’s had more than a handful of substitute appearances. As he himself says, he needs to be playing regularly, but the irony is that if he plays for a smaller club (say, Everton) he’s not going to be as noticed as he would be at Liverpool (even if he plays regularly) and if he stays at Liverpool, he won’t get enough chances to stake a claim for an England berth.
All this points to one thing only - that he’s not good enough to be starting for a Big Four club, and he’s probably not good enough to start for England either. Mind you Crouch lovers, I’m saying this based on the ambitions of clubs and country as opposed to any slight on his playing talents.
But Crouch is unlikely to move away from Anfield this summer. We know why Rafa signed him, and I think I know now why Rafa is so keen to keep Peter Crouch at Liverpool:
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 8 comments
After a turbulent season as replete with failure as success – an extremely disappointing league position and a whimpering exit from the UEFA Cup compensated only by a euphoric Carling Cup win – one gets the feeling that Juande Ramos and his team are to take advantage of the long summer break to effect a heavy clearout of a squad that was by and large inherited from their predecessors.
Written by Hugo Steckelmacher. 17 comments
Stuttgart have slapped a 50m euros price tag on Mario Gomez, in a manner reminiscent of Lyon’s incessant posturing that comes every year before they sell their star player in the summer (usually to Madrid or Chelsea, or Barcelona have been the beneficiaries as well).
Mario Gomez is in demand right now and if he goes with (and stars for) Germany in Euro 2008, his value will go even higher. Once Gomez decides to leave for greener pastures, it’s going to be very difficult for Suttgart to keep him from going to Spain (Madrid, Barcelona) or England (Manchester United and Chelsea).
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 4 comments
Laurent Robert has signed for Major League Soccer side Toronto, after his contract at Derby was cancelled by mutual consent.
The French winger was one of several players signed by Paul Jewell during the January transfer window, but made just three appearances.
Robert, 32, played under current Toronto coach John Carver at Newcastle.
Carver said: “I’ve spent a lot of time with Laurent and know about his game. He’ll be a big asset to the team.”
Robert, who also played for Portsmouth, has not started a game since early February.
But Toronto general manager Mo Johnston, the former Celtic, Rangers and Scotland striker, said: “We are thrilled to have Laurent join Toronto FC and become part of our club.
“He’s a tremendous player with a lot of talent, and we expect him to come in and make an impact with our club straight away.”
Written by Ahmed Bilal. Leave a response
Why did Harry buy David Nugent, and why did he then not use him like a mid-table club would use a 6m striker (that is, frequently)?
Surely they tried before buying, gave him the ball and checked if he could shoot and run with it. A medical is standard procedure, right? If he’s not good enough for Portsmouth, then why buy him in the firsts place? How did he dupe Harry into signing him then?
So what’s wrong? Did Nugent shag Harry’s mistress on the first day? Did he refuse to give Campbell a backrub? Does he smoke and is thus in David James’s bad books? Did he develop a rash that stops him from wearing shorts? Does he really like shopping so much that he misses training?
Why is Nugent at Portsmouth? And more importantly, why isn’t he playing?
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 3 comments
As a rule, I don’t believe anything that comes out of Real Madrid. But the following statement made by current Real Madrid manager Bernd Schuster about Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo is a bit interesting:
“He’s the star at Manchester United and until they win the Champions League and another league title or two then they aren’t going to let him go. So in the short term I don’t think it will be possible to sign him.
But in a couple of years, yes, I believe he could be wearing the white shirt at the Bernabeu.”
This is interesting because it’s the classic template for pissing the hell out of others.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. Leave a response
Reports both Newcastle United and Liverpool are interested in signing Tottenham’s Aaron Lennon.
For starters, I don’t see why Ramos would want to sell Lennon - it’s not like Tottenham need the money, it’s not like Lennon is going to fetch too much money, and it’s hard to see Ramos replacing someone like Lennon when there so much more to fix elsewhere in the squad.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 11 comments
In the most expensive transfer in the history of professional sports, Real Madrid have committed to paying 100m for Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo.
In a move that David Gill described as ‘the textbook definition of too-good-to-refuse’, Manchester United will net £100m upfront and take off around £6m / year from their bloated wage bill. If there was ever a profit to be made, the American owners have made it here.
This is all part of Manchester United’s plan to pay off their debt by 21 December 2012, and along with selling Ronaldo to Real Madrid they are also poised to sell several other players to leading European clubs.
