Transfers - Gossip Shop: Inter set for Prem raid

Eurosport - Wed, 18 Mar 23:00:00 2009

Jose Mourinho is rumoured to be planning a £100 million-raid on England as he bids to translate Internazionale's domestic dominance to the continental playing field.

FOOTBALL Chelsea Carvalho Drogba - 0

His former Chelsea charges Didier Drogba, Ricardo Carvalho and Jon Obi Mikel are on his hit-list according to the Daily Mirror, as are Arsenal's Abou Diaby, Manchester United's Nemanja Vidic and, bizarrely, Tottenham workhorse Jermaine Jenas.

Drogba and Carvalho (pictured) make sense as they are both ageing, injury-prone and understandably obsessed with Mourinho, who gave them their big breaks at Stamford Bridge.

But while the oft-maligned JJ is actually quite good, it is difficult to see how he would keep Dejan Stankovic or Estaban Cambiasso out of the Inter team or indeed why Jose would want him to replace either of them. Ditto Diaby, who is clearly not the Patrick Vieira clone that everyone hoped he would be.

And Vidic would surely only leave United in the unlikely event that Sir Alex Ferguson decides to 'do a Gerard Houllier' and refuse to forgive him his Liverpool aberration.

Just as the English top flight was getting dominant and exciting again, those pesky Europeans are plotting to steal our thunder with a breakaway European Super League that would spell the end of top-class domestic football.

Well, that's what The Sun reckons anyway.

The European Club Association (which replaced the infamous G14 and includes more than 100 clubs from every UEFA nation) are supposedly hatching a devious plot to create a 60-team, three-tier Euro League that would include Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal in the top flight and any number of other English clubs in the second and third divisions.

Promotion and relegation would be between the three divisions with some kind of play-off system in place to determine who goes where and if indeed any new clubs can enter at all.

Sounds fun but, given the economic dominance of Premier League clubs, it would be in the ECA's interests to include as many English teams as possible. In a 38-match season. Which would leave domestic football in a right old state, although Tottenham might actually have a shot at coming fourth.

Milan are believed to be the sneaky instigators of this conspiracy, which would play into their evil hands as they currently have about as much chance of winning Serie A as Silvio Berlusconi has of passing through the eye of a needle.

GS believes it to be unlikely though, and not just because UEFA dismissed the idea - not only are Maltese pub side Birkikara one of the ECA's founder members, but England's fifth representative in the organisation is Newcastle. And only a fool would want them anywhere near an elite league.

Back to the buying and selling of men like dogs, Sheffield United managed to hang on to starlet Kyle Naughton during the January transfer window but, despite the coffers being swelled by the Carlos Tevez settlement, boss Kevin Blackwell may still have to sell him in the summer.

The England U21 international is being coveted by Manchester City as well as Tottenham and Fulham, which at least means the Blades will be able to hike up the price in the process.

Reda Maher / Eurosport

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  1. merrindavid - yup, I hope for that too so that we can­ win again. I was so high the other day.

    From c, on Thu 19 Mar 1:02AM

  2. Benitez signing on for the next 5 years should just­ about guarantee that they don't win the Premier­ League anytime soon and also swell the number of­ Spanish immigrants coming into the country. I wonder if­ he's spotted that there are good footballers all­ over Europe not just in Spain? If he had less money to­ squander on bad transfer targets would he be more­ selective and bring in genuine quality. Doubt it.­ Torres and Riera good buys. All the rest - good byes!

    From ALAN G, on Thu 19 Mar 12:56AM

  3. jamica to win the premiership yessssss

    From steve206kart, on Thu 19 Mar 12:18AM

  4. Benites has signed new contract 'till 2014.­ FAN-tastic for LFC. With that in mind, lets hope he­ starts to make less of his silly decisions and more of­ his better ones! In general, every manager from every­ team has done both, but he was a bit too much! Still,­ I'm LFC for life and here's to our­ "POSSIBLE" double!!!

