Premier League - Transfer Talk: Sense prevails

Eurosport - Fri, 25 Jul 08:44:00 2008

The absurd transfer merry-go-round appears to have lost momentum, with Barcelona reported to have cooled their interest in Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor.

FOOTBALL Adebayor - 0

The Sun claim that the Togo man told a team mate "I'm not sure I'm going to leave now".

Barca are said to be less than impressed by Adebayor's attitude, having had previous fall-outs at former club Monaco and with his national team, while a £37.5 million price tag is proving more than off-putting.

And with Milan closing their chequebook after the signing of Ronaldinho, Adebayor might have to 'do a Gareth Barry' and endure the low-level wrath of Gunners fans.

Pep Guardiola's Barca, meanwhile, may have switched their attention to the white half of North London. With Tottenham Hotspur furious at what they perceive to be illegal attempts by Manchester United to sign Dimitar Berbatov, they could let the Bulgaria hit-man go to Los Cules - for £5m under the asking price.

Spurs want £30m from United - although it is understood they would accept a few million less - while Barca would be allowed to have the ex-Leverkusen man for around £25m.

Britain's favourite tabloid also reckon that former Liverpool midfielder Paul Ince wants to make Reds winger Jermaine Pennant his first proper signing at Blackburn. They say he will use £6 million of the cash raked in by selling David Bentley to Spurs.

The Daily Star could land Liverpool in yet more hot water after quoting Dirk Kuyt as saying he would welcome Robbie Keane as a "great signing".

Rafael Benitez has already been reported by Spurs for commenting on long-term target Keane, while Aston Villa are furious at his pursuit of their captain Barry.

And it seems Benitez has used a similar tactic with Keane - Steven Gerrard openly courted Barry early in that saga, which drew criticism from Villa fans and the club.

The same paper also made the somewhat colourful claim that Everton boss David Moyes is angry with Andrew Johnson for not playing in a pre-season friendly ahead of a proposed £10.5 million move to Fulham - but The Sun reckon he was more than happy to rest his striker, with Vagner Love set to move to Goodison from CSKA Moscow.

With Steed Malbranque and Younes Kaboul still umming and aahing about moves to Sunderland, Roy Keane is lining up a £6 million bid for Celtic winger Aiden McGeady - even though he just signed a new contract (Daily Mirror).

Marlon King has to wait to join Hull after the proposed move hit a contractual snag with Wigan, who want him to waive his loyalty bonus after barely featuring for the club since joining in January (The Sun), although The Guardian reckon it's "90 percent" done.

Middlesbrough could replace Wigan-bound midfielder Lee Cattermole with Reading's James Harper, according to The Guardian, while Manchester City have offered Chelsea £4 million for misfit Israel defender Tal Ben Haim.

And finally, the Premier League goalkeeper swap-shop is gaining momentum, with all papers reporting Brad Friedel's move from Blackburn to Aston Villa, and Spurs keeper Paul Robinson set to replace the American at Ewood Park. Another American - Brad Guzan - will provide back-up to Friedel at Villa Park, assuming he gets a work permit for his move from Chivas USA.

Reda Maher / Eurosport

Comment 36 - 55 of 55

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  1. ronaldo is nothing more than a show pony were is he in big games next season he wont score half the goals he did this season

    From m.farney@..., on Sat 26 Jul 9:51AM

  2. villa to partner torres thank god raffa is a cleaver man

    From cleggylivingthedream@..., on Fri 25 Jul 9:19PM

  3. Adebayor is absolutely the most overated striker of last season...Arsenal should get rid of him and his money grabbing attitude.

    From Hotshot, on Fri 25 Jul 12:55PM

  4. We the Manchester United Family are inviting Arsenal, Chelsea and even Liverpool fans to join us to avod another embarassment this season.Ha!Ha!Ha! who said we are letting go of our trophies that we earned last season to either of three teams? if you you want to challenge us bring it on. Real Madrid, stop day dreaming."Ronaldo" aint going no where. you better strat poaching opportunists like Drogba and Adebayor. MANCHESTER UNITED FOR LIFE

    From vm_bcentre, on Fri 25 Jul 12:03PM

  5. i like adebayor but i think he is a little bit of a @#$% wanking off about his wages

    From jamie_naik, on Fri 25 Jul 11:15AM

  6. talk all you want to talk about man utd dont talk we do the victory parades.

