Premier League - Gossip Shop: Buffon to Man City

Eurosport - Fri, 21 Nov 23:34:00 2008

Sheikh Mansour must be a real pain in the neck when it comes to Secret Santa at Manchester City.

2008 Italy Gianluigi Buffon - 0

All the staff at Eastlands buy each other socks, Quality Street, maybe a cheap bottle of wine - sticking faithfully to the five pound limit.

Then in comes Mansour, having pulled Mark Hughes out of the hat, with a suspiciously large present.

He gives it to Sparky, who sets about tearing off the bows, ribbons and spangly wrapping paper.

"My God," he exclaims. "It's moving! It's got gloves! It's Gianluigi Freakin' Buffon!

"How much did this set you back?" asks the tea lady.

"Four ninety-five," the Sheikh replies, shifting uneasily on his seat. "Well, all right, I might have gone a bit over the limit."

"How much?"

"Sixty-three million."

"You flashy git. Dunnie loved the Bad Lashes calendar I got him, but now you've made me look like a right cheapskate," Elano chips in.

Anyway, you get the picture. Gianluigi Buffon to City for £63m - and they're going to pay him £250,000 a week.

Gazzetta dello Sport are all over it, so it must be true. Not a bad way to cover for Joe Hart's slight ankle injury.

Buffon himself said he would be receptive to a megabucks move from Juventus, saying: "If an offer of 100 million euros came in, I would go to the club to tell them to let me go: with that kind of money they could buy three superstars."

On now to the player City value at £135m, and Cristiano Ronaldo's move to Real Madrid is off. For sure. For certain. For definite.

Why? Because he has been accused of elbowing Real's Marcelo in Portugal's 6-2 thumping by Brazil on Wednesday.

Admittedly, it's only Marcelo doing the accusing, saying: "He elbowed me and I told him he didn't need to do that."

But once the wee wing-back tells his Madrid team-mates about this, the red carpet will be rolled back up and stowed away until they sign Cesc Fabregas.

Gossip Shop wants to know: what did football agent Dennis Latcher do before Andrei Arshavin got famous?

Since Euro 2008, Latcher has been talking non-stop (literally, non-stop) about his client's impending move from Zenit St Petersburg.

Let's dip into him now: "...he is being followed in England, Italy and Spain. Several things are happening, but we have no concrete offers. Real Madrid are in pole position but we have not entered into any negotiations..."

Martin Skrtel has denied saying he wants to leave Liverpool for Russia because it's dull: "I did not say the city (Liverpool) was boring."

On to stuff that isn't transfer news, but is funny - Portsmouth manager Tony Adams has been giving Jermain Defoe advice on how to avoid cramp - cut down on coffee.

Adams said: "I got cramp because I put 20 pints of lager down my neck and got dehydrated. It's different with Jermain. He drinks too much caffeine."

And it has been revealed that ex-Chelsea winger Jesper Gronkjaer 's current win bonus is two porn films from FC Copenhagen, who are sponsored by an adult film distributor.

Alex Chick / Eurosport

Comment 16 - 35 of 55

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  1. I would most definetly accept, as 250,000 a week in it­ self is more then half of what the team he plays on now­ makes. And such a large amount of money for a keeper­ would be a record. And you say that the Sheikh Mansour­ is stupid? He is rich enough that the economic problems­ barely hurt him. He also sells petrol, so I doubt he­ would ever go bankrupt.

    From a.guerrazzi, on Fri 21 Nov 6:18PM

  2. 29, if anyone did support only where theyre from, leeds­ will only have u!!!!!

    From sam2lloyd, on Fri 21 Nov 6:13PM

  3. Any truth in the rumour that they are digging for oil­ in the city carpark? lmao, every time a manu fan fills­ his car up he is putting money into the city bank­ account, its one thing having the money to buy all­ these stars but who in the right mind would play for­ city? you cant gold plate dog @#$%

    From lard, on Fri 21 Nov 6:10PM

  4. mattie west what a gobshite! c,mon u blues

    From Jd, on Fri 21 Nov 4:59PM

  5. 29. I always knew there was 1 leeds fan out there­ somewhere in the abyss!

    From David, on Fri 21 Nov 4:07PM

  6. You're only saying that cos the arse fell out of­ your world after David O'Leary. You just can't­ stand the fact that Man U are better than Leeds both as­ a team and a club, that's why they win things and­ you don't. You want to blame someone? blame your­ chairman and board who had it in their grasp and let it­ go, you could have been big but you blew it! That's­ life. And no I'm not a Man U fan and yes I support­ my local club.

    From mattie, on Fri 21 Nov 3:45PM

  7. 29 Hey big gee leeds,shutup ya face...everyone knows­ that ye leeds scum are hatchet men...yel never make it­ back to the premier league,and only pikeys living in­ leeds support ye because nobody else had heard of ye­ for the past 5 yrs....go on man u!!! in ur face

    From browntom69, on Fri 21 Nov 3:38PM

  8. Glory Glory who - think your living in the past, at­ least we might only have Bolton on Saturday, but at­ least we are in the Prem, what league is Leeds in­ now.
    Come on Boro

    From DaddyDavid, on Fri 21 Nov 3:37PM

  9. at the end of the day man u are @#$%. all u man u fans­ are just glory supporters who don't even live in­ manchester. you're suppost to support where u r­ from. I'm from england so i support england, i­ don't support brazil just cos there a good­ team.

