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Hands up if you want to go to Barcelona?
Published by Ian John on April 15, 2010
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It’s been a little while since we took an amble down to Rumourville to look at the transfer gossip currently doing the rounds, so lets take time out from the title race and ignore Arsenal’s brave challenge finally coming to an end at Tottenham last night and take a sneaky peek at some of the transfer speculation currently doing the rounds in the EPL.
Let’s start at the top of the table, only for Chelsea it isn’t about who will be signing for the team, but who will be leaving it. Joe Cole, it seems, will be on his way and despite Manchester United’s interest, it seems Cole would be more tempted by a move across London to play for former manager Harry Redknapp at Tottenham. I’m guessing the travelling will be much easier. Apparently Ancelotti wants to open talks with midfielder Michael Ballack on a new deal. Not surprised by that as Ballack is only 33 and in Ancelotti squad terms, that means he’s still good for another 5-7 years yet.
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is looking for a goalkeeper to eventually succeed Edwin Van Der Sar. No we haven’t just popped through a worm hole and arrived back in December again, the same story is being peddled now. However instead of Igor Akinfeev and Manuel Neuer, United are supposedly interested in £15m rated Lyon keeper Hugo Lloris. So too is Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger who is hoping Lyon’s interest in their striker Eduardo could possibly lead to a deal for the keeper. Arsene Wenger will also be chuffed to bits to hear that Barcelona are not going to make a bid for Cesc Fabregas this summer. The bad news is that reportedly, that’s because the Catalan’s don’t feel the Spanish star is good enough to get in their team. Ouch!
Sir Alex has also renewed his interest in Manchester City’s Blofeld lookalike Steven Ireland. Apparently, this is to get back at City for signing Carlos Tevez last season. I bet the City fans will be distraught at the thought of taking £15m from their hugely in debt city rivals for a midfielder who has struggled to get into their first team this season, in exchange for a player who has been one of the three best strikers in the Premier League all season long. Fabio Capello meanwhile is tipping Adam Johnson, Roberto Mancini’s last buy, to make a late push for the England squad. The former Middlesbrough man has been in great form since his transfer and is very much looking the part for City. Mancini has been linked with an £11m move for SV Hamburg’s German international Jerome Boateng, who is a midfielder/defender hybrid much in the Patrick Vieira/Vincent Kompany/Nigel De Jong/Gareth Barry/Micah Richards mode. It makes you wonder why the Italian doesn’t sign just one of those players instead doesn’t it?
Liverpool’s American second hand car salesman are valuing the club too highly and putting off potential investors, so says a new report that claims Goldman Sachs were interested in a deal for the club, until Gillett and Hicks valued the club at something like £500m, double that if they wanted to include Lucas Leiva’s contract in the deal. Rafa the Gaffa seems safe while the club remain in the Europa League, but Juventus have reportedly given the Spaniard 10 days to indicate whether he wants the job or not. Rafa may be unmoved, as he may have his eye on the big job in Spain where Manuel Pellegrini’s position at Real Madrid looks almost untenable after the latest Lionel Messi inspired masterclass led Barcelona to a 2-0 victory at the Bernebeu last weekend. If Benitez does end up in Madrid at least he won’t be able to take Torres with him, the Spaniard is about as likely to sign for Real as Gary Neville is to sign for Liverpool.
Newly promoted Newcastle boss Chris Hughton is reportedly set to raid Pompey at the end of the season for three players, Marc Wilson, Kevin Prince Boateng and Nadir Belhadj. Quite how signing players from a club not good enough to stay in the top flight will help a newly promoted club stay in the top flight is beyond me. It’s been tried, and failed, before. Still Hughton is hoping to buck that trend by signing Jamie O’Hara from Spurs who…spent the year on loan at Portsmouth and Robbie Keane, who spent the year on loan at Celtic, the only British club to be playing worse than Portsmouth (or Tranmere Rovers) at present.
David Moyes is hoping Bill Kenwright’s new theatrical presentation is enough of a success so that he can spend a few bob in the summer. Lille striker Gervinho and Sporting Lisbon’s Veloso are targets for Moyes according to reports. No doubt Bill will be hastily rummaging down the side of the settee to see how much change he can dig up to fund those deals.
And lastly, my favourite piece of transfer speculation, Barcelona may think Cesc Fabregas isn’t good enough, but apparently they want to sign Joe Cole from Chelsea. Poor old Lionel Messi looks to be spending most of next season on the bench then, eh? I think Joe Cole is a great player at his best, but he has struggled to achieve that this season due to injury and a lack of form. The thought of Barcelona signing a crocked, out of form, oft injured, in decline former England international is crazy. Manchester United already have that market well covered.
Until next time folks, stay safe and remember, football isn’t just a game, it’s often a place of refuge for the mentally challenged.
Image Courtesy of ***Nick Toye *** at Flickr.com
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