The Inevitable Summer Transfer Market Topic

[The Quasi Juice]

Here we go again...

Brazil and Real Madrid playmaker Kaka has delivered a stinging blow to Manchester City by revealing that they were not a big enough club to tempt him to the Premier League.

Full story: News of the World

Shock. Awe.

West Ham want to bring Anton Ferdinand back to Upton Park from Sunderland in a cut-price deal. New Black Cats boss Steve Bruce does not want the 24-year-old, who moved to Wearside last summer, and Hammers boss Gianfranco Zola will make a £2m bid.

Full story: News of the World

The fuck. They just bought the man.

Aston Villa are ready to make a £5m swoop for German international Tim Borowski, 29, who plays in midfield for Bayern Munich.

Full story: News of the World

He hasn't played much last season, which is why it's odd he hasn't been linked with more teams yet. Could be a great buy for mid-table teams.

Liverpool striker Fernando Torres has urged manager Rafael Benitez to try and sign one of his Spanish international team-mates David Villa, David Silva or Juan Mata, who all play for Valencia.

Full story: News of the World

I think Torres can forget about Villa or Silva coming, they'll have to cost around 40/50 million euro. Mata on the other hand might be doable for a lot less and IMO he's better than Riera.

Xabi Alonso's future at Anfield depends on Real Madrid's bid to sign David Villa from Valencia. If Real fail to purchase the striker, they will meet Liverpool's £25m asking price for Alonso.

Full story: News of the World

25m is not much for Alonso, so I think this is a bullshit story. Real threw away money for Ronaldo and Kaka, why would Liverpool agree to 25m? They will try to stretch it as far as they possibly can, not only because Real is insane but because he's very important to Liverpool as well. Would be ironic if he left to the team Liverpool easily dismantled last season in the Champions League.

Manchester City have completed a £25m swoop for Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o, 28, and they are expected to announce that they have also signed Carlos Tevez.

Full story: News of the World

This would be huge news for City but even though it says here they completed the swoop already, it's not confirmed anywhere. I wonder who Barca will bring in as Eto'o's replacement if he really does go. They have been linked to Ibrahimovic but they don't have that much money.

Arsenal are poised to hijack Manchester United's £25m bid to sign 21-year-old striker Karim Benzema from Lyon.

Full story: News of the World

I don't really believe this. Benzema would be a wonderful buy but Wenger + heavy spending just doesn't add up. Also, 25m won't do the trick anyway.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson will intensify negotiations to for £45m Atletico Madrid playmaker Sergio Aguero and complete the £14m signing of Wigan striker Luis Antonio Valencia. (Sunday Mail)

Two lightweights. I wonder how they will do at Man Utd....Valencia has no experience in the CL whatsoever, Aguero does have experience and is obviously a great player but very light, not even close to a Tevez.

[Crybaby Bunting]

Why would City need a strike force of Tevez, Eto'o and Santa Cruz?

I think the Eto'o thing is bullshit, City obviously bid for him AGES ago when they wanted to buy everyone but now that's cooled down there isn't a chance Eto'o would go, or that City would still be intrested. City have found themselves in a brilliant position where they can intimidate last-day signings, but now they've got two solid strikers I don't see them going for any more.

Then again I could be wrong and we could end up with FM syndrome where City end up buying 9 strikers for the lulz

[The Quasi Juice]

It sounds like bullshit, but I'd rather have Eto'o or Tevez than Bellamy

[El Dandy]

Sparky must be tuning up in his Football Manager skills. This is seriously taking the piss. It was bad enough Chelski buying the world when Roman first came, but now City? I'm seriously getting fed up with all this gossip. They are a small time team, don't matter how much they have because there players will only play for the cash, not the badge.

[Crybaby Bunting]

To be fair, think of how many continental players suddenly wanted to play for United after their stupidly big merchendising deals allowed them to spend loads on player contracts.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

I'd be surprised if Barcelona let Eto'o go before finding a proper replacement. They've been linked with Ibrahimovic, but I'm really not sure about that happening. Jose has already tried to claim him to be the best striker in the world (which is obviously far from the truth) and there's no way he'll let him leave unless it's for huge money. I just cant imagine Eto'o at City, but we'll see.

Also had a feeling about that Benzema/Arsenal stuff. I'm not sure how true it actually is, but it's worrying if Wenger is interested, because I see him as standing more chance of picking the guy up. Then again, for the price tag they're looking for (30million +) I just cant see Wenger splashing out anything near that. I'd like it if we could get this deal sorted out sometime soon rather than waste any more time. Also £45m for Aguero is laughable, I'll feel sick if we ever even considered paying anything near that for him.

[IAceI]

Arsenal probably have the least to spend of the top four, so any big bid for Benzema would have to be funded by AC Milan having a blind panic and over spending on Adebayor. Which probably could happen.