    Glory Glory Leeds United, Glory Glory Leeds­ United!!
    L.U.F.C till i die!!!!

    From big_g_leeds, on Fri 21 Nov 3:27PM

  10. This is so bad! ...ITS LIKE READING THE SPORT PAGES OF­ THE DAILY STAR

    SO CALLED RUMOURS....THE BOYS IN THE­ YAHOO OFFICE MADE THESE UP AT LUNCHTIME!

    From marc.oconnor16, on Fri 21 Nov 3:02PM

  11. What is about to happen at Man City will prove to be a­ turning point in the history of the English Premier­ League. Plans will soon be underway to look at the­ possible introduction of transfer ceilings and­ wage-caps; obscene talk of £63 milion for a goalkeeper­ and £130 for the preening peacock are simply killing­ the game as a creditable competition.

    From cameron w, on Fri 21 Nov 3:01PM

  12. What a joke!!!; the Premiership money-go-round­ continues; surely this will cause further player price­ inflation which football can do without; paying £63­ million and a wage of£250,000/week for paying a­ football player is ridiculous. The sooner we get­ price/salary caps throughout all leagues the better.­ Also, where is the responsibility of such individuals­ who can give out such vast amounts of money to sport­ when people are STILL starving in this materially and­ technologically advanced world, and others are­ struggling to pay just to warm their home; it's­ irresponsible and immoral!!

    From marklbelluk, on Fri 21 Nov 2:36PM

  13. BRAINLESS - Never before have I seen a more appropriate­ name, You are officially an idiot, Ronaldo scored the­ opener in that Champions League Final, and as stated in­ my previous comment, Zidane has ended his career,­ Ronaldo has many more years to prove you wrong, and he­ will.As for that French team, superb on their day, what­ about the off days like when they got binned out of the­ following world cup in the first round, where was ZZ­ then? And for the record I think you will find it is­ 'losing' not 'loosing'. Muppet

    From mattie, on Fri 21 Nov 2:03PM

  14. this story must be a joke. Who would serious pay £63­ mil for a keeper. In this current economic state if I­ was Buffon I'd take the offer and laugh on how­ stupid Sheikh Mansour is

    From The Joker, on Fri 21 Nov 1:58PM

  15. Hey Buzz,
    Like all Manures you still cling to the fact­ that your stadium could be from Salford or Manchester,­ as you probably know but deny anyway ,Salford boundary­ stops at the Bridge on Trafford Road.Greater Manchester­ authority was abolished in 1998
    You are in Trafford (­ hence old trafford) So lets rename you Trafford Titans­ or something more appropriate The Bankrupt Babes­ !!!!!!!!!!!

    From RUSSELL, on Fri 21 Nov 1:55PM

  16. phil_willcox_2001, Rajeev is actually right. Zidane­ brought France a world cup with his classy plays. He­ also got them a European championship (his equaliser­ and his pass for the winner and more before that) and­ got them to the finals of another world cup (it was­ litterally him and Viera). Ronaldo did nothing in the­ Champion's League final including the missed­ penalty (remember how ZZ delivered his penalty in the­ FINAL of a WORLDCUP?). Ronaldo has basically failed­ every single big game. If you take away his goals­ scored while his team is already leading 2-0 or more,­ he would end up a good striker, no more. Big teams find­ him easy to manage, and that is why ManU are loosing­ every big game this year.. But I guess it will take you­ time to understand this. Next year probably :-)

    From Half A Brain, on Fri 21 Nov 1:54PM

  17. After Tony Adams put 20 pints of Lager down his neck­ I'm surprised he could feel his legs let alone know­ he had cramp in them! I had no idea he was wasted, I­ just thought he was 'special'. Leave Defoe­ alone anyway, I for one enjoy seeing him running around­ Fratton buzzing his nuts off like Beavis - 'Teepee­ for my bunghole'!

    From mattie, on Fri 21 Nov 1:51PM

  18. Nice ariticle it is the best I have seen in the last 3­ days.

    From a.guerrazzi, on Fri 21 Nov 1:49PM

  19. I sincerley hope this Buffon buisness is just paper­ talk. We finally have an up and coming English keeper­ who looks like he will be world class in a few years,­ and who can actually thrive off and win a penalty shoot­ out. If Man City give this already brilliant keeper­ time to develop, then he will forge a deeper­ understanding with his own defence in the long run than­ Someone who will only be around for a few years. If­ Buffon does arrive at City then I hope Hart walks. The­ last thing the England team needs now is their best­ goalkeeping prospect for the future being shoved on the­ bench.

    From davidman, on Fri 21 Nov 1:41PM

  20. The real genius in this article is Tony Adam's­ quote.

    'I got cramp because I put 20 pints of­ lager down my neck and got dehydrated. It's­ different with Jermain. He drinks too much­ caffeine.'

    Leg End.

    From boofonbomber, on Fri 21 Nov 1:38PM
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