Manchester United are ready to battle it out with Real Madrid for the £45m transfer of Valencia forward David Villa. (Daily Mirror)
Would be a brilliant move if Manchester United can get a small measure of revenge on Real Madrid by hijacking their bid for David Villa.
Chelsea are leading the race to sign Portsmouth’s Glen Johnson for £18m, with the right-back also wanted by Liverpool and Manchester City. (The Sun)
But Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez is still hopeful of landing England defender Johnson. (Daily Express)
And it would appear that Anfield is Johnson’s preferred destination. (Daily Mail)
Liverpool should be Johnson’s preferred destination. His first stint at Chelsea wasn’t a memorable one. Manchester City is all talk and no action at this point. With Liverpool Johnson will be playing in the Champions League where he’ll be given a clean slate something he won’t be afforded playing for Chelsea.
Tottenham have been put off Bayern Munich striker Luca Toni after learning the size of his wages at the German club. (Daily Mail)
Luca Toni was never going to play for Tottenham anyway. Playing for Tottenham would hold the same profile as playing for a Serie B team as far as Italian national coach Marcelo Lippi is concerned.
Roque Santa Cruz says he has a clause in his contract that would allow the striker to leave Blackburn for over £20m. (The Sun)
Then why did he stay during the winter transfer period when Manchester City made a 20 million pound bid? Surely if there was clause of just over 20 million Manchester City would of upped their bid at that time to trigger it.
Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas has pleaded with manager Arsene Wenger to buy a midfield hard-man this summer. (The Sun)
And Fabregas believes that Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure would be the perfect signing for the Gunners. (Daily Star)
Fabregas also says he would be open to a move to Champions League winners Barcelona. (Daily Mail)
Despite Mathieu Flamini final season at Arsenal they have never been able to replace Patrick Vieira. The question isn’t Fabregas wanting to play for Barcelona as everyone should know that giving the right timing Fabregas would return to play for his boyhood club. The question is if Barcelona would make a bid for Fabregas services which doesn’t seem forth coming anytime soon.
The takeover of Portsmouth is in doubt, with buyer Sulaiman Al Fahim facing questions over his suitability. (The Sun)
Former Manchester City owner Thaksin Shinawatra has insisted he has nothing to do with the proposed takeover of Pompey.(Daily Star)
Good to see the EPL actually having some standards regarding any perspective owners after the mistake of letting Thaksin Shinawatra take over Manchester City.
Paul Ince has said he is hopeful of taking advantage of the current series of management moves. (Daily Mirror)
The term bit off more than you can chew is what comes to mind when I think about Paul Ince.
For the life of me just can’t get excited about the Confederations Cup. To me I just see this event as a tune up for South Africa in their test run to host next year’s World Cup. Keep myself updated as to the results and Spain 5-0 beating of New Zealand is impressive but at the end of the day just can’t seem to wrap myself around an event few will remember who won in four years time.
The above statement is something I’ve heard regularly since Real Madrid’s bid to land Cristiano Ronaldo was accepted. Is Cristiano Ronaldo bigger than Manchester United? Well the simple answer to that is no. Manchester United has 100 years of history behind them and will have 100 more. Trophies will continue to land at Old Trafford in the future.
This is the point where things get murky. Name me another three year run in Manchester United’s history where they had three EPL titles, one Champions League victory, Another Champions League finals appearance to go along with a semi final defeat to the team who went on the win the Champions League. Throw in a Carling Cup in the mix along with a FA Cup final appearance and all that adds up to an impressive three year run.
Now name me the player who was the driving force behind Manchester United’s recent success? Granted Manchester United will still have world class players but that aura which Ronaldo had around him where United fans knew things would turn out alright provided number 7 was out there playing is now gone. Even a Liverpool, Chelsea, and Arsenal supporter would concede, possibly in private that the difference between United and the rest of England was they had Ronaldo in their lineup. Now with him gone Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal must be excited thinking about the fact they have a golden chance to unseat United at the top of English football.
