Premier League - Transfer Talk: Model professional
Eurosport - Wed, 09 Jul 10:53:00 2008
It may seem preposterous, but Champions League contenders Linfield and Llanelli have emerged as unlikely candidates to win the signature of Russia playmaker Andrei Arshavin.
Having seen his club Zenit St Petersburg reject an offer from Spanish giants Barcelona, Arshavin has been quick to shift his focus to these shores.
And the Euro 2008 star's agent has identified just a handful of clubs who would be able to meet his lofty expectations, with the Northern Irish and Welsh minnows seemingly ticking all the right boxes.
Agent Dennis Lachter said: "There are only four British clubs he would play for and they are in the Champions League. It's not about money, it's about a team and professional ambition."
Clearly Arshavin, who guided Russia to the semi-finals of Euro 2008, is a discerning footballer who knows how to make the distinction between a club with prospects, and those without.
Lachter added: "He will not accept an offer from clubs like Newcastle, Middlesbrough and Aston Villa."
But enough of this shameless (and rather shameful) rumour-mongering. West London is, of course, a far more likely destination than the west coast of Wales or Belfast for Arshavin, who could yet find himself lining up alongside Frank Lampard at Chelsea, despite persistent rumours linking the England midfielder with an £8 million move to Internazionale.
The Blues have finally moved to quash speculation that Jose Mourinho will be reunited with his former charge at the Giuseppe Meazza before the start of next season, saying the club "will not enter into any discussions regarding the transfer of Frank Lampard".
That, as they say, should be that. But experience tells TT it will not be.
Most of that experience has been garnered form monitoring Didier Drogba over the past two years. Drogba's love affair with Chelsea has displayed an alarming tendency to blow hot and cold with his attitude turning from 'Chelsea for life' to 'get me out of here quick' in the blink of an eye (or, alternatively, the duration of a L'Equipe interview).
And with Drogba leaning towards the latter opinion at the moment, a summer move is very much on the cards. He may have returned to pre-season training on Monday, but that will not stop Inter's city rivals Milan from firming up their interest in him.
The Rossoneri are keen to make a swoop, but the £30 million Chelsea are asking could prove to be too much, even for the Serie A giants.
Meanwhile, geriatric full-back Roberto Carlos has been touting his fading talents to Chelsea, saying a reunion with former Brazil boss Luiz Felipe Scolari at Stamford Bridge would be "very attractive".
Famous for impossibly bending the ball past Fabian Barthez back in 1997 (and, to a lesser extent, winning the World Cup, the Spanish title and the Champions League) Carlos seems to have dined out on that effort at Le Tournoi ever since. But whether Big Phil is willing to give the 35-year-old one final swansong, even for old time's sake, remains to be seen.
And finally for this special Chelsea-centric edition of TT, Milan supremo Adriano Galliani has revealed Chelsea did indeed inquire about the possibility of taking Brazil ace Kaka to the Premier League. But the Rossoneri rejected the approach even before any fee was discussed. "I don't know whether they would have offered £80 million," Galliani said.
Elsewhere, Xabi Alonso's move to Juventus is on the rocks, leaving the Spaniard to do nothing else but declare undying love and eternal loyalty to Liverpool. Funny that. Alonso said: "I am very happy with Liverpool, the city, the people and they treat me very well."
But down in London, Alexander Hleb has already burnt all his bridges, making such a turnaround impossible should a move away from Arsenal fall through. The wantaway midfielder has blasted both Gunners boss Arsene Wenger and team-mate Cesc Fabregas and is unlikely to be well received back at the Emirates. Barcelona remains the Belarusian's favoured destination.
Everton boss David Moyes is planning a £4 million swoop for Darren 'Big Game' Fletcher while Aston Villa are lining up a season-long loan deal for the Scotland midfielder's Manchester United team-mate Ben Foster.
Steve Sidwell is close to sealing a move to AstonVilla with Gareth Barry's protracted move to Liverpool nearing a conclusion, but Martin O'Neill could face competition for the Chelsea man from Newcastle, who are ready to make a late bid to hijack the move.
And newly promoted West Brom are eyeing a £2.5 million deal for Newcaslte striker Shola Ameobi.
