Premier League - Transfer Talk: Four's a crowd

Eurosport - Sat, 14 Jun 23:00:00 2008

You'd think that with three of Europe's most highly coveted central midfielders already in his squad, new Chelsea coach Luiz Felipe Scolari would be content with his midfield lot. But you'd be wrong...

FOOTBALL 2006 World Cup Deco Scolari Portugal - 0

That's because, despite already boasting the talents of Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack and Michael Essien (not to mention Steve Sidwell), Big Phil is reportedly eyeing up a £15 million move for Barcelona playmaker-cum-playboy Deco.

Furthermore, BBC Sport now "understands" that a move is imminent, a careful wording which suggests they've been concentrating so intently on the rumour that it's finally clicked into place.

And just to make sure Deco doesn't feel like the only frustratingly inconsistent Brazilian-born attacking midfielder at Stamford Bridge, Scolari (pictured, left, with Deco) is also rumoured to be bidding for Real Madrid's Robinho and Barcelona's Ronaldinho.

That Ronaldinho will not be at Camp Nou next season is one of the worst-kept secrets in football, but you suspect it will take the unexplained disappearance of about 30 of Europe's top clubs for the buck-toothed magician to even consider a move to Manchester City , despite the £120,000-a-week contract they are shamelessly wafting in his direction.

Stroppy Barca striker Samuel Eto'o is another Chelsea target, but he finds himself in the middle of a particularly unpalatable tug of love between Roman Abramovich and Silvio Berlusconi, for Milan, too, are said to be in the hunt for his signature.

Sticking with stroppy frontmen, The Sun claim Dimitar Berbatov will be the subject of a £25 million bid from Manchester United, who will reportedly redress their Spanish defender deficit following the sale of Gerard Pique by bidding for Real Madrid's rampaging right-back Sergio Ramos.

Newcastle coach Kevin Keegan's quest for the next David Ginola/Faustino Asprilla/Temuri Ketsbaia has reportedly taken him in the direction of Zenit St Petersburg playmaker Andrei Arshavin , who the Daily Mirror claims will be the subject of an £11 million bid.

Elsewhere, England Under-21 international Fabrice Muamba is a rumoured £5 million target for Bolton, while self-proclaimed 'richest club in football' QPR may be aiming high but they're certainly starting low with bids in the offing for West Ham striker Bobby Zamora and Crystal Palace midfielder Ben Watson.

Xabi Alonso's move from Liverpool to Juventus looks a step closer after the clubs reportedly agreed a £14 million fee, while John Arne Riise's agent has reported that Serie A runners-up Roma are definitely not in the market for woefully one-footed own goal-specialist left-backs, meaning the Norwegian will not be swapping Anfield for the Stadio Olimpico any time soon.

As a France-based, 21-year-old African striker who no-one's ever heard of, Le Mans's Ivory Coast forward Gervinho ticks pretty much every single one of Arsene Wenger's boxes, so don't be surprised if he arrives at Arsenal for a pittance in the next few months before swiftly turning into the best thing to come out of Africa since Charlize Theron.

Tom Williams / Eurosport

Comment 24 - 43 of 43

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  1. WEST HAM FOREVER U OTHER TEAMS R @#$%

    From w3sth8m, on Sun 15 Jun 2:59PM

  2. What about pepe, hes really good in defence !!!

    From stefan.agius, on Sun 15 Jun 12:04PM

  3. HELLO AAN AL SINAASAPPEL. ZIJ ZIJN ITALIAANS, EERST EN VOORAL ZOU IK AAN U MET U WILLEN COMPLIMENTEREN, HEBT U EEN GOEDE HAND, INDERDAAD COMPLIMENTEN… MAAR VERGETEN NIET DAT ITALIË HEEFT WONNEN 4 DEGENEN WERELDWIJD IN DE ZAK EN IS TWEE KEER TWEEDE, DE KAMPIOEN VAN DE ONDEUGD VAN DE WERELD AANGEKOMEN. Het is niet VAN ALLE LANDEN… NOCHTANS MOEST HET NIET OM U VERACHTEN, MAAR IN ORDE MAAKT HET NOTARESE U DE WGO HEBT VERGETEN U WIJ… BENT IK HOOP DAT HET SPEL U EERLIJK, WORDT GESPROKEN GOED OVER U, SPEELDE WORDT GESPROKEN DIE U EERLIJK… ZULT SPELEN HET ZOU ANDERS EEN ZONDE ZIJN, ZOU HET SPEL FRANKRIJK VAN ITALIË ÉÉN ENKEL GEEST NIET… HEBBEN U GROET EN AUGURIES VOOR UW SINAASAPPEL, NOG COMPLIMENT EN GOEDE FORTUNA

    From forza_azzurri_2008, on Sun 15 Jun 9:12AM

  4. Dnt think u r a "real"Madrid fan.We need C.Ronaldo,Pique and Y.Toure.Its high time Madrid played 4:3:3 with DEFENSE:ramos,marcelo,canavaro,pique.MIDFIELD:sneidjer,y.toure ,robben.ATTACK:raul,nistelrooy,ronaldo.We only need to pusn ronaldo and raul into midfield for 4:5:1 when defending.