    From DAVID K, on Fri 25 Jul 9:23AM

  7. I do have some sympathy with these players and their critique from 'fans' of course they are money grabbing greedy so and so's, I would be. If you worked at Asda for £6 an hour and Tesco offered you the same job with better prospects for £10 an hour wouldn't you take it, It's not the players fault they get to demand so much money it's the industry (although i'd like to call it a sport but it's not anymore). It dosen't matter what job you do or how you make your living everyone wants more money, welcome to human nature......

    From stewart f, on Fri 25 Jul 8:12AM

  8. Spurs fan, i think if Man Utd want Berbatov,and Liverpool want Keane,they should either pay up or shut up,the amount of touting for players nowadays should be stopped by the FA and the clubs who do should be fined.
    Jimbo.

    From jim, on Fri 25 Jul 6:01AM

  9. i think dis issue of buyin players. It luk somehow lik a greedy act. ao could a player leave his club before his deal is over. players should try not to sign up for a club more than two years so dat he will be able to go to another club freely wen his deal is over or renew his deal. i know wat cos it. those players are sffering from a sickness called conveteousness.

    From samolaade2008, on Fri 25 Jul 5:34AM

  10. I do my best.

    From , on Fri 25 Jul 3:05AM

  11. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH YOU TWO ARE VERY HILARIOUS. WHAT A F@#$NG JOKERS

    From VICTOR V, on Fri 25 Jul 1:35AM

  12. Whatever happened to freedom of speech?
    When players hear rumours about certain other players that might be joining their club, its now an offence to mention how great it would be if they joined their club, since when?
    All this talk about such and such a manager said this or that is purely newspaper talk so for the F.A. or Premier League to take it seriously then they are more stupid than I thought, if there is proof of tapping fair enough but if a manager or player says E.G. "Oh I'd love to see Gerrard playing in blue" then for them to be repremanded for it would be breaking our freedom of speech laws!
    Tapping up is when they go behind a clubs back and straight to the player or his agent not expressing a wish on another player!

    From jasonglidden1966, on Fri 25 Jul 1:24AM

  13. HAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHHA you two are hilarious. What a bunch of jokers

    From manu0862@..., on Thu 24 Jul 11:22PM

  14. and Ronaldo is off to get Portugal a gold in ballet dancing

    From steve, on Thu 24 Jul 9:57PM

  15. Drogba is off to the olympics representing his nations diving team.

    From , on Thu 24 Jul 9:44PM

  16. im seroiusly woried about villa's lack of signings. barry leaving would be a disaster. martin o'neill is a grat manager but i think he can be to hard headed about signing players. sort it out villa. at the moment we are lookng at a 10th place finish which is not good enough.

    From tom, on Thu 24 Jul 9:35PM

  17. exactly...adabayore wouldnt evan score 1 goal if 10 chances were given to him...eduardos left foot is much more of a threat...evan though he is cripled ,he could still score more goals ona football pitch than adabayore...

    From sunil p, on Thu 24 Jul 9:10PM

  18. anybody got any ideas who will go down with West Ham this coming season

    From , on Thu 24 Jul 9:07PM

  19. i think adebayor should stay in England, i dont even think he is better than the injured Eduardo.

    From TeenageShortie5343, on Thu 24 Jul 7:57PM

  20. I can't understand all the fuss about courting players. Everyone wants to play for the best teams, the selling club has to agree to the price. Just think of it like "normal" people. Everyone talks their mates into working for the same companies etc. Also everyone wants to be paid as much as possible. Then they get bored like Crouch did and go somewhere to get a game.
    Also, why would liverpool buy Keane for £20m when they could get Berbatov/Villa for a little bit more and get a few more years out of them.

    From thatll be telling, on Thu 24 Jul 6:23PM
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