Transfers - Gossip shop: Terry on City wishlist

Eurosport - Wed, 26 Nov 19:33:00 2008

Rumour mills are funny things. Quite often they grind along pretty slowly, with all manner of giant cogs and wheels rotating gracefully to churn out the silky smooth flours of speculation and revelation.

FOOTBALL England John Terry - 0

Sometimes, that mechanism gets clogged up - perhaps by players heading off for international duty, or the post-transfer window lull - and that flow reduces to a trickle, with the interested millers grabbing what tiny crumbs they can.

But other times, it's as if a gang of cider-fuelled teenagers have broken into the mill by night, replaced its diesel with nitro-glycerine, and turned all the dials up to 11. Rather than producing a steady stream, suddenly the rumour mill starts spitting out enormous, semi-digestible lumps of insider info, half-truth and outrageous fabrication that - for GS, at least - make for great entertainment. And that's where things stand today.

Naturally enough, nothing throws the mill into turbo mode quicker than an enormous injection of hard cash, which is why GS kicks off with the latest Manchester City gossip.

Sheikh Mansour's umpteen bajillions must make Mark Hughes feel like a nine-year-old left to roam Hamleys with a stolen credit card, but even still he's surpassed himself with a post-Christmas wishlist of fantastically ridiculous proportions.

With a team that's shipping goals like the Titanic shipped icy seawater, it's no surprise that Hughes is trying to buy in the sort of defence that would make opposing attackers fall to the floor and beat the turf in frustration. The most eye-catching name on the list is the stupendously unlikely one of John Terry, who seems about as likely to join City as Alex Ferguson. But if Hughes gets his way in bringing the likes of Kolo Toure, Kaka, Fernando Torres, Roque Santa Cruz, Ricardo Oliviera and Ashley Cole to the sky blue side of Manchester, then could the Chelsea captain be up for a new challenge?

Probably not, but with Chelsea apparently about to fire academy director Frank Arnesen in order to save paying his £2 million wages, the decision might well not be Terry's to make. City's reputed £63m offer for Juventus and Italy keeper Gianluigi Buffon was so outrageous that Buffon himself is said to have recommended that the club accept it, for their own good - and in a credit-crunch world, it might just happen.

That's the thing about City's windfall: it's as if they've won the Euromillions at the exact same moment that everyone else in their street has started worrying about their jobs and missing credit card payments. Even the taxman has bad news for football these days, with income tax for rich people - and this includes every Premiership footballer in the country - set to jump in a couple of years time. You think those poor, struggling players will be happy to take a five percent pay cut? Exactly. Wages will have to rise for English clubs to stay competitive with their foreign counterparts.

Cash flow crisis or not, with Chelsea now looking certain to lose sulkmeister extraordinaire Didier Drogba to Inter, Big Phil Scolari is looking out for possible replacements. The smart money is on Brazilian Adriano to come in the opposite direction, but if the man mountain of a striker doesn't fancy life in London then another Brazilian, CSKA Moscow's Wagner Love, looks like the top target.

Despite the fact that Love, like Drogba, has one of world football's most wonderfully ludicrous names, would he really fill the Didier-shaped gap? Certainly not as well as Fernando Torres, but the Liverpool man has restated his dedication to the club which he claims to see as a "symbol of the city which fought to stay alive", in one of the schmalziest football quotes of the year.

Returning to the money issue, Southampton are apparently struggling to pay the bills and will be looking to offload defensive duo Andrew Surman and Adam Lalla, with both Stoke and Fulham keen to pick up the pair. Stoke are also about to sign Senegalese defender Lamine Diatta, a free agent since being released by Newcastle earlier this year.

Sunderland and Coventry are both looking to offload players from their payroll, with the Black Cats looking to sell Pascal Chimbonda for around £5 million and Coventry wanting rid of Gary Borrowdale. And Middlesborough have cut their wage bill by sending John Johnson off to Tranmere on loan. Will Liverpool take the same route with Dutchman Ryan Babel? In the last few months he's been an expensive benchwarmer at £11.5m, and though he's making all the right noises about keeping his patience, a healthy bid in January might be welcomed.

Anglo-Iberian trade seems likely to grow in the next few months, with Arsenal after Sevilla's Federico Fazio, Everton after Portuguese defender Vasco Fernandes of Leixoes and Valencia keen on Cesar Sanchez, the Spurs reserve keeper.

