The Inevitable Summer Transfer Market Topic

[Hobo]

Manchester City have added to their collection of strikers by signing Arsenal's Emmanuel Adebayor on a five-year deal for a fee of about £25m.

The 25-year-old joins fellow new signings Roque Santa Cruz and Carlos Tevez at Eastlands.

And with Robinho, Craig Bellamy, Valeri Bojinov and Benjani also on their books, City have an embarrassment of riches up front.

"I can't wait to play for City's fans and show them what I can do," he said.

"I was born to play football and that is what I want to do. I have come here to make history for this club and those supporters.

"It what the chairman and the manager told me that they want too and I can't wait to get started."

The Togo striker, who takes City's summer spending to around £80m, passed a medical on Saturday and had already been successful in arranging a work permit.

Adebayor, who was also linked with linked to AC Milan and Chelsea, spent three-and-a-half seasons with the Gunners after joining them from Monaco for £7m, scoring 62 goals in 142 games.

He scored 30 goals in the 2007-08 season but struggled with injuries in the last campaign and also incurred the wrath of some Arsenal fans, who felt the striker lacked commitment.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said he was sorry to see Adebayor leave, but insisted he had no immediate plans to replace him.

"We're not on the verge of signing anybody but I'm able to spend the money if we find the right players," he said,

"We have Tomas Rosicky and Eduardo back so we've lost a big striker but have gained two offensive players who were absent last season.

"We also have Nicklas Bendtner, Andrey Arshavin, Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott who can play striker. We have top players we can use as strikers.

"But we'll miss Emmanuel - he's a great player. I'm sure he'll give something special to Man City.

He adds vital balance and power to our attack - he has everything a top forward needs.

City boss Mark Hughes

"If you consider the money we paid for him it was good business, but that was not our main target."

City boss Mark Hughes said Adebayor's arrival was a major step forward for the club.

"Emmanuel has been one of the top forwards in the Premier League since he arrived from France and we are delighted he has agreed to come and join us," he said.

"Along with the other signings we have made in the last two windows he will greatly enhance our ability to compete with the top sides.

"His arrival is another clear indication that we are determined to augment the players we have here with the best of international talent.

"He adds vital balance and power to our attack. He has everything a top forward needs. He is versatile, powerful, quick and agile on the ball.

"I am looking forward to working with him as are the rest of the staff. He will definitely add a new dimension to our play. I have been a great admirer for a long time."

City, backed up the huge financial wealth of their owners, the Abu Dhabi United group, are eager to break into the Premier League's top four this coming season and have shown their determination with their close-season spending.

Midfielder Gareth Barry was bought from Aston Villa for £12m and City paid Blackburn about £18m for Paraguay international Santa Cruz.

City completed a deal for Tevez on Tuesday, with the Argentine joining after City paid a fee of about £25m to secure his registration from third party ownership after his contract with Premier League champions Manchester United expired.

I don't think Man City have enough strikers.

[Zaz]

Adebayor with Tevez and Robinho playing off him would be pretty awesome. Can't see Bellamy fitting in though.

[Captain Kirk]

Barry Ferguson has signed for Birmingham. Good bit of business for Rangers really, he was way past his best, nice to get rid of him.

He had a peak?

Barry Ferguson has signed for Birmingham. Good bit of business for Rangers really, he was way past his best, nice to get rid of him.

I think he needs the change, I won't be surprised if he does really well for Brum.

I would laugh my arse off if he was any good down there!

Considering when he did play down there he was one of the best players on the park(albeit having an injury hit spell) and stats wise would have been man of the match in a third of his matches I wouldn't be surprised if he did well down there.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

I still don't rate Adebayor at all. Just doesn't do it for me. Somebody summed him up perfectly before with the word 'lazy'. I wouldn't be surprised if he had an instant bust up with Hughes a few weeks into the season. Not to mention he'll more than likely cry if he's left on the bench once, which I think he will be more often than he thinks. I'm interested to see who Arsenal bring in to replace him.

[Crybaby Bunting]

Arsenal will buy a 10 year old defender from Ghana who they'll convert into a striker... for a stupid fee... then pocket the rest ¬_¬

[Scott McFly]

Really Man City? Another striker? It's starting to look like what bad FM computer AI would do with bottomless funds. Not to mention a Frankenstein's monster of parts of other Premier League teams.

So John Terry next then?

[METALMAN]

Oh dear. That's totally ridiculous. I mean if Adebayor is now worth £25 million I must be worth like £30 million.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Apparently (rumour of course) Arsenal are interested in Martins. I actually had a feeling on that one, not sure why. I still don't see it happening and I think he didn't do himself any favours while at Newcastle.

