El Mundo say Barça offered £34m for Cesc, but only £29 cash, because they believe Arsenal owe them £6m for Toral + Bellerín.

What do you think about the Milner to Liverpool rumors? At first I was like – pffft – but the more I think about it, its not unpossible. He would need to be promised mucho PT tho’ – since that’s the only solid reason I can see for him wanting to leave City.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2010628/Chelsea-Arsenal-winger-Theo-Walcott.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Chelsea move for Walcott as winger ready to follow Fabregas, Clichy and Nasri through exit door

Van Persie’s apparent unhappiness is understood to be more tactical, with the player’s camp keen to remind senior figures of his importance alongside Fabregas and Nasri, but confirmed interest in the Dutchman from a leading club could lead to another unwanted saga.

x

Neymar’s doing fine – shoulda put a goal away tho’.
Ganso should be pulled at halftime and somebody should upperdeck his locker. yeesh

just went up on the official site

kind of BS summer transfer story is the one with a headline like this:

Arsenal, Tottenham devastated as [insert mid-lower table EPL club] swoop with [insert way too much money] bid for [insert crappy 26-year-old English player].

Andre Villas-Boas is eyeing up a move for Real Madrid defender Pepe as the first brick in his Stamford Bridge revolution

i reallyreallyreally dont think jose sells him, but this would make me more than happy.

Gosh, I bet they love having two really really good left backs.

2049: Twitter Talk: AC Milan forward Alexandre Pato is on a list of alternative options in case Barcelona can’t sign Udinese attacker Alexis Sanchez.

i assume this would be as part of the payback for the ibra deal? (they still owe 23 or 24mm i think)

Summer clearance sale at Arsenal

I probably should have seen this conflagration looming long ago, as such a diaspora of talent doesn’t happen overnight. But I had been blinded by drinking from the Arsene Wenger Well of Youthful Optimism. The kids will grow up, I told myself. The refs let Stoke manhandle us, I rationalized. Denilson, Tomas Rosicky, Manuel Almunia and Sasquatch are the answer, I fantasized. I let myself get taken in by a script every bit as imaginative as “Transformers 3”: Contend until February, collapse from March until May. Then point to a young but talented squad that just needs a bit more experience before it brings Europe to its knees.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

I’ve come to think of Fabregas as a gorgeous but crazy girlfriend. On one hand, she’s bright and beautiful, and having her on your arm makes you the envy of all who pass. On the other, she’s still carrying a torch for her ex, won’t stop talking about him, and you recently saw a photo on Facebook of her wearing his shirt. Arsenal fans are now into the second summer of Fabregas’ discontent, and nothing that Wenger could do was going to make him happy. It’s not enough that the Frenchman had protected and prodded Cesc into being the world-class player that he is today, or that he made him captain at a mere 21 years old. The siren song of Barcelona had grown too loud, and I, for one, am ready to say “hasta nunca.” O Captain! My captain! Good riddance.

This whole water torture of will-he-or-won’t-he would be less painful if he had simply announced his intentions, LeBron-like, in a “I’ve decided to take my talents to Catalonia” ESPN special this summer rather than letting his disillusionment with Arsenal become a festering, yearlong distraction.

heh

Arsenal is rapidly feeling like a finishing school for young talent — enjoy your college years before you go out into the real world. Have a summer fling with the Gunners; just don’t take them home to meet your parents. At least Cesc is lucky in knowing that there’s a club that still wants him and, more importantly, is willing to pay the ransom to win him back. Andrei Arshavin and Rosicky can only dream about such a circumstance.


Though I have to blame Wenger for the self-perpetuating culture of “It’s Not Our Fault, Blame Everyone Else” that permeates the Gunners with every defeat or disappointment, I also accept that there’s no better steward for the club. While it’s never good to begin a transfer period seeing your best players parading their wares in the shop window, there’s still plenty of time to build a better, tougher Arsenal, one that will be able to preserve 4-0 and 3-1 leads against Newcastle and Spurs.

But if Arsenal doesn’t get it done in the new season, the players won’t be the only ones clamoring for a change. I wonder whether Wenger understands that vultures will eat anything that is dying.

Didn’t know a thing about him beyond the England/Montenegro highlights before today. But a Partizan Belgrade fan linked a full match at youtube, which I just watched.

