Football Rumours Archive February 15 2007
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Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o will complete a mega money move to Arsenal in the summer in what will be one of two massive transfers. Eto'o has recently criticised the running of Barcelona and has reportedly been made a scapegoat for the negativity at Camp Nou. He also said last week how much he respects Arsene Wenger and loves the way he works. Arsenal would be very willing to bring the Cameroonian to the Emirates to compete with Thierry Henry, Robin van Persie, Nicklas Bendtner and Emmanuel Adebayor, but the main stumbling block would be how much Barca would be demanding for their star striker. I've heard that a fee in the region of £27m could do enough to tempt the La Liga champions, but Thierry Henry would not move in the opposite direction. Portsmouth defender Lauren, who spent several seasons with Arsenal, has apparently spoken very highly of the club to Eto'o after meeting him during his days with the national team. Also, Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo will be moving to Real Madrid in the summer. Despite Sir Alex Ferguson strenously denying the claims, Ronaldo is desperate to join debatably the biggest club in the world and Madrid are very eager to sign him. Fabio Capello is willing to stump up £40m for the Portuguese winger, but he'd also be willing to offer players as part exchange including Guti, Antonio Cassano, Raul and Iker Casillas.
I work for Liverpool FC in melwood training facilities and have overheard a converstation that Eto'o will move to Liverpool in exchange for Steven Gerrard
Whu's SIGNINGS=
GK= Kelvin Davies (1.8m), mart Poom (free 4 green) .
D= gareth Bale (loan), Matthew Connolly (loan).
M= Danny Murphy (free 4 NRC), Matty jarvis (1m), rudi skacel (2m).
F= Jermaine Easter (1.2m), Grzegorz Rasiak (4m), Billy Sharp (2.5m), Michael Chopra (4m), Scott Sinclair (1. 6m).
EGGERT WILL BE DOING LOADS OF WHEALING&DEALING In THE MARKET In THE SUMMER&THESE AVE BEEN THE PLAYERS ALREADY LISTED
This "rumour" is now coming to light due to Eto's out burst on TV. Eto is very unhappy at Barca due to the politics and the division in the dressing room.
It's beleived that he would very much like to play for Arsenal, with his very good friend Thierry. He has stated recently in an interview that he would love to work with Wenger.
Wether or not this happens will depend very much on Arsenal and if they can offer enough to convince Barca to let Eto go. Look for Chelsea to make counter bids to up the price adn possibley steel the transfer.
Celtic set to sign Timo Hildebrand from Stuttgart on a free if Boruc leaves.
Everton will sign werder bremen foward aaron Hunt in the summer also their is a chance when West Ham go down we could swap Beattie and sign Dean ashton! (providing he is not ingured)
If you bothered to read the whole post, I stated Martins would got for £20m PLUS Bridge would come on top of that as well as part of the deal. GR knows he cannot play Martins and Owen together but needs to strengthen the team/ squad but has little money to do so which is why he will cash in on one of them and Martins will bring the best deal. With this money and sale of Emre and Carr, plus a limited budget from Fat Fred he will have about £35m to spend in the summer. With this he will shore up the defense (woodgate £6m/ Davies or Brown £5m/ Bridge part of Martins deal/ Gooch £2m, add more firepower to the attack (Ashton £8m/ Bent £12m) and bolster midfield buy getting Sidwell on a free but on big wages. Also he has publicly said that Bramble will get a new contract, and he is a big favourite of his, why else does he get staright back in the side after injury or poor performances every time? As to GR stepping down, that is rubbish. Big Al will join the coaching set up but to help with the strikers, and to learn his trade before possibly taking over from Roeder at the end of his contract.
Whufc SIGNINGS.
CARLO NASH (5OOK)
DEAN GERKEN (1M)
PATRICK KISNORBO (2. 5M)
JON OTSEMOBOR (1M)
MATTY JARVIS (1M)
AKOS BUSZAKY (2M)
DARREN HUCKERBY (3. 6M)
RUDI SKACEL (2M)
LUKE VARNEY (1. 8M)
BILLY SHARP (2M)
GRZEGORZ RASIAK (4M)
JERMAINE EASTER (1M)
you heard it here 1st!
Real Madrid wish to secure the services of Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso.
Kewell to Spurs
Reo Coker to Spurs
Jenas to Portsmouth
Bale to Man Utd
Hargreaves to Manutd
Torres to Man Utd
Flethcer to Celtic
Silvestre to France
I work for Arsenal and I came to this site to read rumours about my team Liverpool to find out what would be happening to our millions and the players we would be buying. I saw some rumours about Arsenal and I would like to throw some light on it.
