Showing posts with label arsenal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label arsenal. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Ronaldo Finally Goes

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.

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!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Football Round Up

Welcome to the first of our round-ups of the football news. We'll try and give you all the football details you'll need to know, and hope you keep coming back for more! So what news of Tuesday 19th 2009?

The bulk of the backpages highlighted the fact that a member of the (far right-wing) BNP party had somehow managed to get into the official launch party of England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup, alongside David beckham and Wayne Rooney. It's an error that won't be made again, but at the end of the day he was one of just four GLA politicians who bothered to turn up, and it wasn't like he stole the show with some racist or whatever comments - as far as we know he was well-behaved!

With Manchester United already having pipped Liverpool and Chelsea to the Premier League title, the focus falls to the relegation battle. Sunderland had it all in their own hands when Kenwynne Jones sent them a goal ahead. But John Utaka, a Phil Bardsley own goal and Armand Traore's late finish meant that Portsmouth sent the Rokerites went thome empty-handed, and with a nervy 'Relegation Sunday' ahead of them.

On the transfer front, Manchester City have started to be linked with each and every footballer in Europe - the latest being former Man United star(ish) Diego Forlan, currently at Atletico.

Madrid seems to be a hotbed of gossip, with Florentino Perez's imminent Presidency ensuring that Galactico after Galactico is linked to the club. Today its Wigan Athletic's Antonio Valencia, supposedly for £22m. Good though the Ecudorian is, we don't think he'll be used as the main thrust of Perez's campaign, at least not whilst Cristiano Ronaldo is still in the mix!

With Arsene Wenger also being linked to Real Madrid, Arsenal look set on having a difficult summer - having to find some midfield battlers in the Darren Fletcher mould as well as a new boss, who needs to be good with kids.

Chelsea are also on the look out for a new manager, with prime target Carlo Ancelotti being begged by Kaka, Maldini et al to stay on at the San Siro. If Carletto does arrive at Stamford Bridge, expect to see the back of Didier Drogba (probably to Jose's Inter) and Nicolas Anelka, with Carlos Tevez and Emmanuel Adebayor lining up in blue next season instead.

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