EPL Gossip Tuesday August 3rd
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has cast doubt over the future of Dimitar Berbatov by appearing to suggest the Bulgarian could leave for Paris Saint-Germain. The French club are reportedly willing to pay between £18-£20m for him. Full story: The Guardian
Manchester United may end up placing Berbatov in front of the store shop with a for sale sign on him. I’m sure United would love to cash in 20 million on a player who most likely will leave on a free transfer next summer.
Barcelona are set to make a final push for Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas by tabling a £35m offer for the Spain midfielder. Full story: Daily Telegraph
Just add 5 million in bonus clauses and get this over with.
Manchester City are trying to sign Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon by offering striker Emmanuel Adebayor in a swap deal. Full story: Daily Mirror
Trades rarely happen but I’d make this deal if I was Tottenham. Don’t know how they would deal with Adebayor’s massive wages however.
Tottenham have stolen a march on their main rivals, rumoured to include Arsenal and Manchester United, in the race to sign Joey Barton on a free transfer by instigating the first talks with the Newcastle United midfielder. Full story: Metro
But Celtic are also keen to sign Barton, who has been placed on the transfer list and told he can leave St James’ Park for free. Full story: Daily Mirror
Some would say Joey Barton would fit right in playing in the SPL.
Newcastle have conceded defeat in their attempts to keep left-back Jose Enrique at the club, paving the way for a £5m move to Liverpool to be completed this week. Full story: Daily Mirror
Newcastle should of sold Enrique the second he didn’t want to sign a new contract. Too bad for Liverpool he isn’t a central defender.
Sunderland have agreed to sell midfielder Steed Malbranque to French club St Etienne, freeing up funds for them to potentially force through a loan deal for Manchester City winger Adam Johnson. Full story: Daily Mail
How much money can selling Steed Malbranque really free up?
Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas is ready to persuade the club’s owner Roman Abramovich to try to land AC Milan’s Brazilian forward Pato in a £30m player-plus-cash deal. Full story: Daily Mirror
You see Manchester United and even Liverpool with a clear plan this transfer period. You see Chelsea still spinning their heels.
Mario Balotelli’s Manchester City team-mates gave the prank-loving striker a distinctly fishy taste of his own medicine by planting a bag filled with kippers behind the front seat of his Maserati. He discovered it a fortnight later. Full story: Metro
Funny
Arsenal may face the embarrassment of taking two team photographs on Thursday – one with and one without Cesc Fabregas. The club are believed to be weighing up the idea ahead of their official photoshoot. It would mean one picture including Fabregas, who is believed to want to move to Barcelona, and one without their current captain – leaving vice-captain Robin van Persie to wear the armband.
Full story: Daily Star
Not funny at all
August 5th, 2011 at 11:14 am
I think I’ve finally figured out what Barcelona are doing wrt Fabregas. They are doing the footballing equivalent of maintenance texting. Maintenance texting is when there is a girl you’d like to go out with some day, just not anytime soon. So you send them a text message every once in a while to remind them you exist every, sort of a low level way to maintain a connection without raising expectations too much. You don’t go so far as to suggest an actual meeting though, because she might actually agree and you aren’t ready to do that yet. That’s what’s happening with Fabregas. They know they might want to sign him one day but they know they can’t afford his fee or his wages today. So every once in a while they say something in the press to remind Fab that they still want him one day, keep him from signing anywhere else, but they dare offer anything approaching a reasonable fee, on the off chance that it might actually be accepted. When they are finally ready, they will make a proper bid.
August 5th, 2011 at 11:16 am
I like your theory!