[caladanbrood]

Oh my god, seriously?

Should that be "OMG, SRSLY?"

Grab that deal right there, certainly.

[Macros]

dear god thats obscene

[Cougar]

NOM! The sound of Alex Ferguson snapping Pedrag Mijatovic's hand off at the elbow

Yeah RLY

it's not happening though is it although I expect Robinho and Diarra to leave.

[caladanbrood]

Virtually doubling his tranfer kitty plus getting three top-class players into the bargain... I'm still astonished.

On a rather more realistic United note, they're going for Alves and Fabiano from Sevilla apparently - that would be a very good double signing.

[Macros]

Bentleys likely leaving blackburn, spurs and chelsea rumoured to be interested
Another rumour from the mill - Frank Rijkssrd to assume control at chelski, his first buys would be Eto'o and Ibrahimovic, possibly Xabi. I have taken the rumour with a large pin of salt.
arsenal are rumoured to be lining up a £20 million bid for Dani Guiza and Ruben de la Red
and in final news, the real genious behind united has insisted he gets gaurantees he'll follow in fergies footsteps as manager or hes gone.
please let him leave.

[caladanbrood]

Interesting, considering all these clubs chasing Hatem Ben Arfa, that he just got left out of the French squad for Euro08...

[Thelomen Toblerone]

This is Domenech though, the same guy who wouldnt play Pires because he was a scorpio and you cant have too many of them in the side.

He also hasnt picked Clichy yet. Madness.

[caladanbrood]

Doesn't that Clerc chappy play in Clichy's position though? He's supposed to be a bit class.

[Thelomen Toblerone]

No, Clerc's a right back, plays for Lyon. And my Marseilles supporting French friend has informed me he's shit in any case.


Well well well, Ronaldo seems to have come out and said he'd like to play for Real. No way Man U will sell him, and I'd be very surprised if he did actually say such a thing. It's attributed to Brazilian website Terra atm, which sounds about as reliable as the Daily Star. Could be interesting if he does want to go though - how the hell do you replace him?

In other news, Zoltan Gera's signing for Fulham on a free, good move by them, he's got some talent and you cant argue with the price!

Citeh are still after Ronaldinho (snowball's chance in hell there), and the spuds look to have signed Dos Santos. I've not seem him play, but FM08 informs me he's quite good, so I hope that's wrong.

Hleb may be off to Barca where he'll be competing with Messi, Bojan, Henry, Deco, Iniesta, Eto'o, et al for a starting spot. Good luck there Aliaksandr. Meanwhile, the Nasri deal wont be happening til after Euro 2008, if it does at all, and I suspect it wont. Meanwhile, Aaron Ramsay has insisted he meet Wenger for talks before he agrees to sign for United, and our scouts are probably out in the maternity wards of France tracking down a foetus with an incredibly strong kick.

Xabi Alonso looks set for Juventus, but Liverpool want more than the £14mil Juve are offering. Those cheeky scouse chappies! That makes it likely Barry will be off to join the rotation squad at Anfield.

That's all I can think of for now, more updates later chaps.

[Macros]

damn straight we want more than £14mill. Best passer of the ball bar none.
When alonsos on form (decidedly lacking this season due to injury) he takes th team to antoher level.

[Cougar]

I think what Ronaldo has said is pretty sound; he would like to play for Real Madrid, but only if they match the valuation that Utd have of him and he won't talk about it any more till after Euro 2008.

You have to remember that in 2006 he was saying he was definitely going to Real Madrid and it never materialised. £60m plus Robinho would do for him I think.

He is irreplaceable in a like for like sense but the aquisition of a 30 goal a season striker would ease any concerns, moreover Anderson, Nani, Rooney & Tevez all have some development as players to come and Ferguson has proved time and again that he dislikes and actively discourages having any one player who is bigger than the club (except Cantona).

I'd like to think that if they sell him at least 2 high quality aquisitions will follow to replace him.

It's also relatively unlikely that Utd will have to play against him too often so there are no issues there.

[Macros]

£18 million for droggers to go to inter.
Pompie waant vieira for £4 milloin, offering him potentially £100,000 a week.
Ronaldinho could be getting £200,000 a week at city, if the proposed £20milloin deal goes ahead, over the top for an overrated past hisbest? definately

[Thelomen Toblerone]

According to the BBC and The Sun (shudders), Aaron Ramsay has agreed to join Arsenal over Man Ure.

Now, Im not sure if I trust this story, but if its true, I take pleasure in finally beating Man U to something this season.

Another 17 year old midfielder though, ideally I'd have us signing a big athletic defensive mid. Not sure Ramsay's really what we need, but Arsene knows what he's doing, so finger crossed.



