TRANSFER GOSSIP Liverpool will have to cough up £20m for Carlton Cole. West Ham are willing to sell but they want a top price as they would have little time before the new season kicks off to sign a replacement striker. Full story: the Sun Chelsea have beaten off Manchester United to land highly rated Burkina Faso prospect Bertrand Traore. The midfielder, who is only 14, shone at the Under-17 World Cup last year - where he became the youngest player to appear in the finals. Full story: the Sun Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson is considering making a £14m offer for two Aston Villa players, with England defender Stephen Warnock, 28, and Bulgaria midfielder Stiliyan Petrov, 31, his targets. Full story: caughtoffside.com Manchester City midfielder Stephen Ireland is putting his proposed move to Aston Villa - as part of a swap deal with Villa's James Milner - on hold as he waits to see whether Tottenham will make a late bid. Full story: Daily Mirror Aston Villa are preparing to bring Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia to Villa Park as part of a triangle of moves, with Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer joining Arsenal and Villa's Brad Friedel moving to Craven Cottage. Full story: Daily Mirror Tottenham are looking to offload striker Peter Crouch. The England player was offered to West Ham as part of an unsuccessful proposed swap deal for Scott Parker but Liverpool and Everton could be interested. Full story: Daily Mirror Meanwhile, Harry Redknapp has been to watch France striker Loic Remy and Nice's £13m-rated man is now the Tottenham manager's number one target. Full story: Daily Mirror Everton sent scouts to watch Remy make his France debut against Norway on Wednesday but the Merseyside club were not alone, with Aston Villa, Sunderland, Chelsea and Spurs all represented in the stands. Full story: Daily Mail New Fulham boss Mark Hughes wants Manchester City striker Roque Santa Cruz to spearhead his attack. The 28-year-old player fears he could miss out on Roberto Mancini's 25-man squad and would be keen to link up with the manager who originally brought him to England from Bayern Munich. Full story: Daily Mail Manchester United are interested in signing £9m-rated Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku, 17, from Anderlecht. Full story: caughtoffide.com West Ham manager Avram Grant is looking to snap up Manchester City's Brazilian striker Jo, 23, should he lose the services of English forward Carlton Cole. Full story: caughtoffide.com Germany coach Joachim Loew has urged his World Cup star Mesut Ozil to reject Manchester United in favour of Spanish giants Barcelona. "You have to remember that playing for Barcelona is very special for a footballer," said Loew. Full story: Daily Star Stoke striker James Beattie is in Glasgow for talks with Rangers and looks set to seal a £1.5m switch to the Scottish Premier League champions. Full story: Daily Record St Mirren will not pursue their interest in former Dundee United midfielder Greg Cameron. The 22-year-old, released by United at the end of the season, had been on trial with Saints - but manager Danny Lennon is looking to strengthen other areas of his squad. Full story: Daily Record Brazilian striker Luis Fabiano is close to leaving Seville for Marseille. Spanish newspaper AS said that the 29-year-old - who has been linked with Tottenham, Manchester United and AC Milan - is on the verge of accepting a three-year deal. Full story: imscouting.com Inter Milan striker Mario Balotelli is not revealing anything about his proposed move to Manchester City. "I already know what will happen but I cannot tell," he told the Italian Corriere Dello Sport newspaper. Full story: imscouting.com Now a free agent, former Arsenal striker Jeremie Aliadiere could secure a shock move back to West Ham after being handed a trial by Avram Grant. Full story: talksport.co.uk England centre-back Phil Jagielka insists he is happy at Everton and will not be joining Arsenal this summer. Full story: talksport.co.uk OTHER GOSSIP Former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson is so eager to take over the vacant