The Inevitable January Transfer Market Topic

[-A-]

Relatively modest fee or relatively tiny fee? Are these contradictory?

[Summers]

I'd rather recieve a modest fee, than a tiny fee.

[-A-]

Of course you would, in a situation where you're presented them as separate choices. If you're offered a modest fee and it's described as tiny by another source you don't say 'What's going on here? I was promised a modest fee, dammit, someone's lying to me!'

Edited January 24, 2009 by -A-

[Summers]

No, but which is it?

To me it's a small fee. To you it's modest and tiny.

[-A-]

No, to me it's 'relatively modest' and 'relatively tiny' because phrasing it the same way in rapid succession would be shit.

Of all things to quibble with, you're trying to dispute my language?

[Summers]

No, I just wondered.

Cuz I think the fee is a big part of the signing, Wigan obvs. woulda wanted more. Bellamy (who I believe is a worse player) cost 14m, whereas Heskey cost atleast 10m less than that.

[-A-]

I think that it's a pretty fair valuation on Wigan's part and it represents good value for Villa, as I said above. He's easily worth £4m because he'll fit into your system perfectly, it's a position O'Neil's looking to strengthen and his wages won't be too high because you don't have to pay the free transfer premium. Added to that, the question marks over Carew's back and relationship with the manager mean it's even more important to get someone in in that position.

All the talk of Wigan demanding £10m has quickly receded. They're in no particular danger of getting relegated and they have Zaki to help stave that of at least (even if there's a good chance he won't stay.) They obviously have high hopes for Rodellaga to pay a club record fee (I think?) so on the assumption Heskey's not going to stay in the summer, they might as well cash in now.

Bellamy's fee was only so high because it's Man City and this is a January sale. If Heskey and Bellamy were both at the same club, both had the same length of contract and weren't being bid for by City, they'd probably command the same fee (and even then, only because Bellamy's a couple of years younger.) I really think Heskey's a good player, which is why I tried to use him as a comparison to Cole because I'm trying to compliment him. Obviously Heskey's been far more consistent and played at a higher level, but Cole has been better than him for the first 6 months of the season. This is the first time in his career Cole's been settled at a club and been secure in his position and he's playing better football. Yes, he was shit for most of the rest of it, but it's not unthinkable he'll go on to be a decent 3rd choice striker for a firmly midtable club like West Ham. It's particularly not unthinkable that we'd value him at £8m considering we've got no other fit strikers and just sold Bellamy for £14m.

Edited January 24, 2009 by -A-

[Crybaby Bunting]

Buffon's just gone and said that he'd leave if a huge bid like Kaka' was made for him, on the justification that it'd do Juventus a great deal of good.

Now watch as Man City ignore this, because goalkeepers aren't strikers

[IAceI]

Can we please just ban the Sun and the Daily Mail etc. from printing football stories? Well if we could ban them from printing that'd be fantastic but a load of their rumours just seem to be taken from thin air sometime.

On the Sunderland front the Daily Mail () are reporting Spurs are set to come back for Jones with £6m + Darren Bent.

Please... Please... Just go away. I can't see us selling him in January to a team down at the bottom with us. It'd be ridiculous, summer time I can possibly see him leaving - but I don't think we're going to get rid of him in January. We need him. We also need a new defender, with James Collins name thrown around (and Christophe Berra but that seems to have died as quick as it came). So if Collins come, we'll almost have the entire Hammers back 4 with Ferdinand and McCartney already with us.

[alldaws1]

I thought you were going to laugh at us giving you Darren Bent and £6m for him, not that you'd sell him to a relegation rival

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Buffon's just gone and said that he'd leave if a huge bid like Kaka' was made for him, on the justification that it'd do Juventus a great deal of good.

Now watch as Man City ignore this, because goalkeepers aren't strikers

Again, it wouldn't and wont happen. If he was ever going to leave, it'd have been to Milan two years ago. Juve have already come out and said not even a 100m bid for anybody like Buffon or Del Piero would be considered. It's just more rumours really, although it doesn't help with Buffon coming out and apparently saying stuff like that, even if he's saying it in a different way. It might help Juventus in cash terms, it'll kill the team though seeings though he's one of the main reasons they're where they are today, because IMO he's been the best goalkeeper in the world for the past four or five years. Losing him would be a huge uproar in Italy, not as much as it would for Del Piero, but it'd be a damn big deal.

[Clawson]

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger will make a £7m raid for Manchester City's England defender Micah Richards. (News of the World)

City are prepared to shock fans reeling over the Kaka and Robinho affairs by unloading Richards. (Mail on Sunday)

Seriously, where do they come up with this shit?

[Baddar]

NOTW and the Mail On Sunday maybe?

I don't believe anything I read in the paper as far as sport goes unless it's a confirmed deal that's been signed. I remember Gareth Southgate was to sign for United "today" about 7 years ago, according to The Sun. ¬_¬

[Matt]

£7m? Didn't Inter or Juve or someone offer like £18m for him a season or two ago.

[ONO]

Honestly, in this day and age people are still reading tabloid transfer rumors?

[Clawson]

I look at it on the BBC Gossip page. I just find some stuff so absurd compared to others.

[Dynamite]

Mediawatch and the gossip page on Football365.com do a good job of showing up just how much shite the newspapers make up on a daily basis.

[METALMAN]

Kevin Kyle maybe going to Kilmarnock. Rejoice!

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[IAceI]

Sunderland to sign Calum Davenport now.

As opposed to James Collins. Although we'll probably just have both.

[METALMAN]

Pity we're taking your team's hero Kevin Kyle away though eh?

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