Tag Archives: transfers

Has anyone noticed the January Transfer Window is open?

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The January transfer window has opened but as yet there hasn’t been much to talk about.  Manchester City have agreed a transfer fee with German side Wolfsburg for their Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko.  The 24 year old has scored 66 goals in 111 games so it is not surprising that Wolfsburg manager Steve McLaren was not too keen to sell him.  It has been reported that Bayern Munich have made a last minute bid, though I can’t see anyone getting in the way of a move for Edin Dzeko  to Manchester City. Money talks!

As Man City continue to push for a Champions League position, if not the Premier League, it is essential they add one or two top quality strikers to their squad to relieve the pressured shoulders of sulky home-sick Carlos Tevez considering the ineffectiveness of Emmanuel Adebayor and Joe; and the surprising statement from Roberto Mancini that Paraguay international, Roque Santa Cruz is surplus to requirements.

I’m surprised Mancini is letting Roque Santa Cruz go as I have always considered him to be a good striker, and he showed he can play in the Premier League when he was at Blackburn Rovers.  It is no surprise that several clubs have apparently shown interest in signing Roque Santa Cruz including Fulham who are currently managed by his former boss, Mark Hughes.  West Ham and Aston Villa are also allegedly interested in his services.

So, on to Blackburn Rovers whose owners decided to sack Sam Allardyce in December.  At the time I felt this was to announce a new manager in time for the January transfer window and we were going to see a well-known manager be given a large sum of money to stamp his authority on the team and also announce the Indian Venky Group ownership to the world.  Well, this week they have been linked to one of the biggest names in world football, Ronaldinho.  A well seasoned player that would certainly make a statement of intent for the new Blackburn owners though I’m not sure what else they would receive from a footballer that is currently overweight, overpaid and well past his sell by date!

Furthermore, the owners have stated that caretaker manager Steve Kean will remain in charge at least until the summer.  But it’s clear that any big name signings with overinflated wages and egos are going to create even more problems for a little known manager.

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Reasons To Be Cheerful

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I love reading tabloid newspapers. The Sun, Daily Mirror and even the Daily Mail, give me much entertainment during the transfer window. So here is a roundup of today’s silly season soccer sensations from The Sun and others.

Matthew Upson could be rejoining Arsenal, so says journalists close to Arsene Wenger. Perhaps not that close, perhaps not even in the same postcode. But Upson did spend six years at the Gunners and Arsene has mentioned (allegedly) from time to time that selling him was a mistake. Perhaps not too far fetched, Avram may want to get as much cash as possible while he is not a free agent.

A couple of stories from the Daily Fail, I mean Mail, for Hammers fans to have a giggle about. Firstly the Mail is suggesting that Luke Young could head to Upton Park after his move to Liverpool failed to materialize. This one is a bit hard to believe as Grant has brought in Winston Reid and Tal Ben Haim. In addition Luke is the wrong side of 30, so the move doesn’t seem to make much sense for the Villa player.

One rumour that is going round the papers is that the Hammers could be trying to sign Manchester City’s Felipe Caicedo on loan. The 21 year old striker is out of favor, along with so many at Man City, so a loan deal for the Ecuadorian could be on the cards now Mario Balotelli has arrived on the scene.

Lastly a oldie, but a goody, Loic Remy, the Nice striker who signed for Marseille in a

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Chelsea Enjoying Life On The Edge

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You may remember Chelsea FC from such things as the Premiership, the Champions League and the Gael Kakuta fiasco of 2009. The latter is particularly important since they were thrown under the bus for their participation in the ritual practice of English clubs snapping up from rich resources abroad. Sometimes in a helicopter.

Fresh off their shackles being removed in February over the transfer wrangle, they’re back to pissing off clubs abroad with questionable transfer practices.

The latest is a spry, mohawked phenomenon who reminds people of Robinho back when Robinho didn’t have an asterisk next to his name. (That squad list needs to be sectioned off into volumes.) This one’s called Neymar. You should probably know who he is.

“The English club presented us with a formal proposal some time back after having begun direct talks with the player and his representatives,” Santos president Luis Alvaro Ribeiro said.

“We refused it and made it clear we had no interest in negotiating the economic rights of this player who is under contract to Santos,” he told reporters at the club.

“I found out that the siege continued. That’s intolerable in view of the ethics that must govern relations between the clubs of world football,” he added in his remarks posted on the club website.

“In accordance with FIFA norms, Santos will defend their interests to prevent this type of attitude contrary to (such) principles.”

Santos said their lawyers were preparing a document on the issue to send to FIFA, probably on Friday.

Another English Premier League club, West Ham United, have also made a bid for the striker of 15 million euros that was also rejected by Santos.

Roman could’ve gone with either a forty-seventh yacht or Neymar – he apparently chose both and is looking to cut costs on one. You’d have to think he could just pay full price and wind up about even when eliminating lawyer fees.

And would someone get West Ham some smelling salts.

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How Real Madrid Spent a Billion Euros on Transfer Fees

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Here’s a stat for you: Real Madrid’s total transfer spending this century has 10 digits and three commas. Marca calculates that since Florentino Perez first took over as President in the summer of 2000, the total of combined transfer fees paid out comes to a wallet-weakening 1,022,000,000 euros. That’s a billion euros. Or at least it’s a billion euros for those of us using the short scale system. In the long scale system it’s a thousand million euros. Which is still a lot of euros.

So what do you get for a billion euros? The players purchased by Real in the past decade include: Luis Figo €60m, Zinedine Zidane €72m, Ronaldo (Original) €45m, David Beckham €35m, Robinho €25m, Arjen Robben €36m, Wesley Sneijder €25m, Cristiano Ronaldo €96m, Kaka €64m and many many more. There are a few questionable purchases mixed in there, like €20m spent on an injured Jonathan Woodgate and another €20m on Julio Baptista. But Real Madrid have mostly paid big money for quality footballers.

Let’s see all that information in graph form:

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