Transfers - Transfer Talk: Portsmouth eye Barton

Eurosport - Fri, 09 Jan 08:11:00 2009

Portsmouth manager Tony Adams has been there, seen it, done it and drunk 20 pints of it during his colourful career.

FOOTBALL: Newcastle United midfielder Joey Barton - 0

Having conquered his demons and returned to the top of the game during his playing days, the Portsmouth boss is well-placed to put a comforting arm around a troubled and volatile player and show them the right path.

And they don't come much more volatile than Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton.

Having seen Lassana Diarra sold to Real Madrid, Pedro Mendes leave for Rangers in August and Papa Bouba Diop ruled out for three months, Adams reckons that the man with a permanent room at his Sporting Chance Clinic is just right to fill that gap, and will back his assertion to the tune of £5 million.

While he's in the North East, Adams will also bring back Gary O'Neil, who only left Pompey for Middlesbrough 18 months ago.

Talking of Boro, Riverside boss Gareth Southgate is another man who seems to think that signing a raging Toon midfielder is the way to avoid an end-of-season relegation scrap, and there are reports that Boro have agreed to swap their striker Mido for Newcastle's Alan Smith.

This news has not gone down well in the Smudger camp, with a source telling The Sun: "Alan's really angry about this. He has been working hard to regain his fitness and wants to do well - at Newcastle. He is back in training and should be ready for selection at the end of the month. He does not want to go anywhere else."

Newcastle's willingness to become the seventh club at which enigmatic Egyptian Mido will initially impress before once again resting on his laurels provides more proof that they are preparing for life without Michael Owen.

In turn, Toon boss Joe Kinnear will fill the space marked 'battle-ready anti-hero' with Rangers captain Barry Ferguson in a £3m deal, according to The Guardian, although Rangers chairman Sir David Murray has put the mockers on that somewhat.

Knight of the realm Murray said - presumably through a megaphone: "I stress we are not promoting the sale of Barry Ferguson and to say we are a selling club is ridiculous. I repeat: I have no intention of promoting the sale of anyone else."

Manchester City are set to offer Stephen Ireland a bumper new deal with one hand while beating away interest from Arsenal with a blunt object brandished in the other.

Ireland only signed a new £30,000-a-week contract last year, but his excellent form this season has meant City have moved to offer him a new salary worth around twice that amount.

The Sun reports that the Michael Eavis impersonator is currently behind Micah Richards and - less believably - Michael Johnson on the City pay scale, with Ireland having made around three times the number of first-team appearances as Johnson.

Many papers are calling time on David Bentley's time at Tottenham Hotspur, just six months after his £15m move from Blackburn.

Based on his meagre goal return and the sudden loss of the crossing ability that impressed so much at Rovers, many hacks are reporting the winger's half-time substitution in the Carling Cup semi-final against Burnley as the end for him at Spurs.

It has since emerged that Bentley was playing despite suffering from a stomach bug, but the quotes from Spurs boss Harry Redknapp ("He didn't feel well - apparently") only serve to underline how unsatisfied he is with the 24-year-old.

The only problem is no one seems to know which clubs to link him to, meaning the one-time "new David Beckham" has a chance at redemption if he can survive until February 1.

There is fresh hope for West Ham fans that the long-predicted fire sale may not materialise.

Instead of having to flog off leading lights Scott Parker, Robert Green and Dean Ashton, the Hammers may just get away with selling Lee Bowyer, Matthew Etherington and Calum Davenport to Birmingham City, Stoke City and Bolton Wanderers respectively.

Blackburn Rovers supporters can also breathe a sigh of relief, as it looks as though boss Sam Allardyce's attempts of bring El-Haji Diouf to Ewood Park from Sunderland look to prove fruitless.

Meanwhile, Hull City boss Phil Brown looks to continue with Allardyce's 'technically accomplished veterans with point to prove' recruitment template by picking up Wigan full-back Kevin Kilbane and West Ham nutcase Luis Boa Morte for a total outlay of £3m.

Tony Mabert / Eurosport

Comment 32 - 51 of 51

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  1. rock and roll you are so thick,,,,, you must have­ really been hurt in your life were you played with or­ you just have a problem ,or was it pompey boys rejected­ you , so sad

    From Chris, on Sat 10 Jan 1:00AM

  2. good right mid fielder r u jokin ya need a team and ­ mannager

    From mcpluker, on Fri 9 Jan 9:46PM

  3. we need a good right midfielder, on the left we have­ brilliant attacking force, yet on the right we are­ lacking. We are only doing badly at the moment because­ Johnson is out, without him we have NOTHING down the­ right hand side, and he is even a defender. Sign a­ right midfielder adams and even out the squad. We­ should cope ok with 4-5-1 for a while.

    From ryanpeter1993, on Fri 9 Jan 5:40PM

  4. dont sign barton

    From ryanpeter1993, on Fri 9 Jan 5:37PM

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    ALL THE HIGH-LIGHTS OF PREMIER LEAGUE­ MATCHES

    From , on Fri 9 Jan 2:46PM

  6. I am a sexy tallish girl, I feel lonely. Yesterday I­ joined a club
    --- T a l l h u b Co m ---where I could­ chat with many handsome guys. Come on, join us, find me­ here and discuss love with us.

