Transfer Thread

[DFF]

Man City in talks with Reggina's Bianchi

I'm not quite up on Serie A like I used to be. Is this guy any good? A good signing if it goes through?

[fineintent]

Healy was good at PNE, then good when Leeds stopped playing him on the right wing. Score a hat-trick against Spain, especially that third goal, you're probably good enough to play in the Premiership.

[actionpad]

Im not really keen on the Bianchi signing, granted i have never seen him play, i feel we have bought to many strikers in the last few seasons that have flopped misserably. (Samaras, Corradi, Fowler and Dickov) I was hoping we were going to try and capture Owen from Newcastle as i heard that rumour flying around. This next season is going to be make or break for City, we can either do really well and push for a UEFA cup place or end up in another relegation battle.

[9 to 5]

Im not really keen on the Bianchi signing, granted i have never seen him play, i feel we have bought to many strikers in the last few seasons that have flopped misserably. (Samaras, Corradi, Fowler and Dickov) I was hoping we were going to try and capture Owen from Newcastle as i heard that rumour flying around. This next season is going to be make or break for City, we can either do really well and push for a UEFA cup place or end up in another relegation battle.

Like last season when you said that?

[Vincent K. McMahon]

Im not really keen on the Bianchi signing, granted i have never seen him play, i feel we have bought to many strikers in the last few seasons that have flopped misserably. (Samaras, Corradi, Fowler and Dickov) I was hoping we were going to try and capture Owen from Newcastle as i heard that rumour flying around. This next season is going to be make or break for City, we can either do really well and push for a UEFA cup place or end up in another relegation battle.

Edited July 10, 2007 by Vincent K. McMahon

[Liam]

Healy was good at PNE, then good when Leeds stopped playing him on the right wing. Score a hat-trick against Spain, especially that third goal, you're probably good enough to play in the Premiership.

Exactly. He hasn't just 'had his moments' with Northern Ireland, he has carried them to where they are at the moment, along with Sanchez' management. Sure, it wasn't just Healy, but he is about the only player they have who can score goals.

[figos]

Betis just bought England's favourite goalkeeper Ricardo for 3 million €.

[PDG]

Betis just bought England's favourite goalkeeper Ricardo for 3 million €.

[Spee]

Nugent's off to Portsmouth tomorrow for £6m. That's roughly £1.1m for us!

[therockbox]

Why would Owen leave Newcastle only to join a team in even worse shape?

[Matt]

He's a good player if you can get the right service to him; which took Blackwell/Carver/Wise almost 3 years to figure out - by then it was too late. Anyway, Sanchez knows how to play to Healy's strengths, and he should be a class act in the premiership if he plays with some decent wingers.

Lets be honest here. He wasn't playing with the best in the Northern Ireland side.

He's had a few moments with NI, but he's done next to nothing with Leeds.

I'll agree he's done nothing at Leeds barring the last ten games of last season, like I said. However, for Northern Ireland he's a prolific goalscorer, because he's getting good service. Yeah, Northern Ireland don't have the best players in the world, but I fail to see what you're arguing, surely that means he's working harder to make the team successful than he'd have to where he was playing with the best. Unless I've completely missed you're argument as to why Healy would be a good premiership player.

Oh and I heard someone say Owen to Arsenal today, not sure whether they were making that up or if it's been reported somewhere. Could be a decent buy if it happens, but a little strange for some reason.

Edited July 10, 2007 by - Matt -

[Guest John Wayne Ringy]

Bianchi's not a bad move by City. He's tall, strong and considered one for the future in Italy, Milan was sniffing around him last year but he felt obliged to help Reggina out of their situation after they gave him a chance after sucking at Atalanta and Cagliari. He's nearly got a 1 in 2 record for a team that just really wasn't any good and he's got a knack for scoring pivotal goals that swing the entire course of the game. Could probably do a job for City.

[Thomas]

Why would Owen leave Newcastle only to join a team in even worse shape?

[alldaws1]

Why would Owen leave Newcastle only to join a team in even worse shape?

Which team? Liverpool?

Man City.

[therockbox]

Good old deluded Everton fans, always good for a chuckle. Liverpool sign Torres whilst Everton are busy losing out on David Nugent to Pompey

Edit:

And we'll apparantly complete the signings of Babel/Benayoun "within the next 24 hours", according to Chris Bascombe. He's quite reliable when it comes to transfer news with Liverpool, so fingers crossed.

Edited July 10, 2007 by therockbox

[Guest mAXi]

Meh at Benayoun. We don't need him, he isn't even that good. I don't see the point in buying players for backup... and if he isn't backup then i find the whole thing just stupid.

[Lord Nibbler]

Better to have Benayoun, who's proven in the Premiership, as a backup than some Spaniard who's completely untested. It's not like you have a great deal of depth on the wings as it is (Pennant, Kewell...?)

[Guest mAXi]

I suppose you are right. With Gonzalez, Zenden and Garcia gone we aren't filled up with a ton of wingers anymore so we need two for the left and two for the right. Left wing can be covered by both Aurelio and Risse as well as Kewell. Same cannot be said for the right.

I just would of preferred somebody else, somebody who is proven in the Premiership won't always be as good as they were at there previous club (West Ham, come on ). Simao, Quaresma.. that was what i wanted. Babel isn't even worthy of a first team spot and here we are trying to get him for 10 million. Pah. With the money we have we could be looking for much better players than Benayoun and Babel.

But better than nothing i guess.

[fineintent]

I watched the U21 tournament and Babel can certainly play, so I don't see what your objection is there, especially given his age. Benayoun is also a very clever player and had a superb first season for West Ham, last year he was a bit hit and miss.

[therockbox]

Benayoun's an excellent signing, especially for £4million. He's a similar type of player to Garcia, just arguably more consistent. It's not like he's been signed out of the blue either, Benitez has been interested him for years, going way back to his Santander days.

I don't get why so many fans are moaning about spending so much on Babel, either. They're generally the same people that complain about us to spending £12million to get Walcott a couple of years ago, it just seems that now some supporters want us to become Chelsea v2 and spend ridiculous amounts of money on everyone.

The squad is a massive improvement on what we had last year, almost every player that's left is being replaced by someone better.

Dudek - Carson

Fowler - Voronin

Zenden - Lucas

Garcia - Benayoun (this is the only debatable one)

Bellamy - Torres

Add in Leto and possibly Babel, the squad is just so much stronger than it's been for years.

Edited July 11, 2007 by therockbox