The Inevitable Summer Transfer Market Topic

[Crybaby Bunting]

Apparently Chelsea have turned down a bid from Man City for John Terry... AGAIN!

Surely signing him is about as impossible as Eto'o?

[Lord Nibbler]

Manchester United will make a £16m move for Sevilla's 28-year-old Brazilian striker Luis Fabiano, but face competition from AC Milan.

Full story: Daily Mirror

Hmm, interesting. He never really impressed me until I saw him play at the Confederations Cup. He certainly is a real goal-getter and might actually work at Man U. I think he'll choose Milan over Man Utd though

Not really. He scored 24 goals in La Liga in the 07/08 season, but that's more than he's managed in the other three seasons he's played in Spain combined. He only got 8 league goals last season and he also struggled for goals at Porto.

He looked good at the Confederations Cup, but I think that's probably because of the team around him (Kaka in particular) and the quality of opposition; the USA, Egypt and a weak Italian side.

Chelsea are the only club to have submitted a formal bid, of about £40m, for Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery - but the French international wants to join Real Madrid.

Full story: Daily Telegraph

If this is true, Ribery is a douchebag. He wants to be the centre of attention like Ronaldo and Kaka.

That might be true, but he has said in the past that he wanted to move to Spain rather than England.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Anyone know of a decent site that lists all transfers for the period in some sort of chronological order? I'm not as fussed about rumours, I just want an easy-to-read list of what's actually gone/going down.

[Crybaby Bunting]

Sky Sports is probably the best for you then, every now and again they show the ins and outs of each club on their sidepanel thing.

The problem is that it only works for Premier League clubs... but I take it that's all you want.

[RazorsEdge]

Anyone know of a decent site that lists all transfers for the period in some sort of chronological order? I'm not as fussed about rumours, I just want an easy-to-read list of what's actually gone/going down.

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/transfer_centre/

Not chronological, though.

[Baddar]

Owen is coming for free. Good business.

He's not on the Luis Fabiano, Aguero, Kaka, Ribery, Alves or Iniesta scale of additions, but this is a free transfer. For a player who's scored loads of Premier League goals and been there and done it all before, I think it's a good signing for us.

About this "but you got £80m for Ronaldo" argument...

We did, yes. Chances are it won't all get spent, but I'm pretty certain more of it will be than just the Valencia purchase. I'm actually pleased we've signed him. It'll go against what a lot of United fans think (but then, some thought Berbatov was shit last season, I thought otherwise) but at a time when all of these millions are flying around for players and ridiculous bids coming in, we've just picked up a proven out-and-out striker. Unless Berbatov plays up front next season, I wouldn't be surprised to see Rooney and Valencia on the wings with Berbatov behind Owen.

I don't particularly think Owen will start every week, but with Fergie's love for Rooney out wide and Berba playing a lot deeper last season, Owen's the only real guy at the moment who we have to play there, aside from the youngsters.

[Fudge]

Anyone know of a decent site that lists all transfers for the period in some sort of chronological order? I'm not as fussed about rumours, I just want an easy-to-read list of what's actually gone/going down.

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/transfer_centre/

Not chronological, though.

I usually check there.

I check wikipedia 'List of Italian/Spanish/etc... summer transfers 09' about once a week aswell to whats going on everywhere else.

Also, I love that Owen is going to United. I said a few months ago that if anyone was going to help Owen become better than what he is now, and somewhat like his old self, then it would be us. So yeah, really happy and it's a fucking bargain.

[Vincent K. McMahon]

Michael Owen is a one dimensional poacher that relies on everyone else to do the leg work, while he takes the glory. If you think Berbatov is bad, wait until you see this little c*nt play week in, week out (if he even manages to do that).

[Liam]

Michael Owen is a one dimensional poacher that relies on everyone else to do the leg work, while he takes the glory. If you think Berbatov is bad, wait until you see this little c*nt play week in, week out (if he even manages to do that).

So he does what he is paid to do, hang around and try to score?