The Ibrahimovic/Eto'o deal is also at risk due to the wage demands of Eto'o or something. If it goes down, I'm very interested to see if Zlatan can prove many people wrong in thinking he's overrated (which he is). A move that can make or break him I'd say and prove whether or not he actually is as brilliant as some try to make him out to be. He'll have a lot more riding on him at a team like Barca.

[jakeyd2006]

So, there's to be no more Manchester United transfers this season. I don't see the reasoning as we have £80 million + from the Ronaldo deal and we've hardly replaced Ronaldo and Tevez with top strikers, have we? All i have is hope and hoping that Berbatov can prove himself this season.

[FLiam]

I don't think we need to replace him. Bendtner came on leaps and bounds toward the back end of last season, still have van Persie and Eduardo. As well as Theo and Arshavin who can always play as strikers. Wenger started to only use one striker really anyway last season, I think we'd be better off spending the money we got for him, or some of it on the holding midfielder we desperately need to challenge for the title.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

So, there's to be no more Manchester United transfers this season. I don't see the reasoning as we have £80 million + from the Ronaldo deal and we've hardly replaced Ronaldo and Tevez with top strikers, have we? All i have is hope and hoping that Berbatov can prove himself this season.

The stuff that SAF said doesn't seem to be as true as once believed. David Gill has apparently said it's still possible we'll see more signings, so it's not out of the question like everyone was made to believe.

[9 to 5]

Barry Ferguson has signed for Birmingham. Good bit of business for Rangers really, he was way past his best, nice to get rid of him.

He had a peak?

Barry Ferguson has signed for Birmingham. Good bit of business for Rangers really, he was way past his best, nice to get rid of him.

I think he needs the change, I won't be surprised if he does really well for Brum.

I would laugh my arse off if he was any good down there!

Considering when he did play down there he was one of the best players on the park(albeit having an injury hit spell) and stats wise would have been man of the match in a third of his matches I wouldn't be surprised if he did well down there.

Ferguson was one of our better pkayers at the time? Good God no!

[jakeyd2006]

Yeah, I'm just hoping you're right here. We need a left winger, Ribery would perfectly fit but he's "not for sale".

[Ben E.]

Not for sale just means what they were thinking for him before, plus another 10 million. I'd be surprised if Man Utd's summer spending is finished.

[Lord Nibbler]

So, there's to be no more Manchester United transfers this season. I don't see the reasoning as we have £80 million + from the Ronaldo deal and we've hardly replaced Ronaldo and Tevez with top strikers, have we? All i have is hope and hoping that Berbatov can prove himself this season.

If we were to spend the money, it wouldn't be on a striker. Berbatov and Rooney will be first choice, with Owen and Welbeck and Macheda (and maybe Diouf come January) as backup.

But there's not much point in trying to buy anyone when the prices are this inflated.

[HailtotheYo]

The money would be better used on Glazner's debt

and LOL, Crouch said no to Sunderland. That actually makes me happy. I hate Crouch and wouldn't want him to be on any team I even remotely like.

I'm also not torn up about Adebayor leaving. There's always been something about him I didn't like. What I would like though, is a full time look at Bendtner to see just what he's got (before I get that look as he plays for someone else and rips Arsenal a new one).

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Don't worry, Manchester United will splash the cash one more time whatever Ferguson says.

Afterall, we're still too far away from the start of the season when Ferguson will chuck loads of money at a higher profile mercenary....No names.

I think he'll go for Ashley Young if he hasn't gone before. Villa got Downing and O'Neill said that it didn't mean that Young was leaving but I think Villa were being realistic and got Downing cos it's pretty obvious that SOMEONE biggish will make a good offer for Young before the season starts.

[Crybaby Bunting]

It makes no sense to sell Young at all until January at the very least, otherwise you end up with a severely reduced set of wingers whilst you wait for Downing to recover. Without Barry AND Young I could see Villa going on a horrific slump in form, no amount of money would replace Young atm.

As for United, I pretty much believe that is all they're going to spend this Summer. If things go wrong they'll panic buy in January, but at the moment it seems like they don't have the money to spend on big players.

[therockbox]

They went on a horrific slump in form with Barry and Young.

[IAceI]

So we pull out for Crouch, fair enough but some of our fans reactions have been laughable.

I mean, fair enough if we don't want Cattermole that's a just opinion and he's an aquired taste. So turning down an England U21 fair enough - but now apparently some people don't think Crouch is good enough for us, a very good and accomplished England international player.

...Fucking hell we're turning into them lot up the road. :-\