Premier League - Transfer Talk: Bloody Sunday

Eurosport - Mon, 30 Jun 08:27:00 2008

Transfer Talk has a big stick, it is shaking it furiously, but it just can't aim it at all the rumours that have emerged today.

FOOTBALL; Robbie Keane, Tottenham, March 2008 - 0

For you see it is Sunday, and that means the Sunday papers, and THAT means that those journalists who are lucky enough to work with such publications have had a whole week to make up juicy transfer rumours that defy logic or reason.

Prime amongst them is a report that Liverpool want to reduce the average height of their team by about four feet by offering beanpole Peter Crouch and a wad of cash to Spurs in exchange for the pint sized Robbie Keane.

Crouch is also one of the 7,636 players currently been tracked by Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp, with the Premier League's very own Del Boy also trying to wheel and deal for amongst others: Yossi Benayoun and Harry Kewell (both Liverpool), Shaun Wright-Phillips and Ben Sahar (both Chelsea), and Younes Kaboul (Tottenham) - cushty!

Meanwhile, bonkers Manchester City owner Thaksin Shinawatra is hoping to have his assets in Thailand unfrozen next week, and will look for new boss Mark Hughes to spend as much of it as possible before somebody threatens to take it back off him again.

David Bentley, Zaragoza's Diego Milito, Matteo Ferrari of Roma, and "best player in the world for a week" Andrei Arshavin are all on Sparky's wish list.

However, first in at Eastlands should be CSKA Moscow's striker J,o who will cost a whopping £19m (but they will at least save some cash when it comes to putting his name on the back of a shirt).

Bentley for City certainly seems to make sense, but new Blackburn boss Paul Ince has said he will only let his star man go to one of the "big four". Methinks £15m could change his mind though.

Down at the Bridge, everybody seems to be waiting to see who Big Phil will bring in at Chelsea. Well never fear Blues fans, apparently Arshavin, Kaka, Deco, and Franck Ribery are all on the way. Hmmm - so they want an attacking midfielder then?

Is that because Frank Lampard is leaving? It would seem so. The man that is called "overrated" so often that he is now running the risk of being underrated will apparently tell Peter Kenyon this week he is off to Inter. How nice of him to tell the Sunday Mail about his plans first though.

Let's go back to Harry Kewell shall we? Portsmouth want him, but Roma are the favourites to sign him. Only snag? They will only pay him a paltry £15,000-a-week. Poor Harry, how will he cope?

Staying in Italy, apparently washed-up Italian has-been Christian Vieri has joined Hull on their pre-season training camp in the country.

Vieri might be thinking - "Premier League - I can dig it" - but TT is guessing he may soon change his mind if he ever makes it to the bright lights of Hull.

Far be it for us to dismiss the urban charms of the Yorkshire city but let's be fair - Florence it ain't!

Far more likely to end up at the Kentucky Fried Chicken stadium are the never-going-to-be-good-enough-for-the-big-four-duo of Frazier Campbell (£4m from Manchester United) and Ryan Bertrand (£2m from Chelsea).

Meanwhile, fellow Premier League new boys Stoke City are already planning for life back in the Championship by splashing out £2.25 million on Spurs misfit Anthony Gardner.

Tony Pulis doesn't seem to be the only manager looking to waste money though. Alan Curbishley is trying to "merk" Martin O'Neill out of £10m by flogging the overrated Anton Ferdinand to Villa. Watch O'Neill then bid for Leyton Orient's Paul Terry and he will have the England centre-back partnership (kind of).

Meanwhile, Vaclav Sverkos made a name for himself by scoring the first goal at Euro 2008 and now he is going to make his Czech club Banik Ostrava a fortune, with Fulham set to pay £5 million for the previously unknown striker.

Middlesbrough are also in the market for a striker (aren't they always?) and are set to spend £2.8 million on Sparta Rotterdam's "scoring sensation" Marvin Emnes.

And what does the Sunday Mirror think constitutes a "scoring sensation" these days? Eight goals in the Dutch league last season, apparently.

If you have a Premier League goalkeeper's jersey with a name on the back then it is almost certainly going to be out of date by the end of the summer. Everybody is on the move so it seems.

