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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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.
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.
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.