Transfers - Gossip Shop: City in Messi u-turn

Eurosport - Sat, 07 Mar 08:01:00 2009

Manchester City have moved quickly to quash speculation sparked by Sulaiman Al-Fahim over the possible signing of Lionel Messi.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 La Liga Barcelona Leo Messi - 0

The Gossip Shop rarely finds itself outside the confines of the M60 these days, and City have sharply distanced themselves from the bullish advances made by Al-Fahim in the direction of Messi.

The ever-bashful doctor said: "Messi is a player that makes me love Argentina again."

But City have strenuously refuted the claim, saying: "The story is untrue and this fact has been accepted by the newspaper in question. General comments about Lionel Messi, made by Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim, were mistakenly linked to Manchester City."

Meanwhile, City and Chelsea have been given the proverbial nudge by Valencia's chief executive, Javier Gomez, who revealed David Villa may have to leave the Mestalla.

Cash-strapped Los Che, with debts exceeding those of even Gordon Ramsey, may be forced to sell their Spanish Villa, with Gomez conceding: "Obviously we would consider that type; we have to control costs."

The club's integrity in tact, it is time for the Blues to fend off a potential move for one of their own. Joe Hart has barely been confined to the City of Manchester bench for two months, and already the 21-year-old is eyeing greener pastures, with Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill reported to be close to sealing a summer deal for the keeper.

The reported £3 million price on Hart's head would represent fantastic business for Villa, who are only thinly veiling their intentions to field an all-English side - who needs 6+5, eh?

On the red side of Manchester, Argentinian side Banfield suggest that they are awaiting contact from United over midfielder Nicolas Bertolo. Whether the South American club are waiting next to the phone is unclear, but Reds scouts are reportedly tracking the 23-year-old"s progress.

Despite trotting out the classic 'come and get me' line ("It's flattering to be linked with other clubs") David Healy insists that he is ready to fight for his place at Sunderland. As admirable a sentiment as this is, the nature of the fight in question has to be queried: are we talking an Audley Harrison approach to regaining his first-team spot, or something altogether more gung-ho.

The Northern Irishman has played just 96 minutes of Premier League action so far this season, but according to the 29-year-old, "It has never crossed my mind that I would go and play for Rangers."

A Gossip Shop offering would not be complete without Didier Drogba 's understated agent having his say. Thierno Seydi revealed in The Sun that the striker "may be one of the best-paid players in football, but humility is part of his personality. Chelsea were right to keep him." Now who can argue with that tribute?

West Ham are reportedly lining up a move for the prolific Croatia midfielder Danijel Pranjic. The winger has scored 15 goals in 22 league games for Dutch outfit Heerenveen and is apparently also being monitored by Sunderland. But lest the Hammers forget Kieron 'next season will be the one' Dyer - his personal medic team almost have him primed for meaningful action finally.

Onto more concrete matters, and Stoke City boss Tony Pulis has not lost his desire to acquire French midfielder Hassan Yebda . The Potters missed out on the 24-year-old Benfica man in January, but a summer move to the Britannia looks on the cards.

Manchester United's on-loan Angola striker, Manucho, has nudge-nudge, wink-wined Sir Alex Ferguson after netting Hull 's winner against Fulham, insisting that a return to Old Trafford 'would be good for everyone', (he hopes).

Charlton striker Izale McLeod's short fuse has left him in limbo after the striker had a barney with Millwall boss Kenny Jackett with his loan deal at the Lions duly cut short. But with Addicks manager Phil Parkinson insisting that 'we can't have him back and he can't play for the reserves or the first team', it looks like Izale will be cracking out the Wii this weekend

Dan Quarrell / Eurosport

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  1. stop takin rubbish donneysbeck

    From maireoconnor13, on Fri 6 Mar 10:25PM

  2. flyingic.players will not come to manc because theyre­ not in a good position in the table they need to start­ playing football get in the top10 and then spend 100­ million on kaka still 100m is far to much if theyre­ not careful in this ression they will go broke

    From maireoconnor13, on Fri 6 Mar 10:11PM

  3. maire, why do you say Man City are mad? They don't­ *need* to be a better team before buying top players -­ buying Kaka, for example, would have opened the door­ for many other top players to come. "If Kaka is­ happy to go there, then so am I..." Slowly­ building a team or buying top plyaers straightaway are­ just two possible strategies. Most top teams mix and­ match a bit: Man U, Chelsea and Arsenal have mixed it­ successfully, Liverpool and Spurs less so.

    From flyingvic, on Fri 6 Mar 9:56PM

  4. man c are mad! i know theyre rich but they need to stay­ in the prem and become a much better team before they­ go off spending money on kaka ronaldo villa, and­ messi.robinho will leave if they dont get a top 10­ finish and sign players.