Manchester City are going to lose Joe Hart and replace him with Blackburn's Brad Friedel. Blackburn will then try and get Paul Robinson from Spurs ahead of Villa. Liverpool will sell back-up Charles Itandje for £2 million to Galatasaray and replace him with Fulham's Antti Niemi. That will also allow Scott Carson to leave with West Brom and Middlesbrough fighting for him - phew.

Elsewhere, Newcastle need to sell Obefami Martins for £15 million before they can buy anybody - good luck with that! At the moment they can't even squeeze £3 million out of West Brom for Shola Ameobi.

Dani Guiza is holding off his move to Fenerbahce because bigger clubs are now sniffing around. Who could it be? Chelsea? Inter? Bayern Munich? Nope - apparently it is Sunderland who are ready with a £10 million bid.

The Daily Star tell us that Chelsea and Manchester United are both "targeting" Bayern Munich's Bastian Schweinsteiger. They also inform us that Liverpool are "eyeing" the player too - not sure how that is different but answers on a postcard please.

Leaving the Premier League for Serie A is Manchester City striker Rolando Bianchi, who seems to have accepted his fate as the latest Italian striker to flop in England (Corrado Grabbi anyone?). Lazio and Torino are interested.

Meanwhile Roma want Manchester United's Mikael Silvestre to join Kewell on their poverty line.

Finally did you really think we were going to leave you without a Cristiano Ronaldo update? Of course not!!

And we have a new take on proceedings in today's Observer, who actually claim that Ronaldo's agent Jorge Mendes has been trying to convince his client to STAY at Manchester United.

An agent? Passing on a pay day? Can't be true? Can it?

He'll have fat chance convincing Ronaldo to remain in Manchester though as the Portuguese man has been "plotting" his exit for seven months.

Just go already, please! We can't take it anymore!

TT would like to officially offer to fly Ronaldo to Madrid ourselves to seal the deal.

As long of course if he is willing to fly economy with a budget airline on a Tuesday at 06.00am from Stanstead to an airport in "Madrid" which is actually closer to Lisbon.

Hey, we have to be cheap, this gig doesn't pay much, believe it or not we are actually getting paid slightly less than Kewell might end up earning at Roma.

Life is hard - TT wonders if any of those Sunday papers are looking for staff?

Seán Fay / Eurosport

Comment 32 - 51 of 51

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  1. RONALDO WINS BEST DIVER AND STUNT MAN NOW HIS ACT IS OVER SEND HIM BACK BECAUSE I HAVE SEEN IT ALL BEFORE HE CAN MAKE MORE CARTOONS OVER THERE WE CAN DO WHITH ANOTHER MICKY MOUSE OR TWEETY PIE

    From BARBARA M, on Mon 30 Jun 11:46AM

  2. gareth breeze faild the sprint of 50meters in 1 hour

    From sully893@rocketmail.com, on Mon 30 Jun 10:53AM

  3. Chelsea new player:-
    -Deco
    -Robinho
    -Bastian Schweinsteiger

    From Pete

    From aie chelsea, on Mon 30 Jun 10:30AM

  4. I would wish Lampard to retain his position in Chelsea,i appeal to him to first test this new coach and know his tactics and see if they cooperate.
    I request Scolari to take over his duties in Chelsea so and see how he can plan for his team.
    MY question, is Drogba going or not,i need an answer?

    From busikumoses1, on Mon 30 Jun 10:10AM

  5. an answer to bill is that if Jose Morinho was not loyal to the club and Lamps is loyal to Jose instead of the club. We ain' t got any place for them bluffers.That is why we need money ,to replace good non loyal players with good loyal players and we got the right man to do so, Big Phill and about that we ain't never going to become a first class team .I have news we are a first class team.WE were finalists in the Champions league and if the ref gave us those 2 penalties (the Malouda ONE and the high footed foot in the face of our Colee)we would have got Ballack to smash Van Der Sar's net and Terry's glory would have been won.This is not forgetting that for 2 points we didn't win the Premiership

