Transfers - Transfer Talk: Santa Cruz for Spurs

Eurosport - Fri, 30 Jan 10:11:00 2009

Leading off today's Transfer Talk is the rumour that Harry Redknapp is set to continue his frenzied spending spree by offering £20 million for Blackburn Rovers striker Roque Santa Cruz.

FOOTBALL Blackburn Rovers Santa Cruz - 0

After years of being a wheeling-and-dealing Del Boy-like character, old 'Arry seems like the cat that's got the cream since moving to White Hart Lane as he spends money like it has gone out of fashion.

Del Boy somewhat spoiled his previously impregnable reputation with the frankly rubbish last set of Only Fools and Horses Christmas specials - and Redknapp's less-celebrated status could be on shaky ground if all these big moves of his do not work out for him.

When he was at West Ham, for example, he could just about be given a pass for signing the likes of Marco Boogers as he only cost £1m, but the fans at the Lane will be less forgiving if they are left with the most expensive squad in Championship history.

One person who is certainly not a member of the Harry Redknapp Appreciation Society is Lyon striker Fred, who has called the Spurs boss a "liar" after Redknapp claimed the Brazilian striker skipped a planned meeting between the pair.

The mooted price of that move was £4m - so instead Tottenham are now chasing a player that is about as talented but five times more expensive than Fred.

With Matt Derbyshire on the brink of joining Olympiacos too, Blackburn need to make some striker moves of their own.

Sam Allardyce has identified Wolfsburg's 'Bosnian goal machine' Edin Dzeko as a £6m target, while Zenit's Pavel Pogrebnyak is also on his radar. However, Big Sam need only ask Arsene Wenger how hard it is to sign a player from the Russian club!

Elsewhere, Wigan Athletic could quickly become one of the richest clubs in the Premier League if Antonio Valencia follows Wilson Palacios and Emile Heskey out of the JJB.

Real Madrid have had a £12m bid for the Ecuadorian turned down with Steve Bruce holding out for £18m.

Bruce may raid his recently swelled coffers to make a £6m bid for Newcastle's Charles N'Zogbia with the Magpies also set to lose Shay Given to Manchester City for £8.5m any day now.

Fulham are set to bid £2.5m for Leeds' £8m-rated Fabian Delph but Tottenham's Tom Huddlestone could emerge as a more realistic option.

However, the figure of Leon Andreasen - wanted by German club Hanover - may be slinking out of Craven Cottage.

West Ham want to sign Internazionale teenager Mario Balotelli, while Radoslav Kovac could also move to Upton Park from Spartak Moscow. The Kovac signing is particularly exciting for Hammers fans as presumably he will bring his supermodel girlfriend Klara Medkova with him.

Hull are willing to pay £2m to French Ligue 2 side Boulogne for defender Steven Mouyokolo, while Everton will also add depth to their backline with the £150,000 capture of Irish right-back Seamus Coleman of Sligo Rovers.

Sunderland will lose Kenwyne Jones for just £6m if they get relegated under the terms of his new deal, while Portsmouth's move for Valencia's Sunny - on loan at Osasuna - has fallen through over personal terms.

In the Championship, Birmingham will pay £1.5m for Doncaster defender Matthew Mills while they also want Honduran striker Carlo Costly. However, presumably because he has such an expensive-sounding name, they will only sign Costly on loan from Polish club Belchatow.

Reading have denied they have received any bids for Stephen Hunt which has caused the Irish winger to say: "Maybe some people need to go to church on Sunday and go to confession."

QPR have failed in a £1.5m bid for Sheffield United's Matthew Kilgallon with the Blades wanting £4m for the defender.

Finally in League One, we could see the unlikely return of Kevin Keegan at Huddersfield. He is being lined up for a part-time coaching role.

Seán Fay / Eurosport

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    From www.premiership.altervista.org, on Fri 30 Jan 7:06PM
  2. Steven Ireland to Arsenal??? Ha ha ha ha ha. Why in God's name would he want to go there? There's more chance of City winning something THIS season than Arsenal, and we've got next to no chance on any front.

    Give us Adebayor AND £10m and you're getting somewhere close to Ireland's worth.

