Cristiano Ronaldo's protracted move to Real Madrid has finally been confirmed, with the Spanish club having deposited all £80 million into Manchester United's bank account. It didn't stay there for long though, with Sir Alex Ferguson already having spent £16m on Wigan's Ecuadorian starlet Antonio Valencia, and being tipped to add Karim Benzema in the near future.
United have beaten Chelsea to signing a big-name player, with Chelsea fans starting to get restless even though there is two months left until the end of the transfer window, and manager Carlo Ancelotti hasn't yet met the current players. Yuri Zhirkov is on his way to Stamford Bridge at some point, and will more than likely be followed by Boro's Ross Turnbull and Manchester City's Daniel Sturridge.
At lest it is looking less likely that the quality players will be drifting away from the Blues, with Inter Milan failing to agree terms with Chelsea on how much they should pay for Ricardo Carvalho and Deco. Inter say £6m, Chelsea say double.
City are able to let Sturridge leave because they are contesting for yet more top-class talent - Roque Santa Cruz, Craig Bellamy and Robinho will soon be teaming up with Carlos Tevez and Samuel Eto'o, although Eto'o is posturing for more money to make him join a club that isn't in the Champions League. Yet.
Portsmouth have released 5 players and sold one, with Paramot, Lauren, Little, Thomas and Djimi Traore not having their contracts renewed, and Sean Davis heading to Bolton on a free-transfer after seeing out his contract.
Arsenal's hopes of signing Felipe Melo took a turn for the worse when the Brazilian central midfielder signed a new deal at his current club, Fiorentina, which may mean that Arsenal look to old boy Patrick Vieira or possibly Yaya Toure, brother of Kolo, for some steel at the centre of the pitch.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Liverpool net a Finance Package
An as-yet-unnamed team has supposedly been taken over by some more Arabs from the UAE, in a deal unconnected to the people in charge of City, with a 'Premiership club' already having signed the paperwork to transfer ownership.
Ruud van Nistelrooy has urged his Dutch team-mates at Real to find a way out, and a new club, ahead of the World Cup 2010. He wants everyone to be fighting fit. With the arrivals of big-money signings Ronaldo and Kaka, the Dutch contingent are available at bargain prices.
The TV rights for the Premier League games lost by Setanta have already been snapped up at a knock down price, with US TV giants ESPN landing the rights to the Monday and Saturday night games packages for some £40m less than Setanta paid for them. The SPL has now followed suit by re-claiming the rights back off Setanta, who will struggle without the football to bring in viewers.
Monday, June 22, 2009
City start Spending
Manchester City have got their summer spending into full swing, with the club looking to finalise the £15m transfer of Roque Santa Cruz in the next day or so (he is in for a medical right now) as well as dot the i's and cross the t's on the new £25.5m contract with Carlos Tevez.
Chelsea seem to be missing out on big player after big player, with a late bid for Kaka turned dwon, and Tevez now opting to stay in Manchester. Ricardo Carvalho and deco have already said that they wantto join Mourinho at Inter Milan, and another of Chelsea's key men from last season, Didier Drogba, has reportedly been on the phone to Jose too. Things aren't looking so rosy at Stamford Bridge.
Arsenal completed the £10m signing of intelligent Ajax captain Thomas Vermaelen. The talented centre-back should shore up the centre of the pitch for Arsenal, behind Cesc Fabregas, and is another canny purchase by Arsene Wenger.
Manchester United, having lost both Tevez and Ronaldo, are set to splurgetheircash on Karim Benzema and Luis Valencia, with Brazilian wonderkid Douglas Costa thrown in for good measure. Zoran Tosic, the Serbian brought in to play on the wing in January, has revealed that they all knew Ronaldo would be leaving this summer - even before the Champions League Final loss to Barcelona. Tosic hopes to stake his claim for the vacancy in the pre-season.
Liverpool's woes off-the-field, with the Americans Gillett and Hicks, seem to have taken a turn for the better, with Gllett selling his stake in his NHL team.
