Transfer Rumors (23 July 08): Everton in for Moutinho, Newcastle bid for Celtic’s McGeady, PSG interested in Gallas, and more
One of the sayings that I like to live by is ‘You don’t know if you don’t try.’ That’s the theme of today’s roundup, where a few clubs are making bids for players that they may well not get but are nonetheless going for.
Everton could be ready to sell Andy Johnson, with Fulham reportedly set to offer £10.5m for the striker; after sealing the deal, the Toffees could make a move for Sporting’s Joao Moutinho.
Rumor Rating: 4 – Moutinho could cost £16m, but it would certainly be an impressive capture for Everton if they could pull it off.
According to The Sun, Newcastle have offered Celtic £5m plus Charles N’Zogbia for Aiden McGeady.
Rumor Rating: 2 – McGeady just signed a new long-term deal with Celtic, so it’s highly unlikely they’d want to do any business with Newcastle, or anyone else for that matter.
Stoke City have made a £6m bid for Sunderland keeper Martin Fulop, looking to surpass the record fee that they paid for Dave Kitson just last week.
Rumor Rating: 3 – Roy Keane may not want to sell Craig Gordon’s backup, but the funds could further help his quest to make some quality additions to his squad ahead of the new season.
Sheffield United have signed Watford striker Darius Henderson for £2m. Watford signed him for £450k from Gillingham in 2005, and last season, the 26-year old scored 13 goals for the Hornets.
Rumor Rating: 5 – Henderson quickly fills the hole left by Rob Hulse’s departure to Derby.
Coventry striker Michael Mifsud has put in a transfer request, just a little over a week after the Sky Blues signed Freddy Eastwood from Wolves. Crystal Palace, Norwich, and Bristol City are all being linked with the Maltese striker.
Rumor Rating: 5 – Mifsud and Eastwood likely would’ve been one of the Championship’s most prolific tandems, but it looks like he’ll be scoring goals against Coventry next season, and not for them.
Speaking of Bristol City, they may be backing out on a £1.5m deal for Egyptian striker Emad Moteab, after Moteab played the full 90 in Al-Ahly’s derby against Zamalek, which the club didn’t want him to do.
Rumor Rating: 5 – There are worse things to pull out of a deal for, but hey, maybe him not listening to their wishes, even though it could’ve been his last chance (at least for a while) to play in one of the fiercest rivalries in the world, is something that doesn’t sit well for the future.
Getafe are going to have to up their offer for Real Madrid striker Roberto Soldado if they want a deal done by the end of the week. Getafe have reportedly bid €6m for Soldado, but Real’s asking price is €2m higher.
Rumor Rating: 5 – Getafe just spent a princely sum on signing Esteban Granero from Real, but apparently there’s no frequent buyer’s discount.
Sevilla are set to sign Racing Santander defensive midfielder Aldo Duscher for €2.5m. The 29-year old is also wanted by Olympiakos, but the former Deportivo man favors Seville over a move to Greece, despite the guaranteed Champions League football.
Rumor Rating: 5 – In the past, the Argentine has been linked with the likes of Manchester United. After not having a scoring presence at all at Deportivo, he showed an eye for goal last season for Racing, scoring five league goals.
Roma have tabled an undisclosed offer for Fiorentina striker Adrian Mutu. Roma have been linked with Mutu for much of the summer, but until now, a concrete move hadn’t been made.
Rumor Rating: 3 – Fiorentina’s sporting director is saying that they’ll put serious thought into the offer and get Mutu’s feelings on it, and if Mutu feels he needs/wants a change, then he may be a Roma player before long.
Inter have sealed the signing of Brazilian wunderkind Coutinho from Vasco da Gama. The 16-year old attacker is one of the top young talents in Brazil (which is saying a lot about his promise), and Inter have beaten off Real Madrid for his signature.
Rumor Rating: 5 – The deal allows Coutinho to stay at Vasco da Gama until the end of the 2008/09 campaign to develop further at home before making the move to Europe.
Fresh off of getting one England-based Frenchman, PSG are looking to make a surprise swoop for another one, as they’re interested in Arsenal’s William Gallas.
Rumor Rating: 1 – It’s highly unlikely that Arsenal would sell Gallas right now, and even though the lure of going back to France may appeal at some point, it wouldn’t make much sense for him to leave one of Europe’s top teams for someone who’s, well, not, at least right now.
Well, that’s it for the day in transfer news and speculation. I’ll be back tomorrow (provided the impending storm doesn’t blow me away, knock on wood), but until then, chime in with your thoughts on today’s tidbits, and chip in with rumors that you’ve heard and read.
Topics: Celtic, English Championship, English Premier League, Everton, Fiorentina, Football Transfers, Fulham, La Liga, Ligue 1, Newcastle United, Roma, Scottish Premier League, Serie A, Sheffield United, Stoke City, Sunderland, Watford
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saw a compilation on coutinho looks very promising…will be lethal if he can maintain that class
July 23rd, 2008 @ 15:15seems like Eddie was blown away with the storm…he might take a day or two to reappear. Till then, I’ll add rumours / confirmed transfers here.