I can see why Wenger was interested but eventually never followed thru and bagged him. He has all the qualities an Arsenal defender needs skill/ball possession-wise but doesn’t have an obvious standout high ceiling like Wenger is probably sifting thru prospects looking for. I can also see why Mancini is interested and DID bag him. He has the shape discipline and conservative defensive-mindness Mancini loves to see from his D-men.

Looks very coachable and tactics-savvy. The game I watched was about a Europa league group stage level match, and he was the beast on the field physically – yet never even came close to committing one freakin’ foul. He’s a simple good judgement machine, the linchpin of Partizan’s ultra-aggressive offsides trap game. He plays simple one and two touch balls, never hoofs – looks for a teammate to hit even under intense pressure. He made one jumping/twisting chest trap on a 50-yard hoof over his shoulder that any player would be proud to execute – a real WOW moment. Conserves his energy nicely with poise and efficiency.

I think within a year he could be ensconced into that tier of City defenders below Kompany that fanz trust to play solid – like Lescott, Zabba, Richards and, we hope, Clichy. He’s already above Kolarov and Kolo in my mind reliability-wise – we’ll see. Here’s a pic of him and Clichy.

For Mancini’s City he’s a good sign. Can see why Wenger passed on him tho’.

Should be 1-0 Columbia at HT. Missed open nets hurt.

Solid

http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/oddballs/868374-owen-hargreaves-launches-youtube-fitness-video-series-to-find-new-club

Now Hargreaves may not be proclaiming to be as ‘cool’, ‘clean’, ’fresh’, and ‘good looking’ as Owen, but he certainly shows he can still dance on a treadmill and go past cones like they were inanimate objects.

A quote from Dani Alves on the Cesc affair has been translated as either: “If you see a train passing by, you would want to sit in the business class”, which is sort of douchey but not all that douchey compared to: “Arsenal are tourist class. Barcelona are in business class and any player would want to join us”.

Wut.

I saw 30+ new comments and thought transferings had been done. Not so much

08.35 Maxwell and Eric Abidal will be used by Barca as makewights in a deal for Cesc Fabregas, according to the Metro.

horseshit.

if abidal goes in this deal, or ANY other i will be flat out shocked after last year and how well he played/how important he was to the team

10.52 Roma target Bojan Krkic says a decision has been made on his future but refused to reveal where it lies.

The Barca striker said: "People have been discussing my future for days. At the moment I still can’t say anything, but we’re certainly very close to the right moment. I was nine when I first dreamt of playing for Barcelona and it is an objective that I will have forever. However, this is not only dependant on me and there are other marvellous roads to go down, roads full of dreams."

i am still sad he is leaving.

do you guys divide by 52 [weeks in a year] or 40 [length of EPL season] to guesstimate the weekly salary? What is the convention? IOW … does a guy making 5M a year make 100K/wk or 120/wk in your mind?

Vidal looks more like a player than Sanchez

Arsenal have confirmed to the BBC that Manuel Almunia and Nicklas Bendtner are in talks over transfers.

16.22: Here’s another massive Manchester City rumour: Goal.com is claiming Real Madrid have offered €28 million cash as well as (yes, as well as) Gonzalo Higuain or Karim Benzema for Carlos Tevez. If this is true, it’ll be worth keeping your ears open for the sound of Roberto Mancini snapping Jose Mourinho’s hand off.

Anybody watching this? I caught the England-France game earlier today, and it was pretty darned entertaining. France won on PK’s.

that Roque Santa Cruciate Ligament might have displayed some transfer value.

Relatively positive review:

Who does he play like?
That’s a difficult one. Not Theo Walcott, that’s for sure. He’s much more of a finisher than Walcott. In a way, he’s not that dissimilar to Mamadou Niang when he was at Marseille: he would play on the left and cut in to score his goals, but he never liked to play through the middle. In terms of current Premier League players, it’s tough: maybe Dirk Kuyt, in terms of finishing, but he has more pace. Like Kuyt, you can always see with Gervinho why the coach has picked him. He makes things happen.

