Transfer Rumours and Signings

The Rooster

The London Independent had a story last week saying that United were going to sell Van Nistlerooy in the summer for mega bucks, and use to money to buy both Shaun Wright-Phillips and Fernando Torres.

5Live this morning said Spurs (!?) were preparing a £17m bid for SWP.

Cianan2

"Blackburn agree fee with birmingham for Robbie Savage"

Sky Sports News.

mike65

Liverpool looking seriously at Santiago Solari of Real Madrid.

Mike.

therecklessone

The Rooster wrote:

5Live this morning said Spurs (!?) were preparing a £17m bid for SWP.

Recent rumours suggest Keane + £10 million for SWP.

All total tosh.

PHB

United have been interested in Solari for quite some time now, if its a bosman decision, United will get him

jesus_thats_gre

Belamy to the pool for 6 million.. I would be happy with that..

eirebhoy

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

Belamy to the pool for 6 million.. I would be happy with that..

Read the article I posted in the Bellamy thread. He's an arsehole and doesn't even know he has done anything wrong. He's honestly not the full shilling and is not the type of player that a manager "will sort out". I honestly wouldn't have him at Celtic on a free.

The Rooster

According to his agent Jorg Vonmann, Celtic have made an offer to Stephane Henchoz

Celtic have put forward a proposal and we are now considering it seriously along with the others.

It's taken a long time but Stephane is now in a position to make a decision and he will do that tomorrow (Thurs 27 Jan) afternoon.

Time is running out and we want to have everything sorted out as quickly as possible.

therecklessone

Spurs sign strikers Mido and Mounir El Hamdaoui.

http://www.spurs.co.uk/article.asp?hlid=252257

Roma striker Mido joins on an 18 month loan.

Excelsior striker El Hamdaoui (Dutch u21 caps, but recently declared for Morocco) joins on a 3.5 year contract.

Both subject to the usual formalities.

*in addition*

The same source who broke the El Hamdaoui story on Spurs fan site topspurs.com claims the club are in negotiations right now for what he described as a "megastar", with commercial rights a large part of the deal. Until this evening I was convinced the guy was a hoaxer, but I'm not 100% sure right now.

In Irish news, Robbie Keane was offered to Man City as part of a players+cash deal for SWP, but Keane refused the move. SWP is on the way to Arsenal for a total of £20 million.

Raskolnikov

The Rooster wrote:

According to his agent Jorg Vonmann, Celtic have made an offer to Stephane Henchoz

I hope we don't get him. He's useless.

Cianan2

therecklessone wrote:

In Irish news, Robbie Keane was offered to Man City as part of a players+cash deal for SWP, but Keane refused the move. SWP is on the way to Arsenal for a total of £20 million.

Is that true? That'd be a sweet deal,although it would be dissapointing for Keane to leave,imo. Sounds like Spurs are startin to overload on the ol' strikeforce.....and city will need another striker if Anelka goes to fenerbache,wont they?

therecklessone

Cianan2 wrote:

Sounds like Spurs are startin to overload on the ol' strikeforce.....and city will need another striker if Anelka goes to fenerbache,wont they?

Methinks Keane will be either Citeh or Villa bound before the window closes.

Speculation is rife that one of Beckham/Figo/Edu/Giggs/Joe Cole will be at Spurs by end of the week, its all hugely entertaining (the topspurs BB is heaving under the strain of logged-on members, 25% of whom joined in the last few days!)

Me smells a rat.

therecklessone

Spurs have been very busy the last few days.

Latest signings:

Finnish midfielder Teemu Tainio signs a pre-contract, joins on a free from Auxerre in July.

Czech keeper Radek Cerny joins on an 18 month loan from Slavia Prague.

Latest topspurs.com rumours say that Jermaine "I'll just have the one more" Pennant will join Spurs in the Summer if he avoids the Big House...

"Big Star" story keeps trudling on, latest is more talks on Saturday.

Villain

I hope Villa make a bid For Bellamy, with Souness saying he won't play for him and not many offers in, we could get him cheap.

P.S.
Just noticed this thread has got over 10,000 views!!!

Who was the bright spark that started it??

eirebhoy

Celtic sign Henchoz

Henchoz Heads for Celts
Newsroom Staff

Stephane Henchoz, the former Liverpool centre-back, has ended speculation regarding his immediate future by joining up for Celtic's assault on the SPL title.

Henchoz, who had reportedly turned down a move to Alex McLeish's Rangers recently, decided on the move north anyway, but to the east, and not west-end of the city.

The deal ties up Henchoz until the end of the season.

www.celticfc.net

Big Ears

Its a good signing , as O'Neil will get him to play as if he was in his prime , and thats damn good , its also good that Joos won't have to be relied on either , if anyone gets injured .

eirebhoy

I wasn't happy with us being linked with him but I've had a few days to think about it and I'm happy, as a Celtic fan in the 21st century you can't have standards.

A bid of £400k from Celtic and Birmingham was accepted for Oliver Bernard a few days ago but its gone very queit. I'd love to sign him, he's in the provisional French squad to play Sweden and at 25, £400k is an absolute steal.

We also have a 29 year old Cameroon internation left back, Bill Tchato, on trial at the club. He's still contracted with Kaiserslautern (who paid £5m for him) but apparantly had a training ground bust up and hasn't been in the team a lot this season (started for Cameroon against Germany in November though).

Another player on trial at the club is 21 year old central midfielder, Marcin Burkhardt, who already has 9 caps and 1 international goal for Poland. He plays for Amika but isn't having the best of seasons. He scored against England's U-21's a few months ago.

And finally, the last player is Hearts central midfielder Paul Hartley. I'm not too keen on this one. He has 13 goals from midfield this season but is a 28 year old journeyman. Celtic have had a bid of £200k rejected and I hope it stays that way.

Actually one last thing. Southampton tried to loan Camara off Celtic but because of the way Camara left Wolves, they won't let him go anywhere. Pity, we could have got him off out wage bill as the he's no use on the bench.

Johnny_the_fox

bobo is going nowhere

celticfc

Celtic Football Club is delighted to announce that Bobo Balde has signed a new four and a half year contract with the Club.
*
Bobo Balde*said today:*"I have had many things to consider over the last few weeks and I appreciate the pre-contract offers given to me by a number of Clubs.*My heart has been with Celtic for sometime and that was a big factor in my decision.*I want to help Celtic try to retain the Championship and again experience big European matches as we have done in the recent past."
*
Manager Martin O'Neill added: "I am absolutely delighted that Bobo has decided to stay at the football club. He has been an integral part of the team since he arrived from Toulouse three and a half years ago and he has become a firm favourite with the fans. I think I echo everyone's sentiments when I say how pleased I am that he is staying with the Club."

......

\o/

eyerer

eirebhoy wrote:

as a Celtic fan in the 21st century you can't have standards.

lmao

mike65

More mad speculation -

from koptalk

Newspaper reports today claim that former Liverpool striker Michael Owen 'is in line for an amazing switch to Arsenal' in exchange for Jose Reyes.

It has been widely claimed that Reyes is homesick following recent comments in which he said: "Living in England is not easy for me and I have thought of giving it all up and returning home."

A so called close friend is quoted today as saying: "He's very unhappy - not with football but his life in England. He has his family with him but he's very much a village boy and cannot settle."

Real Madrid were linked with a move for Reyes during the January transfer window which prompted the player to say he was "happy" that the Real president was thinking of him.

Owen is frustrated at spending most of his time on the bench and it's no secret that his agents are considering his options back home in England.

Mike.

Johnny_the_fox

Keane to Celtic in the summer?

Cianan2

Milan are reportedly ready to offer Kakha Kaladze as a makeweight in their efforts to sign Hernan Crespo from Chelsea on a permanent basis.
The reigning Serie A champions have begun negotiations with Chelsea about turning Crespo's season-long loan at San Siro into a permanent arrangement.
Crespo has flourished during the past couple of months after hitting peak fitness and he has established a fruitful partnership with Andrei Shevchenko.
But The Blues' demands for a €10 million transfer fee for Crespo have prompted Milan to explore other avenues of keeping the hit-man in Italy.
The current figure is more than Milan are willing to pay but they are aiming to tempt Chelsea into a deal which would see Kaladze heading to Stamford Bridge.
Kaladze joined the Rossoneri in 2000 from Dynamo Kiev but has featured only sporadically during the past two seasons.
The Georgia international can operate at left back and that is an area which Blues boss Jose Mourinho appears keen to strengthen judged on his high-profile interest in Arsenal's Ashley Cole.
Kaladze can also be deployed in a variety of other positions and his versatility would make him an attractive proposition for Chelsea.
The club's mega-rich owner Roman Abramovich is reported to be a fan of Kaladze and rumours suggest he is willing to take the 26-year-old in part-exchange for Crespo.
Such a scenario would enable Milan to hang onto Crespo, with a smaller sum of cash changing hands, if Kaladze accepts the chance to become a squad player in West London.

http://skysports.planetfootball.com/list.asp?hlid=255972&lid=3&cpid=21&title=Kaladze+in+Chelsea+link&channel=Premiership

uberwolf

from the indo...


Souness lining up summer move for Michael Owen



09:09 Wednesday February 23rd 2005


Newcastle manager Graeme Souness has revealed that he is lining up a summer move for Real Madrid striker Michael Owen.

Earlier this month, Owen warned the Spanish club that he was ready to quit the Bernabeu in order to save his international career with England.

The 25-year-old former Liverpool striker has spent much of his time with Real on the substitutes' bench.

Meanwhile, Souness also revealed today that he is confident of persuading Alan Shearer to spend one more season at St James's Park.

Shearer has always insisted he will retire at the end of this season after nine years with the Magpies, but Souness said the player may well continue for 12 more months.

He said he believed the prospect of breaking Jackie Milburn's scoring record may influence the striker's decision.

Milburn scored 200 league and cup goals between 1946 and 1957, while Shearer currently has 187 goals under his belt at St James's Park.

The Rooster

Unsubstantiated rumour that Ronaldo will be leaving United in the summer. He's not happy at United, doesnt get on very well with the players and he's decided he would much prefer to play in Spain.

It seems it all came to a head when he was substituted against Milan. He was walking off the field when Keane came over to him and gave him dog's abuse (perhaps for not getting off quickly enough) - it was not caught on camera, but apparently was clear to see if you were at the game. And after the match he was the subject of more abuse from more than one player in the dressing room for not working hard enough.

Its probably a case of someone taking one incident and extrapolating imaginitvely, but I thought I'd share it.

PHB

I dont know bout that, considering over the last couple of weeks has game has gotten better and Keano has let him know, constantly saying good work to him during games.

And he is close to signing a new contract.
If he does go though, I figure united would make quite a bit of money on him

Bannor

The Rooster wrote:

Unsubstantiated rumour that Ronaldo will be leaving United in the summer. He's not happy at United, doesnt get on very well with the players and he's decided he would much prefer to play in Spain.

It seems it all came to a head when he was substituted against Milan. He was walking off the field when Keane came over to him and gave him dog's abuse (perhaps for not getting off quickly enough) - it was not caught on camera, but apparently was clear to see if you were at the game. And after the match he was the subject of more abuse from more than one player in the dressing room for not working hard enough.

Its probably a case of someone taking one incident and extrapolating imaginitvely, but I thought I'd share it.

Well he certainly doesn't get on with some of the players. He had a training ground bust up with Smith and Keane a while back and earned himself a two week holiday in Portugal to cool off. What happened was Smith tackled him - a hard but fair tackle allegedly. Ronaldo reacted violently kicking Smith on the ground. Smith was laughing at the retaliation until he got smacked in the head. When Keane tried to seperate the two players Ronaldo had a go at him and got more than he bargained for. Keane decked him and immediately afterwards Ferguson told him to pack his bags.

LegacyUser

PHB wrote:

If he does go though, I figure united would make quite a bit of money on him

That is going to win us **** all. He is the talent we need to keep.

LegacyUser

Gattuso is there any truth at all in Utd signing him? He would be an amazing buy.

Drag00n79

Liverpool interested in Upson, apparently.

smuckers

Sunday People have Chelsea in for Wright Phillips for 20 mil its between him and Joaquin.

smuckers

English giants eye Del Horno
by Graeme Bailey - created on 19 Mar 2005

From Sky.

Real Madrid, Arsenal and Chelsea are ready to battle with Real Madrid for Spanish international Asier Del Horno.

The Athletic Bilbao left back is rated very highly, but the financial situation at the Basque club means he could be sold this summer.

Chelsea are understood to have been tracking Del Horno since last December, but Arsenal too are now hot on his trail after dispatching chief scout Steve Rowley to watch him in action over the past few weeks.

Spanish sources now claim that Bilbao are ready to open talks with any teams willing to pay 20 million.
The 24-year-old, who has two years left on his contract at San Mames, is also in the sights of Real Madrid, but they are only likely to make a move if Roberto Carlos moves on.

The ongoing question of Ashley Cole's future could very well play a significant part in whether either club pursues their interest in Del Horno.