managerial role at Aston Villa that he is willing to lower his high salary demands. Full story: Daily Mirror Aston Villa may give caretaker boss Kevin MacDonald an extended spell in charge to buy themselves some time to find a successor to Martin O'Neill. Villa have been inundated with applications since O'Neill quit but are determined not to be rushed into a decision and are now prepared to let MacDonald remain in the post for a couple of weeks, possibly even longer. Full story: the Guardian Striker Craig Bellamy has ruined any chance he had of being named in Manchester City's 25-man squad after criticising boss Roberto Mancini. Mancini is said to be seething over Bellamy's outburst, in which he claimed he had not spoken to his manager in six months and laid into the Italian for his perceived aloofness. Full story: Daily Mirror AND FINALLY Sunderland manager and former Manchester United captain Steve Bruce had to borrow a Leeds tie to be allowed into the VIP area at Elland Road on Tuesday to watch his son, Alex, make his debut for the club. Derby boss Nigel Clough was refused entry last weekend because he was wearing a tracksuit. Full story: Daily Mail
19.45 BST Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck has joined Sunderland on a season-long loan. Welbeck has been linked with Sunderland for much of the summer and United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has now allowed him to leave for Wearside. 19.29 BST We told you earlier than an unnamed club wants Sunderland's Anton Ferdinand on loan? Well, it's supposed to be Serie A side Palermo. 19.20 BST Bristol City, despite not having a manager, have signed Jimmy Keohane and Patrick Hoban from Wessex United and Mervue respectively on one-year contracts. 19.09 BST Portsmouth are weighing up a move for Darryl Flahavan. 18.47 BST Mark Schwarzer has urged Fulham to allow him to move to Arsenal. "I need it to happen," said Schwarzer. "I've had a couple of chats with [manager] Mark [Hughes]. It's delicately poised." 18.07 BST Celtic manager Neil Lennon has admitted he has made a move to sign Wales striker Craig Bellamy from Manchester City. 17.28 BST Serie A side Bologna have signed promising 19-year-old striker Manu Gavilan from Real Betis on a free transfer. 16.54 BST Real Madrid look set to beat Ac Milan to the signing of Santos star Ganso, according to Milan News. Ganso said: "Real Madrid is the club where I'd like to play. It would be a dream to express myself alongside Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo." 16.30 BST: Everton defender Phil Jagielka has scotched rumours linking him with a move to Arsenal. "There's nothing I can do about the speculation, but the gaffer has pulled me aside and told me I'm not going anywhere," Jagielka told talkSPORT. "I'm happy with that. I'm an Everton player, I love playing for the club, and I'm just going to get on with my job there." 16.25 BST: Rivaldo, released by Bunyodkor yesterday, has denied he's joining Real Mallorca. "Everything that is being reported is untrue," he wrote on Twitter. "The only truth is that I am now unemployed and I'm heading back to Brazil." He added that, although he's 38, he still feels capable of playing in Brazil or Europe. 16.20 BST: Middlesbrough have denied that any deal has been agreed to sell goalkeeper Brad Jones to Liverpool. A club statement read: "Boro have this afternoon confirmed that they have not reached an agreement with any club for the sale of goalkeeper Brad Jones." 16.18 BST: Portsmouth have rejected a £2 million bid for defender Marc Wilson from West Brom. "To be honest, we would not want to sell Marc Wilson," boss Steve Cotterill said in the News. "There is no way, absolutely no way, we want Marc Wilson to leave." 16.15 BST: The Birmingham Mail belives James Milner will be a Manchester City player by the end of tomorrow at the latest. 16.05 BST: Fulham are set to complete a move for Benfica and Algeria defender Rafik Halliche shortly. "There is an agreement between the two clubs and Rafik will be assessed by Fulham in London," agent Ivan Modia told skysports.com. "Hopefully we can sort out the situation early next week." 16.01 BST: Gazzetta dello Sport says Mario Balotelli's agent, Mino Raiola, is in Milan to try to force through the Inter striker's move to City. 15.58 BST: Celtic striker Cillian Sheridan is travelling to Bulgaria today to complete a move to CSKA Sofia. 