Chelsea seem to be missing out on big player after big player, with a late bid for Kaka turned dwon, and Tevez now opting to stay in Manchester. Ricardo Carvalho and deco have already said that they wantto join Mourinho at Inter Milan, and another of Chelsea's key men from last season, Didier Drogba, has reportedly been on the phone to Jose too. Things aren't looking so rosy at Stamford Bridge.
Arsenal completed the £10m signing of intelligent Ajax captain Thomas Vermaelen. The talented centre-back should shore up the centre of the pitch for Arsenal, behind Cesc Fabregas, and is another canny purchase by Arsene Wenger.
Manchester United, having lost both Tevez and Ronaldo, are set to splurgetheircash on Karim Benzema and Luis Valencia, with Brazilian wonderkid Douglas Costa thrown in for good measure. Zoran Tosic, the Serbian brought in to play on the wing in January, has revealed that they all knew Ronaldo would be leaving this summer - even before the Champions League Final loss to Barcelona. Tosic hopes to stake his claim for the vacancy in the pre-season.
Liverpool's woes off-the-field, with the Americans Gillett and Hicks, seem to have taken a turn for the better, with Gllett selling his stake in his NHL team.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
England steal the back-pages
Eng-er-land, Eng-er-land, Eng-er-land! The papers have gone mad on the national side's 6-0 demolition of Andorra!
England are now on course to WIN the World Cup (according to the red-tops anyway!) - somehow the boys managed to prove they could go all the way last night, in spite of the fact that the team they faced is semi-professional, based in the mountains (not many pitches!) and is formed of post-men, shop workers and a factory engineer or two. I wonder what the papers will say if England actually beat someone worth beating?!
Arsene Wenger probably won't have been too happy that youngster Theo Walcott played the entire match - not least with him now jetting off to the U-21 Championships. Wenger had tried to persuade Theo to drop out of the youth tournament, but having spent 4months on the sidelines earlier this season the young winger didn't see the point in missing out. He has just two weeks off between the tournament ending and Arsenal's pre-season training starting, so maybe Arsene has a point?!
Roberto Martinez is set to finally be unveiled at Wigan later today, whilst West Brom fans have begun an online petition in the hope it will convince their boss Tony Mowbray (who has got the club relegated twice!) not to jump ship for Celtic. Not sure it'll help...
The exodus of talent from Newcastle and Middlesbrough has yet to happen, which has prompted Tuncay Sanli to make sure everyone knows that he wants to play at the highest level. His intricate passing game perhaps isn't suited to the blood and guts of the Championship, but Boro fans won't appreciate his sentiments.
The confusion remains at Newcastle, who have yet to sort out their owner, manager or any of their players! The foreign legion of Xisco, Gutierrez, Coloccini, Bassong and so many others are all lining themselves up for a move away from the club, but have been forced to wait whilst Mike Ashley gets his finances in order.
England are now on course to WIN the World Cup (according to the red-tops anyway!) - somehow the boys managed to prove they could go all the way last night, in spite of the fact that the team they faced is semi-professional, based in the mountains (not many pitches!) and is formed of post-men, shop workers and a factory engineer or two. I wonder what the papers will say if England actually beat someone worth beating?!
Arsene Wenger probably won't have been too happy that youngster Theo Walcott played the entire match - not least with him now jetting off to the U-21 Championships. Wenger had tried to persuade Theo to drop out of the youth tournament, but having spent 4months on the sidelines earlier this season the young winger didn't see the point in missing out. He has just two weeks off between the tournament ending and Arsenal's pre-season training starting, so maybe Arsene has a point?!
Roberto Martinez is set to finally be unveiled at Wigan later today, whilst West Brom fans have begun an online petition in the hope it will convince their boss Tony Mowbray (who has got the club relegated twice!) not to jump ship for Celtic. Not sure it'll help...
The exodus of talent from Newcastle and Middlesbrough has yet to happen, which has prompted Tuncay Sanli to make sure everyone knows that he wants to play at the highest level. His intricate passing game perhaps isn't suited to the blood and guts of the Championship, but Boro fans won't appreciate his sentiments.