Samuel Eto'o spoke of his admiration to work under Wenger and to play along side his good friend Henry, his attention was drawn to it, it raised a debate in the office, Wenger wanted to sign him earlier. It became clearer when Eto'o criticized Rijkaard and Ronaldinho to the Media.
This is what is happening his summer after saving money. Buffon would be brought in to replace Lehmann with the rest of the Vieira debt and Ljungberg exchange. Bale would be bought, Franck Ribéry, Nzogbia, Carsson if you don't get Buffon, and finally Guillermo Ochoa, from América. The following reserve players would be introduced. Matthew Connolly, Vito Mannone, Rui Fonte, Francisco Merida Perez.
The following players are going out: Philippe Senderos, Mart Poom, Jérémie Aliadière, and Manuel Almunia, Júlio Baptista if they get Eto'o and Reyes
Next Season squad would probably look like this.
Buffon or Carson
Eboué Toure Gallas Bale
Hleb Fabregas Gilberto Ribéry
Eto'o or Baptista Henry
Reserves
GK Ochoa/ Mannone
RB Hoyte
CB Djourou/ Connolly
LB Clichy/ Traore
RM Walcott
CM Rosicky/ Randell/ Flamini/ Diaby/ Denilson
LM Nzogbia/ Merida
ST Adebayor/ van Persie/ Fonte
Why would Rafael Benirez sell Scott Carson to one of their arch rivals in Arsenal, expect the Dudek to leave and Padielli&Carson to challenge Riena for the number 1 spot at Liverpool. No centre mids to leave aswell Macherano will play back up to Alonso whilst Sissoko to Gerrard. Arsenal to sign Eto'o its true in exchange for Henry. Expect the biggest ever transfer market taking a boom loads of top teams will start raiding others because of the new funds availiable.
All this talk of Robbie Keane going north of the border to Celtic is complete nonesense, expect bids from Pompey, Everton and Newcastle, with Everton being the probable destination.
Also Steve Sidwell will be signing for Aston Villa in the Summer on a free transfer.
The rumours I have heard seem promising for Liverpool fans. With Hicks and Gilett having taken over, they will not go mad, but will fund Benitez with enough money. He will not be in the situation Liverpool managers have seen themselves in for the last few years - 20-30 million with sales.
Benitez has not added anyone new to his list, and he is not one to sign superstars and throw money away.
These are the players he is looking at:-
Eto'o (believe it or not - was on Benitez's books before signing for Barca - a recent full out means he may be available. Benitez has admitted their good relationship from R. Madrid when he was a youth player. He may try and exploit this when the teams meet next week)
Dos Santos (brilliant future, a young mexican at Barca. He is 17, people reckon to be better than Messi and Ronaldiho)
Villa (tried signing him before. Would be keen to join Alonso and Reina. 27 million looks a good chance)
Nesta (free transfer)
Thuram/ Zambrotta (available from Barca)
Xavi (Alonso was trying to sweeten the move)
Alves (still a promising right back fulfilling his potential - Benitez likes him a lot)
Simao (was the cheaper option - Benitez may choose more expensive one)
Vicente (quoted as saying he can see himself playing under Benitez again)
Kaka (ridiculous - or is it? He has commented on playing alongside Gerrard and Liverpool as being the only Premiership club he would play side - after Champions League Final)
Van Der Vaart (much needed playmaker for Europe - Hamburg are going down)
Van Den Borre (still got a bright future, he has pace which Benitez feels Liverpool lack at the back)
My Dad is a friend of FSP (of Liverpool) Girlfriends Mum he regularly speaks to her at FSP Girlfriends hair dressing salon in Anfield were her mum is currently looking after things while her daughter is in Spain with FSP. When speaking to my Dad she has told him that FSP is unsure whether to come back to England unless he is in the first chose 4 at Liverpool this is very likely as RAFA has told him on the telephone that he wants him back in the summer to discuses what he has in store for him&stated to FSP that Robbie Fowler is retiring at the end of this season he is on the phone to FSP after every game but this is widely know any way.
RAFADAGAFFA
LFC
ST:-Rafa wants 4 different strikers. Right now we have:Kuyt-work rate, Fowler- finishing
Bellamy-pace, Crouch-"options"
Fowler will go and replaced by villa. Bellamy is good but can be improved so he will be replaced by FSP. Crouch and Kuyt won't leave but cisse and le tallec will. sturridge will be signed
I hate to say this but Xabi and reina are off to Barcelona. In return, we will get dos santos and iniesta.
