We have the United silverware thread that talks about almost anything regarding United in this pre-season and maybe even beyond, and the managerial merry-go-round thread that speculates and discusses changes in managers amongst clubs.
Perhaps we can have a thread here that consolidates all the transfers and speculations of players;
broadly speaking.
A great and understandably long article here to kickstart a crazy period of player transfers and speculations. Let the crazy summer sale begin....
The Independent
By Jason Burt, Wednesday, 28 May 2008
'Buy big and buy early' in summer of spending
The transfer scramble has already started and even with two main players – Chelsea and Man City – looking for new managers, it has not stopped Premier League clubs from lining up major deals...
With the transfer window opening, there is bad news for the supporters of those clubs trying to compete with Manchester United. The Premier League champions and European Cup winners are looking to make three major signings – a striker, a midfielder and a right-back and have ample funds, up to £70m including wages, available. The good news? Well plenty of other clubs have money too and, if United splash out, they may be prepared to spend that bit more.
Indeed the signings by Tottenham Hotspur of
Luka Modric, for £16.5m, and Chelsea of
Jose Bosingwa for a similar fee, would indicate that it is going to be a summer of spending to surpass all others. And that both Spurs and Chelsea, who are attempting major overhauls of their squads with goings as well as comings, along with United, Manchester City, probably Aston Villa and highly-ambitious, cash-rich Sunderland are going to be at the head of the queue.
Even Arsenal, having amazingly turned a healthy profit in the market last summer, are looking to splash out this time round. Well, a little anyway with Arsène Wenger set to secure the signature of Marseilles's attacking midfielder
Samir Nasri for £12.5m – to replace the departing
Alexander Hleb – next week and then add a no-nonsense central defender, another attacking player, a defensive midfielder and, maybe, an experienced goalkeeper to that. It could be even more if Wenger continues to lose patience with
Emmanuel Adebayor.
As ever strikers are at a premium and the next big deal to be completed is likely to be the arrival of the Brazilian striker
Jo from CSKA Moscow for £20m. The most likely destination for the 21-year-old, whose purchase is not as complicated as claimed because he is not, as has been stated, part-owned by the investment company MSI, is Manchester City, who are desperate to land a top-notch goal-scorer, although they face competition from Spurs, Everton and Valencia.
Heavily involved in that transfer is businessman and adviser Kia Joorabchian, who heads a consortium of financial backers, and who is no longer involved with MSI. He, like many others, forecasts a busy summer. "Big clubs will try to do their business early," Joorabchian says. "They won't panic and there will be five or six very big transfers this summer. But there will also be plenty of movement further down the League. You can see that already with, for example,
Mark Schwarzer leaving Middlesbrough for Fulham and it will get busier the nearer we get to the transfer window closing. Then you will see clubs, the promoted ones in particular, worrying about whether or not their squads are strong enough to survive."
It is a view that is largely shared by agent Colin Gordon, a director of Key Sports Management, which represents players such as Theo Walcott and David James. He says: "It's going to be busy. Certainly clubs are more determined than ever to make sure they have the right squads and players to either get to the 'Promised Land' of the Premier League or stay there. At the same time there seems to be a lot more common sense from clubs in terms of the prices they want to pay – although it only takes one or two to pay ridiculously over the odds for that to change. Clubs also seem to be keen to do their business earlier. Maybe that's because of the European Championships which are coming up fast. The clubs appear to want to get their squads settled."
That could be delayed by the scale and complexity of some of the deals being discussed especially as they involve some big-name, big-salary strikers leaving – with the wage demands of Barcelona's
Samuel Eto'o, who wants £128,000-a-week after tax, pricing him out of a move to Britain.
Didier Drogba is due to be sold by Chelsea – probably to one of the two Milan clubs – and may be followed through the exit door by team-mate
Nicolas Anelka, while
Andrei Shevchenko is seeking to clarify his future and should depart, too. It means Chelsea are in the market, with
Robinho's agent claiming that talks have already took place over a £28m transfer from Real Madrid. Ajax's
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar – also interesting United – Internazionale's
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Stuttgart's
Mario Gomes would all be possibilities for Stamford Bridge, as would the Porto winger
Ricardo Quaresma, available for £25m, although he is also wanted by Inter.