This guy thinks that wide forward is his natural position, more than as a central striker or pure winger. This and the prospect of having multiple kids in the middle seems like it may cement Arsenal sticking with the 4-3-3 for a while longer. I’d been pondering (particularly after the way Van Persie was used late in the season), assuming Fabregas leaves, whether they might shift to something where RVP plays more of a 10 role, but it wouldn’t appear that that’s the plan.

Also, on Hazard:

I think Arsenal would have to improve dramatically to get Hazard. He’s a very confident guy and for me, Arsenal would have to show him that they are better than fourth in the Premier League if they want to sign him. Hazard has said he prefers Spain anyway. It’s been reported that he supports Real Madrid, and is on Barcelona’s reserve list of targets, so those two would have first choice on him. Lille would never consider selling both players this summer anyway, and at the moment, I would say Gervinho is more suited to Arsenal’s level than Hazard.

I don’t think that comment changes my previously stated odds of right around 0% that Hazard goes to Arsenal any time soon.

how exactly is it any of this guy’s business whether they decide to sell him Boateng as a means to balance their spending? For one thing, I don’t think that one roster slot and 15-20 million for him is going to be the difference in them achieving whatever the fair play standards are going to be.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/933293/bayern-munich-chief-feels-manchester-city-may-face-european-exile?cc=5901

However, although the player has already agreed the terms of a contract with Bayern, it appears a deal remains nowhere near complete.

“They are using a tactic I’ve never seen,” Rummenigge said. “They don’t respond, even if we try to contact them.”

City have already signed two defenders in the transfer window, Stefan Savic and Gael Clichy, and Rummenigge added: "I think they are going to have 48 players under contract but according to Financial Fair Play they can have only 25.

“According to their last balance sheet, if I’m correct, they’re down £127 million. Maybe they still have a trick up their sleeves but I’m not sure that they will be permitted to play in the Champions League.”

Did City agree to sell and then renig or something? Otherwise, seems like this is just another guy trying to strong-arm because someone won’t sell him a player he wants.

but I didn’t know he was specifically a big ManCity fan.

I quit watching when the red card was issued. Have to go back and watch what I missed when the replay gets put up at ESPN3.

I haven’t thought about [staying] at all because [not letting me go] would definitely not be good for anyone. I have already told the chairman that last summer he said we would find a mutually satisfactory agreement if a club like Chelsea came in. I hope that eventually he will understand the situation and that we will reach an agreement and go our separate ways in an appropriate manner.

A lot has been published in the press about the meeting with Levy, who gave the public a twisted account of what happened. I must say that I am genuinely disappointed about what Levy said to me. He didn’t care about what I was telling him. It all only convinced me further that I was right to consider moving on to another club.

I reminded the chairman of our gentleman’s agreement when we were in Dubrovnik last summer and I agreed a contract extension with Tottenham. At that time, I had an open chat with Levy – that if a bigger club came in with a concrete offer, we would consider it and agree the best solution for all concerned.

The chairman said, ‘Okay, we’ll sit and talk [about any offers]‘. Now Levy doesn’t want to talk to me and said there is no possibility that I can leave Spurs. He threatened me – he said if I didn’t accept the club’s stance, they would make me sit on the bench or in the stands.

-Luka Modric

ESPN

08.32: Roberto Carlos has revealed he is trying to convince Neymar to shun Chelsea and Real Madrid in favour of a shock move to Russia. ‘’I told him about Anzhi’s project and about the terms Suleyman Kerimov is ready to offer,‘’ he said. ’’He really could sign for us, because no other club has an effect on Neymar like Anzhi! Now everthing is up to him.’’

Says Nasri and Cesc are staying, confirms the Gervinho signing and says he’s not in the market for LB. Could be posturing but if you take the comments at face value, it’s hard to see them spending much on any other signings. Not good.

blams margaret thatcher for englands football shortcomings.

tevez to brazil?

21.22 Reports from Brazil suggest that Corinthians, a former employer, have bid £35 million for Carlos Tevez. From Twitter: “EXCLUSIVO: #Corinthians faz proposta para recontratar #Tevez”. We’ll see.

or neymar to russia?

heh

Nasri is going to someone other than United. I guess the city rumors could have been true, then.

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/transfer-news/Samir-Nasri-leaving-Arsenal-but-not-for-Manchester-United-claims-Alex-Ferguson-article764535.html

Or maybe Chelsea decided they would pay up for midfield help.