15.52 BST: Fulham attacker Zoltan Gera says he does "not know anything" about rumours linking him to Liverpool. 15.45 BST: A few people are asking for the latest on United and Ozil. There's nothing about in England or Germany right now to suggest he's Old Trafford-bound. The big news was that United created a player profile on their site but, as we've all come to learn over recent years, that means nothing. 15.40 BST: Chelsea were said to be in for Inter defender Nicolas Burdisso - a target for Roma - but his agent says they're not. “Chelsea did not contact me about Nicolas,” Fernando Hidalgo said on Calciomercato.it. “Yesterday I did speak to the Blues over another matter, but Burdisso’s name never came up." 15.30 BST: Sky Sports News claims Liverpool have agreed a £2.5 million fee with Boro for goalkeeper Brad Jones. 15.25 BST: It's rumoured that City striker Felipe Caicedo could join West Ham on loan. 15.15 BST: Morten Gamst Pedersen says he considered quitting Blackburn this summer when his contract expired but is pleased to have committed to the club. "It is always a temptation when other clubs are interested in you and you are in the position I was," he said. "You can be tempted to think the grass is greener, but when I sat down and thought about it, I knew the right thing was to stay." 15.07 BST: Schalke are reported to have matched Wolfsburg's €16 million offer for Juve midfielder Diego. 15.05 BST: Coventry manager Aidy Boothroyd has revealed Celtic have not made an improved offer for Keiren Westwood since the Championship club flatly rejected what the Sky Blues manager called a "derisory" bid three weeks ago. 14.55 BST: The Guardian says Robinho is back at City and will be training in five minutes. 14.54 BST: Uruguay defender Diego Godin has formally completed his move from Villarreal to Atletico Madrid. 14.50 BST: Andres Iniesta says he would welcome Mesut Ozil at Barcelona. 14.30 BST: The Hull Daily Mail says Jimmy Bullard is reluctant to leave Hull and wants to fight for his place. Hull appear to want him off their books due to his wages. 14.21 BST: Sky Sports News says Sunderland defender Anton Ferdinand is the subject of interest from an unnamed Italian club. 14.12 BST: Birmingham could be set to snap up Wigan winger Charles N'Zogbia. Alex McLeish said: "We are looking at one or two things and I'm confident we will have players in by the second game of the season rather than the first one at Sunderland." 14.10 BST: L'Equipe claims Luis Fabiano's move from Sevilla to Marseille is "imminent". Marseille director general Antoine Veyrat is apparently in Seville right now to begin the final negotiations. 14.04 BST: Birmingham have pulled out of their bids for both Mauro Camoranesi and Moussa Dembele. Dembele could well be on his way to West Ham. 13.52 BST: The Express & Star also says Ashley Young is set for showdown talks with Villa today. Spurs are said to be interested. 13.50 BST: Wolves chief executive Jez Moxey remains hopeful David Jones will stay at the club despite contract talks stalling. 13.46 BST: Liverpool are to return with an improved offer Boro 'keeper Brad Jones today, according to the Liverpool Echo. They previously had a £2 million offer rejected. 13.42 BST: Sky Sports News says Charles N'Zogbia will hand in a transfer request at Wigan later today. He made his France debut yesterday. 13.40 BST: El Mundo Deportivo reckons Barca are actively looking to offload Ibra, too, and also cites Manchester City as a likely destination. Chelsea could be interested as well, though. 13.35 BST: According to AS, Real Mallorca are close to signing 38-year-old former Barcelona star Rivaldo. 13.25 BST: Skysports.com says Harry Redknapp was in attendance to watch Loic Remy as France played Norway last night. 