Manchester United had 80 million reasons to sell Ronaldo. The fact is 80 million pounds is good business, but good business and titles do not always mix. Despite behind over backwards for him nothing United could do to stop Ronaldo from thinking that the grass was greener on the other side of the fence so in that respect cutting your losses and still cashing in on 80 million pounds is pretty good. Wonder however if Manchester United management will start to feel they have never had it so good as when Ronaldo was racing up and down the flanks for United. Can safely say that Ronaldo doesn’t feel the same right now but five years down the road he may look back at his time in Manchester and realized how good he had it himself.
This is the problem which Manchester United can’t solve with losing Ronaldo not even an extra 80 million in the bank. Not only are United losing arguable the best midfielder in the world but United are also losing one of the best strikers in the world. Unless you have the last name Messi no one player can fill those roles. Manchester United if they are committed to spending the entire Ronaldo transfer fee they would have to bring in two players instead of one. The scary thing for United was how over matched they looked against Barcelona who can easily claim 4 out of the top 10 players in the world. Leaving out Goalies and Midfielders below will be a rough list of the top 10 players in the world.
1. Lionel Messi – Not Leaving Barcelona anytime soon.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo – Madrid bound
3. Kaka – Also Madrid bound
4. Andrés Iniesta – See number one.
5. Fernando Torres – Wasn’t tempted by Chelsea last summer, don’t see him leaving Liverpool for dreaded rivals Manchester United despite their interest.
6. Xavi – See number one and four.
7. Zlatan Ibrahimovic – While better Ibrahimovic is still too much like Dimitar Berbatov. Also unlikely that Manchester United wishes to deal with another high strung player.
8. Frank Ribery – Has already dismissed life in England. While money talks Bayern Munich are not going to do Manchester United any favours price wise.
9. Samuel Eto’o – Would give Eto’o six months but he becomes unhappy living in Manchester.
10. Frank Gerrard (done on purpose) – Neither are at the right age for United to make a big money move for and besides both players are the face of their respected teams.
There are players such as David Silva and Sergio Aguero who on their day can be in the top ten but the point is despite who Manchester United decides to buy that player is not going to be the sure thing Ronaldo was for United. Another argument which has been made is that selling Ronaldo will free up the likes of Rooney and Berbatov. This is not a knock on Rooney’s game but when was the last big goal you can recall him scoring for United? It’s not the best sign when his best game in European competition for United was his first game when he scored a hat trick against Fenerbache. Ronaldo on the other hand scored the second goal against Inter to put them away. Knocked Porto out in the quarterfinals with his 40 yard stunner. Then put the final nails in Arsenals coffin scoring the second and third goals in the semi finals. Who is going to replace this output when United have been a completely different team when Ronaldo is in the lineup compared to when he isn’t.
Will Ronaldo be a success at Real Madrid? Manchester United fans surely hope he won’t be and looking back Ronaldo might miss the fact Manchester bent over backwards to fulfill his every whim something which may not be the case in Madrid. Part of me also believes Cristiano Ronaldo loves being the bad guy. He feeds off the boo’s and using that to motivate him to greater heights. After the 2006 World Cup an entire country hated him and he responded by winning the PFA player of the year. In comparison having the red half of Manchester now hate him can’t be that tough to deal with.
One thing I’m happy not to be hearing about is this question of loyalty. In a better interview than a coach Carlos Queiroz summed it up best.
”When you talk about loyalty, you must understand the loyalty has two directions,” Queiroz, who enjoyed two spells as Sir Alex Ferguson’s number two, told BBC Radio Five Live’s Sportsweek programme.
”In terms of the modern game, loyalty is to be a great professional, to be committed to the club, to be engaged with the coach and the vision of the club and nobody can put one thing against Cristiano because as a professional he’s brilliant.
”But as you know with 95% or 96% of movement in football it is the managers at the clubs that dictate the movements.
”Once in a while some of the top players have the capacity and the power to create their own motivation.”
Nobody could question Ronaldo’s performances on the pitch nor his drive to get better each and every day. For Manchester United fans to hope for a kid from Madeira to love wearing the United uniform like a Ryan Giggs or Gary Neville is nice to picture but was simply never going to happen.
Real Madrid-bound winger Cristiano Ronaldo looks set to become one of the highest paid sports stars in the world.