The Two Ronnies
Monday's much anticipated meeting between Manchester United chief David Gill and Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon did not happen, Calderon opting to stay away and continue to mouth off about Cristiano Ronaldo's future from a safe distance. The latest from the Madrid camp is this gem from Calderon: "If I was Manchester United I'd be happy and proud to be able to negotiate such a transfer for one of my players. Everything would be a lot easier if United realised that they could pull off the transfer of the century."
And finally, Ronaldinho has been called up for Olympic duty by Brazil coach Dunga, who believes the likelihood of a move to Manchester City is fading quicker than a pair of stone-wash jeans. Dunga said: "Ronaldinho wishes to join Milan. Players decide how transfers go. The Rossoneri hold all the cards in hand."
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Comment 33 - 52 of 52
Linfield are @#$%.. He really wants to join the super Crues lmao
ManU should now think of a very good goalkeeper to replace van der sar and foster
f*****k!!!!Great player is Aleksey Sergeevich Tarasou from MU
CRISTIANO RONALDO...is the BEST Player in the World!!!-Never EVER was there,BEFORE now,
in European Football, such a MASSIVELY "HUGE" Price put on His Boots!!- Football Legends, such as Sir Alex Ferguson..Hold Him High as a "GOD", and put his "OWN JOB" On
the Line for RONALDO!-Scolari, the Brazilian WORL Champions MANAGER, has said of RONALDO;Quote; "He "has" GENIUS"..!Berndt Schuster,of Real Madrid, RATES RONALDO, as the Greatest Footballer in the WORLD!!(READ Spannish/Portuguese PRESS)..!!Jose MOURINHO, Current Inter MILAN, Manager, Often, predicted Ronaldo, as the World's Greatest since MARADONA!!- So, All these KAKA's,and such like "@#$%"..can Eat their "odious" HEARTS OUT!!-LONDON
Andrey Arshavin good player and he must play in Arsenal or MU.Chelsea and Liver not for him...But I Think he don't leave ZENIT Sankt-Peterburg!!!!!!
Аршав 080;н лучши 081; игрок евро и я хотел бы видет 100; его в Арсен 072;ле...
Andrey Arshavin best!!!!!
it's sad when the best argument against arshavin is the fact he's 27 and hasn't moved away from zenit yet, his only professional club. i wonder if these are the same people complaining about the lack of loyalty shown by ronaldo, adebayor, hleb, barry and the rest? he will probably have to take a paycut to play anywhere other than chelsea, as none of the other clubs have both the funds and the will to pay more than the oil giant that owns zenit.
and as for the guy who asked if we had ever seen messi, trust me, i've tried, but he spends so much time on the trainer's table, it's hard to know when or if he's going to play. he must be playing great when i miss their games though, seeing as they got sank by the yellow submarine down to 3rd in la liga and couldn't score against manchester united in 180 minutes. messi is a sublime talent, but where are the results? he was a non-factor in the CL/LL double of 05/06, the last time barca won anything not made of tinfoil. in his defence, he was injured most of the time he was there - surprise, surprise.
Ok how come arshavin ended up at zenith when he could be at barça,ManU etc... If he's so good.How come he didnt shine earlier in euro2004 or the world cup 2002 (he would be at his height at 21). dont clubs have "scouts".Sure he's good but everybody thinks he's the best player in the world. OK, maybe he was good in the russian league but thats not as good as the prem or la liga.
gerrardrommey WTF, just cos u dont watch footie outside the prem doesnt mean its the first people have heard of him. Your comments are irrational and unfounded.
I think the expression is Diamond in the rough.
liverpool must buy the striker is good.Spurs keane is not good because he is old.liverpool must Ajax striker Huntelaar.
Andrei Arshavin is able to play in Hlebs position, and he is as good or even better than Hleb; although i do agree that the press and eurosport overrated Arshavin and made him seem like ronaldinho in 2005-06
Show Hleb the door either way. The man's an overrated player and obviously a c**t (not that Fabregas is a saint). No matter where he goes he should never suit up for Arsenal again.
arshavin isnt suddenly the worlds best player just because he played in two good matchs at the euros...what about against spain....hes 27 and this is the first thing we'v heard of him...questions have got to be asked about his fitness and talent...
d_feeney13. Did you remember to take your red tinted glasses off first?