    From fenech.izaak, on Mon 30 Jun 8:21AM

  6. I think Ronaldo needs to stay at Manchester United. After the performance of Fernando Torres, he now has some stiff competition for the best Footballer in the world. I believe we are witnessing the beginning of what will be 2 of the most legendary footballing careers ever. The premiere league is now the best league in the world! To transfer would be a mistake, and what I would see as an act of cowardess on the part of Christiano Ronaldo. I am a Big fan of Ronaldo, he is by far the best player in the world and I have, and will continue to defend that statement to anyone who would challenge it. As a big fan, I would like to see my favorite player prove himself as the undisputed best footballer in the world. He will do this by repeating his performance in the 2008 season. Ronaldo must defend the Premiere league, and Champions League titles. In turn he must repeat as Premiere League player of the year, as well as European, World Footballers of the year awards ( I Believe he will win both those honors this seasons, with the numbers he put up and titles he put up on the shelf, he deserves it by far)

    RONALDO PLEASE STAY AT UNITED!! MAKE HISTORY! REPEAT YOUR SUCCESS FROM 2008!! PROVE YOU ARE THE BEST PLAYER IN THE WORLD, AND THAT UNITED IS THE BEST TEAM IN THE WORLD! and you will make a fellow countryman PROUD. When you repeat this feet, then if necessary, repeat the success in other leagues across the world (Spain, Italy, Germany?, USA?, and please return to portugal to finish it off!!). Then you will truly be great.

    Aceboogie

    From Bryan F, on Mon 30 Jun 3:10AM

  7. TT-Tranfer Tlk

    From edwardcasey, on Mon 30 Jun 3:02AM

  8. .

    From timity, on Mon 30 Jun 1:29AM

  9. liverpool are rubbish and rafa benitez has been living off the back of a champions league victory for too long,the two morons from america who now own the club [gillet & hicks]couldnt organise a p**s up in a brewery,the pair are not capable of running a corner shop,is anyone else sick of all the girly @#$%ing? as for barry!!! martin oneill has said he wanted him to stay but will not get in the way of him moving to anfield [which barry has made clear is his choice] & now the little @#$% is whinging "no one has trid to convince me to stay"!!! if liverpool, hicks & gillet are such a big club 18m should be no problems for them.If only gillet & hicks had the cash they would like everyone to believe they had instead of being a couple of small time second hand car dealers,but them & their underachiving club will probably have another trophyless season ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa why i bet Everton finish above them this year,besides the last thing England needs is scoucers running around blabbing about liverpool winning the title...a big achievement for liverpool i think would be winning the league cup....or avoiding relegation. verdict=sack benitez hes spent too much & is now selling all the players he brought!!! proof that hes wasted cash on bad buys.

    hav to agree with lee t, liverpool are da biggest joke of a club these days, u cnt call da premiership da top 4 wen ders onli 3 teams i.e utd,chelsea nd arsenal, liverpool havnt competed for da title in years, nd wnt 4 mre to follow wit signins like barry, sure hes hardly in da england squad nd ye are payin over £15 million, dats a joke, 4 liverpools sake, sack benitez, sell carragher, hyypia nd bout 10 other muck players get bout £20mil for dem nd go start a new team cause be real lads ye are terrible(barnsley) need i say more, stop livin in da 70's nd get into da 21st century, UNITED all da way, now fergie ders a man who knows who to buy wit sum exceptions!!!!! cu on pool get real

    From drenniefins1, on Mon 30 Jun 1:22AM

  10. liverpool are rubbish and rafa benitez has been living off the back of a champions league victory for too long,the two morons from america who now own the club [gillet & hicks]couldnt organise a p**s up in a brewery,the pair are not capable of running a corner shop,is anyone else sick of all the girly @#$%ing? as for barry!!! martin oneill has said he wanted him to stay but will not get in the way of him moving to anfield [which barry has made clear is his choice] & now the little @#$% is whinging "no one has trid to convince me to stay"!!! if liverpool, hicks & gillet are such a big club 18m should be no problems for them.If only gillet & hicks had the cash they would like everyone to believe they had instead of being a couple of small time second hand car dealers,but them & their underachiving club will probably have another trophyless season ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa why i bet Everton finish above them this year,besides the last thing England needs is scoucers running around blabbing about liverpool winning the title...a big achievement for liverpool i think would be winning the league cup....or avoiding relegation. verdict=sack benitez hes spent too much & is now selling all the players he brought!!! proof that hes wasted cash on bad buys.