A report in Friday’s Times newspaper claims that although the player, who is set to complete a word record £80m move from Manchester United to Real by the end of the month, would initially earn £9.5m-a-year the contract would include a 25% increase season-on season.
Ronaldo will also benefit from healthy tax breaks provided by the Spanish government which would not be available to him in England. It is a situation which one financial expert believes could force other big names to leave the Premier League. Arsenal’s Andrei Arshavin is already disillusioned at his tax bill.
Joe McLean, a partner with Grant Thornton, believes high-earning stars will inevitably be drawn to countries like Spain due to the prospect of the 50% income tax rate coming into force in the UK next April.
1) Paying 22% tax is a lot better than paying close to 50% in Tax. I’d want to jump ship myself with those savings.
2) Andrei Arshavin’s agent is an idiot and should be fired right on the spot. I know in Russia sports team cover the tax for you but for his agent not to know this doesn’t apply in England is foolish.
Spain’s biggest-selling newspaper, Marca, has hailed the signing as “The signing of the century” on their front cover and “A signing from another galaxy” on page two.
Fellow Madrid-based sports daily, AS, claim Ronaldo will wear the number nine shirt at the Bernebau also saying that “Praise is mixed with criticism for the price, a new world record – 94m euros for the number one.”
The El Mundo newspaper focused on Ronaldo’s huge price tag, commenting: “Madrid pay for Ronaldo 57 times his weight in gold.”
“Florentino Perez lives in another galaxy,” slams Spanish newspaperEl Pais.
Barcelona-based sports newspaper El Mundo Deportivo’s front-page headline, meanwhile, pulled no punches, reading:”CR94. Madness!”
Portuguese sports newspaper Record was equally as critical of the transfer fee, commenting: “Real Madrid spend 94m euros for Ronaldo in times of crisis. He will earn more in 24 hours than our president of the Republic in two months.”
The Italian press were equally miffed, with Gazzetta dello Sport saying: “That’s not fair. Mad Real. After Kaka, Real Madrid sign Cristiano Ronaldo.”
French dailyL’Equipe believed the transfer could provide United with the funds to make a bid for Lyon forward Karim Benzema, with their headline reading: “Benzema’s turn?”
America’s Los Angeles Times took a more quirky look at the transfer by jokingly saying: “The hair-gel industry in north-west England suffered a catastrophic blow on Thursday in a world-record sports transaction after which the soccer marvel Cristiano Ronaldo seemed Spain-bound.”
Very nice LA Times.
Atletico Madrid say the club will now listen to “interesting offers” for star forward Sergio Aguero. Argentine Aguero has been linked with both Chelsea and Manchester United. (French radio station RMC)
While not 80 million for one player Atletico could command close to that figure if big clubs come calling for Aguero and Diego Forlan.
Big-spending Real Madrid have set their sights on Arsenal defender Gael Clichy. (The Independent)
Nothing against Clichy who is a fine player but somehow I don’t image this transfer news reaching MSNBC like Ronaldo’s deal yesterday.
Liverpool midfielder Yossi Benayoun has played down reports linking him to a move to Champions League winners Barcelona. (Press Association)
As he should since he’d get to spend a lot of time with Aliaksandr Hleb on Barcelona’s bench.
Sulley Muntari’s agent says Tottenham have had a bid for the Inter Milan midfielder rejected. (Daily Mail)
Sulley Muntari’s agent is looking for Inter to cough up more money by releasing this information.
Ezequiel Lavezzi’s agent insists Serie A club Napoli have received an offer from Liverpool for the Argentine striker. (Press Association)
I get Lavezzi’s talent but like a lot of strikers who aren’t world class yet they drift in and out far too often. Good first half of the season last year not so much in the second half.
Juventus are ready to offer David Trezeguet to Manchester City in exchange for Elano, according to reports in Italy. (Sky Sports)
Elano would be a good fit in Serie A. Trezequet at this stage of his career in the EPL, not so much.
Manchester United are fighting to halt an exodus after Cristiano Ronaldo’s record £80m transfer to Real Madrid with Nemanja Vidic being targeted by Barcelona. (The Times)
An exodus usually means more than one player.