13.14 BST: Player exchange deals are very, very rare, especially involving top-level players, but Sport is claiming Zlatan Ibrahimovic could be involved in yet another. Apparently, Barca president Sandro Rosell is working on a "very difficult and very complex" deal to swap him with Robinho. Both Barca and City have expensive flops on their hands who don't like playing second fiddle, but it seems very, very unlikely. 13.05 BST: Mauro Camoranesi's agent seems to have noticed income gets taxed, which could jeopardise his move to Birmingham. 12.51 BST: Bebe has said "it's a dream to play for Manchester United". We think he actually said that before United made the bid, incidentally. Jorge Paixao, who was Bebe’s coach at Estrela da Amadora, told Antena 1: “He’s an old-school player. He learned to play in the street and has that natural creativity, an irreverence, and that makes all the difference. He improvises very well, because he has quality, and he has a set of characteristics that are difficult to find in a single footballer: he’s tall, he’s good in the air, he’s technically gifted and he’s very fast.” 12.40 BST: OFFICIAL Ricardo Carvalho has passed his medical at Real Madrid and has now put pen to paper on his deal. 12.26 BST: Gazzetta dello Sport says Inter and City are closer to agreement over Mario Balotelli, with City offering €26 million and Inter demanding €28 million. Inter were said to have earlier demanded €30 million and City had offered €24 million. 12.21 BST: Burnley have taken Jack Cork back on loan from Chelsea. 12.10 BST: Tottenham have announced that England Under-19 international Dean Parrett has signed a new deal until 2013 and gone on loan to Plymouth. 11.59 BST: Edin Dzeko has blasted Wolfsburg for not allowing him to leave the club. 11.36 BST: West Brom utility player Gonzalo Jara has signed a new three-year contract. 11.33 BST: Not quite sure what's going on with this one. Estonian newspaper Postimees says Roman Abramovich wants to buy Dutch club NEC Nijmegen. Their website now carries a quote from his representative saying the story is "complete stupidity" and "does not match reality". Quite odd all round, really. 11.26 BST: Celtic boss Neil Lennon expects Aiden McGeady to complete his move to Spartak Moscow shortly. “We're hoping it's going to get over the line today or tomorrow,” he said. “He was having a medical with Moscow. I'm sure that will be fine - hopefully it will be done this week.” 11.20 BST: Stephen Carr has signed a new deal at Birmingham. 11.10 BST: Sunderland boss Steve Bruce has revealed he would also be keen to sign Craig Bellamy. “There's a lot of clubs who would love Craig Bellamy,” he said. “He's a fantastic player but whether it's possible, I'm not quite sure. I've been a big admirer of Craig's for a long, long time. If he's available, which it looks like he is, and if we could afford him, then I would love to bring Craig to the football club.” 11.03 BST: FilGoal.com says Anderlecth have demanded the Egyptian FA send them the International Transfer Certificate of Zamalek winger Shikabala. Shikabala has apparently invoked article 17 and signed a four-year deal with Anderlecht, but Zamalek don't seem to be going along with it. Shikabala has yet to comment. 10.55 BST: Ghana Under-20 international Frank Acheampong, who plays as a striker for King Faisal, is close to a move to Palermo, according to Ghanasoccernet. 10.51 BST: Blackpool new boy Marlon Harewood says he rejected offer offers to sign for the Seasiders. "I had other offers to move somewhere else, but I feel Blackpool is the right move at this stage of my career and I am ready for the Premier League season," he told skysports.com. 10.19 BST: Celtic manager Neil Lennon today confirmed they have approached Manchester City with a view to taking striker Craig Bellamy on loan. 10.15 BST: Wigan have confirmed they have accepted an offer from Ipswich for striker Jason Scotland. 10.13 BST: Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho is in Madrid for a medical ahead of his expected move to the Bernabeu. 10.11 BST: Bolton have signed striker Tom Eaves from Oldham for £200,000. 10.07 BST: Rangers have made bids for Stoke striker James Beattie and Portsmouth attacker Tommy Smith. 10.05 BST: Blackpool are in talks to sign Bolton defender/midfielder Chris Basham. 