Cole is a target for Chelsea and they would obviously be less likely to press forward with a move for Del Horno, if they landed him - although Wayne Bridge's long-term fitness is currently in doubt which may persuade Jose Mourinho to bring in two left backs this summer.

Arsene Wenger is obviously considering his options, given Cole's uncertain future at Highbury.
There are few better available options in world football than Del Horno and The Gunners are sure to keep a close check on him in the coming months.

Drag00n79

In Sunday Papers:
Chelsea have made a move to buy Michael Owen.
(News of the World)

Jose Mourinho is being targeted by Juventus and AC Milan.
(News of the World)

Portsmouth are interested in making Tony Adams manager. (Sunday Mirror)

Birmingham want to sign Scott Parker.
(News of the World)

Iain Dowie will meet Man City officials about the vacant manager's post at the end of the season.
(News of the World)

Joseph-Desire Job is ready to quit Middlesbrough in the summer. (News of the World)

Liverpool will offload Harry Kewell in the summer. (Sunday Mirror)

Alan Smith is set to leave Man Utd for Newcastle in the summer.
(Sunday Mirror)

Chelsea are willing to pay Man City £20m for Shaun Wright-Phillips.
(The People)

AC Milan want Chelsea striker Hernan Crespo on a permanent basis.
(The People)

From the BBC site. Maybe, all rubbish but interesting nonetheless.

PHB

Jose Mourinho is being targeted by Juventus and AC Milan.
Typical English bull****, Milan have one of the best managers of all time, but I've heard a lot of thigns about Mourinho wanting to do the best then moving on.
I also figured once he won the treble he would move on.
Maybe if that happens at Chelsea he will move to Juve or Milan

Alan Smith is set to leave Man Utd for Newcastle in the summer.
Yeah maybe, that'd be good for both teams

---

I could so make it as a sports writer, its just obvious stuff

Birmingham want to sign Scott Parker.
Of course they do, so does every other team outside the top 3

Iain Dowie will meet Man City officials about the vacant manager's post at the end of the season.
Duh

Joseph-Desire Job is ready to quit Middlesbrough in the summer. (News of the World)
To where

Liverpool will offload Harry Kewell in the summer. (Sunday Mirror)
Gee, genius work there

Chelsea are willing to pay Man City £20m for Shaun Wright-Phillips.
Bull ****ing ****

AC Milan want Chelsea striker Hernan Crespo on a permanent basis.
DUH!

smuckers

Former Chelsea boss Luca Vialli revealed he has heard rumours circulating in London about a probable move of Juventus wing Gianluca Zambrotta to Chelsea this summer.
”I have heard from contacts in London that Zambrotta is being closely tracked by Chelsea who are looking for a wing for next season,” said Vialli.

Vialli also has close contacts within Juventus, whom he played for before joining the London Blues then chaired by Ken Bates.

The Bianoconeri are known to let go of important players when the right offer comes in, and Vialli hinted that Chelsea’s financially offer is pretty substantial.

Drag00n79

Spurs after Rosicky.

smuckers

More on Zambrotta.

Goal.com's Italian edition is reporting that Juventus have received an offer from Chelsea of 35 million Euros for their left wing Gianluca Zambrotta.
The gigantic offer comes as a result of the complications surrounding Ashley Cole's move to Roman's court.

If these reports turn out to be true, it is extremely difficult Juventus will say no to the Premiership giants.

Last Sunday, former Chelsea boss and Juventus player Luca Vialli had revealed Chelsea were preparing a very important bid for the Italy international.

valor

such a complete waste of money
World class as Zambrotta may be, Chelsea have no need to pay that much for him

PHB

Zambrotta is a real quality player, and Kenyon is in charge, what do you expect

abccormac

Link

Xavi wants him there according to Sky Sports.

wynters

Aston Villa's summer targets with a potential £20m transfer kitty (I'll believe it when I see it!!!) from the sale of land adjacent the stadium are believed to be;

Andreas Isaksson - Swedish 1st choice keeper currently playing with Rennes in France. Formerly of Juventus

Jan Kromkamp - AZ Alkmaar right back. Full Dutch international who marked SWP out of recent the recent England v Holland freindly.

Patrik Berger - free transfer to play left side of midfield resulting in Barry moving to left back.

Scott Parker - long term target thought to be O'Learys No. 1 priority replacing Hitzlsperger, who's pay demands of £40,000 a week are far too high for a bit-part player. On his way back to Germany in a bid to make their World Cup squad

smuckers

Manchester City and England winger Shaun Wright-Phillips has reportedly chosen Chelsea over Arsenal and will join them for £20m this summer.

