All right, I spoke too soon when I said Ruud was Madrid-bound. I still think he is; I think Fergie is being coy. He can't have both Ruud and Cristiano sulking on the bench all season. That would be one very costly sulk.
Regarding what is being called the Great Italian Fire-sale, Zambrotta is the belle of the ball, courted by Chelsea, Real Madrid and Barca, but he says he wants to go to AC Milan. Buffon also wants to go to Milan, although Arsenal and Man U both salivate after him. There's also some hint that Man U will happily settle for Dida if Buffon makes him expendable. Chelsea wants Cannavaro but he wants Madrid, as well. Real also wants Emerson.
Juventus says both Del Piero and Nedved are planning to stay put, despite recent intimations that the Czech was Tottenham-bound. Patrick Vieira and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (did I spell that right?) may be bound for Internazionale. Milan says both Kaka and Gattuso are set to stay.
In Premiership news: Wigan has signed Dutch midfielder Denny Landzaat for three years, and there's talk they may get Hearts defender Andy Webster as well.
West Brom is refusing to sell Kuszczak to Man U for the time being, and Spurs, Pompey and the Gunners are all vying for defender Curtis Davies. As of yesterday, Pompey seemed to have the edge, and are also casting a lustful eye on Celtic midfielder Stilian Petrov. Portsmouth are also hot on the heels of Manuel Fernandes, 20-year-old Benfica midfielder, and Nicolas Anelka from Fenerbahce.
Darren Bent has signed a new four-year contract with Charlton, spurning Newcastle advances, and Charlton captain Luke Young has renewed as well, putting the kibosh on rumors of a jaunt to West Ham. The wonderfully-named Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink will also don the Charlton kit.
Meanwhile, Fulham wants Boro defender Franck Queudrue, and Everton wants to re-sign Real Madrid's Thomas Gravesen. Tottenham is looking to Italy for Lazio's Massimo Oddo and Blackburn Rovers are negotiating with Roma for Egyptian striker Mido. Word is that Lucas Neill will stay with the Rovers for now.
Arsenal may be interested in Lilian Thuram, but he wants to go to Barca. Wenger has also made a bid for Ribery but says he's not interested in Saviola. He's covered in front, he says, and it's the back-field needs shoring up, thanks.
Tottenham are getting Irish winger Damien Duff from Chelsea.
Liverpool are loaning Cisse to Marseille but there's talk they'll get a loan of Juventus striker David Trezeguet, which might be very exciting indeed. Benitez is also hot on the trail of Dirk Kuyt of Feyenoord.
And now for the big news (if you're Derek, anyway): Bolton has agreed to release Borgetti! After a season wasted warming Allardyce's bench, the legendary Mexican star is ready to move someplace where he's wanted. No word yet where.
In other Bolton news, the rumor mill says they're looking at Lanus center-back Leandro Gioda and Juan Velasco from Atletico Madrid.
This is fun.
2 comments:
I am excited by the news that Big Sam will finally release Borgetti from his contract. The only reason I got interested in the Bolton Wanderers in the first place was because they signed him last summer. I watched them loyally all season until I couldn't take it anymore--the ugly long balls and the fact that they'd never play the Mexican star. Hope he goes to Spain.
I read earlier today that Barca is close to signing Thuram as well as Italy's Zambrotta. I'll believe it when I see it, but I'm hopeful. Guess poor Maxi Lopez will have to give up his spot on bench after all.
I too am delighted that Borgetti is a free agent once more, as I have been yelling at Big Sam all season long to put him on the damn pitch and has he listened to me? He has not. As Derek has mentioned here before, irrationally or not, I blame Allardyce for Mexico's disappointing World Cup performance.
And what is up with Sir Alex and these little snits he gets in? As you said, Lisa, sooner or later his business sense has got to overcome his weird method of punishing his players when they make the error of getting on his bad side. At least Big Sam isn't interested in making a player stay around where he's not happy, as we witnessed in his five-minute turn around time of Didi Hamann.
Post a Comment