EPL January Transfer Window update

Beyond all the speculation and gossip that a few newspapers,websites and channels ocassionally create , the bottom line is that it has been a very slow January transfer window this year in England.

Read the full post at:
http://sportsbizfreak.blogspot.com/2010/01/transfer-window-11-days-more-to-go-and.html

EPL January transfer update: Rodriguez, Chamakh for Liverpool. Flamini for Spurs.

Liverpool: Reds sign Argentina international Maxi Rodriguez on a free transfer from Atletico Madrid on a three-and-a-half-year deal.

Liverpool:  Marouane Chamakh has agreed to join in a £25million deal and the club expect the player to sign a big money pre-contract agreement before the end of the month. The highly rated striker was wanted by Arsenal, Juventus, Inter Milan and West Ham.

ARSENAL: Old and new. As well as Sol's return, Arsene Wenger is poised to sign Bolivian wonder boy Samuel Galindo. Wenger snatched the attacking midfielder, who is his country's under-21 skipper at just 17, who had been training at Everton.

TOTTENHAM: Tottenham are set to make a shock move to bring former Arsenal midfielder Mathieu Flamini back to north London and want West Ham's Matthew Upson while Zenit St Petersburg have tabled a bid of £10.2million for striker Roman Pavlyuchenko (Daily Mirror). Harry Redknapp is monitoring Joe Cole's contract situation at Chelsea (Daily Star) and has agreed personal terms with Internacional's 20-year-old Brazilian midfielder Sandro.

Source: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/multiplex/30940.html

Sol Campbell set for Arsenal

While a striker is what they needed the most, it's a central defender Sol Campbell who is set to make a comeback for Gunners. 35 year old is quite an atypical Wenger signing but he has been drafted to fill in for Gallas who has fitness concerns.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jan/12/sol-campbell-arsenal-return

Manchester City replace United in partnership with Sporting Lisbon

I personally had no idea about an agreement between United and Sporting Lisbon that allowed United first shot at their players. Sporting has a history of producing some outstanding players including CR7, Figo, Nani, Quesresma, and Moutinho amongst others. Just the fact that Ronaldo arrived at Old Trafford in 2003 is courtesy of this agreement where Sporting were required to inform United of any bids and allow them first refusal.

That agreement between United and Sporting is now kaput which has allowed city rivals Manchester City to take lead. Mancini's City has now signed a similar agreement which would allow them first shot at any exceptional talent from Lisbon.

Read the complete story at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jan/11/manchester-city-partnership-sporting-lisbon

EPL January Transfer Window update

Headline: Joe Cole could leave Chelsea for Manchester United, Tottenham or Liverpool...

Chelsea: With Joe Cole set for a Stamford Bridge exit, Bayern Munich star Franck Ribery could back-track on his 'Spain or bust' claims and move to London.

Chelsea: Spanish wonderkid Sergio Canales could be the latest small boy to leave a decent European club for Chelsea's reserves.

Chelsea: Another exciting winger tipped with a move to the Bridge is long-term target Angel Di Maria of Benfica. There was talk of a £35m buy-out clause but sources claim they will accept £20m for the Argentina starlet.

Source:
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/multiplex/30940.html

EPL January Transfer Window update

Latest interesting developments :

Chelsea: Joe Cole's contract situation at Chelsea 'precarious' (he wants £120k a week; they will only offer a measly £100k), Manchester United could pounce (The Times). He'd be available on a free too, which is nice for the debt-laden US owners

WIGAN: The Sun claims the Latics are looking to solve their goal problem with an audacious £5m move for Mallorca striker Aritz Aduriz. The Basque, formerly of Athletic Bilbao, has hit eight goals in 14 Liga games this season and scored 11 last time out. Steve Bruce, meanwhile, says he will NOT bid for Latics keeper Chris Kirland

Sunderland: Kenwyne Jones probably will not leave Sunderland, because he would cost too much, so says boss Steve Bruce.