Now for more United news, notes and linking them with every player under the sun.
And Manchester City appear to have beaten United to the signature of Argentine striker Carlos Tevez.
(The Times)
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson insists it was his decision entirely to allow Ronaldo to leave for Madrid.
(Daily Express)
Ferguson only allowed Ronaldo to leave on the proviso that he would get to spend all of the world record £80m transfer fee on new players. (Daily Star)
Or, Ferguson will be given £100m to spend on new players after Ronaldo’s departure. (Daily Mail)
Ronaldo himself has labelled his dream move to Real as “historic”. (The Sun)
The 24-year-old celebrated his transfer by spending the night with heiress Paris Hilton in Los Angeles.
(The Sun)
Ferguson has targeted Lyon striker Karim Benzema, Bayern Munich winger Franck Ribery and Wigan midfielder Antonio Valencia as replacements for Ronaldo. (The Guardian)
Valencia is expected to cost United £23m in total. (The Mirror)
Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o could also be a surprise target for Manchester United. (The Guardian)
However, it would appear that Italian club Inter Milan are favourites to land the £25m-rated striker from the Nou Camp. (The Sun)
Valencia winger David Silva is another player who could be wearing the red of United next season. (The Times)
Real Madrid winger Arjen Robben could also be a target for Ferguson. (Daily Star)
Ferguson could also go after Seville star Luis Fabiano. (The Sun)
With doubts over the future of holding midfielder Owen Hargreaves, United may also pursue Barcelona’s Yaya Toure. (Daily Mail)
Madrid are confident that Ronaldo could earn them over £500m in merchandising over the next 10 years.
(The Sun)
Out-of-favour Manchester United winger Nani says he is the man to replace World and European player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo. (The Sun)
Chelsea meanwhile face a fight to hold onto right-back Jose Bosingwa who is wanted by German side Bayern Munich. (The Sun)
Chelsea did pay Porto a lot of money to sign Bosingwa last year and it’s not exactly like he had a bad year. Maybe if they sell Ribery they could spend the 20 million or so it would take to get Chelsea interested otherwise can’t see it happening.
Another player who could be on his way out of Stamford Bridge is midfielder Deco, who is eyeing up a move to Inter Milan. (The Sun)
Still don’t regretting buying my Deco Chelsea jersey last year. The Black Chelsea jersey in my opinion is the nicest 3rd jersey in England. Not that it means much of anything however.
Chelsea will also have to make an increased £20m bid to land Russian star Yuri Zhirkov from CSKA Moscow. (Daily Express)
Can see why Chelsea likes Zhirkov but 20 million used to buy you a sure thing in the transfer market now it only buys you a player with great promise.
Manchester City have offered Portsmouth £18m for right-back Glen Johnson. (Daily Express)
Guess they were watching the England games too this week.
City have also bid £15m bid for Blackburn striker Roque Santa Cruz. (Daily Mail)
I’d seriously question Blackburn if they don’t accept. It’s only one team out there who seems willingly to pay big money for Santa Cruz out there.
Arsenal central defender Kolo Toure is pondering a £15m move to Manchester City. (Daily Star)
Arsenal shouldn’t even let him ponder this decision and tell him to go for that price tag.
Meanwhile, Arsenal will recall central defender Philippe Senderos after his year long loan deal at AC Milan. (Daily Star)
Well it’s not like A.C Milan wishes to buy Senderos.
Aston Villa will use striker Marlon Harewood as bait to land Middlesbrough defender David Wheater.
(The Sun)
Aston Villa better check their bait.
Chelsea have inquired about Portsmouth goalkeeper Asmir Begovic. (The Times)
Rarely week where two Canadian players are linked in the British papers. Not every player can say they have their own Adidas commercial.
Do you think Real Madrid regretted the Zidane deal? Surely they didn’t regret the David Beckham deal. Despite their performances on the field each were cash cows for Real Madrid. Beckham alone generated close to 150 million in revenue for Real Madrid during his time there. While not at the level marketing wise as David Beckham, Ronaldo is close and at 23 years old still has another 10 years of top class football left in him. Can’t wait to see the after effects of this impending Ronaldo to Real Madrid transfer.