    And Spurs have got no chance of getting RSC - I don't want him, but if he's going anywhere it's to City on Monday night for £20m. Check the news items - the player himself has said he wants to link up with Hughes again, Spurs would be better off targetting yet more old boys - Hoddle, Ardilles etc.

    From Paul F, on Fri 30 Jan 12:39PM
  3. Santa cruz is better than Bent isn't it?

    From chariot16, on Fri 30 Jan 11:47AM
  4. up the spurs

    From garylocker, on Fri 30 Jan 11:47AM
  5. yid army

    From garylocker, on Fri 30 Jan 11:47AM
  6. up the spurs

    From garylocker, on Fri 30 Jan 11:41AM
  7. Wenger, it's less than 4 days to the end of the transfer window and you still have not gotten one player into the squad despite the apparent weakness in all department in the team. What is your plan for Asrenal, certainly,it is not for us to win trophies this season. We are embarrased by your supposed "prudence" as it is dampening the morale of the team and the supporters. We believe in the club because even GOD is a GUNNER

    From victash4real, on Fri 30 Jan 8:56AM
  8. we dont need santa cruz, he is a waste of money. Unless we are selling Pavluchenko for a truck load of dosh??

    From Wayne, on Fri 30 Jan 8:18AM
  9. And . . . . . Kevin Kyle has signed an 18 month contract with . . . . Kilmarnock Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    From Gareth, on Thu 29 Jan 11:17PM
  10. Supposedly Arshavin deal 90% there :).

    From Gareth, on Thu 29 Jan 11:17PM
  11. Go on Harry - spend, spend, spend, spend, spend and then tell everyone how good you are because you got spurs out of the drop zone. And, when money is gone, you can walk out and tell the world how Tottenham should think of you as god - and you did not want to go but you had no more mony etc, etc.

    From Martin, on Thu 29 Jan 10:54PM
  12. why would santa cruz wanna play for spurs, they're going down haha, and they deserve to!

    From GEOFF, on Thu 29 Jan 10:37PM
  13. #55 u have a real good point!!

    From Omar F, on Thu 29 Jan 10:33PM
  14. anyway, Wenger I think that Stephen Ireland is better than Arshavin, he is a better player; he is also younger, more experienced in England, so.... He could help us more. Our midfield should look like this without our injuries and will be very successful:
    RM: Walcott RCM: Fabregas LCM: Nasri LM: Ireland

    From Omar F, on Thu 29 Jan 10:32PM
  15. OK, go guess on some other website you @#$% idiot!!!!!!!!

    From Omar F, on Thu 29 Jan 10:29PM
  16. #37 your guesses are sht, u suk!!!

    From Omar F, on Thu 29 Jan 10:29PM
  17. to comment 46 achunkychops. take your face for a s@?t cos you are talking plenty of it

    From keith310779, on Thu 29 Jan 9:35PM
  18. HAVE SPURS FORGOTTEN ABOUT MIDO, MALBRANQUE, KABOUL,BOATENG, BERBATOV? AM REMINDING HARRY SINCE THEY ARE BUYING BACK THEIR PLAYERS THEY SOLD LESS THAN A YEAR AT A LOSS.THIS SITUATION IS VERY STRANGE IN FOOTBALL WORLD AND ONLY HAPPENS AT SPURS.AMAZING CLUB

    From valach, on Thu 29 Jan 9:16PM
  19. i see spurs ell there players then try to buy them back at a higher price lol is this the new trend he he

    From OLIVER, on Thu 29 Jan 9:03PM
  20. Delap to Blackburn
    D.Bent to Everton
    Barnes to Hull
    Hyppia to Bolton
    Valencia to Aston Villa
    Henry to Portsmouth
    Kalou to Arsenal
    Ledley to Tottenham
    Aguero to Man.city
    Guti to West brom
    j.Cole to West Ham
    Bapista to Stoke city
    Downing to Man.u
    Denilson to Wigan
    Farfan to Liverpool
    Babel to Fulham
    Toni to Newastle
    Eboue to Sunderland

    My guesses

    From GARY, on Thu 29 Jan 8:24PM
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