July 24th, 2008 @ 06:09West Ham sign Valon Behrami from Lazio for 5m. A very good signing and he’ll adapt quickly to the Premier League.
July 24th, 2008 @ 06:14Sunderland have signed Teemu Tainio from Tottenham. Chimbonda is the most likely player to follow, Malbranque and Kaboul are also being pursued with the later apparently unwilling to move.
July 24th, 2008 @ 06:18Blackburn have agreed to sell Friedel as long as they can find a replacement. Villa / City are expected to be the most likely buyers.
July 24th, 2008 @ 06:20Daily Mail suggests that Friedel is going to Villa with Tottenham’s Robinson moving to Blackburn. I would have figured Spurs would swap keepers instead and bring in a young keeper as an understudy to Friedel but what do I know.
If this is true, then Villa are paying 2.75m for Friedel while Carson went for 3.5m. Did Pool ask for more money because they saw Villa as a threat or did Villa refuse to pay more than 3m?
July 24th, 2008 @ 06:26Daily Mail also says that Ben Haim will move to City (instead of Newcastle).
July 24th, 2008 @ 06:30Liverpool have signed 18-year old right-back Emmanuel Mendy on a free transfer from Murcia Deportivo.
Liverpool’s summer signings so far:
Youth Squad: Emmanuel Mendy, Christopher Buchtmann, Nikola Saric, Zsolt Poloskei and Vincent Lucas Weijl.
Senior Squad: Philipp Degen, Andrea Dossena and Diego Cavalieri.
July 24th, 2008 @ 06:38Blackburn have been linked to Palermo midfielder Mark Bresciano.
The guy has been linked to mid-level Premier League teams for the last 2 years. It’s a standard rumour dug up once every 3 months. Wonder how long this one will last…
July 24th, 2008 @ 07:22Wigan have almost bagged Cattermole from Middlesbrough, with the finer details left to sort out.
Surprised that Boro are letting him go but Cattermole is a decent player and a fighter and will do well at Wigan.
July 24th, 2008 @ 07:26Bayern say they considered buying Hleb, and that they might buy Gomez next summer.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_3857968,00.html
THAT is conducting your transfers through the press – when your chairman tells the press that the club is after another player. Let me go show this to a certain Bayern fan…
July 24th, 2008 @ 07:28Sky Sports claim that Inter are after Pompey’s Sulley Muntari.
Not sure what to make of it, but given Sky Sports past record with ‘Sky Sports understands’, I doubt this. At best, Muntari is being lined up as a backup if the proposed Quaresma bid (if that’s true) fails.
July 24th, 2008 @ 07:38Hi Ahmed Bilal, just to update on your comment. don’t you read the news that helb is already training with Bacelona. so it’s a closed story.
to share some with you all, Chealsea has a 50% percent chance of landing Robinho from Real Madrid. From all points of view, i see all the possibility that he will come to England. Who says Real Madrid is a big club. yes, it was in the past, not now.
England has the greatest teams in the world.
July 24th, 2008 @ 10:22mandutd – I was referring to the Gomez comment, not the Hleb comment.
July 24th, 2008 @ 10:55I take the Muntari comment back. The BBC says that Inter have agreed a contract with Muntari and that a 12.7m move is expected to go through today with Pompey. Strange, but then that’s Mourinho for you.
July 24th, 2008 @ 15:30Liverpool have signed 19-yr old French striker David Ngog from PSG. Eddie will surely tell you all about him tomorrow.
July 24th, 2008 @ 15:32What are Liverpool going to do with Barry? Buy him or not?
It’s sad to see them unsettle a player and then leave him in the lurch like this.
July 24th, 2008 @ 17:15Tottenham Hotspur (Transfers & rumours)
In (signed): Heurelho Gomes (PSV, £5m); Luka Modric (Dinamo Zagreb, £16.6 million); Giovani Dos Santos (Barcelona, £4.7 million); John Bostock (Crystal Palace, £700,000)
In (rumours): David Bentley (Blackburn Rovers); Roman Pavlyuchenko (Spartak Moscow); Diego Capel (Sevilla); Diego Milito (Zaragoza); Ruben de la Red, Daniel Diaz (both Getafe); Emiliano Viviano (Brescia); Aaron Spear (Plymouth Argyle)
Out (signed): Paul Robinson (Blackburn Rovers )
Out (rumours): Dimitar Berbatov (Manchester United); Kevin Prince Boateng (Stuttgart, Aston Villa); Paul Robinson (Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers); Pascal Chimbonda (Newcastle, Sunderland, Aston Villa, Rangers, Fulham); Darren Bent (Celtic, Aston Villa, Sunderland, Blackburn Rovers); Younes Kaboul (Portsmouth, Sunderland); Michael Dawson, Aaron Lennon (Newcastle United, Blackburn Rovers); Robbie Keane (Liverpool); Steed Malbranque (Aston Villa, Sunderland); Riccardo Rocha (Portsmouth, Hull, Benfica); Hossam Ghaly (Blackburn, Derby); Teemu Tainio (Sunderland)
July 26th, 2008 @ 03:04