gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah mind explodes: rolling transfer rumours

shawcross to juve for 20m y'all
20m
shawcross
old lady
y'all
long needed replacement for cannavaro
y'all

use yr mod powers to remove the first word of this thread-title or I will not be amused

good rumour tho, let's follow it up with some 'alex oxlade-chamberlain to west ham' shit just to rile swygart

Kenny Miller to AC Milan to replace Pippo Inzaghi's a good one as well. Presume the whole of Italy has just had some kind of insane collective breakdown (apparently Juve are after Scott Brown as well).

beckham to spurs. perfect replacement if arry sells bentley

jenas to inter, forever

Is anyone coming in for Sturridge?

Chelsea IIRC.

sonotgoingtohappen.jpg

sturridge at chelsea wd be AMAZING

West Ham and Bolton are both in the frame to land Real Madrid's out-of-favour midfielder Sergio Canales.
Full story: talkSPORT

1. surprised talksport knows who he is.
2. gtfo, west ham?

also daily mail says

Arsenal are closing in on a deal for Dinamo Zagreb’s teenage defender Sime Vrsaljko.

The Croatian club’s vice president Zdravko Mamic claimed last month they had rejected a £17m offer from Arsenal for Vrsaljko and his younger club mate Mateo Kovacic.

because really when writing arsenal transfer rumours naturally you go 17m for an 18 year old right back

Andy Carroll linked with Chelsea move

cant rly see either tbh

Hodgson chases Young, Fanni

Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson is set to raid Aston Villa for England winger Ashley Young in a deal worth £15m.
The Reds are also pursuing a cut-price £3m deal for Rennes and France right-back Rod Fanni, which could lead to a Tottenham bid for Glen Johnson.

hooray! Is law that anyone trying to sign Fani also has, or is trying to get, other players whose name works in a terrible pun (see Celtic's potential backline of Naylor Balde Fani - or even better with a slight mispronunciation: Naylor Balde Fani O'Dea) a few years ago).

young brown fish costa fortune wins that contention by a fucking street

Not rude enough, soz. Weir Tebily Scheidt, etc.

keane to west ham picking up steam

rip prince of tallaght

intoyer caree-yer flooshed dowen the tallagh, wha

http://imgur.com/TTlsR.jpg

The agent of Fulham forward Clint Dempsey has denied rumours that Liverpool and Wolfsburg are interested in the player.

how would he know?

was only thinking yesterday that clint at liverpool would make a lot of sense

clint's been growing a beard too I see

keane to west ham picking up steam

― chortlin acoleuthic (darraghmac), Friday, 10 December 2010 00:04 (21 minutes ago)

which one amirite

no u don't understand, steam is the name of his new dog

fuck you

waay out of line

not cool

funnily enough yr DN describes exactly what I am doing right now

rip big man, not even cold in the grave and it's all a laugh to some people ;_;

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_x9WILXcdT_o/TIn75ly3dpI/AAAAAAAABng/bO1qSYIUThU/s1600/t5.jpg

wait is that a shop?

jesus, that's really well done!

http://suggestoftheday.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/roy-keane1.gif

karma for telling all those blind people to go to specsavers

http://i.imgur.com/CYHK4.jpg

shortly after 'letting off steam'

he should splash out on a puppy.

i dunno triggs still looks kind of tense

always figured keane for the mane type that wouldn't even give ya a reacharound alright

Pardew could end Keane's Spurs nightmare by bringing him to Newcastle

5m bidding war, sweet

£282,000 (plus wages) per appearance for Spurs. Well done 'arry.

no doubt, even at the time it was a nonsense move

Bet even his agent was cartwheeling.

we got better value out of the agent

Keane to Newcastle has a ring of possibility to it. Harry/Levy should be uber-cheeky and offer Keane, Bentley and Jenas to Newcastle in exchange for Carroll plus a bit of money.

Actually Jenas wouldn't go back. Stick Bassong or someone in there.

bassong worth quite a bit of cash, just in poor form. Young cb, good raw talent.

Roma are interested in securing the services of Arsenal's Emmanuel Eboue in January and are willing to spend as much as £5 million, according to reports.

5m seems a decent amount for one of the 15m best right backs in the world, who has played regular CL football incl. iirc in a final.

15m

i'm one of the 15m best right backs in the world. alan hutton not so much.

eboue plays more bad games than good. 5m would be good money to get for him.

Again- dirk kuyt has played in a world cup final. Whether eboue has played in a team good enough to get regular cl football is no indicator

City 100m€s for iniesta is funny.

kuyt is so so far from the least embarrassing player to play in that final, let alone all world cup finals

merely an illustration.

Eboue is so so far from a top class right back.

kuyt is so so far from the least embarrassing player to play in that final, let alone all world cup finals

so otm, in a world with Edson Braafheid in it

eboue worth £6m

so otm, in a world with Edson Braafheid in it

^ my first thought when reading down this thread just now.

what's he though, a left back?

nominally

left backs are either undisputed world class or not fit for professional sport.