10.01 BST: Manchester United striker Danny Welbeck is to have a medical at Sunderland today with a view to a season-long loan at the Stadium of Light. 09.55 BST: Liverpool have now announced Poulsen has signed a three-year deal. 09.46 BST: Having played against him on Tuesday, Kolo Toure believes Mario Balotelli would be a great signing for City. 09.35 BST: West Ham co-owner David Sullivan says they are unlikely to sign Everton striker Yakubu. 09.20 BST: Tuttosport says Robinho, Luis Fabiano and Lukas Podolski are all targets for AC Milan. 09.10 BST: Marca says Mesut Ozil is back on the agenda at Real Madrid. 08.50 BST: BREAKING NEWS: Juventus have confirmed Christian Poulsen has finalised his move to Liverpool for €5.475 million. Let's get your thoughts on that one. 08.45 BST: Chelsea's attempts to bring in Ramires is well known, and reports suggest they're looking to sign Benfica defender David Luiz following the sale of Ricardo Carvalho. But it appears they're reviving their interest in another Brazilian: Santos starlet Neymar. Read the latest on that one here. 08.19 BST: Here are the key stories doing the rounds on Thursday morning... The Independent: James Milner is expected to complete his move from Aston Villa to Manchester City on Thursday, with Stephen Ireland going the other way. However, Milner may not be the final departure from Villa Park. The Telegraph: Santos wonderkid Neymar is close to securing a move to Chelsea. The club’s chief scout Michael Emanelo watched the 18-year-old score against USA on Tuesday and is believed a deal worth in the region of £20-25 million could be done. Daily Mirror: Stephen Ireland is holding out for a move to Tottenham, but the best story in the Mirror this morning concerns Manuel Almunia, who could be moving to Aston Villa. That would mean that Brad Friedel joins Fulham and Mark Schwarzer switches to Arsenal. Crazy. The Sun: Chelsea have beaten Manchester United to the signing of 14-year-old Burkina Faso midfielder Bertrand Traore. Meanwhile, Liverpool have been told they must pay £20 million if they want to sign Carlton Cole and Jeremie Aliadiere could be his replacement at West Ham, having landed a trial at Upton Park. 07.46 BST: We will have a quick look around the morning's papers to try and bring you the best transfer stories on Thursday. Don't go anywhere. 07.35 BST: Now James Milner is done with international duty for England, it is expected that his move from Aston Villa to Manchester City will go through in the next 24 hours. 07.15 BST: Good morning, transfer fans, After Manchester United signed a former representative of the Homeless World Cup named Bebe on Wednesday night, anything could happen today. The big story doing the rounds this morning is the news that Javier Mascherano has confirmed he wants to leave Liverpool in order to play in a new country. Mascherano told Sky Sports: "My problem is not to play for Liverpool. I'm very proud to play for Liverpool. It's another thing. I said to him (new Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson) that maybe for my life I prefer to change the country, not to change the club - that is the fact."
"Can you deliver this to Santa for me?" Since Bayern Munich's Arjen Robben is injured yet again, he has some free time on his hands. And since he can only ride Uli Hoeness' scooter so many hours each day, he's had to find other ways to spend his time. Like by scribbling letters to his former teammates -- which is what he did for former Real Madrid teammate and Schalke new boy Raul. From Bild: The injured Bayern star (26) has written a message to the new Schalke player in Spanish exclusively for BILD. Robben wrote: “Welcome Raúl, and good luck!” He left his former Real Madrid team-mate in no doubt as to his Bundesliga aim, however, adding: "But we will be champions. Greetings, Arjen." Oh, Arjen. But why does his letter look like a 10-year-old's homework after it was used to make a paper fortune teller? Bild couldn't give him a fresh piece of paper? Or did he carry that thing around in his pocket for a few weeks while trying to think of the perfect follow-up line to "Welcome Raul, and good luck!"? These are the things I think about.