The confusion remains at Newcastle, who have yet to sort out their owner, manager or any of their players! The foreign legion of Xisco, Gutierrez, Coloccini, Bassong and so many others are all lining themselves up for a move away from the club, but have been forced to wait whilst Mike Ashley gets his finances in order.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
No Real Football News!
It’s a bit of a rest day in the press following the big money deal of Kaka, who was signed and sealed yesterday. Whilst Madrid's Florentino has gone on record as saying that they will do anything and everything they can to get Cristiano Ronaldo's signature, there won't be any movement on that transfer until later in the summer.
Barcelona are staying 'calm' amidst Real Madrid's spending - but that’s probably only because they are signing Serie A's best player Zlatan Ibrahimovich in return for Samuel Eto'o and £10m. A good deal for all concerned, but it won't be confirmed until June 30th according to Italy's Gazzetta newspaper.
With the big deals on hold for the time being, its time for the smaller moves to take some of the limelight - apart from there aren't many of them either!? Welsh international Carl Fletcher is set to sign for Plymouth, and the wonderfully named Prince Tagoe (Ghanaian international) will sign for Hoffenheim, but they're not really the stories the press likes to cover!
The managerial merry-go-round continue, with Felipe Scolari now a manager in Uzbekistan, Tony Mowbray set for talks with Celtic, and Martinez confirmed at Wigan.
Setanta Sports' impending collapse will leave many Scottish Premier League and English Championship clubs struggling for cash, which makes signing players on free transfers and loans all the more important.
Barcelona are staying 'calm' amidst Real Madrid's spending - but that’s probably only because they are signing Serie A's best player Zlatan Ibrahimovich in return for Samuel Eto'o and £10m. A good deal for all concerned, but it won't be confirmed until June 30th according to Italy's Gazzetta newspaper.
With the big deals on hold for the time being, its time for the smaller moves to take some of the limelight - apart from there aren't many of them either!? Welsh international Carl Fletcher is set to sign for Plymouth, and the wonderfully named Prince Tagoe (Ghanaian international) will sign for Hoffenheim, but they're not really the stories the press likes to cover!
The managerial merry-go-round continue, with Felipe Scolari now a manager in Uzbekistan, Tony Mowbray set for talks with Celtic, and Martinez confirmed at Wigan.
Setanta Sports' impending collapse will leave many Scottish Premier League and English Championship clubs struggling for cash, which makes signing players on free transfers and loans all the more important.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Kaka finally signs and other news
Kaka has signed for Real Madrid. He passed his medical yesterday, with Real Madrid staff flown over to a Brazilian clinic to complete the procedure ahead of him being announced as the world's most expensive footballer. Having cost £56m, he smashes the last record (set by Zidane at £47m), and must be expected to bring real success to the Madrilenos. His transfer has a knock-on effect, with AC Milan now cash-rich to start buying players again (such as Edin Dzeko, who has taken Germany by storm this season) as well as pushing their rivals to get their signings done.
One side of Manchester will be happy come Thursday, with Carlos Tevez set to make a straight choice between the established power of United and the billion-dollar funded ambition on show at City. United have agreed terms with his agent, Kia Jaroobchian, but Tevez is unhappy that its taken so long for the Reds to clinch the deal, and doesn't feel wanted. In contrast, City are willing to smash their wage-structure (is there one?) to get the Argentine, as well as making him their star player. The deal will be done as soon as his international duties have finished.
Michael Owen is the talk of the tabloids once more n the run-up to an England game, but sadly it’s only for transfer reasons this time. The out-of-contract once-great striker has been linked with both Everton and Aston Villa (Martin O'Neill this morning distanced himself from the rumours), although there is still a chance that Owen will end up in Italy at Roma.
Arsenal are close to agreeing a deal for Ajax's 23 year old captain Thomas Vermaelen, who may or may not be joined in the centre of defence by Brede Hangeland - any deal would have to smash Fulham's £12.8m transfer record.
Mike Ashley isn't having much luck in his quest to sell Newcastle United. Having slashed the price of the club to just £100m to aid his deteriorating retail empire, he has started accepting offers via email. Needless to say, he has been offered £10, a curly wurly, and even a pair of Oasis tickets for the club!