Decisions, decisions.

oh dear

You seem to be in a similar situation with Samir Nasri?
No. Samir’s situation is clear for me

He definitely stays, come what may?
He stays.

So if a club comes in with a big offer, knowing that he’s in the final year of his contract, you will say, “You’re staying…”
I’ve just told you that we are in a position where we can say “No”.

And you will, in the case of Samir?
We will.

You think that it is worth more to have Samir for one more season and risk losing him on a Bosman free next summer than to cash in now?
Yes.

That could be construed as a £20m gamble?
[Smiling.] You are the same people who reproach me for not spending money and now you reproach me for wanting to spend it! It is in the interests of the club. Fábregas is in no man’s land … Imagine the worst situation, that we lose Fábregas and Nasri; you cannot convince people that you are ambitious after that. And even if you lose Nasri, to find the same quality player, you have to spend again the same amount of money because you cannot say you lose the player and you do not replace him. And the other clubs who come to take him have scouts all over the world as well but if they come to us for our player …

full transcript here

Joe Hart throwing out the first pitch at yesterday’s Dodger game.
Note how empty the stands are. ha

12.49 Hamburg have confirmed their interest in Arsenal’s Nicklas Bendtner but fellow Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund have quashed speculation they are chasing the striker.

that the media’s deciding to get all uppity about destroying a mediocre Costa Rice team after previously overreacting to their drab start.

Still, Argentina has so many freaking good midfield and attacking players that it seems pretty much a case of finding the right guys to fit in…and once they do, Messi pears everyone.

expect to see a lot of him next year

19.21 BREAKING: We understand that Man City have rejected a £35m bid from Corinthians for captain Carlos Tevez because they are holding out for a £50m fee.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/933925/man-united’s-sir-alex-ferguson-praises-growth-of-game-in-mls?cc=5901

I found this statement in the article to be quite disingenuous, though:

Major League Soccer, which has expanded to 18 teams for this season and will add another in 2013, is enjoying its highest average attendances ever at 17,297. It means that it terms of fans at games MLS has overtaken Ice Hockey as the fourth most popular sport in the United States.

16 home games versus 41 is not apples to apples.

Wilshere tells Fabregas: Be a man and stay

“Loyalty is a big part of football and it shows if you are a real man or not,” said the 19-year-old. "There have been a few players who have shown Arsenal great loyalty and hopefully we will get a few more like that. Then we will see if we can get a trophy or not.

“If you are loyal, it means you are a real man. We have got loyalty at Arsenal and players have shown that in the past – Cesc showed that last year and hopefully a few more players will show it this year.”

Nice to wake up this morning and have a live Liverpool friendly on FSC to watch while getting ready for work. Got to see Poulsen(!) and N’gog score before heading in to the office…

Xavi is still a cunt.

Now back to your regularly scheduled muppetry.

Fee agreed with Villa, per the official LFC website. Soccernet’s reporting around 20 million.

When did that start?

and made a soccer player, would that player be Rafael?

13.10: Real Madrid will sign Emmanuel Adebayor now and Neymar in January, Marca says.

14.27: Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis wants some filthy lucre if Marek Hamsik – who has attracted the interest of AC Milan and Manchester City – is to leave. "The indecent proposal would have to be of €100 million, otherwise he will be staying here," he said.

FWIW, he sez … City and ManU have major creative MF holes needing to be filled. Nasri wants one of them. ManU tradition cred doesn’t seem to be influencing him so SAF stopped coming after him hoping that Nasri-to-City momentum would lessen the pressure City is putting towards the acquisition of Sneijder and allow ManU to seal that deal. What’s holding everything up is Arsene Wenger’s “Nasri stays” stance. It’s making Nasri nervous because NOW is when the market appreciates his talents the most due to the MF holes at City and ManU. It’s also driving up ManU’s price for Sneijder because City will compete for him until they get Nasri.

He also sez we’re going ‘balls to the wall’ for Aguero and that our final two targets will be a backup goalie and another CB – which explains the Seb Coates rumors being stirred up by City casting its CB net about.

http://www.lonestarball.com/2011/7/15/2277103/epl-summer-thread-muppet-central-wanted-to-post-a-thread-with-this