Elsewhere, there's plenty of focus on who will take over from Colin Calderwood at the Championship's current basement club, Nottingham Forest. Aidy Boothroyd, Iain Dowie and Lawrie Sanchez have all been mentioned, names to bring chills down the spine of many a fan and serve as reminders of the odd fact that strings of high-profile failures rarely seem to bar managers from finding new work. But the big news is that Sam Allardyce is apparently interested in getting back to work following his enforced 11-month holiday. With reputed interest in the club from the Middle East, could Forest finally be on their way back to the top of the English game?

Toby Keel / Eurosport

Comment 14 - 33 of 73

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  1. "It is not ALL about money you throw at­ players."
    You couldn't be more further from­ the truth. It's ONLY about the money.The only thing­ that gets footballers to play for a club is money. The­ only thing that footballer will accept in payment for­ thier services is money. The only way to entice a­ player to swap clubs is by offering more money. The­ only reason the TOP4 in England are the TOP4 is the­ amount of money they have spend compared to the other­ 92 league teams. Football isn't run on honour,­ loyalty and sportamanship anymore and if you think you­ can tie John Terry to Chelsea because hes a right nice­ lad that wouldn't do such a thing as move, your due­ your medicine and your afternoon nap m8.

    From Andy, on Wed 26 Nov 4:23PM

  2. Zoosem you're right, John Terry, who was Defender­ Of The Season or something, and voted in PFA team of­ the year or something is @#$%.
    you my friend, are what­ is known as an idiot. a complete fool without any­ knowledge whatsoever. i bet you just support a team­ Terry did well against, and there are SO many, and hate­ him for it

    From Ted, on Wed 26 Nov 4:17PM

  3. Robinho was extremely unhappy and desperate to escape­ Real. Does JT look unhappy and desperate to leave­ Chelsea to you?

    What no one (thus far) has reported­ was how many bids for various other high profile­ players that Man City submitted before the transfer­ deadline that they had TURNED DOWN!!! Why? Because the­ players did not want to go there!!!

    It is not ALL­ about money you throw at players.

    From deejaydomino, on Wed 26 Nov 4:07PM

  4. what were you looking for PORN you WA8888

    From Bernard, on Wed 26 Nov 4:07PM

  5. what a sad page and a @#$% article!!!

    From Yves, on Wed 26 Nov 4:06PM

  6. YOUR A @#$% ZOOSE.JT IS THE BEST CENTRE BACK IN THE­ WORLD AND WOULD WALK INTO ANY TEAM SO DONT TALK @#$%­ YOU SAD LITTLE MAN

    From marc e, on Wed 26 Nov 4:02PM

  7. It would be worth several hundred million to lure JT­ into City just to see the jaws drop on the crowd­ outside Stamford Bridge on the Sky Sports­ "transfer window" prog. Surely they can't­ drop any lower than when they found out Robinho­ wasn't arriving but was due into Eastlands.
    If you­ think it's impossible for JT to end up at City, put­ you are deluding yourself. It's all about the­ money.

    From Andy, on Wed 26 Nov 4:01PM

  8. Didn't Mark Hughes say City owners wouldn't pay­ silly money for players....if they don't they will­ not get the best ones.

    From mike_burwin, on Wed 26 Nov 3:54PM

  9. Terry is @#$%. He shouldnt even be playing for england

    From adam, on Wed 26 Nov 3:50PM

  10. This article is wholly inaccurate. Players like every­ other high earner wont actually take a 5% pay cut­ because you are not taxed on all your earnings only up­ to 45% of your earnings will be taxed in the future. So­ in real terms the actual hit taken due to the increase­ is something like 2%. And we all know these rich types­ dont pay anything like that due to being able to afford­ rich accountants. So get your facts right YAHOO and­ dont expect us peunters to feel sorry for these­ overpaid foreigners who hold little club loyalty and­ will be off to other countries as soon as the bigger­ pay is offered abroad

    From Wm, on Wed 26 Nov 3:39PM

  11. Why publish this absoloute @#$%? You don't have to­ be a brain surgeon to know that this is complete made­ up nonsense... who actually gets paid to write this­ waffle? I demand to know..

    Who actually beleives that­ Terry is going to go to City? No amount of money will­ lure Kaka either... least of all to City. He has­ already publically said that he is at Milan for life­ and signed a long contract.