    From maireoconnor13, on Fri 6 Mar 9:40PM

  5. Every countries media over hypes its own teams and­ leagues,so dont be surprised if the English media does­ it too.

    From laboca123, on Fri 6 Mar 9:21PM

  6. spain is a country which lives with football and­ produces many world class techniqued players and has a­ better national team than england. la liga is very­ underrated though due to low funds and bad­ stadiums(except kamp nou, bernabeu, mestalla, sanchez­ piguain and el madrigal). on the other hand england has­ excellent stadiums and many rich clubs and is the most­ advertised league. but that doesn't mean is the­ best. and by the way messi is miles better than any­ other player on planet and if ronaldo goes to spain i­ doubt he will be in the top 20 players in the world

    From Varnavas P, on Fri 6 Mar 9:18PM

  7. Cutchy, you deal in opinions - and they are not­ necessarily the truth!

    From flyingvic, on Fri 6 Mar 9:17PM

  8. Its an opinion Cutchy. Are you an England fan?

    From laboca123, on Fri 6 Mar 9:12PM

  9. laboca123, AGAIN, I was just telling the truth.

    From King_Billy, on Fri 6 Mar 9:04PM

  10. But it is all about opinion, and the premiership is­ still an interesting and at times exciting league.­ Cutchy i was wondering because you also had a go at the­ England cricket team.

    From laboca123, on Fri 6 Mar 8:50PM

  11. To be honest the I think la liga is better than the­ premiership too. In Spain I have seen young kids­ playing on a park with far superior technique than most­ British adults.

    From laboca123, on Fri 6 Mar 8:48PM

  12. Had Barcelona beaten Utd last year in the semi-final,­ and had Messi performed over the two legs the way he­ played the majority of games for Barca last season,­ then he would have been voted the FIFA world player of­ the year. But he didn't perform in the semi-final­ second leg and Barca didn't reach the final, and­ therefore the award went to the other outstanding­ candidate - Ronaldo. To decry his entitlement to the­ award is churlish, he may well never be able to repeat­ his performances of last year, credit where credit is­ due.

    From chriscunningham92, on Fri 6 Mar 8:38PM

  13. laboca123, I always tell the truth. It has nothing to­ do with "having it in for anything English"

    From King_Billy, on Fri 6 Mar 8:24PM

  14. Cutchy seems to have it in for anything English

    From laboca123, on Fri 6 Mar 8:14PM

  15. The money will kill football. Immune even to the credit­ crunch. The working classes would wonder what they have­ created. Nightmare.

    From math.1967, on Fri 6 Mar 8:10PM

  16. you can buy a club, but you can`t buy a tradition.­ (Ynwa) In man City they think if they have the money­ they will rule the world, but ypu must be able to win­ games. Man city are in a bad place right now. So money­ didn`t made any difference.

    From Tinemodafooking, on Fri 6 Mar 7:35PM

  17. f*ckk you lot who gave me bad comments....obviously­ rags on a city forum

    From Chris W, on Fri 6 Mar 7:31PM

  18. Robert 0, I respect your arguments. Your right,­ it's all about opinions, so will you please tell­ that to the rest of the moronic fans and media who­ constantly say the Epl is the best league in the world­ as though it's fact. No matter how desperate they­ are or how many times they say it, it will NEVER become­ fact. The Epl may be getting the better results in the­ Champions League at the moment. No one can argue that,­ but I can argue with the football they are playing in­ order to achieve the success they are having. There is­ far too much negative football going on in the­ Champions League these days, and it's mainly down­ to how defensive the English teams are playing. They­ seem to be boring the opposition into submission.

    From King_Billy, on Fri 6 Mar 7:31PM

  19. Lets not rush to criticise fans different assessment of­ the top leagues. Different strokes for different­ people. It depends on what product you seek: 1. La Liga­ is the most technical 2. EPL Faster box to box less­ technical 3. Italian SLOW and a little bit of both. At­ the very top level (Champions League) the different­ football styles converge a little. e.g. Man U and­ Arsenal's passing/technical game can match any­ other clubs maybe with the slight exception of Barca.­ Same with Roma and AC Milan. And at the top level­ (champions league), who is SUPERIOR? The EPL. Nobody­ can deny this. Therefore pls give credit to the­ EPL.
    Messi is the best player THUS FAR this season. All­ play and no laurels result in NO trophies. Ask Arsenal.­ Last season Ronaldo scored 42 goals with his left foot,­ right foot, head, free kicks and penalties and from the­ left, right wings and thru the middle. Man U won the­ league, Cl and Champions World Club as a result. HE WAS­ THE BEST PLAYER LAST SEASON PERIOD! just as he was BY­ FAR better than all the stars in INTER MILAN last week.­ Give the guy his due.Note I am an Arsenal fan

    From Robert O, on Fri 6 Mar 7:18PM

  20. i agree wit scott s..

    From johnsack33, on Fri 6 Mar 7:02PM
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