    From LFCool!, on Wed 18 Mar 9:25PM

  5. murhino wont be at inter after this season the hi ties­ hate him and are giving him some stick @ the san siro­ sayin he pref to mannage the prem teams thats why he is­ going to man city and hughes is reverting back to­ mannage blackburn and sam poss goin to sunderland....­ YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST DEAL DONE AND DUSTED

    From mcpluker, on Wed 18 Mar 8:51PM

  6. comment 57 you sad scotish T££t get a life the spl is­ pants you bitter drunkin scot t""t

    From merrindavid, on Wed 18 Mar 8:33PM

  7. I so hope man utd get Liverpool in the champs league

    From merrindavid, on Wed 18 Mar 8:30PM

  8. The old firm derby is probably the best derby in­ Scotland. I wouldnt even mention it in the same vain as­ other notable derbies, River-Boca Flamengo-Fluminense­ Liverpool-Man utd Roma-Lazio Real-barca­ Nacional-penarol Red star-Partizan and many many more.

    From laboca123, on Wed 18 Mar 8:27PM

  9. comment 57, I agree with Ali k in that la liga is the­ best league in the world. I think the EPL amd serie A­ are joint second. As for the SPL, well that would be­ around the 30th best league in the UK

    From laboca123, on Wed 18 Mar 8:11PM

  10. iIf the 60 team is created,then Europ should have just­ a place for the World Cup since the 60 team will have­ just one football association. All is jealousy to bring­ down the EPL.Maybe a disguised Platini-Blatter plot

    From Michael, on Wed 18 Mar 7:42PM

  11. Ali k shut ur face u slapper

    From LFCool!, on Wed 18 Mar 7:24PM

  12. I was ready to accept the story until I read the name­ 'Jermaine Jenas'. If ever there was an­ overrated, anonymous midfielder, it's him.

    From Wayne D, on Wed 18 Mar 7:14PM
  13. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    in response to #41.

    The title has been won by 2 clubs­ the last what 5/6 years?.

    No other teams than Man Utd,­ Arsenal and Chelsea will ever win the league, not to­ mention that 9/10 times your big games are bore­ fests.

    Given our league might be "rubbish"­ but at least it isnt boring, considering its faster­ speed than the EPL.

    Also, just for the record? the Old­ Firm derby is within the top 3 derbys in world­ football, you have to goto double digits before any­ Overatedship league teams make it.

    La Liga, Best in­ the world.

    From ali k, on Wed 18 Mar 7:13PM

  14. jenniferdavies88 is using the comment oppertunity to­ con people into the pymid selling con, they are using­ the fact that people are in fear of losing their jobs­ and houses.
    jenniferdavies88 should have their account­ with Yahoo canceled and should be banned in the­ future.

    Enjoy your time jenniferdavies88, your eternal­ future does not look too good, conners give people­ hell, so hell is where conners will be going. ENJOY.

    From clive V, on Wed 18 Mar 6:50PM

  15. im a chelsea fan but i want carvahlo drogba and someone­ please take ballack as well lets face it chelsea are­ ageing
    we need to sign younger and fitter players like­ s.ramos villa and robinho

    From rezahammamy, on Wed 18 Mar 6:40PM

  16. European superleague:
    I'd suspect attendances would­ drop dramatically, I can't see many fans been able­ to go to games when travelling abroad to watch them.­ Flight Travel from airport Hotel maybe? Not cheap for­ a league game.

    From john m, on Wed 18 Mar 6:33PM

  17. chelsea should get rid of mineiro malouda and ballack­ and bring in vangner love keep Quaresma we already­ have the mid fielders like ESSIEN DECO LAMPARD MIKEL­ JOE COLE BELLETI CAN PLAY AS A MID FIELD AS WELL

    From Kevin, on Wed 18 Mar 6:19PM

  18. jose, u can buy anyone besides VIDIC!!!
    He is a a­ cheater an he is currently banned!!!!
    u can bring­ Drogs!!!...an y not Kenwyne Jones???
    big up trinidad an­ tobago!!!!! ORDA~!

    From gilakaka77, on Wed 18 Mar 6:15PM

  19. samir, whats that all about? No need to be racist about­ it

    From laboca123, on Wed 18 Mar 6:01PM

  20. Hope jose mourinho comes to liverpool and takes charge,­ the REDS will then be UNSTOPPABLE and a force to be­ reckoned with!!! MOURINHO TO LFC PLEASE!!

    From , on Wed 18 Mar 5:52PM
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