He's a good example of how a cursory glance at a career can be misleading. Utrecht > Twente > Bayern > Dutch national team > World Cup Final makes you think the guy *has* to be a player. If you'd never seen him play it would only be "Celtic (loan)" that would make you think twice.

Never intentionally headed a ball in his life. Made Charlie Mulgrew look like Eusebio.

In fact maybe no mulgrew,but aberdeen playet of some description.

Tottenham are plotting an ambitious move to sign David Beckham on loan in January, even though they can't guarantee him a first-team place.

Standard Sport understands that Beckham is being targeted by the club in the hope he can boost the squad going into the second half of the season.

makes sense. Bentley out for a couple mill, pay beckhams wages, clean up on merch

yeah the amount beckham would make a team in merch&sponsership, how could they not play him?

why would they need to?

http://www.freeclipartnow.com/d/30266-1/money-bags.jpg

pfft, thatd roll in regardless

Recently the press have been writing about interest from Liverpool, and it is nice to hear your name being mentioned everywhere, especially with the best teams in the world.

'If I do leave at the end of the season, I don't want to go somewhere where I will be on the bench. I am young, not 20 until next month, and it will be difficult to break through in a team like Real, where Ronaldo and Kaka will be my competitors. But there are teams like Arsenal, where youngsters can grow more easily into the first team and make their mark.

'I will not leave for another French club, because, with more or less 100 first division matches under my belt for Lille, I don’t think I have to prove my qualities for a team in the same league. I am feeling stronger now and better equipped for the challenge of playing at a higher level.'

---

kinda condescending but who cares, i'd love eden to come to us next summer. only really c&p this for the lolverpool quote tho

Everyone's favourite thug Mark Van Bommel available for £4m in the transfer window apparently. Spurs, Man City and Wolfsburg to fight it out for him. Because obviously another combative central midfielder is exactly what Man City need.

Would take him at Spurs in all honesty.

oh man wenger if ever there was a transfer window curveball that would make me love you again...

yeah made for arsenal. Spurs have sandro, palacios but short term he'd be fantastic. So violent.

with Tevez on his way out Man City should try out a formation of six hardmen midfielders in front of their back four.

tackling the goalie

United are also thought to be leading the chase to sign Borussia Dortmund's teenage midfield sensation Mario Goetze.
Full story: caughtoffside

plz dont happen yr name is a gross meme

Spurs manager Harry Redknapp is set to make a £20m offer for Newcastle striker Andy Carroll

Wolfsburg are reportedly set to bid for Arsenal midfielder Denilson. The Bundesliga side - managed by former England boss Steve McClaren - have allegedly been keeping tabs on the Brazilian and now, according to the Daily Mirror, they will bid €13 million for his services next month.

lol

Spanish daily ‘Sport’ claims that Barcelona have been monitoring Denilson for months and that he is the type of player that appeals to the Nou Camp side. Especially attractive for the Catalans is the relatively low fee that Arsenal would demand for Denilson . ‘Sport’ predicts that Barcelona would be prepared to pay around 12 million euros for the midfielder.

lock thread.

Adrian Mutu will not be moving to Queens Park Rangers in the January transfer window, according to manager Neil Warnock.

The Romanian had been linked with a shock move to the Championship leaders but Warnock has moved to reject such speculation and has insisted he has no plans to bring Mutu to Loftus Road.

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2897/championship/2010/12/21/2271466/qpr-manager-neil-warnock-rules-out-january-swoop-for

Former Arsenal striker Julio Baptista could be in line for a north London return after he revealed he has received an offer from Tottenham.
Full story: talkSPORT

Per Mertesacker "could become the mainstay of Roy Hodgson's defence for many years to come"

From

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/dec/31/should-tottenham-hotspur-sign-david-beckham

http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/3586/picture2xm.png

Why was that?

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/6100/picture1aqr.png

A-ha!

Blackburn Rovers are ready to offer Ronaldinho a stunning £130,000 a week to lure the Brazilian forward from AC Milan.
Full story: Daily Mirror
Blackburn Rovers are ready to offer Ronaldinho a stunning £130,000 a week to lure the Brazilian forward from AC Milan.
Full story: Daily Mirror
Blackburn Rovers are ready to offer Ronaldinho a stunning £130,000 a week to lure the Brazilian forward from AC Milan.
Full story: Daily Mirror
Blackburn Rovers are ready to offer Ronaldinho a stunning £130,000 a week to lure the Brazilian forward from AC Milan.
Full story: Daily Mirror
Blackburn Rovers are ready to offer Ronaldinho a stunning £130,000 a week to lure the Brazilian forward from AC Milan.
Full story: Daily Mirror

paying his wages until September seems like an excellent way to spend that £5m

anyone who isn't enthralled by the prospect of r10 at rovahs might as well just give up

             Ronaldinho
   Dioufy
                  other Dioufy
manager: Steve Kean

I see where you're coming from, but imv it's hard to say who'd be less enthralled: r10 at prospect of Blackburn, or Beckham on learning that now Pardew wants him

this is a nonsense story btw but we can dream

Think Beckham to Pardew's Newcastle is the biggest lol so far.