-LM: carvalho, iniesta, Ribery, nani. leto has already signed. zenden and Kewell leave
-RM: alves, Ribery, iniesta, quaresma, swp, Lennon
-pennant and Garcia will go if we get one of these players. anderson will be promoted
-CM: Rafa is looking at nuri sahin, barnes, dos santos+samir nasri.
-LB: insua will be promoted. no1 signs
-RB: Richards, Alves nelson. nobody leaves
-CB: Rafa looking at the fuure. king is looked at to replace carragher (NOT NOW) . Hyppia will leave in part of this deal. paletta will be loaned out
-GK padelli permenant. dudek and reina leave
INS:Padelli (4mil) King (13mil + hyppia) Richards (14mil) Sahin (7mil) Dos santos+iniesta (Alonso and reina) Villa (18mil + Garcia) sturridge (6mil-9mil)
OUTS:Pennant (7mil) Paletta (Loan) Bellamy (8mil) Le tallec 1. 5mil) Fowler (Free) Zenden (Free)
Kewell (4mil) Garcia (swap) Reina (swap) Alonso (swap)
72mil SPENT; 20. 5 mil RECEIVED; NET: 51. 5mil
GK: CARSON PADELLI
LB: RIISE AURELIO INSUA
RB: RICHARDS FINNAN ARBELOA
CB: CARRAGHER KING AGGER PALETTA
LM: LETO GONZALEZ DOS SANTOS
RM: INIESTA ANDERSON
CM: GERRARD SISSOKO MASCHERANO SAHIN
ST: CROUCH KUYT VILLA FSP STURRIDGE
-ave squad age=26. 3 to 22. 3 for next season
only Finnan is 30+. 9 players are U-21's
Summer moves that are gathering momentum: SAF is putting on a brave face regards Ronaldo but it appears he will go to Barcelona. SAF will allow this as Ronaldinho and Xavi will come the other way to OT UTD may have to add some money to the deal but not much. Same goes for Eto'o and Henry who will swap places. Man Utd will make some big money signings though with Hargreaves finally coming to OT and Klose to play up front. SAF doesn't now believe that Torres is commited to being a Utd player and Klose would be a slightly cheaper option. This will mean Man Utd paying out 30 million+ this summer. Gareth Bale is still a target but it will require sales first, probably Alan Smith, Silvestre, Tim Howard to fund the sale. Not bad dealings seeing as SAF has been pretty quiet in the past few transfer windows. +Man Utdmick+
Walsall will attempt to halt their stuttering promotion bid with bids for out of contract strikers Carl Asaba and Nathan Blake. Money sees the pairs experience as vital as the goals for the Saddlers have dried up recently and both would be offered moderate contract with the promise of a bonus in the summer if they help Walsall get promoted.
Liverpool have made tentative enquiries with Wolves for young starlet Mark Davies, ironically Davies can't get a start at Wolves after they signed Darren Potter from the Reds but Rafa Benitez wants to invest in young English talent and is ready to pay up to £5 million for the England Under 19 captain.
Liverpool Football Club! Every non Liverpool fan here thinks that Liverpool will not buy BIG players but guess what you are in for a surprise!David Villa, Defoe?, Huntelaar? Daniel Alves, Van De Vaart/ Vicente/ Lennon?/ Quaresma?/ Simao and Gabriel Millito are all targets. David Villa will prefer a move to Anfield as Rafael Benitez can be extremely persuasive when it comes to Spanish players and having your best friends playing for the club also helps. Daniel Alves agreed personal terms last summer but the deal fell through because Sevilla asked too much money and also Rafa wanted to buy Kuyt with the money he was given. Alves will be more expensive but having more money to spend will help. Van De Vaart wants to play in Spain but that will only happen if Real do not get Arsenal target Ribery and Barcelona's Ronaldinho does not move on. Hamburg are likely to go down so that would more than definetly trigger Van De Vaart's move to a BIG club ( which rules out Everton then) and we all know that Rafael Benitez likes his attacking midfielders scoring goals and Van De Vaart is the best goal scoring midfielder in the Europe at his very best. He is in the same league as Kaka, Steven Gerrard, Ronaldinho when it comes to scoring goals regularly. Liverpool are also looking at Vicente/ Quaresma/ Lennon/ Simao but will only bid for ONE of the four if Van De Vaart decides to move to Spain. Gabriel Millito is another favourite as sami Hyypia is likely to move on. Liverpool are also monitoring young guns for the future and do not be surprised if Liverpool end up with some 'Real' young talent in the summer. Scott Carson is seen as Liverpool number 1 and all you Arsenal fans stop dreaming. Rafa likes Carson and he recently signed a long term deal! Team for Next season.
