The Summer Transfer Thread

[Turbo Yannis]

To be fair, I'd rather have Bridge at LB than Ashley Cole.

But that may stem from my hatred of Ashley Cole.

[stokeriño]

Oh I've no problem with Bridge in himself. It is of course the fact that I was expecting news on Drogba or Lampard.

[Bigal]

Stockport have signed Peter Thompson from my beloved Linfield

Fair play to him, and to Stockport; it seems almost 150 goals in three seasons can garner you some attention.

[TheRossWalker]

Ronaldinho's apparently off to Milan, subject to a medical, of course.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/7505761.stm

[Crybaby Bunting]

I'm half wondering if this was the Man City owner's plan all along, link self to a world class player and aim for constant press coverage. You gotta admit that because of this Man City is a more well known club in Europe just for linking themselves to him.

And they didn't have to spend a penny

[Green Demon]

'It looks like Heerenveen of the Netherlands is driving a hard bargain before it parts with its leading goal scorer, U.S. midfielder Michael Bradley. France's Le Figaro reported that AS Monaco's bid is now up to $13.6 million, after being previously reported at $9.6 million. Over the weekend, The Mirror of England reported that Middlesbrough had bid about $8 million, while Germany's Bild had Bayer Leverkusen's offer at $7.2 million."

Just something that I found when looking for transfer news about some of the American players that are playing over in Europe. I have also heard that Adu may possibly go on loan to AS Monaco as well so it will be intresting to see how that shakes out.

[Jam]

http://www.football-rumours.co.uk/

That's great for a laugh

Yea without checking what's been posted, I think Leeds are looking to bring in Nemeth from Liverpool on loan and Jay Bothroyd. The latter I wouldn't have but the first would be good.

[Clawson]

So fucking glad we didn't end up with Ronaldinho though its shit we could have spent that time and money on other players elsewhere.

[ONO]

I've always liked Wayne Bridge at LB. I think he'll really push Cole this year for the spot.

[stokeriño]

Rather than a question of ability, it seems to have been more a case that Mourinho and Grant just, well, didn't like him. Cole was always better at (or at least spent more time doing) forward runs than actually defending, although that's not to say he didn't make some very key tackles...he just tended to tread on people's shins in the process.

[Pesci]

Cole's just come off of a great season. The only way I can see Bridge pushing him is if he becomes even more of a massive cunt. Bridge should've moved on when he had the chance, I hope he starts 9 league games a season for the rest of his career

[Lineker]

I find myself curiously hyped for whenever the next FM game comes out, because I want to play a game as Portsmouth with Crouch and Defoe and such. >_>

Forget Crouch and Defoe.

I want to play an FM where 0-0's exist, and a scoreline of 3-2 doesn't happen every other game. :/

Go to the Goal Kick forums, they release a transfer update each Sunday (the latest being 11/7) which is good stuff.

[TMM]

Cole's just come off of a great season. The only way I can see Bridge pushing him is if he becomes even more of a massive cunt. Bridge should've moved on when he had the chance, I hope he starts 9 league games a season for the rest of his career

Cole had a great season? Really? Granted, I hate the bastard, but he had an average season. He has barely had a good game since the 04/05 season quite frankly. Cole seems to have lost any ability that he learnt at Arsenal because at Chelsea he seems to have been told not to go forward as much and he's never been the greatest on the defensive side. With the way Chelsea play (or played) Bridge has always been the better choice because he's definately the better defender of the two.

[Pesci]

Cole's just come off of a great season. The only way I can see Bridge pushing him is if he becomes even more of a massive cunt. Bridge should've moved on when he had the chance, I hope he starts 9 league games a season for the rest of his career

Cole had a great season? Really? Granted, I hate the bastard, but he had an average season. He has barely had a good game since the 04/05 season quite frankly. Cole seems to have lost any ability that he learnt at Arsenal because at Chelsea he seems to have been told not to go forward as much and he's never been the greatest on the defensive side. With the way Chelsea play (or played) Bridge has always been the better choice because he's definately the better defender of the two.

He was solid from January onwards and was on top form in the latter months, which is a view most commentators seem to share. Bridge isn't a better left back than Cole, he's not as good going forward and Cole isn't at all as bad as people tend to make out defensively - Bridge might be better defensively but he's not a better left back. I'd only rank Evra and Clichy above him from the Premier League, and that's assuming Clichy can keep his form up.

Edited July 17, 2008 by Pesci

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Liverpool are making me angry. Now I know what it's like to be a Villa fan.....Thing is I never wanted Liverpool to get Barry but in the end wanted them to so that they wouldn't bother continuing to chase Keane so much.

[Hobo]

I'm just hoping we sign one or the other eventually.

[alldaws1]

I think what CSAMH used to have in his sig about Keane being a hero at Spurs but just another player at Liverpool is true. If he does go he'll be overshadowed by their other players and won't be able to make as much of an impact as they'd like him to. I'm also not sure how he fits in to the Liverpool team, I can't imagine him and Torres being an effective partnership for some reason.

[AJ]

Fergie confirms Berbatov bid

United move for Spurs striker

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that he has lodged a bid for Tottenham's Dimitar Berbatov.

United have been tracking the talented striker for a number of months and now they have firmed up their interest with an official approach.

The size of United's bid for the 27-year-old is not yet known, although reports claim it is below the £25million which is said to be Spurs' asking price.

But Ferguson is confident he will land the classy Bulgaria international.

Confident

"We have made Tottenham an offer on Berbatov and we have good expectations that this deal will go through," the Scot said as he jetted out with his players ahead of United pre-season tour of South Africa.

"Berbatov has been impressive during a long time and would be a great addition to our attack.

"I think time will work for us more than against us.

"We will not stress this situation. We are hoping to have a constructive conversation with Tottenham in the near future."

I'd be impressed if they managed to sort a deal out but for some reason I don't see it happening. I've been a bit out of touch lately, has Berbatov said he actually wants to leave or is it just a bid out of the blue?

[R.W.]

Apparently Brad Friedel has asked Blackburn for a transfer, but we've turned down two bids for him (believed to be Villa & Man City).

Villa & Spurs bids for Bentley have also been rejected, as have bids for Stephen Warnock from Newcastle and enquiries about Andre Ooijer from PSV & Panathinaikos.

If Brad wants to go, I think we should let him. He's been a great servant to us over the years, and I'll be sad to see him go, but he's been more than loyal to us. I know we've been linked with Cudicini, Robison & Carson in the past few weeks, so it will interesting to see who we'd get as a replacement.

On the incoming front, Segundo Castillo of Red Star Belgrade has been offered a trial, of course Robbie Fowler has been offered a trial, and there is continued interest in Sebastian Larsson of Birmingham.

[Lord Nibbler]

His agent has said that he wants to leave so he can play Champions League football. I don't know if Berbatov himself has said anything.