Dunno, I'm hearing a lot of "Kris Boyd to Celtic" chatter.

depends if biggest lol is determined by avg volume of lol or number of lollers

guessing second so r10 probably gets that honour

http://i.imgur.com/dIvAe.jpg

ronnie receives the lolden shoe earlier today

I'm going for unlikeliness as a determining factor.

Kaka for Maicon straight swap deal

gis'ing ronaldinho + frango brings up no pics of Ronnie tucking into a junior spesh, but lots of Rob Green for some reason - presuming I've inadvertently stumbled onto the portuguese for 'dodgy keeper'

challops from moratti

was skimming thru 4-4-2 today and káká was like 27 in their 100 best players

Haha, now Blackburn join Newcastle in trying to turn Beckham off England for good. Also, this Spurs guy in the bbc story sounds keen:

Chairman of Tottenham Supporters' Trust Bernie Kingsley told BBC Sport on Monday that he felt it would be "dreadful" if Beckham moved to White Hart Lane, while stressing this was his own personal opinion and not representative.

"He's one of the most over-rated players in the game for a long time," said Kingsley. "He's a circus and totally about David Beckham - not [the club] who he plays for. I just don't want to see him anywhere near Tottenham. We have a good team and we're having a good season. If we want to continue with a squad of players that are fighting for each other, they don't need the distraction of some prima donna player who is only interested in himself. Yes, he's a good crosser of the ball - but his time was years ago. He's let England down in big tournaments. A football team is about 11 men on the pitch, playing as a team. I don't think he's a team player."

wow, a hugely challopy Spurs fan, there's a first.

brad guzan on loan at Hull surprises me, seems like he is ready to be a Prem-level keeper?

i seem to remember reading that villa were not convinced that he as their future keeper. but it is really hard to be a prem-level keeper with basically so little experience, which is what he has (79 games in MLS and a handful for Villa).
Playing for Hull should be a big boost for him.

he'll see plenty of the ball, anyway

also it's not a rumour as he has already played a match for them

Yeah I suppose I thought this meant he was on the market to move to gain playing time.

was skimming thru 4-4-2 today and káká was like 27 in their 100 best players

― max bro'd (nakhchivan), Monday, 3 January 2011 16:00 (5 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

was thinking of doing a 'most lol placing in fourfourtwo list' but rooney at 12 would storm it.

villa at second was a nice surprise

modric #1 by any chance?

messi, villa, xavi, ronaldo, sneijder, iniesta, drogba, eto'o from like 30 seconds glance iirc

tommy muller at 75 or something was ridic, how the fuck do u get top scorer at the world cup as a 20yo winger and end up there rmde

100. Krasic
99. Van der Wiel
98. Huntelaar
97. Douglas
96. Hart
95. Kjaer
94. Fletcher
93. Honda
92. Srna
91. Benzema
90. Lucho Gonzalez
89. Adebayor
88. Lassana Diarra
87. Diego
86. Gilardino
85. Vermaelen
84. Di Maria
83. Victor Valdes
82. De Jong
81. Chamakh
80. Coentrao
79. Kuyt
78. Carvalho
77. Khedira
76. Robinho
75. Lloris
74. Thomas Muller
73. Pirlo
72. Seydou Keita
71. Pato
70. Jesus Navas
69. Luis Suarez
68. Pastore
67. Gourcuff
66. Nani
65. Mascherano
64. Ivanovic
63. Scholes
62. Buffon
61. Modric
60. Van Persie
59. Chiellini
58. Van Bommel
57. David Silva
56. Cassano
55. Yaya Toure
54. De Rossi
53. Dzeko
52. Ferdinand
51. Reina
50. Pedro
49. Ramos
48. Cambiasso
47. Evra
46. Ribery
45. Aguero
44. Puyol
43. Berbatov
42. Van der Vaart
41. Zanetti
40. Arshavin
39. Kaka
38. Busquets
37. Luis Fabiano
36. Anelka
35. Alonso
34. Terry
33. Ibrahimovic
32. Julio Cesar
31. Bale
30. Vidic
29. Tevez
28. Dani Alves
27. Maicon
26. Essien
25. Oezil
24. Diego Milito
23. Higuain
22. Lucio
21. Malouda
20. Gerrard
19. Casillas
18. Robben
17. Lahm
16. Torres
15. Ashley Cole
14. Fabregas
13. Lampard
12. Rooney
11. Forlan
10. Schweinsteiger
9. Pique
8. Eto’o
7. Iniesta
6. Drogba
5. Sneijder
4. Cristiano Ronaldo
3. Xavi
2. Villa
1. Cameron Jerome

bale position is ridic, if i can step out of character for a sec. Modric at 61 about right.

where would u have bale

Do I sound American-centric by saying no Donovan is lol? I hope not, I mean Nani is on there.

i'd have bale maybe top 75 i suppose? Unless it's rating only on the calendar year, but i dont think it is

nani is a lot better than donovan cmon, he's like six years younger and is the second most important attacking player for man utd and portugal

46. Ribery

Should be either a lot higher or a lot lower, I can't decide.

think i'd have donovan in there alright

the list is fine rly, basically it's messi then three or four then about a dozen and then it's just random

if i played in current utd setup i'd be their 2nd most important attacking player, tbf