Man united fans need to be brought back down to reality. They some how manage to scrap a famous win, In a match which they were totally and utterly outclassed in. And suddenly all there players are world class.
You can't even compare Ronaldo to Kaka. Ronaldo takes all the penalties, All the free kicks.
Of course he is going to get alot of goals. simply because Man united tend to get more freekicks and penalties than anyone else.
But where is Ronaldo during the big matches? The second half against chelsea? The match against germany?
When he comes up against good players. He can't handle the pressure.
Kaka is capable of anything. He single handedly beat man united. Made their centre backs look foolish.
He can carve a chance out of thin air. Ronaldo needs everything on a silver platter.
He'll fail miserably at Madrid. Not worth the money.
GUYS,LET'S BE RATIONAL, LET'S NOT COMPARE "APPLES WITH ORANGES" KAKA' IS A MID-FIELDER ATTACKER, RONALDO IS A PURE WINGER, OF COURSE HE WILL SCORE MORE GOALS THEN kAKA'.REGARDING LIONEL MESSI THERE IS NO DOUBT IN MY MIND THAT HE IS A GREAT FOOTBALLER BUT ALSO HE'S A VERY YOUNG MAN IN COMPARISON TO RICARDO.I'M WRITING ABOUT KAKA' BECAUSE THE ENGLISH MEDIA IS ALWAYS BIAS WHEN IT COMES TO FOOTBALLERS THAT PLAY IN THE PREMIERSHIP LEAGUE.AGAIN THE ENGLISH SPORTSPAPERS ARE KNOWN THROUGHT THE WORLD NOT TO BE NEUTRAL.RETURNING TO WHAT I SAID ABOVE LET'S LOOK AT ALL THE ACHIEVENTS OF KAKA' VS ROMALDO. RICARDO HAS AN UNBELEIVAABLE NUMBER OF TROPHIES THAT WITHOUT EXAGERATING HE HAS RUN OUT OF SPACE WHERE TO PUT THEM. WHAT THIS GREAT CHAMPION HAS ACHIEVED FOR HIMSELF, HIS CLUB AC MILAN AND HIS COUNTRY BRASIL NATIONALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY IS TOTALLY OUTSTANDING.CRISTIANO RONALDO ON THE OTHER HAND LAST SEASON PLAYED BRILLIANTLY SCORING LOTS OF GOALS FOR MANCHESTER U. HOWEVER LETS BEAR IN MIND THAT HE WAS NOT THE ARCHITECT FOR WINNING THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP CUP M.U.!!!
welll jigger me arshavin 2 anfield now theres a thought and 1 i wiouldlike 2 c misel
if arshavin were to join Liverpool
it would be a great opportunity for liverpool and himself
1. it would replace Crouch and hed make a great team mate for Torres and Gerrard
liverpool could definitly use his speed,
2. kuyt has adopted more of a winger role rather than a striker
3. peter crouch is about to leave
4. if - gerrard/torres/babel/whoever else ends up playing on the wings - hed be a great sub for any of them,
5. from his performances in the UEFA cup and Euro Cup id say hed end up as a starter on liverpool
6. liverpool often manages to get into the late stages of the CL
but if not id have to say Arsenal would be the best choice over Chelsea and Man U
- the way arsenal plays would fit his style
- Ade is probably leaving
- hleb is leaving
and theres probably more
you dont need him at arse nal mate you have allready bought better than him this summer. i am talking about the youngster from cardiff city . he will be your next 15million pound player
yo d_feeney...i agree that last season ronaldo was the best player in the world but ur kidding urself if u think kaka is garbage...ronaldo only did as well as he did coz man u played to his strengths whereas kaka was playing in the oldest team in history...and u talk about people not knowing anything in football, if u new anything u would realise that AN i.e 1 unbelievable season does not make u the greatest thing to walk on a football pitch, if he eva dominates a FINAL (and more often than not i've watched him bottle it in the big games) like the greats and KAKA has done then u can think that ronaldo's the greatest thing to grace a football pitch
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