One side of Manchester will be happy come Thursday, with Carlos Tevez set to make a straight choice between the established power of United and the billion-dollar funded ambition on show at City. United have agreed terms with his agent, Kia Jaroobchian, but Tevez is unhappy that its taken so long for the Reds to clinch the deal, and doesn't feel wanted. In contrast, City are willing to smash their wage-structure (is there one?) to get the Argentine, as well as making him their star player. The deal will be done as soon as his international duties have finished.
Michael Owen is the talk of the tabloids once more n the run-up to an England game, but sadly it’s only for transfer reasons this time. The out-of-contract once-great striker has been linked with both Everton and Aston Villa (Martin O'Neill this morning distanced himself from the rumours), although there is still a chance that Owen will end up in Italy at Roma.
Arsenal are close to agreeing a deal for Ajax's 23 year old captain Thomas Vermaelen, who may or may not be joined in the centre of defence by Brede Hangeland - any deal would have to smash Fulham's £12.8m transfer record.
Mike Ashley isn't having much luck in his quest to sell Newcastle United. Having slashed the price of the club to just £100m to aid his deteriorating retail empire, he has started accepting offers via email. Needless to say, he has been offered £10, a curly wurly, and even a pair of Oasis tickets for the club!
Monday, June 8, 2009
England edge closer to South Africa 2010
England look to be all set for the World Cup already, with their win on Saturday leaving them just 4 points off qualification for next years South Africa Finals. Wayne Rooney was amongst the scorers in a 4-0 win over Kazakhstan, although not all players were receiving plaudits for the performance - Ashley Cole and Glen Johnson were both fairly laissez-faire in the defending and positioning, which earned them a telling off from manager Fabio Capello.
Portugal left it very late to secure their much-needed win over Albania - Cristiano Ronaldo captained the side, and it looked like it was heading for a draw (which would have killed Carlos Queiroz's qualification hopes) until Bruno Alves popped up in the 93rd minute to smash home. Lucky boys.
Ji Sung Park's South Korea became one of the first teams in the hat for the Finals next year with another convincing win.
On the transfer front, the big guns all appear to be for sale. Save for Lionel Messi, Rooney and Steven Gerrard, all the top players - Ibrahimovich, Eto'o, Ronaldo, Kaka, Tevez etc - are up for grabs. There is talk of Ibra and Eto'o swapping clubs, though that was before Manchester City have finalised what promises to be a massive contract offer for the Cameroonian.
Tevez's agent Kia Jaroobchian has previously mentioned a June 10th deadline for his client, who will have finished football for the summer by that point, and will be looking to have his club tied up so he can properly relax without worrying about passing the medical!
The managerial merry-go-round is still underway, with Martinez expected to be confirmed at Wigan later today, Mowbray moving to Celtic, Darren Ferguson heading to West Brom, etc, etc. Look out for Gordon Strachan, who has been tipped to take on the Portsmouth role.
Portugal left it very late to secure their much-needed win over Albania - Cristiano Ronaldo captained the side, and it looked like it was heading for a draw (which would have killed Carlos Queiroz's qualification hopes) until Bruno Alves popped up in the 93rd minute to smash home. Lucky boys.
Ji Sung Park's South Korea became one of the first teams in the hat for the Finals next year with another convincing win.
On the transfer front, the big guns all appear to be for sale. Save for Lionel Messi, Rooney and Steven Gerrard, all the top players - Ibrahimovich, Eto'o, Ronaldo, Kaka, Tevez etc - are up for grabs. There is talk of Ibra and Eto'o swapping clubs, though that was before Manchester City have finalised what promises to be a massive contract offer for the Cameroonian.
Tevez's agent Kia Jaroobchian has previously mentioned a June 10th deadline for his client, who will have finished football for the summer by that point, and will be looking to have his club tied up so he can properly relax without worrying about passing the medical!
The managerial merry-go-round is still underway, with Martinez expected to be confirmed at Wigan later today, Mowbray moving to Celtic, Darren Ferguson heading to West Brom, etc, etc. Look out for Gordon Strachan, who has been tipped to take on the Portsmouth role.
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