EPL Gossip Tuesday August 26th
With British record signing Andriy Shevchenko returning to former club AC Milan, Chelsea are also prepared to allow winger Shaun Wright-Phillips to re-join Manchester City for £9m, writing off an incredible £43m on the duo. (The Sun)
However, Everton and Portsmouth are also tracking Wright-Phillips. (Daily Express).
Shayb Wright-Phillips has been rumoured to move for the last 18 months. By now he should come to the realization that he’ll never be anything more than cover at Chelsea. He can either a) accept that role, collect his money and forget about playing for England come the World Cup or b) accept a move where he’ll play more but his team will not win more but now at least have a chance of cracking the England lineup.
But Chelsea’s spending spree is set to continue with Real Madrid’s Brazilian striker Robinho joining the club for a fee of between £27m (The Sun) and £31m (Daily Mirror).
What spending spree? Deco was a bargain at 8 million pounds. That leaves Jose Bosingwa has the only major signing and his transfer fee was covered by selling Steve Sidwell, Khalid Boulahrouz, and Tal Ben Haim this off season.
Tottenham striker Dimitar Berbatov could risk “rotting in the reserves” if his proposed £30m move to Manchester United fails to materialise. (Various)
Another headline that looks good but would be awful in principal. Tottenham are already struggling in part to the Berbatov mess. Keeping an unhappy player on the bench much longer will create even more distractions.
After having a £7m bid for West Ham defender Anton Ferdinand accepted, Sunderland boss Roy Keane is turning his attention to Man City’s £1m-rated full-back Michael Ball. (The Sun)
Wonder if Michael Ball ever thanked Sven Goran Erickson for giving him his one and only England cap when the Swede was in charge of City last year?
Real Betis are ready to step in to take Manchester City flop Nery Castillo on a year’s loan. (Daily Mirror)
Castillo was ill suited for life in the EPL anyway. He’ll be better off in Spain where hopefully he’ll return to his 2007 Copa America form.
Aston Villa have moved a step closer to landing Reading striker Kevin Doyle in a £7.5m deal. (Daily Star)
That is a lot of money for a striker that isn’t any better then the strikers Aston Villa currently have.