Chelsea does have Ancelloti and Drogs is old. I could see it happening but they aren't gonna pay any real transfer fee. Lukaku only at 9 mil. Ok. That doesn't make sense. How is Balotelli rated 30. Lukaku has star written all over him and isn't a head case like Mario. Someone is gonna snap that kid up soon. Not staying in Denmark forever. May be smart business for a mid-level EPL team to get him and develop him and sell him for a hefty fee a couple years later.
Honestly if I were Anderlecht, I'd hold onto Lukaku until Belgium's Euro 2012 qualification fate is decided. They qualify for Euro and he has a good tourney there, his value will go up even more (and he'll still only be 19 y/o). Plus, Anderlecht should qualify for the CL group stages in the next couple weeks and that'll be a nice cash infusion.
The 2010 World Cup was highlighted for the emergence of young talent from across the globe. Among the nations sporting their finest flair were Uruguay with Luis Suarez, Netherlands’ Elerjo Elia, Angel Di Maria from Argentina and Slovakia’s Marek Hamsik. But it was Germany that stood tall and proud as Mesut Özil and Thomas Müller came away from South Africa with major plaudits. Bayern Munich’s Müller was awarded Young Player of the Tournament and the Golden Boot. The current theme in Germany seems to be to keep German football a self-reliant, self-funding machine through non-inflated ticket prices for die-hard fans trekking into stadiums week in, week out. Attendances and decibel levels are consistently high in turn keeping the big names at home in Germany. At the time of the World Cup selections, the entire 23-man German squad plied their trade in the Bundesliga, a remarkable fact considering the amount of players from across the world that come to England to play in the Premier League. It is a testament to the strength of the Bundesliga that the stars of Germany pledge their allegiance and remain in Deutschland. Raul’s switch from Real Madrid to Schalke 04 is a clear symbol of German football’s attraction. The Spanish legend had stated that the twilight of his career would be in either England or Germany. Schalke Coach Felix Magath wasted no time in securing his services and giving him his famous number seven. The youth in Germany will no doubt benefit from experienced stars like Raul, Bastian Schweinsteiger a key example - the last few seasons have seen the fledgling midfielder turn into Bayern and Germany’s midfield custodian, integral to both his club and national team, orchestrating play with stunning authority, vision and power. While in his teens and early twenties, Schweinsteiger played alongside Bayern legend Mehmet Scholl which no doubt helped his career development and has learnt the tricks of the trade into developing into a world class midfielder. Bayern’s new wunderkind Thomas Müller is a rising star, as his career develops he is sure to benefit from his tall, deadly colleague Miroslav Klose and has already shown glimpses not dissimilar to Munich’s No 18. The danger or perhaps benefit that most stars have at this age are the Premier League or La Liga clubs vying for their services, a tug of war ensues and financial constraints force clubs to sell. While clubs from other leagues are often unable to hold onto big players, Bundesliga outfits have a knack for keeping their talent to groom in their own backyard. Werder Bremen’s Per Mertesacker has reiterated his will to stay at Weserstadion despite being linked with a high profile move to Arsenal. Mesut Özil has made waves attracting a wide variety of interest, notably from Manchester United and Barcelona. Oozing bags of confidence and skill, Özil has become Germany’s new poster boy, similar to Mario Gomez (foreign descent but taking German nationality). Mesut Özil is potentially the one big name from the German squad - after Sami Khedira moving to Real Madrid - that could leave Germany. The question remains whether Özil will break the precedent and develop his career abroad. In addition to this strong loyalty to the league, Asia’s new current crop of footballers seem to have found their niche in German football. Borussia Dortmund’s friendly against Manchester City last week saw Shinji Kagawa net in a 3-1 win. Kagawa may have missed out on Japan’s World Cup campaign but looks the part to settle comfortably in Germany. Hopefully this latest influx of Asian players is not merely an entryway to more glamorous football of Western Europe. With the start of the Bundesliga season just over a week away, Germany’s friendly against Denmark was clearly ill-timed and met with fierce criticism of the German Football Federation (DFB). Joachim Löw prioritised the Bundesliga and left the big name players at home to prepare for the start of the season and while this has temporarily put an end to the club vs. country dispute, the quarrel is sure to rear its head again as Germany take on Belgium on September 3 in a 2012 European Championships qualifier two weeks after the season starts. Internationals at the beginning of the season have an ugly habit of crippling many teams with injuries and further congesting the fixture list, with such loyalty and respect shown to the league from the players and fans alike, perhaps the DFB should reciprocate and allow the focus to be on the Bundesliga.