[alldaws1]

They've been linked with Ibrahimovic, but I'm really not sure about that happening. Jose has already tried to claim him to be the best striker in the world (which is obviously far from the truth)

It really isn't 'far' from the truth. I wouldn't say he was worth the £80m or so I read they value him at, even in the modern football world, but he is definitely one of the best strikers in the world.

[IAceI]

If he came to the Premiership he'd be the guy who got the goals against Bolton and Blackburn for you.

You wouldn't expect him to score against good teams though

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

They've been linked with Ibrahimovic, but I'm really not sure about that happening. Jose has already tried to claim him to be the best striker in the world (which is obviously far from the truth)

It really isn't 'far' from the truth. I wouldn't say he was worth the £80m or so I read they value him at, even in the modern football world, but he is definitely one of the best strikers in the world.

He's been rated amazingly for years now and still never lived up to the hype. I used to love the guy back at Juve but he's still the same. He's either brilliant or terrible. One moment he's doing something unbelievable and come the next game, it's like he's not even on the field. Jose does overate him, because he's not the best striker in the world and doesn't come close to the level that a certain Torres is currently on. And Jose claiming he's worth 100m is pretty much laughable. I believe he's great but he just lacks something that is stopping him from being regarded as one of the best in my opinion.

[therockbox]

Torres has his fair share of games where he's either terrible or anonymous as well. Not as often as Ibrahimovich or in as many 'big' games, but he does have them.

[ZJ Penn]

but he just lacks something that is stopping him from being regarded as one of the best in my opinion

Consistency? Ronaldo was consistently brilliant for around 2 years, while Ibrahimovic was inconsistently brilliant for 2 years. So to say he's worth as much as (or even more) than Ronaldo is pretty far from the mark on Mourinhos part and says to me that he'd consider selling and is looking after bumping the price up.

United should buy him for a Berbatov - Ibrahimovic strike force that gets 5 goals one week then zero the next.

Edited June 28, 2009 by ZJ Penn

[destroyed]

Valencia joins Man Utd from Wigan

Manchester United have signed Wigan Athletic winger Antonio Valencia on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee.

The 23-year-old Ecuador international is manager Sir Alex Ferguson's first signing since Cristiano Ronaldo signed for Real Madrid in a £80m transfer.

"Antonio is a player we have admired for some time now, having spent the last two years in the Premier League with Wigan," said Ferguson.

Valencia's transfer is reported to have cost United as much as £16m.

"I am sure his pace and ability will make a significant contribution to the team," added Ferguson.

have the chance to challenge for the biggest honours in club football here," said Valencia, who scored three goals for Wigan last season.

"Playing in front of 76,000 fans alongside players like Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand and Ryan Giggs will be an amazing experience. I can't wait to get started."

Valencia has played 34 times for Ecuador, scoring four goals.

Source: BBC Football

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/t...utd/8127596.stm

Well I'm glad Utd arn't wasting time and have actually started bringing in new players early this year.

[alldaws1]

Man Utd have signed Antonio Valencia to a 4-year deal for, surprisingly, an undisclosed fee. BBC Sports' article suggests it's £16m.

Edit: Ah, beaten to the punch. Fine. In obviously much more interesting news, Burnley break their transfer record to sign Steven Fletcher for £3m from Hibs. Oh, and Wolves do the same but for £6.5m and for Kevin Doyle.

Edited June 30, 2009 by AD

[9 to 5]

I liked Fletcher. Now I must hate him.

[Bryan Blade]

Mick McCarthy must miss being Ireland manager really. How many irish players at wolves now? Doyle is quality though in fareness. Better than Robbie Keane in my eyes too

[TCO]

Mick McCarthy must miss being Ireland manager really. How many irish players at wolves now? Doyle is quality though in fareness. Better than Robbie Keane in my eyes too

Doyle is extremely average, the only reason he get his game for us alongside Keano, is because his biggest competition is Caleb Folan. I still love him though for his days at Cork City.

[Crybaby Bunting]

Club records have a tendency to be absolute gash once they start playing for said team.

There's only a few exceptions to that rule, but I really don't think recycled Championship level players are going to do the world of good for those teams.

[RazorsEdge]

All well and good that we bring in Valencia to replace Ronaldo as he's got the pace, but how many goals did Valencia score last year? 2 or 3?

We really need to be looking at a striker, especially with Tevez on his way out as well and Berbatov not really being the goal scoring machine we need.

[DFF]

Bolton have signed Sean Davies from Portsmouth on a free transfer.

I find it odd that Portsmouth turned down a £3.5m bid for him earlier in the season (from Bolton, no less) only to lose him afterwards for nothing. I can only assume they were hoping to convince him to re-sign in the close season.