Reina/ Carson/ Padelli
Alves/ Arbeola/ Finnan
Carragher/ Agger/ Millito/ Palletta
Aurelio/ Riise/ Insua
Pennant/ Anderson/ Lennon/ Quaresma?
Mohammad Sissoko/ Steven Gerrard
Mascherano/ Xabi Alonso
Mark Gonzalez/ / Simao/ Kewell?
Van De Vaart/ Luis Garcia
Dirk Kuyt/ Peter Crouch
Craig Bellamy/ David Villa
Players out!
Zenden
Kewell (could be involved in swap deal with Aaaron Lennon)
Fowler?
Hyypia
Dudek
Pongolle on loan
Cisse
Villa, Alves, Van De Vaart, Lennon, G. Millito all pack your bags. Rafa is in the mood to go shopping! YNWA The name is Taz! I will keep in touch!
Liverpool are trailing France u18 striker Henri Saivet as well as long term Real Madrid target Andre Guardado.
The new TV deal with 50M going to even the bottom team will mean an inflated transfer market. Look for mediocre players to be sold for incredible prices as every team will have money and competition for will be up. All bargains will come from abroad.
Look for the following outrageously inflated transfer prices this summer:
Reo Cocker- 19M
Darren Bent - 20-25M
Tevez - 15M
David Bentley - 16 M
The situation at Barca has got all the big teams in Europe excited. It's far too early to call it a sinking ship (a bit like what was going on Chelsea a few weeks ago) . Nevertheless, if the situation does not improve, then either Eto'o or Ronaldinhio will leave. Rikjard is almost certainly leaving in the summer regardless, as the board hold him responsible for unsettling the team and not being able to control the superstars. Obviously, there are probably only 5 or 6 teams in Europe who could afford either Ron or Sam, so dream up your own rumours if you wish. The more damaging result of the fall out is that several other key players may start to feel unsettled and want to jump ship. Guily has come close to moving several times, this could be the last straw for him. Italy is most likely. Xavi, 'flattered' by his being linked with Man United, may wish to come in and fill Scholes' boots. Iniesta likewise may favour a move to the premiership, the obvious destination being Rafa's newly enRiched Liverpool! As I said it's early days, but any non-Barcelona should keep and eye out!
Paul Ince will join Coventry City within next 7 days, the Sky Blues are ironing out the remaining few points with maccy regarding compo. which is a bigger issue than you might think considering Coventry are in a worse financial position than maccy at the moment. Yes its not a huge amount of money we are talking about but most city fans know the board can't raise a smile at the moment let alone a 6 figure sum for ince's services- Coppernob
Reading FC rumours:
Summer Ins:
Scott Carson- Loan
Matt Holland- £1. 3m
Bobby Zamora- £1. 7m (only if West Ham go down)
Emerse Fae- £3. 8m
Tom Soares- £2. 5m
James Beattie- £4. 8m
Andre Bikey- £700k
Outs:
John Halls-Stoke-£350k
Peter Mate- Loan Return
Graham Stack-Leeds-£300k
Sam Sodje-Southend-£400k
Steve Sidwell will sign a new deal worth £32, 000 a week until 2009 as will Kitson, Doyle, Shorey, Harper, Hunt, Oster, Lita
Everton have two shopping lists in place. one for europe¬
Europe: If they qualify for europe Andy Van der Meyde James Beattie Sandro Pistone&Gary Naysmith will leave.
In will come;
Tim Howard 3. 5 mill
Manuel fernandes 7 mill
Leighton Baines 4. 5 mill
David Nugent 5 mill
Kieran Richardson Loan-option to buy
& two right sided players for full back there's a swiss right back who was on trial&that looks certain. for winger they are waiting on fiances to
become clear it will not be swp as jose wants too much. it will be one of two. Wayne Routledge or Mark Gower of Southend.
If They don't qualify Lee Carsley Richard Wright will also leave&they will not sign right winger or manuel fernandes.
Europe Team
HOWARD
Hibbert Yobo LeScott Baines
Neville
Arteta Fernandes Richardson
Cahill
Johnson
Subs
Wright
Stubbs
Carsley
Osman
Valente
Routledge
Nugent
CELTIC SIGNINGS AND LEAVINGS
INS.
Gordon - £4m
Radoi - £2m
McCarthy - £350k
Tymoschyuk - £3. 7m
Sidwell - Free
McFadden - swap (Miller/ Gravesen)
Voronin - Free
OUTS.
Boruc - £7. 5m (Bayern, Barcelona, Arsenal, Valencia, Liverpool)
Balde - Free
Telfer - Free
Jarosik - £1. 5m
Gravesen - swap/ £2m
Zurawski - £1. 5m
Miller - swap/ £2m