Goalscorers aren't really required to do legwork, the midfield are supposed to provide for the forwards, thats kinda how it works.

[9 to 5]

I remember Man Utd having a striker who didn't run himself into the ground, goalhanged and scored a bag full of goals. Didn't do RVN much harm did it? It's just "strikers who just score goals" are out of vogue these days.

[Liam]

I remember Man Utd having a striker who didn't run himself into the ground, goalhanged and scored a bag full of goals. Didn't do RVN much harm did it? It's just "strikers who just score goals" are out of vogue these days.

That was exactly who I was thinking about. He sniffed out goals, and that was about it. All you could ask for really, because he was that good at it.

[El Dandy]

We need a goal poacher though, thats what we are lacking. I thought we had that in Berbatov but I was wrong... very wrong. I just don't believe Owen still has that killer instinct in him that he used to have. But I could be proven wrong. But a poacher is what we need and if Owen can do that for us, then fair play.

[9 to 5]

That's why I love Benni McCarthy. All he does is score goals. Yet some people would rather replace him with Paul Dickov again, just because he ran himself into the ground every game but scored about 5 goals a season. Madness.

[Baddar]

We need a goal poacher though, thats what we are lacking. I thought we had that in Berbatov but I was wrong... very wrong. I just don't believe Owen still has that killer instinct in him that he used to have. But I could be proven wrong. But a poacher is what we need and if Owen can do that for us, then fair play.

Is that a dig at Ferguson, or Berbatov? Berba hasn't really played in the position to be the "poacher" of the team, has he?

[Hobo]

To be honest, if Owen fails at Man Utd then his doubters will probably be proved wrong. I can actually see Ferguson getting something out of him, but I don't know if I can picture him starting for them.

[Lord Nibbler]

Anyone know of a decent site that lists all transfers for the period in some sort of chronological order? I'm not as fussed about rumours, I just want an easy-to-read list of what's actually gone/going down.

I usually check there.

I check wikipedia 'List of Italian/Spanish/etc... summer transfers 09' about once a week aswell to whats going on everywhere else.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Foot...ers_summer_2009

[IAceI]

All the rage these days are the strikers who are defended with "he's not a goal scoring striker", which is fair enough. We have one in Kenwyne Jones, he chips in and gets the goals but his meaning of being there is largely something else - bullying opponents, challenging in the air, running when he can be arsed.

The problem is when you couple a "non scoring striker" with another "non scoring striker", that's when it fails. If Owen can get the assists, and lets face it Man Utd is a few steps up from Newcastle in terms of whose going to be providing - then he's going to score goals. He'll be in the box, heading, shooting, everything and doing it well. Injury doesn't alter your perception of the game and positioning ability, as long as he's still got that he'll bag a few.

Does Berbatov-Rooney-Owen strike as much fear into opponents in 2009 as it might have a few years ago? No.

Does it strike as much fear as Rooney-Berbatov-Tevez-Ronaldo last year? Of course not.

But the fact is that's a strike force more than capable of getting goals, and probably also winning the title again.

[Pesci]

I think Owen is a magnificent piece of business for United. I don't see how people can say he only scores goals. So what? Berbatov has proved he's a great provider in the past and we all know how creative Rooney can be. Owen is a clinical finisher and that's what you need. He's adapted his game since he lost his pace - pace is overrated anyway, it'll only get you so far. The majority of goals aren't scored on the break when a striker is competing with a defender to reach a ball, they're scored when a player has a clear opportunity in front of him. Owen is as good a bet to put chances away as most other strikers on the market.

It's only 3rd July anyway. You still have the bulk of that 80M left and two months to spend it. Owen is fine for a guy who will be happy to play second-fiddle to more creative players. Stop bitching when the transfer window hasn't even been open long enough to give us any indication what Fergie's main plans are.

[Liam]

To be honest, for such a small guy, Owen scores a lot of goals with his head. Thats all about reading the game, something that suggests he hasn't lost that aspect of it yet.

[Crybaby Bunting]

I'll laugh so hard if he breaks his leg during the medical ¬_¬