I'm not sure, are you the one that asked this in my transfers thread on the RB when TMB was down? As for the article, I have been using these threads to post rumors AND interesting articles from the day ever since we started. Probably should have just linked that one since it is damn wordy, but I really only expected cas and maybe a couple others to read it. You know if I post in here it is related to the Bundesliga in some way, so read if you care about that league and don't if ya don't. Some interesting tidbits in there like the Bundesliga being the new destination for players from Asia, entire German national team from WC played in Bundesliga at time of selection, etc.
i doubt ozil is going anywhere this year anyway, but the dfb will definitely push him away from the epl next year because of what it does physically to players and probably towards real or barca, either playing the freedom cam role in tso's 4-2-3-1 that he does for germany, or perfecting his craft and through balls at barca
JLow has already begun pushing him towards Barca over ManU. What do you mean by what the EPL does physically?
Exactly. It could make Ozil a much better player though if he has the heart and toughness. I like Ozil a lot but he has to get tougher and more consistent.
nah, he was just a 21 year old making his first ever caps for his national side and they happened to be in the world cup finals and the only time he succumbed to that pressure was against the best team in the world for the last 3 years without his forward running mate who happened to be the leading scorer of the tournament and best young player if germans are anything, they're mentally tough. no fan of germany will ever worry about a german being ready upstairs. the issue is just getting older, more experienced, and doing so without ruining your body. and that happens in the epl, especially to skill-y players. see your team every single year.
i think it has to do with the fact that you bring frenchies, teenagers, and small technical players to the most physical league in the world that happens to play the most games and without a winter break but yeah
for some reason bayern hasnt said a word about ozil i guess because they're content with muller and kroos as the future of their forwards, but id selfishly like them to throw ribery in french prison and put kroos at lw and bring in ozil at cam basically start the same trio front three for bayern that the loew should for the dfb. that'd put potentially 7 starters on bayern, a lot of the others and reserves on werder, and some stragglers starting elsewhere. no coincidence imo that this spain is so good. soccer is all about developing cohesion and the hive mind, and all of spain's players play for the same two clubs. they practice together and learn tendencies 8 months out of the year. and they do it in a league that gives them sufficient rest and plays a style that accentuates technical and team play and keeps some of the grind off [/quote]
You also got plenty of other players getting injured. Carlton Cole was out a lot of last year, Ferdinand, Vidic, Alex has been injured I believe, Essien. Rooney took a beating last year, Jagielka was injured a long time, the list goes on and on. It's definitely the league. It's not just the little Arsenal players. If it wasn't for stupid hamstrings and groins the team would be fine. The big injuries get every team.
ozil needs to be a blanco. kaka is gettin old and god knows hes injury prone. hes a perfect replacement and barca has plenty of guys and will add fabby next year probably. spain would be more beneficial than the epl imo.
