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Mascherano exit start of a manic few days of Transfer Dealings?
Published by Ian John on August 28, 2010
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Javier Mascherano’s long expected move to Barcelona from Liverpool looks set to be completed this weekend and could signal the start of a frantic few days of buying, selling and loaning amongst several of the top and not quite so top, Premier League sides.
Mascherano’s sale is hardly a surprise. The Argentinean has been unhappy, or rather his family has, for some time now and a move to Spain or Italy was always on the cards. In the end Liverpool settled for £16m plus £6m worth of incentives for the midfielder. No doubt in Barcelona this will be reported as a £16 million capture and in Liverpool a £22 million capture. Whatever the truth, it seems Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson is about to spend some of that windfall by landing Paul Konchesky from Fulham, who will add much needed depth at left back for the club.
Tottenham star Robbie Keane is, as predicted several months ago by me, a target for a loan move to Newcastle United. This move makes sense for both player and club but the only sticking point would be if Harry Redknapp would be happy for Keane to go to a Premier League rival. However Spurs can’t afford to shell out £70,000 a week to allow Keane to play for Cardiff for the season (and thus stop him strengthening a Premier League rival) unlike some teams I could mention. To replace Keane, Harry wants Milan’s striker Klaas Jan Huntelaar, who is now surplus to requirements at the San Siro since Milan have targetted either Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Robinho as a new striker.
It seems unlikely that Chelsea, Manchester United or Manchester City will make further moves over the forthcoming days but Arsenal may well do so. With the Gunners no closer to signing Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer, it seems Arsene Wenger has decided to make a move instead for Mikael Landreau, a French international keeper who began his playing career as a precocious teenage talent with Nantes. Landreau’s biggest problem is not a lack of ability, but persuading his club Lille to sell him.
Wigan are set to let Charles Insomnia, as Joe Kinnear once called him, join Birmingham City in a £9m deal. West Ham want David Trezeguet and Blackburn are chasing Swedish based Denni Avdic, who has scored 17 goals in 20 games this season for Elfsborg, who want £2 million for the striker. Ian Holloway wants Sheffield Wednesday’s ex Derby striker Marcus Tudgay to join him at Blackpool while according to his agent Pini Zahavi, Brazilian wonderkid Neymar ‘will become a Chelsea player eventually’. Omitting to mention ‘because I need a whopping great pay day to come from another exorbitantly overpriced transfer deal’.
PSV Eindhoven left back Carlos Salcido is believed to be the man Mark Hughes wants to replace Paul Konchesky at Fulham, which could be one of the deals of the season. Newcastle defender Steven Taylor may now be staying at St James Park after the club offered him a new pay deal. Taylor thought it was grossly unfair that as club captain and leader of the defence he was earning the footballing equivalent of 30p and a bag of chips, while his central defensive partner, the entirely ineffectual and badly permed Fabio Coloccini, was taking home a kings ransom every week for bumbling about the pitch, committing rash, poorly timed tackles, getting caught out of position and generally being totally useless, a bit like John Terry does for England.
Whatsmore with several clubs needing to either ‘move players on’ (which basically means get shut of them to try and get them off the wage bill), others looking to bring in new faces, new managers wanting to sign players, agents spouting claptrap about how their client needs a fresh challenge elsewhere and players fed up of sitting on the bench each week deciding they would like to earn their money by kicking the ball, as opposed to running up and down the touchline occasionally, it looks like being a busy few days before the window closes early next week.
Image Courtesy of ***Socc3R Eric *** on Photobucket.com
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