The Daily Mirror claims a deal has been agreed for the 23-year-old to join Jose Mourinho's Blues at the end of the season.

Wright-Phillips was believed to be Arsene Wenger's top transfer target and if he has snubbed the Gunners, it will be a bitter blow for the soon-to-be-deposed Premiership champions.

Mourinho is still hopeful of bringing in Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard as well as he looks to build on the successes of his first season in charge.

PHB

Seriously, thats a perfect example of how English players are overhyped. SWP is not worth 20 mill, no chance whatsoever when you can get Robben and Ronaldo and Reyes all for a lot cheaper. Nuts

Big Ears

PHB wrote:

Seriously, thats a perfect example of how English players are overhyped. SWP is not worth 20 mill, no chance whatsoever when you can get Robben and Ronaldo and Reyes all for a lot cheaper. Nuts

well currently I don't think any of those player's clubs would sell them for £20 million , so their not an option .

valor

I think that the point is that they all originally cost less than £20m - and they are all better players than SWP

There must be players out there as good as SWP but cheaper.
He is being hyped up because is English

Jivin Turkey

valor wrote:

I think that the point is that they all originally cost less than £20m - and they are all better players than SWP

There must be players out there as good as SWP but cheaper.
He is being hyped up because is English

Neither of the players mentioned above have delivered as consistently as SWP has over the last two seasons, including Robben.

PHB

Delivoring for Man City is different from Delivering for UTD Chelsea or Arsenal. Get some dutch whiz kid instead, they always rock in the premiership.

Apparently we’ve made an inquiry about Casillas


Spanish newspaper AS reports that we have contacted Madrid for a first refusal if Iker Casillas doesn’t sign a new contract. Apparently we have offered to double his wages from €2m a year to €5m a year. That works out at about £3.46m.
[\quote]

Fergie is reading my posts

PHB

**** yes, tihs is great

Real Madrid keeper Iker Casillas claims Manchester United have been in contact with his agent about a summer move to Old Trafford.

"For a long time Manchester United have been interested. An offer has been put to my agent but, for me, money is not everything," he told the Daily Star.

"I like the Premiership and United is one of the few clubs I would go to."

Casillas' agent added: "United's interest is certain but negotiations between the clubs haven't taken place."


I say if he's interested then we should certainly go for him
From FR
Have your say on 606

United have set their sights on a new keeper, with Roy Carroll expected to leave when his contract expires at the end of the season and Tim Howard struggling for consistency.

Casillas' contract with Real ends at the end of next season and he has been tipped to leave the Bernabeu in the summer.

"I know that at any moment I could leave Real and there is no way I would go to another club," said the 24-year-old.

"I have a year left on my contract but I need to know as quickly as possible what a new contract would say because I have a lot of important decisions to make."

Come on and join us

LegacyUser

oh the daily star...ye such a favourite of mine...<end sarcasm>

LegacyUser

*cough*

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/4387289.stm

Cianan2

Spanish league leaders Barcelona are "dreaming" of landing Arsenal's French striker Thierry Henry and linking him up with Cameroon forward Samuel Eto'o and Brazilian star Ronaldinho in a star-studded attack, Spain's Sport daily reported overnight.

The paper said Barca was determined to make Henry part of what it said would be "the best attacking trio in the world."

The Catalan daily speculated that 27-year-old Henry, world champion with France in 1998 and who has won a slew of top honours in five years with Arsenal, "believes his time at Arsenal is drawing to a close and is keen on sating his desire for more titles at the Nou Camp." Sport added that Barca chairman Joan Laporta "wants him to be the next top star to arrive" at the Catalan club, who are 11 points clear of Real Madrid in the Spanish title race.

It said that one of Henry's attractions was his ability to play on the right, where he began with Monaco and France before Arsene Wenger turned him into one of the world's most deadly centre forwards, as well as down the middle.

Eto'o has been playing as the Barca spearhead with deadly effect since joining from Real Mallorca last summer, ably backed up by 2002 World Cup winner Ronaldinho in a more withdrawn role.

With Henry on board "they could all three, interchange positions," Sport noted, claiming that Arsenal would realise that "now is the ideal moment to sell him and cash in" on their prize asset.

The daily added that even a price bracket of $42 to $50 million would not be beyond Barca's reach, nor Henry's wages.

It would be a great move,imo. Though highly unlikely to happen...