    From pklawson, on Sun 15 Jun 8:26AM

  5. Dnt think u r a "real"Madrid fan.We need C.Ronaldo,Pique and Y.Toure.Its high time Madrid played 4:3:3 with DEFENSE:ramos,marcelo,canavaro,pique.MIDFIELD:sneidjer,y.toure ,robben.ATTACK:raul,nistelrooy,ronaldo.We only need to pusn ronaldo and raul into midfield for 4:5:1 when defending.

    From pklawson, on Sun 15 Jun 8:26AM

  6. getting berba ramos will be good buys for united.if ronaldo stays.it be anothjer title for alex

    From IAN R, on Sun 15 Jun 8:21AM

  7. madrid must go wild for ronaldo nd eto'o.Check dis start.CASILLAS,RAMOS,MARCELLO,PIQUE,CANNAVARO,GAGO,RONALDO,SNE IJDER,ETO,NISTELROOY,ROBINHO.

    From pklawson, on Sun 15 Jun 8:12AM

  8. madrid must go wild for ronaldo nd eto'o.Check dis start.CASILLAS,RAMOS,MARCELLO,PIQUE,CANNAVARO,GAGO,RONALDO,SNE IJDER,ETO,NISTELROOY,ROBINHO.

    From pklawson, on Sun 15 Jun 8:12AM

  9. Ok if your talking Home grown, how many Ex West Ham players in the Top 4 and the current England Squad!! If only we had the money to throw around/waste we'd be sat at the top of the table laughing all the way to the Trophy Cabinet instead of languishing middle table!

    From Terence T, on Sun 15 Jun 7:17AM

  10. I have to say lovenumber7star that the afore mentioned statement is one of the least thought out ever. Arsenal was offered 32M pounds for Adebayor as I'm assuming you would know as you do know everything about this, and furthermore Manchester United is 600 Million in the red, yet they keep on buying 25M + players...Think you see where I'm going? Maybe Manchester really don't care about the money thats why they are that far in. Research your statements please; we have enough idiots.

    From mauditedance, on Sun 15 Jun 3:04AM

  11. arsenal is only out for money and the team dont seen to gel very well not like manchester united they have a very long history that is why they are the best club with the best players and the can get along very well

    From mel.wufootballfreak, on Sun 15 Jun 2:08AM

  12. oh i agree with jayoson. yeah arsenal does develop their players. just look at all the home grown players they start..... WAIT WTF! they don't start any players from the UK?! and chelsea....what they need in the transfer market is jose mourinho....but we know how that worked out. and Gareth Barry going to the scousers? yeah we'll see what that accomplishes.....nothing. Long live King Eric!

    From Andrew F, on Sun 15 Jun 1:47AM

  13. i cant understand the point of chelsea recruiting deco. i dont think it will benefit the team because they've already got lampard, ballack, makelele and essien in that central role. the only position that i think should be strengthen is the wide position, as well as the striking position. van der vaart, ribery, podolski or robinho should be perfect to play on the wide. while eto'o and benzema would be a marvellous signing to play the attacking role. nevertheless, i dont think chelsea should buy neither eto'o nor benzema if they can persuade drogba to stay. infact kalou, anelka and shevchenko isn't too bad themselves. they could provide cover if drogba is injured.

    From hEal_Me, on Sun 15 Jun 1:24AM

  14. for me arsene wenger and arsenal are still the best b/cos they take relatively unknown players and turn them to stars. not like some other clubs that poach ready made superstars and boast that they are good coaches.certainly if you already have the silver spoon thrust unto your lap, you've got to perform!!! the guy that uses little known players and gets results is surely better than those buying up all the stars. wenger simply enjoys grooming young players. i have a lot of respect for him. GUNNERS FOR LIFE.

    From jayoson, on Sat 14 Jun 11:51PM

  15. I agree with Ian C. Hurrah for intelligence!

    From fistfullofvisas, on Sat 14 Jun 8:49PM

  16. Tell you what. Why dont we have seperate areas on here for people who want to just exchange pointless insults with fans of other teams and keep the actual blogs for those who have got something constructive to say plus another area for fans of that team only. I'm sick to death of reading the uneducated prattle of those yobs that just want to slag off other teams and shout how great they think their team is...boring or what? no original thought and a distinct lack of intelligence mostly...makes me want to weep

    From Ian C, on Sat 14 Jun 8:33PM

  17. man u never gonna get sergio ramos from real and robinho also is not for sale but if some one give 40 mil they will talk

    From brrbarrie, on Sat 14 Jun 8:09PM

  18. man u never gonna get sergio ramos from real and robinho also is not for sale but if some one give 40 mil they will talk

    From brrbarrie, on Sat 14 Jun 8:09PM

  19. dude, bazzadoni or whaeva, are you on some next level retarded crack or something? west ham is chasing rio to replace anton..... are you that thick that you think rio would go back to west ham after penning a long term deal with united? maybe to wind a career down in 5 or 6 years since he came up through their youth program, but he's still young, new contract, and plays for one of the strongest clubs in the world (i support benfica so i'm not a red with a crazy biased opinion.. just got my head on straight)

    THIS IS WHY NO ONE TAKES AMERICANS SERIOUSLY WHEN THEY TALK ABOUT FOOTBALL!!!!!!! COME OUT WITH SOME CRRRAAAAAAZZZYYYY STUFF! and the hammers cant compare with the gunners, wtf are you on... and have berbatov... b-class striker anyway

    From ch_lisboa, on Sat 14 Jun 6:28PM

  20. Middlesbrough are tops come on the BORO

    From zzcap2000, on Sat 14 Jun 5:38PM
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