where else besides http://www.werder.de/english/index.php would you buy a werder jersey cuz that shits in german and euros and eh
It's the Sun so sure not a shred of truth but this would be hilarious. MANCHESTER City have offered Zlatan Ibrahimovic a four-year deal worth a staggering £96MILLION - or roughly £500,000 a week. The mega-deal would make the Barcelona striker the highest-paid footballer in the world, earning £24m a year. That dwarfs the salaries of top stars such as Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka. City representatives made their mouth-watering offer direct to Ibrahimovic's manager Mino Raiola to show how much they want to capture the Swedish international. The huge deal dwarfs the 11m euros a year the striker picks up at the Nou Camp. Ibrahimovic is unsettled at Barca despite joining only last summer in a 50m euro deal that also took Samuel Eto'o from Barcelona to the San Siro. The enigmatic forward fell out with Barca coach Pep Guardiola in February and the pair barely speak now. Ibrahimovic is upset he has not been a regular starter and he has clashed with his coach over Barca's style of play. So the chance to be involved in building a new club to rival Europe's best is an attractive proposition, especially with such a salary on offer. The striker is familiar with City boss Roberto Mancini after the pair's time together at Inter Milan. A source close to Ibrahimovic said: "City have shown how much they want Zlatan and although he is well paid at Barcelona this offer is in a different league. "It has given him plenty to think about especially when he is not so happy with his football at Barca. "The idea of being part of a move to create a new super club to challenge the very best in Europe is also attractive. "City have to agree a deal with Barcelona before this can go any further - but there's a feeling that could all happen fairly quickly now." Unsettled Brazilian star Robinho could move to Barcelona as a makeweight in the deal. Ibrahimovic's arrival would raise more questions about the futures of strikers Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel Adebayor, Roque Santa Cruz and Craig Bellamy as City continue their spree. Advertisement Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3093647/Manchester-City-are-ready-to-make-Zlatan-Ibrahimovic-a-500000-a-week-deal.html#ixzz0wS5CGefs
If any of that was remotely true, I'd fly to Manchester, burn down Eastlands and bathe in Mancini's blood.
Balotelli, Adebayor, Houdini, and Tevez. Wow. I'm sure they'll work great together. I would love to see that. I know City have boat loads of money but why are they so f'ing dumb. So they got a good winger in Silva nice, a good defensive mid they also overpaid for, 2 decent backs. Not bad business and those moves alone make them a contender. Why do you need a headcase striker, an average midfielder you don't need in Milner, I wouldn't be surprised if they went after Houdini. Already seem to have given up on Jo, Santa Cruz, Robinho, and Lescott and it's only been 2 years. Not to mention SWP, Ireland, and Bellamy getting phased out plus Adebayor wanting to leave, and I'm sure Barry will get phased out very soon. I really don't know who is running the show but put me in charge with all that money and I could do a 10x better job. Why not get a great young center half for 20 mil or an actual playmaker to run the show in midfield. These moves just don't make any sense. City do not need Balotelli, Milner, or Houdini. They also need to get some stability. It's just 11 individuals right now.
Only two of the four strikers you named are going to be on the club come sept 1. Ibra has been talked about numerous times to City. It is not happening. Adebayor is probably going to Serie A to either Juve or Milian. Robinho is also a possible move to Milian. Milner will be fine in the cm role. Barry's wheels have a lot of milage on them. Find a club that is willing to sell a creative mid to us for 20m and I will be happy. As soon as City enters the picture; prices double even triple. It is price of doing business.
Pique leaving Barca, ah yeah that's not happening. Pique is good but there are a good amount of players out there just as good.
Is this serious. I'm surprised this pic didn't get more buzz. If this was an England player it would be headline news for at least a month.
Adebayor wont be coming to Milan. Milan has declined the offer. Deal is dead. The "offer" was 40m. No players. English papers don't know shit. Anyways, the deal was rejected by Milan. Silva will stay at Milan.
Milan has to be dumb if they turned down 40m for a player. Also have yet to see one report in the English media about it. The speculation on players is just that speculation since both were at various points this summer targets of Milan.
How the hell did you of all people not see that pic when it was posted here after the Barca CL loss? Anderlecht shouldn't take any less than 40 million for Lukaku if Balotelli is getting 28.