EPL Gossip for Tuesday July 22nd
Blackburn are willing to sell Bentley – but only if an offer of more than £18m comes in. (Times)
£18m million seems to be the magic number. First with Villa and Berry, now with Bentley. Could only imagine a foreign club calling about Bentley and laughing once that 18 million number is thrown. Not because Bentley is a bad player, just because with so much money pouring into the EPL British players become inflated.
Inter Milan boss Jose Mourinho has given up hope of signing Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard. (The Sun)
Somehow I don’t think this story is over yet. It would be foolish to let Lampard rot on the last year of his deal. Chelsea should either find a way to sign him or send him on his way.
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich invited AC Milan representatives on to his personal yacht – but the Italian club still refused to sell Brazilian playmaker Kaka. (Sun)
Maybe those AC Milan representatives just finished watching the Sopranos episode where Tony and crew took Big Puss out on a boat cruise.
Aston Villa are after 6ft 7in Valencia striker Nicola Zigic. He is available for £5m. (Sun)
No clue why Villa need another striker with Carew, Gabriel Agbonlahor, and Marlon Harewood but I do like Zigic. He had a great season two years ago in La Liga playing at Racing but never seem to fit in at Valencia last year.
Villa will sign Blackburn keeper Brad Friedel for £2m as a short-term solution before snapping up Wayne Hennessey from Wolves in a year’s time. (Daily Mirror)
Top Five Goalies in the EPL
1. Petr Cech
2. Edwin van der Sar
3. David James
4. Pepe Reina
5. Brad Friedel
Sorry Chris Kirkland (Hurt too much) Joe Hart (give it another year) Craig Gordon (see Joe Hart) Shay Given (toughest choice to leave out)
Tottenham boss Juande Ramos has been told to increase his £16m offer for Zenit St Petersburg forward Andrei Arshavin. Zenit want £21.5m. (Sun)
The market for Arshavin has been drying up. Barcelona have gone with Hleb and haven’t gone all out to sign Arshavin. Chelsea hasn’t made a move either. Quite frankly Arshavin is just too old for that kind of transfer fee. There is no re-sell value there like signing a 23-24 year old.
Defender Lucas Neill says he is not leaving West Ham, despite being linked with a move to Galatasaray. (Sun)
That isn’t welcomed news to West Ham who want to dump his large contract. Could of gone to Liverpool in the January 2007 transfer window but signed with West Ham who doubled what Liverpool was willingly to pay so they have no one to blame but themselves.
Kevin Keegan is at loggerheads with the Newcastle board, who are ready to sell James Milner for more than £10m. (Daily Star)
King Kev appears to have his hands tied so far in the transfer market.
Newcastle boss Keegan is confident Charles N’Zogbia will stay at St James’ Park. (Daily Mirror)
But will N’Zogbia be happy at Newcastle?
Keegan is thought to be pondering a bid for former Arsenal winger Jose Antonio Reyes, who has fallen out of favour at Atletico Madrid. (Guardian)
Mentioned this many months ago but if Reyes hated life in London he’ll loath living in Newcastle. Worth taking a gamble on however if Reyes is willing to come back to England.
Former Colombia keeper Rene Higuita’s ’scorpion kick’ has been voted football’s greatest trick in an online poll. His audacious effort in a friendly against England at Wembley beat Ronaldinho’s ‘elastic dribble’ into second place. Cristiano Ronaldo’s step-overs tied for third. (Daily Mirror)
Forgot about this. Gotta love the Rick James haircut.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has backed Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson’s stance against Real Madrid over winger Cristiano Ronaldo, accusing the Spanish club of being “irresponsible”. (Daily Mirror)
Don’t agree with Wenger on a lot of fronts (not that he is losing sleep over this fact) but I do agree with him here. Teams should work the phones when trying to sign a player instead of trying to work the press.