    From Kendl D, on Fri 9 Jan 1:41PM

  7. NEW GROUND??????????????HA HA HA­ HA.............YOU'D BE LUCKY TO GET A NEW BUYER­ THAT COULD AFFORD A PITCH AND PUTT, WHEN GANGSTER TAKES­ HIS BLOOD MONEY­ OUT......................................COME AND­ SUPPORT THE SPURS...........................WE'LL­ YOU MAY AS WELL, AS WE'LL HAVE ANYTHING SALVAGABLE­ OF YOUR P155POT TEAM VERY­ SHORTLY................................................­ .HA HA HA HA HA.....................................

    From ROCK AND ROLL, on Fri 9 Jan 11:50AM

  8. OI, chimpley2003.........YOU SAY....... "we all do­ it up the pompey",............. WHAT DO YOU DO­ EXACTLY WHEN YOU ARE UP THEM????????????? YOU WEIRD­ IN-BRED...............GO AND SUPPORT SOUTHAMPTON,­ THOUGH I DOUBT THEY'D HAVE YOUR FITHY SORT IN THEIR­ LOVELY CITY.....................SPURS FOU THE FA­ CUP.............YOU­ LOSERS................................3RD DIVISION­ FOOTBALL IN A FEW YEARS FOR­ PORTSC"M.............................LOVELY,,,,,,,­ ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

    From ROCK AND ROLL, on Fri 9 Jan 11:06AM

  9. @#$% player to a @#$% club - a perfect marriage -

    From fvlltd, on Fri 9 Jan 8:23AM

  10. NO MATTER WHAT WHO WHERE WHEN GETS BARTON I ASSUME HE­ WILL GO TO POURTSMOUTH AS HE POSS ON A WINNER IN THE­ BANK HIS SKILS HAVE DIED AND HE WILL JUST BRING­ TROUBBLE TO THE CLUB MANCHESTER CITY HAD THE BEST OUT­ OF THE DERANGED THUG IN BARTON ITS ALL MEDIA HYPE AND­ TONY IS HOOD W1NKING HIS SUPPORTERS INCASE THERES­ MUTINY AT POMPEY AND HE IS TRYING TO SAVE HIS OWN SKIN­ WITH THE SUPPORTERS ??? THE PLAYERS ARE RUBBISH TONY­ CRNT MOTIVATE HE AINT GOODENOUGH TO BE A PREM MANNAGER­ IT SHOWS THE TEAM AIT WORKING WITH HIM AS HIS CLUB­ STRUGGLE THEAY JUST WANNA JUMP SHIP IT SHOULD BE ADDAMS­ THATS ON THE TRANSFER LIST AS THE POMPEY ARE GOING DOWN­ UNLESS HE GOES...M.C.F.C.4. EVER

    From mcpluker, on Fri 9 Jan 8:12AM

  11. Don't WRITE Pompey off yet!! Form has been poor of­ late but with a few results all that can change. All­ clubs outside of the top four struggle with finance.­ For fans its frustrating to see the sale of players for­ the club its about finances and business. There is no­ intention and there was never the intention to build on­ last session. it has always been stay afloat, make a­ few bucks and if we stay up even better. If you want­ pure football support a non-league side that play­ football for the passion. Running a football club these­ days is about laundering your money and telling the­ blonde on your arm I own a premier league side. Its all­ glamour for players and owners and for the fans of the­ lower premier clubs its that all important ticket to­ the big four visits and a dream of victory. What else­ do we have to shout about these days?

    From Mitchel, on Fri 9 Jan 12:44AM

  12. I can understand Gary o'neill coming back to­ Pompey. He always gave 110% to the team, and would be a­ rerasonable replacement for Diarra and Bouba Diop.
    I­ agree with some of the comments below, but who is the­ uneducated, illiterate ROCK n ROLL degenerate? He must­ be a Southampton supporter, or he got beaten up for­ being mouthy, with nothing to back it up. GET A­ LIFE!
    It's true our city looks like a bomb site at­ the moment, and the Ground is very old, (we are trying­ to build a new one!), but it still produces a better­ atmosphere than most other grounds.

    From Simon L, on Fri 9 Jan 12:31AM

  13. Comment 27
    Very clever posting!

    From Nicholas, on Thu 8 Jan 11:40PM

  14. i think spurs should have brought barton and let pompey­ keep defoe rather have a fighter at spurs than a­ spinless money grabbing non team player

    From lee s, on Thu 8 Jan 11:06PM

  15. Mark Hughes should sign Joey Barton from Newcastle. Man­ City could do with a bit more steel in midfield and he­ fits the bill perfectly and would only cost 5­ million.
    Might set the cat amongst the pigeons though.

    From davemackay77, on Thu 8 Jan 10:50PM

  16. i cannot understand why mackems pretennd to be geordies­ take geordieprince1 from sunderland (a true geordie­ comes from newcastle)

    From mick_cummins, on Thu 8 Jan 9:30PM

  17. i'll send him a ladder so he can punch crouch

    From davidjohnpennell, on Thu 8 Jan 9:19PM

  18. If I were in Pompey's shoes I would try anything,­ even Barton. They cannot get any worse. Alan Smith, I­ thought he had retired and was playing for a pub side­ now.

    From taff, on Thu 8 Jan 9:10PM

  19. maybe they should not let tony have access to money,is­ this his plan??? lol sell your best players then waste­ the money

    From Wulk Bogan, on Thu 8 Jan 8:19PM

  20. Maybe Tony needs a drinking partner.

    From dabpost, on Thu 8 Jan 8:01PM
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