Anelka could, indeed, replace
Dimitar Berbatov at Tottenham whose sale will help finance much of the spending at White Hart Lane, although they would, also, dearly love to recoup some of the £16m spent on
Darren Bent and may also turn to Real Zaragoza's
Diego Milito. Spurs are struggling to land the Bolivian striker
Marcelo Moreno, available for around £6m from Brazilian club Cruzeiro. However, Moreno is also wanted by Shakhtar Dontesk and may have problems gaining a work permit for England.
Berbatov, also of interest to Chelsea, should move abroad, while United, who are also looking at Seville's
Luis Fabiano, will offload
Louis Saha – who could attract interest from Spurs and his former club Fulham. Liverpool, whose manager Rafael Benitez is desperate to generate funds to compete with United, are looking to sell both
Peter Crouch and
Andrei Voronin, along with Jermaine
Pennant,
Scott Carson,
Steve Finnan and
John Arne Riise, while
Harry Kewell will be released.
With the takeover of the club by Dubai International Capital still not complete, the deals need to be done to help Liverpool pay for the planned arrivals of
Gareth Barry, left-back
Andrea Dossena from Udinese and, maybe, Blackburn's
David Bentley who is also wanted by Chelsea and Spurs.
Goalkeepers, like strikers, are also in high demand. Arsenal, Spurs, Villa – who have decided against signing Carson from Liverpool – and Middlesbrough are just four clubs desperate to recruit, which is why PSV Eindhoven are holding out for the £12.5m release fee in the contract of
Heurelho Gomes, who is desperate to leave the Dutch club and is also attracting the attention of Milan.
A major factor in all of this is the number of clubs looking to change their managers or who have yet to appoint a new one. They include two of the biggest potential spenders – City and Chelsea – while an added consideration is the forthcoming European Championship, with potential candidates such as Luiz Felipe Scolari, who would like to join Chelsea as City's interest in him cools, and Croatia's Slaven Bilic, involved.
City also have a fight on their hands to keep
Micah Richards, especially as fellow defender
Richard Dunne is set to quit with Newcastle United manager Kevin Keegan keen to sign him. City are determined not to lose Richards, especially as he recently signed a new contract, and they regard him and goalkeeper Joe Hart as their most important assets. But a bid of between £20m-£25m from Chelsea or United – who are interested but may pursue Seville's
Daniel Alves because of the difficulty in signing someone from their local rivals – would severely test their resolve. United, who have sold
Gerard Pique back to Barcelona and may complete the permanent signing of
Carlos Tevez this summer, need a replacement for Gary Neville.
City, who are also tracking CSKA's
Daniel Carvalho, like Spurs, are trying to head the group of ambitious clubs just below the top four – and perhaps will eventually challenge them. Also in that group are Villa, Portsmouth, although it is unclear how much they have to spend even if manager Harry Redknapp is pushing ahead with a number of bids, including a move for Lyons' attacking midfielder
Sidney Govou and the Rennes defender
John Mensah, and Everton. Having finished fifth, Everton know they have to look over their shoulders as much as ahead of them and manager David Moyes is keen to spend. The Heerenveen attacking midfielder
Michael Bradley is in his sights, while a decision will have to be taken on whether to retain
Andrew Johnson.
Looking further down the table, and beyond well-run Blackburn who have recruited cleverly under Mark Hughes and want to make more shrewd signings, such as the Espanyol pair of defender
Marc Torrejon Moya and striker
Ferran Corominas Telechea, there are West Ham and Newcastle United. The Hammers intend to reduce their squad and trim their wage bill, and are placing much of their future recruitment in the hands of new technical director Gianluca Nani. The latter are also trying to off-load some high-earners, which may see
Obafemi Martins and
Damien Duff go, while a main striker, such as Crouch or St-Etienne's
Bafetimbi Gomis, is a priority. A complication is the apparent conflict between what Keegan, who wants to buy British-based established stars, and executive director Dennis Wise want.
[to be continued....]