    hav to agree with lee t, liverpool are da biggest joke of a club these days, u cnt call da premiership da top 4 wen ders onli 3 teams i.e utd,chelsea nd arsenal, liverpool havnt competed for da title in years, nd wnt 4 mre to follow wit signins like barry, sure hes hardly in da england squad nd ye are payin over £15 million, dats a joke, 4 liverpools sake, sack benitez, sell carragher, hyypia nd bout 10 other muck players get bout £20mil for dem nd go start a new team cause be real lads ye are terrible(barnsley) need i say more, stop livin in da 70's nd get into da 21st century, UNITED all da way, now fergie ders a man who knows who to buy wit sum exceptions!!!!! cu on pool get real

    From drenniefins1, on Mon 30 Jun 1:22AM

  11. Chelsea and Man U will try to buy everyone and there will be no one left to play against. Liverpool needs 3 or 4 jey players to be champions in Europe and England. My thoughts
    Arshavin to Barca
    Deco to London Blues
    Ronnie to AC Milan
    Ronaldo to Dive then complain to ref prior to deciding to play for Real or Man u.
    Liverpool need David Villa, and David Silva, as well as
    Huntelaar will end up on the team without Ronaldo
    Ribery to stay
    Bastian will end up on Chelsea or Man U it all depends on Ronaldo. WIthout Ronaldo Man U gets better!!
    Guiza to Sunderland Black Cats will end up in top 8 next year!!

    From mach3ucf, on Mon 30 Jun 12:54AM

  12. I am a chelsea fan n i hope chelsea win champions league n premier league this year!! I think barry is making the biggest mistake of his life by joining liver becoz i think at liver he wnt get 2 play as much as he does at villa... Chelsea all the way!!

    From minhaal_94, on Mon 30 Jun 12:28AM

  13. tt = Transfer Talk

    From Ben & Jules, on Sun 29 Jun 11:32PM

  14. whos tt

    From stuart.franklin, on Sun 29 Jun 11:07PM

  15. mmm.... are we talking about the same gareth barry that villa were trying to shift a couple of seasons ago to anyone for 1.5 million?(with no takers by the way )all they've done is scrubbed the decimal point!

    From R G, on Sun 29 Jun 10:08PM

  16. To pick up on the point made by westy, about using the 'Bloody Sunday' title. It is comparable to a big team losing to Sheff Wed and a paper using the headline 'Hillsbrough Disaster'. In no way can you compare a tragedy with a sporting event. Well said Westy.

    From chris.wright36, on Sun 29 Jun 9:31PM

  17. hey lee t, your a @#$%,shut up and get a life!!

    From simsixty2, on Sun 29 Jun 9:12PM

  18. Liverpool are england's most successful club but the they won most of it in the 70's when they actually had quality players in every position. Nowadays you rely on gerrard and torres to do the business. You ain't gonna win any league this year. You should just make sure you keep your fourth place position from everton and spurs. C'mon your biggest transfer target is a player barely making it into the england squad!!None of the big 4 would pay more than 10 million for him.Get real liverpool you might win the FA Cup if you can avoid barnsley!!

    From gannon93, on Sun 29 Jun 8:09PM

  19. Lee T, your prehaps a disgruntled chelsea fan that knows nowt about football or footy politics, remind me again how many times your chelsea & man utd have won both League and the Champions League i think you find that Liverpool are probably englands most succesfull club - so give it a rest - this season we will do it all boy

    From Brian E, on Sun 29 Jun 7:46PM

  20. I want M. United to get David Villa, Cesc Fabregas, Arshavin, Ronaldinho, Lahm and Mexes. Also,I think that they shouldn't sell Ronaldo.

    From olgaterry, on Sun 29 Jun 7:36PM
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