Does anyone think Messi shouldn't be #1, out of interest? My feeling is it's quite unusual to have a unanimous champion of the world.

that's not due to a lack of competition, it's just he's that good

Speaking of which, Super Mario won't be happy when he gets back from the newsagent with his copy

no doubt. In fact they should have left no. 2 slot blank to underline the gap

Other unanimous champions in my time: Maradona 'til about 1990, Ronaldo 95-98 then overlap with Zidane until 02, maybe Ronaldinho for a bit.

def ronaldinho 03/04

hm xp, 'overlap' by definition /= 'unanimous'

rivaldo in that overlap, i think

hart, kuyt, gerrard and jerome stand out as being somewhat overrated on that list

Tevez' fate is to be forever underrated - feel he's earned himself a top ten berth by now

i've started to rate him technically, which i didnt during his time at utd. Touch, intelligence and finishing better than i gave him credit for, pace and strength too.

Agreed, he's cursed by looking a bit like he's labouring to keep it together (see also Kuyt). Is there anyone better in England over the past year or so? Maybe just Fabregas. Tbf there was a time when Chelsea had good players too.

Players outside the big four leagues:

99. Van der Wiel
93. Honda
92. Srna
80. Coentrao
75. Lloris
67. Gourcuff

Am I missing anyone?

cant make kaka/gerrard places tally. If it's overall best player, why kaka so low? If it's just for 2010, why is either included, and why forty odd places apart?

Joe hart's inclusion is kind of mindboggling.

this was voted by readers wasn't it?

Players outside the big four leagues:

99. Van der Wiel
93. Honda
92. Srna
80. Coentrao
75. Lloris
67. Gourcuff

Am I missing anyone?

― Ismael Klata, Monday, January 3, 2011 6:24 PM (43 minutes ago) Bookmark

97. Douglas
69. Luis Suarez

so i guess the ronaldinho thing is an actual bid. please venkys, make dioufy-young dioufy-ronaldinho an actual forward line up.

20. Gerrard
20. Gerrard
20. Gerrard
20. Gerrard
20. Gerrard
20. Gerrard

15 places above Xabi Alonso!

ikr?

Out of the seasons they were together at LFC I reckon Gerrard just shades it 3 seasons to 2 over Xabi tbf. But, yeah, I prefer Xabi as a player no doubt and he had a better season than Gerrard last year obviously, winning W Cup etc

well it is 100 best players of 2010

Is it really just for 2010? If so Gerrard should be, I dunno, 250-ish, maybe? If I'm feeling generous.

"I confirm the interest of Juventus for Bale, the Bianconeri are trying to bring him to Italy but not in January, in June.

"AC Milan and Inter Milan too have shown interest in the Welsh player, partly because he would like to play in Italy in the near future. There are high chances that it can happen.

"Also, Real Madrid are seriously trying, (Jose) Mourinho has his eye on him and the Spanish club would be the only one who can take Bale in January."

who's that? sounds too coherent for 'arry

Bale's agent, so obv full of it.

bale's agent not a native english speaker?

If he goes in the summer, it'll be for megabucks, and it wont be to juve. He wont be going anywhere til then. Doubt even then.

How is Juve's financial situation? If they are fine, they should quite easily make it back to being undoubtably the biggest club in Italy in the next five years and Bale could be their Liam Brady in that. But no, he's never going to go there.

?

Dunno why juve ahead of inter, ac or whoever

juve young exciting team just missing last couple pieces, inter p much need to replace their whole teams (cordoba, samuel, zanetti, lucio, milito, stankovic, eto'o, cambiasso; inzaghi, ronaldinho, nesta, pirlo, gattuso, amborsini, seedorf, aw hell their whole fucking team all around 30+). aka why chelsea and united have potentially scary decades ahead of them.

ac milan current setup prob younger than the norm for them

Inter are basically world champions

Chelsea are throwin a hissy fit, were champions last year

This '30 = fin' trope is getting old.

not what i said. i just said they are going to be replacing these players and you have the gamble of whether it is a muntari or a sneijder they are going to get to replace them when they go.

i dunno, utd have been replacing greatness with shite for a decade. The system totters on

Spurs will pay the former England captain a salary package worth around £120,000-a-week on top of a loan fee - believed to be £500,000 - and expect him to be available for at least eight Premier League fixtures plus a Champions League clash away at AC Milan.

had expected more, tbh

Sneakily quite excited about the idea of Beckham at Spurs and with him and Bale in one team we'd be pretty much the most effective crossers of the ball in the Premiership but without anyone to get on the end of it I'm not sure how much different it'll make. Still, 'Crouch knockdown to VDV' has proved effective enough so far.

if spurs buy suarez, is he still banned for 6 months? i.e. is it a uefa thing or a dutch thing?

He was banned for seven matches, not seven months, I thought?

Would love Suarez tbh.

oh my bad.

he seems like the player who could finally reverse the curse of awesome forwards in dutch football flopping elsewhere. Although now I've just jinxed him.

100% agreement with matt on beckham and the forwards we dont have.

Sturridge to Liverpool?

chelsea said its not happening

he went there btw if you didnt know

I didn't. Thanks!

ok so supposedly the rumour is 45m + Bojan + Mascherano. Which would make me wee myself, especially considering we already have a replacement in Wilshere being blooded in. Our front 5 would be fucking unstoppable with Masch behind them. Oh and Vela is going so Bojan can be that young promising striker who never really plays or fulfills his potential, maybe coming on for Arshavin after 70 mins when we are 2 up.

Ronaldinho going back to Gremio :(

that 'deal' is rubbish

which deal - ronnie or cesc for the best dm in the world and 45m?

No way is Fabregas worth £45m + Mascherano, and Barcelona don't even NEED him that much. Arsenal with Mascherano + a goalkeeper would win the league easily though.

It's the sort of stupid shit that Barca do though, so you never know.

it was only a year since eto'o + 45m or whatever it was for ibby

And in two years' time we can all lol all over again at Barca offering £45mn to resign Bojan.

"I confirm the interest of Juventus for Bale, the Bianconeri are trying to bring him to Italy but not in January, in June.

"AC Milan and Inter Milan too have shown interest in the Welsh player, partly because he would like to play in Italy in the near future. There are high chances that it can happen.

"Also, Real Madrid are seriously trying, (Jose) Mourinho has his eye on him and the Spanish club would be the only one who can take Bale in January."

― James Mitchell, Wednesday, January 5, 2011 3:25 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

who's that? sounds too coherent for 'arry

― irish xmas caek, get that marzipan inta ya (a hoy hoy), Wednesday, January 5, 2011 4:04 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Bale's agent, so obv full of it.

― James Mitchell, Wednesday, January 5, 2011 4:07 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this story calls him bale's italian agent. do players have seperate agents for different countries?

:DDDDDDDDD

if utd kept hold of pique the glazers would be covered.

well i guess he is italian? as in born in italy?

The source of the resurgence of "Fabregas for £45m + Mascherano" rumour is the Daily Express. Not even Marca or Goal.com.

And speaking of Goal.com

Update 23:40 CET: An earlier version of this article described Peppino Tirri as Gareth Bale's agent. Since publication Tirri has moved to clarify his position, saying, "I did not speak in the capacity of being Bale's agent. It has been some time since I ceased to collaborate with the agency that deals with him."

It's all bullshit, neither of these players are going to move anywhere in January and yet the stories have expanded to fill the space opened up by no one signing anyone at all.

as in that deal is some gooner fantasism. He'll go for the 45m.

he just won't go but dzeko and nothing else is kinda dull.

Ronnie to Grêmio is 4 real though? One more reason to get that Brazilian Serie A thread up & running this year.

It'll be interesting if Brazilian clubs get rich enough that the traffic isn't just one-way for players at the actual top of their careers. Might happen sooner than we think. The first-Englishman-to-try-his-luck-there's grandfather may even be alive today.

problem is they don't get crowds for anything other than derbies iirc. also they essentially have 2 leagues running at once. but yeah, i think you are starting to see exciting young players stay longer (esp. after high profile problems with robinho etc. leaving too early, not to mention every other youngster coming back with their tails between their legs) and combined with more influential older guys, brazil could start to be an exciting place for football again. still need players in their peak in any league tho.

jenas's italian agents says inter will sign him for 35m and the two baggios and pele

Does Sturridge have an Italian agent?

no need, he's just signed pro forms at man city

Landon Donovan now openly stating he wants to return to Everton at the start of the 2011-12 season.

That gives them time to save up I 'spose.

keane, 7m, that'll do

Chelsea are ready to make a £20m move for Micah Richards - as the unsettled Manchester City defender demands talks with Roberto Mancini.
Full story: Sunday Mirror

Looks like Robbie Keane to Birmingham is out and it's between Fulham and West Ham. He'd improve all three teams but Fulham looks like it could be a good move for all concerned.

beckham deal dead, he'll train with spurs for a month.

maybe not a bad outcome, that.

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/9860/spudsdvdbeckham.jpg

would buy

If only there was some kind of wheeler dealer in charge at the club, it might have been a proper loan deal.

Henry has been training at London Colney since the end of the MLS season with none of this fuss.

yes, but with beckham the fuss is rather the point tbh

dinho actually moved to fla.

phil neville to spurs.

They need to bring back Sheringham if they want to win the Treble.

Phil Neville to Spurs has a ring of truth to it. After his speech about leaders on the pitch, you can almost see the lightbulb going off over Harry's head after the clattering he gave Gareth Bale the other day.

On one hand, he might come in useful. On the other hand, it's Phil Neville.

/\

How come Gary's been decaying horribly for a decade while Phil's pretty much identical to his teenage self?

gary was good in the meantime, phil's been on a plateau since he was 17

honest take-

Despise everything pnev stands for as a player, but admire his attitude and how effective he's made his limited talent

he's a darn sight more talented than a lot of people think

sadly the sport at which he was most talented he never played professionally etc etc everyone knows this

???

not an urban legend: was *significantly* better than andrew flintoff in lancashire's youth team, bowled 90mph and could open the batting

I like Phil Neville. Proper reliable utility type. And not really got the obnoxious qualities of his brother, other than a face that says 'give me a slap'.

Could be a decent coach one day

90mph thing is an exaggeration, lol

but

Other interests: Lancashire child cricket prodigy. Played for England Under-14/15s and broke many batting records set by Michael Atherton. Once seen as a potential England opener.

How did Phil Neville become a more respected defensive midfielder than Nicky Butt?

Was it money that drove him to play football?

he's a proper full back- crosses and tackling up there with any in the league.

Bit too aggressive, but he gets away with it- #1 thing i'd hold against him tbh

Think if we sign him we'll end up playing him in DM more often than not and as cover at LB if BAE ever gets injured.

We actually already have a reliable utility player in Jamie O'Hara but since he appears to have unfortunately died...

11) Joe Hart
Yet another keeper on our list, England and Manchester City's No.1 walked away from a career in cricket with Worcestershire to continue his football dreams. His former coach Damian D’Oliveira said: "He had all the ­attributes — he was tall at 6ft 2in, could swing the ball back into the ­right-hander and could bowl around 85mph. He was one of the most highly-rated players in the country. His batting was nothing to write home about, but he had huge potential as a bowler.”

as a worcestershire fan I would like to say 'screw u joe hart'

Lamenting the unattractiveness of cricket now - would be the height of rashness for any dual-talented lad to aim there for his career

also- shitty sport

pienaar agrees terms with spurs, deal may happen this month or wait till summer. is he worth 70K a week? i can never work out how good he is.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/jan/11/steven-pienaar-everton-tottenham

Good player, not at all what Spurs need imo - players of that calibre at the back, and the odd top-quality guy further forward as and when one becomes available. Slightly worried that Harry's so keen to splash out tbh, after the £1m+ for eight weeks of Beckham

good signing. Technical and tough driving from midfield. I'd agree he's not exactly priority, unless arry sees bale dropping back behind him.

latest striker to be linked to Spurs is Caen's Youssef El-Arabi

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/Matthew-Upson-2009.jpg/250px-Matthew-Upson-2009.jpg

Not this mong again.

Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor looks unlikely to join Real Madrid on loan because the Spanish side have opened talks with Ruud van Nistelrooy at Hamburg.
Full story: Daily Mail

a lol

becks to start today

Michael Bradley to Sunderland yes plz

just checked his wikipeej and he has 50 intnl appearances at the age of 23

seems a fairly metronomic kinda player like lampard before he turned into a deflection merchant

meyler is injured for a bit so it makes sense sunderland are interested in cover

Arsenal are believed to have made an enquiry about Aston Villa defender Richard Dunne.

Villa signed Dunne from Manchester City in the summer of 2009.

There were reports last month that Dunne was involved in an argument during training with Villa's assistant manager Gary McAllister.

Would be cool with Dunne actually!

why do I always sing Gary McAllister's name to the tune of "Nellie the Elephant" in my head?

He was superb for a while at a faltering City and in his first season at Villa. I bet he'd be cool with being a bit-part player for his first shot at Champions League football, wouldn't cost too much, hopefully can learn how to be a poncy footballer to calm down his cunting a bit...

sort of want to copy that to the 'incomprehensible posts by english ppl' thread

god knows what the americans would make of it

Quick, someone draw up a comedy Arsenal teamsheet that includes Campbell, Upson, Cahill, Samba, Mertesacker, Dunne and Sylvester.

           Almunia
         Dunne    Upson   Cahill
Eboue                              Sylvestre
            Senderos  Campbell
      Nasri                    Vermaelan
                  Samba

why do I always sing Gary McAllister's name to the tune of "Nellie the Elephant" in my head?

I have never noticed this possibility before, but I suspect I'll never hear it any other way now.

liking it a lot xp

needs more huth but it's a promising team

Sol was the awkward part, I think it would work better with Djourou there. And maybe Traore instead of Vermaelan

Theo or Arshavin as auxiliary CB

doesn't get it ^^

i'd have jay emmanuel thomas at lw

I like the idea of Almunia up front but I'd put Flappy in goal instead of Samba.

goodbye babel, you were never really any good

Mourinho has set his sights on luring Manchester City forward Carlos Tevez to the Bernabeu. Madrid officials believe an offer of between £37.6m and £41.8m may be enough to prise City's talisman away from Eastlands. (Daily Telegraph)

i know that if i ran man city, i'd refuse to sell him for anything over £41.8m

Converted from round numbers in Euros I assume.

yeah it's €45-50m

well yes i was just lol-ing at the wording that implied that they wouldn't consider anything above that. jeez guyz.

Redknapp said: "Rossi? He's a good player but he's not available. Incredible Hulk? No. Not going to happen. I couldn't say we're close to doing anything with anyone."

we'll sign heskey tomorrow

Sky reporting that Blackpool have rejected a £4m bid for Charlie Adam from Liverpool.

needs to go to 6m tbh

deuce to liverpool rumors are back again

hoping an ill-tempered bidding war between villa and sunderland leads to a 15M bid for Crouch.

yeah and the loser to buy keane in fit of gerard pique

Charlie Adam isn't what Liverpool need. He's good, but the stuff he'd be doing Meireles, Gerrard, Agger and Lucas should all be doing anyway.

i can list what p crouch and j jenas 'should' be doing if ya like!

haha yeah maybe, but I'm not for letting anyone off the hook here - the defence is weak, replace that and elsewhere make the good players perform. Adam'd be like England's ill-fated attempts to include a seventh batsman all through the 90s.

uh ya suure

chris adams amirite

john crawley was the name coming to mind, but there were dozens iirc

john crawley came to mind very quickly yes but was thinking of a name similar to bloomfield road's finest

Meireles Lucas Adam in a 4-3-3 wouldn't look too bad.

sky reporting that wenger is looking at woodgate, which is so ridiculoud it's probably true.

ooh, i like that

on loan or for 8m?

believe it or not, details were scarce

or not tbh but delicious rumour

loooooooooooooooool

is €5 million for Michael Bradley a fair price or no?

y

Real Madrid C. F. and Manchester City FC have reached a deal that will see Emmanuel Adebayor play on loan for the former club. The player will remain at Real Madrid until the end of the current season, at which point the Club hold a unilateral option to purchase the player.

that makes a lot of sense, certainly for madrid

Atletico reject £52m Chelsea bid (for Aguero and Godin)

seems absurd considering they could buy suarez for 15, and oh i dunno, a whole new team. dunno if they'll get an higher - city have already bought dzeko

aguero is hugely talented, messi/ronaldo are the only players i'd rate above him in terms of natural gifts

Jeremie Aliadiere's move to Blackpool has hit a stumbling block.

The former Arsenal and Middlesbrough striker, currently a free agent, was set to sign for Ian Holloway's side on a short-term contract until the end of the season.

But now manager Holloway says a deal for the 27-year-old Frenchman is in doubt.

"There has been a hitch with Jeremie Aliadiere," he said. "I need to try and straighten it out."

: The Daily Mail claim an exclusive. Charles Sale: “Gary Neville has been lined up by Sky Sports to be the big-name pundit to fill the void created by the sacking of Andy Gray. Manchester United’s former England defender Neville, who is due to retire from a glittering playing career at the end of this season, was already on the television network’s radar before the ‘Linogate’ scandal erupted this week. It is understood that the 35-year-old will not be a like-for-like replacement for Gray. Neville is viewed by Sky as another front-line pundit to work alongside or alternate with Jamie Redknapp, both having the experience of a modern football dressing room.”

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Makes sense, the BBC have the Liverpool-biased Hansen, Sky will have the Utd-biased Neville.

ian prior guardian sports ed on twitter

"Major - and boy do I mean it - football exclusive coming up on guardian.co.uk sometime around 5.30"

what can it be? phil mcnulty resigning? paul konchesky to fulham?

better writer hired for the fiver

40M plus Sturridge for Torres. Not sure if the ILF meme can handle this.

But they've just signed Dzeko?!

nicely done

they got rid of adebayor and santa cruz

Sturridge going to worse and worse squads until he can find a level he can play at.

Liverpool will agree to sell striker Fernando Torres before the end of January - but only if Chelsea pay £50m, BBC Sport understands.

The Reds have already rejected a £35m bid from Chelsea for the 26-year-old Spaniard, who joined the Reds from Atletico Madrid in 2007 in a £20m deal.

Sturridge went to Chelsea?

£35m + a combo of Sturridge, Mancienne, maybe someone like Anelka, lol Nenny Boon or

seems like a dece deal imo

NOT a good deal. Wouldn't want Mancienne or Sturridge. How about £45 mill and we'll throw in Joe Cole and Paul Konchesky.

if anelka is part of the deal it's a pretty great deal imo. people underrate his footballing/creativity skills, he'd be a great addition to liverpool, if he actually can be motivated. 40m plus anelka would be ludicrously good (so probably is just paper speculation)

anelka and suarez up front with 40m to spend on two or three top players in the summer, plus whatever the existing budget would have been. seems a good outcome.

I liked Houllier but I will never forgive him for signing Diouff instead of Anelka in the Summer of '02. Anelka was great that 5 months he was at LFC.

http://desmond.yfrog.com/Himg611/scaled.php?tn=0&server=611&filename=96420016.jpg&xsize=640&ysize=640

lonely guy

I bet 'arry will be wheelin' and dealin' all day tomorrow after this afternoon's thrilling performance.

did someone at spurs have a few million on fulham to win 4-0?

No but they do have a few million on not being distracted or overworked when playing the likes of ac

38.5mil bid for aguero, 30mil bid for rossi both rejected?

chelsea looking incredibly desperate atm, no wonder clubs are all just going "no 5m more". guess its only gonna get worse as they carry on not trusting they yuts

£40m plus Anelka has to be made up, that would be an insanely good deal for Liverpool. But so much of Chelsea's attacking movement goes through Anelka I'm not sure I can really see Chelsea letting him go.

That photo of Nando makes me feel sad.

http://i.imgur.com/tmIiF.jpg

chelsea looking incredibly desperate atm, no wonder clubs are all just going "no 5m more". guess its only gonna get worse as they carry on not trusting they yuts

should take a leaf out of arsenal's book....

anelka and suarez up front with 40m to spend on two or three top players in the summer, plus whatever the existing budget would have been. seems a good outcome.

yeah this would be a good deal imo

prob not gonna happen tho?

yeah prob not. 50m would be pretty great too. but even if it's 40m i guess generally i feel like the handwringing worry about torres leaving hanging over the club like a black cloud has never been good, and might be a welcome departure. just hate the thought of him celebrating a goal with john terry or frank lampard. god...vomit inducing.

Hold on, it was Spurs bid £38m for Aguero?!

'arry needs to get on the blower pronto:

"I never made a bid for Andy Carroll. Maybe the chairman did but I never did. Nobody has told me we've made a bid."

"Fernando Llorente? No chance. I'm not going back to Spain any more. Definitely not," said Redknapp, referring to his mugging before watching last week's Madrid derby.

We are struggling at the moment because we are down to two central defenders," Redknapp said.

"We have one spare defender on our books in Vedran Corluka. There is no-one else who can play in the back four.

"It's not ideal but we're not going to find somebody tomorrow. Who is going to find someone good enough to play in the Premier League before Monday night?"

lol on many levels. sign messi? but i was robbed in madrid! 3 centre halves? don't they have 19 of them? lol if i was levy i'd make sure 'arry had nothing to do with transfers either

Bolton consider deadline day bid for Sturridge

City won't expect much for him

Paul Konchesky has gone out on loan to Nottingham Forest.

Meanwhile, Kenny Dalglish had nothing to report on Fernando Torres at this morning's press conference, but he did reveal that Jamie Carragher was back from injury and available for Wednesday's clash with Stoke.

fucking hate liveblogs about nothing but rmde at suggested film titles, especially when they don't use obvious examples for punning - i.e. if are going to suggest Much Ado About Nothing, at least make it a fake story about Freddy Adu.

DONE DEAL: Middlesbrough have signed defender Maximilian Haas from Bayern Munich II on a one-and-a-half year deal.

trrfic name

We've always been at war with Eastasia

story about Freddy Adu

signed with second division Turkish club iirc

Five goals in four years for Fredua.

James Beattie to Blackpool. There's so much wrong with this that I don't know where to start.

yeah sweet ickle blackpool would never sign a rangers player

How's he been doing? He must have been worth at least 10 points to Stoke when they signed him a couple of years ago.

I just mean he's completely and utterly rubbish and I can't see why any Prem team would want him. I've watched two games where he's been playing and I didn't even notice he was on the pitch until he was being subbed off!

xpost, but I suspect that answers Matt's question

i like the fact that he and brett ormerod are finally together again, it's kinda cute

He's been mostly injured, and has the sum total of zero goals, since coming to Scotland.

isnt he like 40 by now? when he went to stoke all i could think was 'surely he is too old for the prem' and then he was guaranteed points for your ff team. if only i didn't have two injured players i need to sort out over the next two weeks, he'd be straight in

He's apparently only 32!

He was a gifted swimmer, rated second in the country at the 100 metres freestyle

james boatie

whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

He's been mostly injured, and has the sum total of zero goals, since coming to Scotland.

Beattie "won" a penalty, which Kenny Miller then missed - his only contribution of note that I can remember.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMN1t-Gpe7g

Oh, I forgot he also gave a press conference where he said Rangers were maybe the biggest club in the world lololololol

Bless his big fat deluded cotton socks.

how is my first reaction to that: awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww ?

like stroking a retarded kitten

Torres to Chelsea deal breaks down after John Terry fails to agree terms with Torres's wife

Andy Reid and James Beattie are both the kind of signings a manager makes thinking "I know how to get the best out of him". Beattie could be the new Akinbiyi.

Guardian reporting Carroll to Liverpool is now a thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmowVWW-oH0

lol ok now I get it kinda

That's just one game an' all!

long-haired loafer to liverpool

*applauds*

http://i.imgur.com/tmIiF.jpg

This is some underrated butthurt scouse melodrama in my opinion.

rape, epic swindle, treason ... club's fairly clocking up the big crimes this season. I bet they could murder a curry after today's hard work

Fernando Torres to Chelsea deal breaks down after John Terry fails to agree terms with Torres' wife

are you stealing other ilx jokes that were also stolen in the first place off twitter?

lol Wolfsburg just bought Orozco, the guy from the wonder goal which went all over the interwebz. i mean, scoring 1 goal against a Peruvian youth team will do as proof of immense talent.

Fernando Torres to Chelsea breaks down after Daniel Sturridge fails to agree terms with Torres' wife

Arsenal Football Club is delighted to announce that young Japanese forward Ryo Miyaichi has joined the Gunners on a long-term contract.

18 year-old Miyaichi has just completed taking part in the All Japan High School Soccer Tournament in his home country, where he represented Chukyodai Chukyo High School.

money money money money MAYBE (when comes back from Feynoord and turns out to be half decent. also lol at lots of the internet comparing him to CRonaldo)