Ronaldo will move to Real Madrid in July after the Euro 2008 championship in the summer, signing a mind-boggling deal that:
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 5 comments
Juande Ramos has decided to splash the cash in Manchester United’s direction with Tottenham picking up a host of stars from the Manchester United firesale.
Tottenham are reported to have struck deals with United keeper Ben Foster, former Tottenham midfielder Michael Carrick as well as French internationals Louis Saha and Mikael Silvestre.
The combined deal will cost Tottenham £30m, and while some reports have suggested that Manchester United were giving Saha and Silvestre for free, we have confirmation from Tottenham that they will indeed be paying for the services of Saha and Silvestre.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 8 comments
Chelsea have reached an agreement with debt-ridden Manchester United to buy the England and Manchester United captain, Rio Ferdinand.
Rio Ferdinand will cost Chelsea £30m, and the amount will go some way towards helping the Glazers pay off Manchester United’s mountain of debt.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. One comment
In an ambitious and somewhat desperate attempt to wipe off their debt, Manchester United have struck a stunning 40m deal with Liverpool, taking Scouser and former Everton star Wayne Rooney to Anfield.
Reports suggest that Manchester United’s need to sell, coupled with the lack of quality strikers at Liverpool and Steven Gerrard’s desire to win titles meant that Liverpool were left with no choice but to pay Manchester United’s asking price.
Of course, the deal will not be finalised till July but the work has already started, with Coleen Mclaughlin spotted in Liverpool shopping for a house with Alex Curran. The £40m will be paid to Manchester United up front and will be funded by Liverpool using the money from the sales of Kuyt, Voronin, Riise, and Carson. Of course, this probably won’t even cover Rooney’s one-year wages, so in reality Hicks and Gillett will need to borrow £40m from Roman Abramovich (or perhaps sell a share of Liverpool to DIC) to fund the purchase.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 3 comments
Arsenal have decided to bolster their squad by splashing big for the first time under Monsieur Wenger. Backed by Alisher Usmanov’s millions, Arsenal will spend around 30m to bring Owen Hargreaves and Carlos Tevez from Manchester United to the Emirates.
Manchester United have been eager to offload their star players this summer in a bid to pay off their £700m debt, and the Glazers have struck deals with a host of clubs in the Premier League and La Liga to sell Manchester United’s finest.
Details of the Arsenal deal are sketchy, but reports suggest that both Tevez and Hargreaves will cost £10m and £20m respectively, although technically Tevez is on loan at United and the 10m will be paid just to transfer that loan over to Arsenal.
Fans will question the sanity of this agreement, but the Usmanov takeover and impending doom that his reign will bring make this the least of their problems.
Also See:
Alisher Usmanov buys Arsenal; Gunners now a softball team
Manchester United to sell players and stadium to service £700m debt
Manchester United Sex Scandal - Ronaldo, Rooney, Anderson and Nani in US orgy
Disclaimer: April Fool! 
Nothing in the above news item should be considered truthful - it is all a figment of the author’s imagination. To read more April Fool stories, please visit our April Fools section on Soccerlens.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 7 comments
BURIED under mountains of debt and interest payments, Manchester United’s American owners have decided to cash in their star players and get rid of the club’s debt in an ambitious plan to be debt-free by 21 December 2012.
With Manchester United expected to win the Premier League second year in a row and also win the Uefa Champions League, the Glazers have decided that this is the right time to take a calculated loss and pay off a considerable portion of their debt.
While raising the £700m or so required to service the debt + interest payments is no small task, the Glazers are certain that their money-scrimping American ways coupled with naked extortion of the fans will help Manchester United debt-free and hence on the path to being the biggest, richest and most powerful football club ever ™.
Proposed fundraising activities include:
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 12 comments
Here’s an interesting threesome - or something like that.
Carson wants his future settled, and he’s said several times already this season that he’d rather be playing at Aston Villa than sitting on the bench at Liverpool. Liverpool have so far been reluctant to let Carson go, and it’s rumoured that if Benitez cannot convince Carson to stay at Anfield, he would then ask for around 10m (recent rumours put it at 9m).
So far, this matter seemed to be something to be decided in the summer - but the latest transfer rumours suggest that Aston Villa will not match Liverpool’s valuation and if Carson was to return from Aston Villa to Liverpool, a host of other clubs (Arsenal?) would be interested, with Tottenham being the obvious choice given their much-talked about goalkeeping troubles.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. One comment