Roma striker Stefano Okaka will join Fulham, according to his agent.
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/12012010/63/okaka-se

Source: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/multiplex/30940.html

EPL January Transfer Window

Some interesting transfer news:

Arsenal: Long-time Gunners target Marouane Chamakh will soon reveal his intended destination. The Moroccan striker, whose contract with Bordeaux expires at the end of the season, says he will give an answer at the end of January (The Sun).

United: Manchester United may seek a new striker following the news that striker Dimitar Berbatov may need exploratory knee surgery.

Stoke City: They have made an official approach to Real Madrid for veteran striker Ruud van Nistelrooy

Liverpool: Rafa Benitez wants to take former England U21 defender Nedum Onuoha on loan from Man City

PORTSMOUTH: Pompey have told Manchester City and Sunderland that they won't sell Younes Kaboul for less than £14m (Daily Mail).

Found a nice place for all the latest football transfer news:

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/multiplex/30940.html

Voronin, Dossena leave Liverpool...

Ukraine striker Andriy Voronin has left Liverpool to join Dinamo Moscow on a three-year deal. This ends his disappointing spell at Liverpool. Earlier Dossena had left Liverpool for Napoli.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/8450798.stm

I am back and so is Patrick Vieira!!!

I am back after a brief hiatus and though I have not been blogging for more than a week, rest assured I was catching up on most of the International sports on the tube. What a wonderful couple of weeks these have been with loads of drama in football as well as cricket. Ah, so that reminds me to why I am here writing today and not tomorrow or a day after.

Looks like the first big January move has been wrapped up in Manchester and sorry but there are no prizes for guessing the Clubs name. Sir Alex still appear to be as uncertain about who he wants to bring to United as he is about the depth of his pocket. Quite contrary to how most English clubs are positioned financially, City seems to have the most supply even after the club reported £92.6 million loss in the year to 31 May 2009. Mancini appears to be a man possessed- with all the money- after a fine start at City and there is little doubt his bosses in Abu Dhabi would let him run amok if he wishes to- if not immediately than surely next summer.

It must therefore come as no surprise that Mancini has made the first big scalp as City has confirmed the arrival of Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira at £100,000-a-week. At 33, age is not on his side but with French International recall for the World Cup in sights, Vieira might have enough fire to power City to a Champs League birth ahead of Liverpool and Villa. Mancini would like to believe Vieira is still the same player as he was when they were together at Inter and it looks like a great move for City.

Read more about the Vieira story at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jan/07/patrick-vieria-manchester-city-internazionale


PS: I have made some amount of interesting observations while watching sport over the last couple of weeks and I would soon be back with some interesting thoughts. Stay tuned…

David Villa set for Premiership. United-Chelsea likely suitors.

Valencia and Spain striker David Villa is all set to spark a bidding war between United and Chelsea. Villa, who had decided to stay at Valencia last summer due to 'family' reasons, has now expressed his desire to play in the Premiership.

So how much will he cost and who has the money? Liverpool is out of the race straight away and it would be a fight between United, City and Chelsea. All 3 clubs seem to have the pockets deep enough and it appears that United are set to offer 35 million.

Of the 3, United would be the most eager considering their lack of firepower upfront. Berbatov might be in line to be offloaded to part pay for Villa. John Terry had mentioned Villa sometime in 2008 to Abramovich and it wouldn't be a surprise if Chelsea throws in some more to take Villa away from United. City are likely to give Mancini some free hand in the summer transfer window and he will surely bid if Villa is available.

My personal view is that Villa is most suited for United and it would be a better career move considering how many more minutes he would get to play for United. At Chelsea he would risk sitting on the bench more often.

Clearly Villa is one of the premier strikers today and he would be a great asset whichever team he decides to play for. How the bidding war would turn out is going to be make headlines coming summer.

Just to add, Valencia might put few more players including David Silva and Mata up for sale considering their financial plight and that would mean more opportunities for English clubs.

http://www.clubcall.com/intl-football/villa-tempted-england-move-995728.html