What with Carvalho, Drogba et al possibly leaving Chelski and no manager lined up yet, looks like they could be in trouble next season. Plus Man U losing Ronaldo if that happens...Looks like each of the top 3 has lost a key player at least this summer, makes next year a bit unpredictable.

[Cougar]

Yes it should be an excellent opportunity for Ramsay to stall his promising career. The smart thing to do would have been to go to Everton, 1 year back at Cardiff, then into the Everton 1st team where he will get played.

Arsenal and Man U will have the poor kid stagnating in the reserves.

[Thelomen Toblerone]

That's a strange statement to make.

Not all players benefit from playing regularly at a high level at such a young age. Plenty require spells in the lower leagues or reserve games to make sure they dont get burned out or have their growth stunted and peak too early. There are arguments that people like Owen, who showed so much potential at a young age, have not developed like they could have.

Besides which, it's difficult to say he'd have more playing time at Everton. They're pushing for the top 4, if a top CM comes along, they'll sign him, and then Ramsay would be behind Fernandes, Cahill and him. You never know if he'd play well in training or friendlies for Man U or Arsenal, and they'd start him.

I dont think anyone's going to argue that Fabregas suffered from starting in the Arsenal reserves and Carling Cup games and having to work his way into the 1st XI anyway, some players need that. Walcott's coming good now after having been carefully prepared. No-one can really say Wenger and Ferguson dont know what they're doing bringing youngsters through.

[Cougar]

Yeah I agree Toby, Jermaine Pennat, Matthew Upson and Jonathan Greening would too...oh hang on.

Both our clubs have spunked away good quantites of cash on players who have then been woefully mis-managed. Don't bother saying 'ah, but they weren't good enough' because they would at least have made competent squad players and that is pure hindsight. Young untested players going to big clubs is a real risk for them. It's different for a Fabregas or a Pique who are going there to be integrated into the youth system on free contracts, Ramsey comes as a fully fledged £5m player (who has plenty of development left ahead of him). Walcott, as you say is only now starting to recover from 2 years of uncertainty and has arguably still to get back to the level he was at before he arrived.

There is a massive difference between developing youngsters through the youth system and buying them when they are already playing 1st team.

I'd still be upbeat about getting Ramsey, he looks tidy, but I'm certain Everton would have been the right choice for him career wise.

Owen was ruined by injury pure and simple, which was tragic; conversely you couldn't say the same for Giggs.

[Thelomen Toblerone]

On Walcott, I'd say very arguably. I have several cousins who are Soton season ticket holders, and they never thought Walcott was all that special. Certainly, my aunt, a season ticket holder for nearly 30 years, couldnt believe their luck when the bidding war started. A good proportion of his 21 Soton appearances were as a sub, and in the Championship. If you watch his performances for Arsenal over the season, you can see at the start he didnt have the physical strength to compete for 90mins week in week out. Simply, CC games and Reserve games are the only way to achieve that. Now he's more equipped to deal with the pace of PL footy and is starting to come good. I cant really see any problems there, other than expectations of an immediate settling-down and impact being ridiculously unrealistic.

Likewise, Ramsey has made 16 appearances for Cardiff over 2 seasons. I wouldnt say he's particularly used to first team footy personally, and could benefit from initial cup and sub use to give himself time to gel and adapt to the team and PL footy.

As for Pennant, no doubt he could have been a good squad player, but he wrapped his car around a lamppost and managed to get himself tagged, blowing every chance he was given to turn himself around. If the manager doesnt like a player's attitude, he cant be expected to play him.

Upson was a waste, I do agree. Had plenty of potential, we needed a good CB, and yet inexplicably was sold and went on to do quite well at Birmingham, before joining the injury team down in east London. But one or two mistakes out of several isnt a bad record, I dont think.

[caladanbrood]

I don't think Ramsay is anywhere near Premiership standard. He needs several more years in the lower leagues to develop before making that leap. If Arse doesn't loan him out straight away, possibly back to Cardiff, he should be seriously pissed.

[Thelomen Toblerone]

I see Eto'o's ruled himself out of a move to spurs. Apparently mid-table sides arent good enough for him. (his words, not mine!)

I cant believe Sp*rs were actually interested in him though. You'd have to smash the wage structure, pay a huge fee, plus strikers are the last thing you need, with the amount you managed to score last year and the fact Berbatov doesnt look like moving now.

[caladanbrood]

Thelomen Toblerone;327084 said:

I see Eto'o's ruled himself out of a move to spurs. Apparently mid-table sides arent good enough for him. (his words, not mine!)

I'd love if he moved to Milan now :lachen70: