Premier League - Transfer Talk: What recession?

Eurosport - Tue, 15 Jul 22:00:00 2008

As TT delights at the prospect of Real Madrid starting the season without Cristiano Ronaldo or Robinho, the impending financial crash in Britain appears to be affecting more than just the housing market.

FOOTBALL Berbatov - 0

It's all news to Manchester United and Chelsea though, as the former get ready to offer a whopping £28 million for Dimitar Berbatov, and the latter consider throwing almost twice as much at Los Merengues for Brazil forward Robinho.

Early Doors fan jay8my harshly reckons United are the "ugliest team in the prem", which perhaps could explain their willingness to chase Andy Garcia clone Berbatov, but he is also really very good.

All the papers claim that Spurs will take close to £30 million for the Bulgaria star, who has scored a goal every other game since his arrival at White Hart Lane two years ago, and The Star reckon Sir Alex Ferguson will make them sweat it out in an attempt to save a few bob.

Back to the rest of us... In a manner similar to the cut-throat world of the UK property market, top-half Premier League clubs are attempting to gazump each other as they compete with the millions of United, Chelsea and a chasing mob led by Tottenham.

But the difference is that, while the chase is no less aggressive than the homebuyers' equivalent, the current trend appears to be part-exchange, on-the-cheap deals.

For example, Liverpool's single-minded and brazen stalking of Aston Villa captain Gareth Barry may well encounter a complication - the interest of another suitor.

Believing that the lure of Barry's bosom-buddy Steven Gerrard and the chance to play in the Champions League for what Fernando Torres believes are the "Biggest Club in England" would be too much to refuse, Rafael Benitez has been openly courting the international midfielder in an attempt to force a relative bargain.

But Villa boss Martin O'Neill, who is publicly furious at Liverpool's stance and privately planning for life without Barry, was delighted to reveal that it might not all be plain sailing for the Reds - fellow big-guns Arsenal are keen.

"Myself and [coach] Steve Walford both know Arsene Wenger's assistant Pat Rice," O'Neill told The Sun. "He phoned Steve to ask how the Liverpool thing had gone and said that they might show an interest.

"At the end of the conversation Arsenal said 'that's fine' and that they'll let us know."

Liverpool, meanwhile, hastily review their offer of a fiver, TT's grandma, Jermaine Pennant's rap sheet and some alloy wheels, as Arsenal prepare a whopping bid of £8.99, Justin Hoyte 's wages, Alexander Hleb's ankles and the head of Emmanuel Adebayor's agent.

Other alleged swap-shop offers include Tottenham throwing Paul Robinson into their bid for Blackburn's David Bentley , with Manchester City asking for Brad Friedel should that deal happen. Rovers forward Roque Santa Cruz could go to Spurs should they sell Berbatov to United, while the £8 million balance will be used to help finance the North London club's own Bentley bid. Phew.

Luiz Felipe Scolari could do his own bit of gazumping and steal Ronaldinho from under the noses of Manchester City and Milan if his overtures for Robinho stall. The Sun reckon that they are preparing a £15 million bid for the fun-loving, soul-glo star, although TT can't see this swaying Barcelona's resolve after City's £25 million offer.

Promoted Stoke, meanwhile, could find their bargain coup for Liverpool reserve keeper Scott Carson under threat by fellow new boys West Brom.

The Potters surprisingly agreed a £4 million deal with Liverpool. It is surprising because the Reds earlier demanded more than double that from Aston Villa, where England hopeful Carson was on loan last season. It is also an odd one for Carson himself, on account of Stoke being the side most expect to go down by next summer.

But now the Baggies - who have a decent chance of retaining their top-flight status - have entered the fray, and sensibly so, given that their only current keepers are 38 or on loan from Viktoria Plzen.

Still, if Friedel leaves Rovers, boss Paul Ince could offer ex-Leeds man Carson a top 10 lifeline.

In a bid to become the second Castillo in the North West, Red Star Belgrade's appropriately-named Ecuador midfielder Segundo reckons he is set to sign for Blackburn.

"This is a very interesting step for my career because I will have the chance to be near the big teams," said the 26-year-old, somewhat prematurely, as the £6 million deal is dependent on the outcome of Bentley or Santa Cruz deals.

Otherwise, Sunderland want Romania defender Dorin Goian but Steaua Bucharest are unimpressed by their initial £3.5 million offer (Guardian), Didier Drogba could actually stay at Chelsea if reports from The Sun that they will offer him a massive wage hike are to be believed, Blues left-back Wayne Bridge is tipped to return to the South Coast with former club Southampton's hated rivals Portsmouth (Daily Mirror), while Manchester United will move for Atletico Madrid hit-man Sergio Aguero if their Berbatov bid fails (The Star).

Reda Maher / Eurosport

Comment 57 - 76 of 76

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  1. Robinho will become another shevchenko at chelsea if he decides to go to stamford bridge.Berbatov is a good finisher,but was never been a good team player.he is a Big sulk and his attitude let his team mates down.He shows no interest to track down or to give some help to defence when needed.Since his arrival at spurs,berba was tipped to move and the saga went on..I wish manU would sign someone who is much younger and a team player like tevez.

    From sam c, on Wed 16 Jul 2:46AM

  2. liverpool have never won the prem fact ,and they never will ,when we won the european cup we was the best team in europe ,when u won it u was not the best team in liverpool fact ,man u 2 win title by easter .possable treable ,get ur money on it .

    From keithtucker64, on Tue 15 Jul 10:53PM

  3. I wish Man Utd would just bid for Aguero instead of Berbatov. He's one for the future! As good as Berbatov is, he's 27 now and Aguero's 20.

    From craigleearmitage, on Tue 15 Jul 10:40PM

  4. i am a spurs fan and read the recent posts about ronaldo and real are man u not as bad as they are trying to get a player who is already contracted?????????????????? spurs have said they dont want to sell him! good job we have dos santos

    mdl2783
    This is what the transfer window was introduced for. And we said clearly - Ronaldo is not for sale no matter what offer. Did you? No, you are hagling about the price. Still think it's the same story? Anyway, i hope you won't let him go. One word. Attitude

    From United, kids, wife, on Tue 15 Jul 10:33PM

  5. ' MANCHESTER UNITED THE BEST TEAM OF THE SEASON/EUROPE.AM AN AFRICA BY BIRTH,I WONDER WHEN SHALL NEW TALENTED BOY (MANUCHO)COULD BEE GIVEN A CHANCE TO PROOF THAT HE WORTH BEING IN THE UNITED STARTING LINE?
    I NEED MANUCHO TO PLAY FREQUENTLY FOR MANCHESTER..HE CAN COMBINE WELL WITH BERBATOV IF MANU HAPPEN TO SIGN HIM FROM TOTERNAM HOTSPUR.

    From john Akumu '

    Also sell Rooney, Ronaldo and kill Scholes, Giggs and Neville, right? Sory mate, what a load of rubbish. Why change so much?

    From United, kids, wife, on Tue 15 Jul 10:26PM

  6. dan j

    Well done mate, glad you brought munich up again you scouse pri@k!

    Owing to your clubs respect for human life what more should we expect.

    Justice for the 39

    From andrewboaz, on Tue 15 Jul 10:10PM

  7. robinho chelsea r u having a laugh

    From ne_yoak47, on Tue 15 Jul 9:50PM

  8. i am sorry to tell chelsea fans that you wil NOT get robinho this season. he will only allowed to leave if ronaldo is heading there. as for liverpool fans i am sorry to tell you that you wont close the gap this season on manchster united and chelsea you are to busy buying ordinary players. Arsenal fans you already know you fate last season will not be repeated you are to busy selling all your players. as for all united fans i would like to say you will be champions AGAIN. not just english nut also european. No major players have left young players such as nani, rooney and anderson will come on a hell of a lot. i expect nani to get more of a run on the left wing as giggs will be used spearingly. rooney should start scoring more goals. remember compared to villa and torres he is still young and a year younger than ronaldo. the brilliant anderson will show his qualities tell after he has returned from the olympics. i was impressed with the way he handled fabregas and stevie g last year. add to that mix the bonus of keeping cristiano for another year and also a top quality striker with 25 goals man u will be unstoppable. MAN U 1st CHEALSEA 2nd ARSENAL 3rd TOTTENHAM 4th LIVERPOOL 5th ASTONVILLA 6th

    From alijaved9913, on Tue 15 Jul 9:33PM

  9. nellyjones_rose is obviously a scouser....i'm tired of these thievin scouse pr*cks layin claim to being the best team in english history....the fact remains that they're substandard now and it shouldn't be a big4 in the the prem it is really a big3....i'm sorry but liverpool just arent the team they were and they probably never will be again....they don't seem any sign of major improvement, they only improve at the same rate as the big3 so how will they ever get better than them, they cnt....so will all these robbin scouse cu*nts please do us all a favour and shut up.

    From you4death2000, on Tue 15 Jul 9:21PM

  10. MANCHESTER UNITED THE BEST TEAM OF THE SEASON/EUROPE.AM AN AFRICA BY BIRTH,I WONDER WHEN SHALL NEW TALENTED BOY (MANUCHO)COULD BEE GIVEN A CHANCE TO PROOF THAT HE WORTH BEING IN THE UNITED STARTING LINE?
    I NEED MANUCHO TO PLAY FREQUENTLY FOR MANCHESTER..HE CAN COMBINE WELL WITH BERBATOV IF MANU HAPPEN TO SIGN HIM FROM TOTERNAM HOTSPUR.

    From john Akumu, on Tue 15 Jul 9:15PM

  11. Liverpool are by far the most succesful team in england if not the world 18 league titles five european titles and 34 other titles so all u chalsea scumms and united people Liverpool are the best united 2 chelsea3 and aresnal are dung

    From barton767, on Tue 15 Jul 9:14PM

  12. What an awful piece of journalism! A Man Spew supporter by any chance?

    From smaceack1, on Tue 15 Jul 9:06PM

  13. i am a spurs fan and read the recent posts about ronaldo and real are man u not as bad as they are trying to get a player who is already contracted?????????????????? spurs have said they dont want to sell him! good job we have dos santos

    From mdl2783, on Tue 15 Jul 9:01PM

  14. To the person that said "fact liverpool were top european club last season". Is there any way you could possibly break that down for me? From what i can see liverpool acquired no silverware...Fact!. They finished 4th in the league..11 points behind United..Fact! They scored 13 goals less than United and conceeded 6 more in the league..Fact! In the Champions league, United wont their group by 5 points.and went on to loose...no games..while liverpool finished second in their group, loosing 3 games...Fact! liverpools only saving grace was against some sunday league team that showed up from turkey. I will however point something out...according to UEFA..Chelsea are the top ranked team in europe, being a full point ahead of liverpool, so yeah i have done my research and now i do know. But then again i dont really bother with Uefa rankings scroll down to the 16th ranked team in europe..AZ Alkmaar?? yeah i know im baffled too. Oh and one more point...if Uefa werent as nice as they are by allowing "NON-CHAMPIONS" into the champions league...(which does seem like false advertising to me) liverpool would never have played in the champions league to begin with!!!FACT!

    From EGG, on Tue 15 Jul 8:42PM

  15. I agree the writer sucks, he has something funny to say about once a week. How about doing some real journalism and checking your facts. Normally wouldn't state it but surely enoughs, enough. People leave bad feedback everyday and hes still getting paid for this drivel, i mean what the f*!&K does this mean

    "Liverpool, meanwhile, hastily review their offer of a fiver, TT's grandma, Jermaine Pennant's rap sheet and some alloy wheels, as Arsenal prepare a whopping bid of £8.99, Justin Hoyte 's wages, Alexander Hleb's ankles and the head of Emmanuel Adebayor's agent."

    Come on some real comedy or at least reporting would be nice.

    From danny_gauci, on Tue 15 Jul 8:24PM

  16. to nellyjones_rose---take it ur a scouser? lol why do u liverpool fans live in the memory of being the greatest english team ever lol? well i guess next season when man utd probably win the league again thats one u cant boast about FACT and im not even a manc lol
    Stop living in past times scousers u dont here villa and forrest fans ranting on od u no lol
    but i guess once you have won a league title then u can start talking about facts n stuff once again
    but the big FACT IS liverpool will never compete with the big 3 at this rate you seriously think you can win the prem with rafa at the helm? Mr tinkerman himself? worse than ranieri if you ask me but hey maybe his brilliant transfer business will help you,oh wait he hardly ever does any good in the market compared to Wenger,Fergie,Ramos,Moyes,Allardyce,O'neill,Mourinho now thats a big FACT

    From Paulo, on Tue 15 Jul 8:22PM

  17. DELPHINE R - You forgot about Lazy, Obnoxious, Arrogant, oh and you got a couple of things wrong. Van Nistelrooy, Henry , Torres , Shearer are all BETTER.

    When you people gonna wake up and smell wots really cooking... Don't you know anything about football

    From Andy, on Tue 15 Jul 8:15PM

  18. ok..im a man utd but in all fairness thas a bit harsh on liverpool....the writer is a @#$%

    From obrien329, on Tue 15 Jul 8:13PM

  19. Yeh ...!! BERBATOV..wii be an interesting Prospect..and "Throw" Wayne ROONEY, into the Transfer Package,surely as an !ADDED WEIGHT"..Ah..Ah..Ah..! - That's Great! Sir Alex might have found RELIEF for His "Living Nightmares"at Cristiano RONALDO's,having turned his Mobile "OFF"....LOL- "Man.U" is really Loosing their Marbles..over the RONALDO "SAGA"..-London

    From Dean_ManU, on Tue 15 Jul 8:12PM

  20. give very clear infos

    From dagostinonwan, on Tue 15 Jul 8:06PM
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