Your thoughts and opinions are wanted below. As the Special One would say Do It!
Real Madrid claim they are already in negotiations with Manchester United to buy Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo, with the Spanish club’s general director Jorge Valdano saying: “I can’t answer about him, I can only talk about players who are on their way here not those we are in negotiations over.”
(Daily Star)
The Spanish media are reporting details of a ‘leaked’ contract for 24-year-old Ronaldo, which involved a transfer fee of £80m and a six-year contract with a salary of £9.5m, including an inbuilt 25% rise every year.
(Daily Mirror)
Can’t believe this day is finally about to happen. After two plus years it does appear the Ronaldo to Real Madrid transfer saga is finally about to end. I’ll have more on this later but while Sir Alex Ferguson won’t sell Real Madrid a virus, for 80 million euros he will sell them his best player. Already looking forward to how quickly Manchester United fans will turn on Ronaldo due to him leaving for greener pastures. Something tells me Tottenham, Bayern Munich, and West Ham fans each lost players to Manchester United the last couple of years won’t be shredding many tears. For that matter don’t image Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal fans shredding tears either.
Former Manchester United full-back Arthur Albiston believes Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Real Madrid could lead to fellow forward Carlos Tevez remaining at Old Trafford next season. (Daily Star)
Have to find a silver lining somehow.
Sporting Lisbon have initiated talks with Manchester United about re-signing winger Nani on an extended loan spell or arranging a player-plus-cash exchange involving their captain, the attacking midfielder Joao Moutinho. (The Guardian)
Can’t picture Nani wanting to go back to Portugal either on loan and surely not full time. Nani should be given another year before United decides what to do with him.
Chelsea’s summer transfer plans have been dealt a blow by Bayern Munich placing a £65m asking price on midfielder Franck Ribery. (The Times)
Doesn’t matter if the fee is £6.5m, Ribery has already said he wouldn’t like life in England.
Blues striker Didier Drogba has ruled out an £18m transfer to Manchester City this summer after sources revealed he wishes to remain at Stamford Bridge. (The Sun)
Drogba has been moody playing for one of the best teams in the last five years. Can’t picture his attitude playing for a team like Manchester City.
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp is ready to launch a massive Spurs clear-out with up to 14 players facing the chop, including winger David Bentley and strikers Darren Bent and Roman Pavlyuchenko, who cost the London club £47.8m between them. (The Sun)
This is the problem for clubs like Tottenham. While they have world class money to spend, Tottenham can’t attract world class players so they have to pay second tier guys in the hopes they develop into world class players. Also doesn’t help these players that Bent was brought in under Martin Jol and Bentley/Pavlyuchenko under Juande Ramos. Both long gone.
Also, Spurs’ Brazilian striker Giovani dos Santos is set to join Spanish club Espanyol on a year-long loan with a view to a permanent £5m switch. (Daily Star)
Another case in point.
Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure could move to England this summer, but his agent claims he will not be joining Arsenal because he has received better offers from other clubs. (Independent)
If Arsenal had real interest in Toure they would of made this move along time ago. Yaya Toure to Arsenal rumours are generally newspaper filler.
The Gunners are preparing a £4m bid for Feyenoord’s 16-year-old Dutch striker Luc Castaignos.
(The Sun)
Classic Arsenal.
Birmingham are preparing a raid on rivals Aston Villa for £5m-rated centre-back Zat Knight. (The Sun)
5 million for Zat Knight? He is a fine 3rd defender but surely Birmingham could find someone for less.
Barcelona & Zlatan Ibrahimovic Reach Agreement – Spanish Media
A deal for Barcelona to sign Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been agreed, and all that is missing for the transfer to become official is for Samuel Eto’o to give his okay to move the other way…
The season is barely two weeks old and so many major stories are already floating around. A swap of two top level players is rare. Just too much going on behind the scenes and if one player outshines the other the team in question will have to hear about their former player having success with their new club. An Ibrahimovic for Eto’o+cash transfer wouldn’t be the end of the world for the Italian Champions. Ask Inter or Sweden fans how clutch Zlatan has been in big games which isn’t something Eto’o needs to be questioned on.