    Just spare us these wild­ claims... I would rather you just leave the page blank­ than read some of the dung that is written on here. The­ worst thing is that some buffoons might actually­ beleive it.. who else are you going to link with Man­ City? Eric Cantona? George Best? Ronald McDonald? Take­ your pick...

    From deejaydomino, on Wed 26 Nov 3:38PM

  12. Chelsea are currently top of the league with a goak­ difference of +28; and they haven't been able to­ use Drogba much this season so far because of­ injuries/suspensions. Anelka is in a rich vein of form­ and they have players scoring goals from almost all­ areas of the pitch. To suggest that they need someone­ else to unlock defences is, frankly, laughable and­ shows an ignorance of football at quite an­ extraordinary level. Newcastle defended out of their­ skins last Sat. and Chelsea just had 'one of those­ days' - they created (as usual) enough chances to­ win several games of football but none of them stuck. ­ Unfortunately, we had a similarly frustrating­ experience against Fulham and failed to leapfrog them­ at the top. Aaaah! the beautiful game...
    PH -­ Liverpool fan

    From purple_hatstand, on Wed 26 Nov 3:28PM

  13. never gonna happen

    From Tom, on Wed 26 Nov 3:23PM
  14. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    the same thing when roman can no longer afford it, and­ players will go to city. Robinho? wherent Chelsea after­ him? and players went to chelsea for no other reason­ than money, as for Terry god who'd want him? we saw­ how commanding in was in Germany, what a dummy.

    From Christopher, on Wed 26 Nov 3:14PM

  15. i'd buy ashley cole and then play him in the­ reserve league! - scum

    From rwlwhite1, on Wed 26 Nov 3:05PM

  16. Does anyone know of a good way to attach asparagus to­ lamp-posts other than using araldite?

    From Leonard Nimoy, on Wed 26 Nov 3:02PM

  17. gz jarvis - you really believe that do you?
    Are you a­ blue in manchester, if you are then you know that it is­ only supporters of other teams who make that statement­ cos you know the highs and lows (depending on the­ rsult)of being at school or work with all the­ opposition fans after a derby between United and City,­ you know that it is pretty evenly spread between the 2­ clubs and you may even know that United have more ST­ holders in the Greater Manchester area and City have a­ higher proportion of all their ST holders in the same­ area.
    But don't let facts get in the way of­ getting a cheap, unoriginal dig in at United.

    From emmalouise.doyle, on Wed 26 Nov 3:01PM

  18. if drogba decides to go to inter milan, it wont be a­ bad idea to let him go to provide chelsea with the­ opportunity of seaching and signing a young striker­ that can go one on one with a defender at least­ unlocking opponents defence either creating or scoring­ the goals cuz apparently at the moment is wat chelsea­ needs, taking a look at the chelsea vs newcastle the­ absence of a truely creative and skillfull striker to­ finish the job of the midfielders. scolari should look­ beyond andriano, and peter kenyon should stop talking­ about not needing anyone, cuz kenyon totally fumbled­ with Robinho transfer. just imagine a robinho in front­ of a mobile chelsea midfield with Deco/lampard/ballack­ with a spark of brillancy any defence in europe or the­ english premiarship would ve so much work to do cuz­ anything can happen. TRUE BLUE. JEAN FROM 9JA

    From jean o, on Wed 26 Nov 3:01PM

  19. if drogba decides to go to inter milan, it wont be a­ bad idea to let him go to provide chelsea with the­ opportunity of seaching and signing a young striker­ that can go one on one with a defender at least­ unlocking opponents defence either creating or scoring­ the goals cuz apparently at the moment is wat chelsea­ needs, taking a look at the chelsea vs newcastle the­ absence of a truely creative and skillfull striker to­ finish the job of the midfielders. scolari should look­ beyond andriano, and peter kenyon should stop talking­ about not needing anyone, cuz kenyon totally fumbled­ with Robinho transfer. just imagine a robinho in front­ of a mobile chelsea midfield with Deco/lampard/ballack­ with a spark of brillancy any defence in europe or the­ english premiarship would ve so much work to do cuz­ anything can happen.

    From jean o, on Wed 26 Nov 3:00PM

  20. All these city fans are living the dream... Wats gona­ happen when the sheikh will get sick of the whole­ thing????

    From alastairharte, on Wed 26 Nov 2:55PM
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