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 1 - 15 of 55

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  1. hey raaajveer are you a better player than ron ? could­ you tell us who should be bought who is better than­ ronaldo ???
    i would be interested to know your­ thoughts on this matter

    From PAUL L, on Fri 21 Nov 1:37PM

  2. The person who penned this is a comedian. Cant wait­ for the next Mickey Mouse story and statistics on wages­ offered!!!!

    From rriazrahman, on Fri 21 Nov 1:19PM

  3. "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, alright, 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.

    Hahahahahahahaaaaaaa...
    Pure genius, whoever­ wrote that...
    Damn funny...

    From Buzz, on Fri 21 Nov 1:18PM

  4. Hey Raajveer...
    At least United have the SLIM Ronaldo­ and not some bucked toothed has been who sleeps with­ transexuals...
    so how many city players have won the­ Prem??? The Champs League???
    Now kind shut it and carry­ on running ya corner shop in Hyde...

    GLORY GLORY MAN­ UTD...

    Long live Salford...

    From Buzz, on Fri 21 Nov 1:16PM

  5. If you can afford him - why not?

    From Charlie G, on Fri 21 Nov 1:10PM

  6. Raajveer L.Got to disagree with you,mate.I'm a­ Liverpool Fan,and no great fan of Ronaldo for some of­ his antics,but his football speaks for itself.He's­ scored some wonderful goals and all types,free-kicks­ headers etc.He's scored against virtually every­ Prem team and some great Euro and International­ sides.He can behave like a spoilt little kid at­ times,but in this generation of footballers,he's up­ there!!

    From jhr881, on Fri 21 Nov 1:10PM

  7. its a joke:))

    From massimo, on Fri 21 Nov 1:07PM

  8. RAAJVEER L! You are clearly retarded in some way. You­ are also clearly anti Man U and Ronaldo. I am neither a­ Man U fan nor particularly a Ronanldo fan, especially­ since his infamous winking incident against England.­ However, any idiot can see that he is a special player­ and would be in any team in the world and they would be­ glad to have him. He has the courage to take chances­ and show flare where others would'nt dare, the mere­ fact that Brazil had to 'stifle him out' as you­ put it, shows just how afraid of him they were - which­ is the best compliment you can pay a player. No he is­ not perfect, and yes he can be stopped from playing,­ but there is'nt a defender around that does'nt­ relish the chance of trying to deal with him - because­ he's so good! As for Zidane, well his career is­ over, so why dont we judge mr Ronaldo at the end of his­ also? rant over.

    From mattie, on Fri 21 Nov 1:00PM

  9. man city will be linked with every player worth­ mentioning before now and jan

    From mattymogo, on Fri 21 Nov 1:00PM

  10. A rumour about one player going to Manchester City­ these days has become as legitimate and as believable­ as a rumour about another player on his way to Real­ Madrid. A rumour, no more no less !!

    From Tim, on Fri 21 Nov 12:50PM

  11. Raajveer, where was zz in his last game against­ italy??? oh right, in the shower

    From Philip, on Fri 21 Nov 12:48PM
  12. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    1st

    From Alex P, on Fri 21 Nov 12:45PM
  13. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    First!

    From Alex P, on Fri 21 Nov 12:45PM

  14. good game 4 man city go on buy buffon the great.

    From ikemefula4life, on Fri 21 Nov 12:39PM

  15. To all the Man U fans out there, who reckon Ronaldo is­ the next Zidane, or better.. where was he against the­ former world greats Brazil? No-where!! Adds weights to­ the argument that Ronaldo is only decent against­ ''lower-ranked teams'' compared to when­ he is up against the BIG GUNS, if he is really that­ good he should destroying teams, no matter what the­ oppostion, but the fact is Brazil stifiled him out!­ Even the Brazilian Ronaldo was better than him...he is­ only made his name against the B' teams of the­ league, or europe...

    From Raaj, on Fri 21 Nov 12:34PM
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