On the back of Michael Carrick's $35M transfer to Manchester United, The Guardian has produced a value-for-money rating on Britain's top all-time deals. I have abbreviated the article below and deleted their ratings out of 10. You might find it interesting to see how your ratings line up against the article. I have included an updated $ value of the transfer rather than pounds.
"1. Andriy Shevchenko - Milan to Chelsea, $56M (2006)
2. Rio Ferdinand - Leeds United to Manchester United, $55M (2002).
3. Juan Sebastian Veron - Lazio to Manchester United, $52M (2003)
4. Wayne Rooney - Everton to Manchester United, $50M (2004)
5. David Beckham - Manchester United to Real Madrid, $47M (2003)
6. Michael Essien - Lyon to Chelsea $46M (2005)
7. Didier Drogba - Marseille to Chelsea, $45M (2004)
8. Nicolas Anelka - Arsenal to Real Madrid, $44M (2000)
9. Marc Overmars - Arsenal to Barcelona, £41M (2000)
10. Shaun Wright-Phillips - Manchester City to Chelsea $39M (2005)
11. Ricardo Carvalho - Porto to Chelsea, $37M (2003)
12. Ruud van Nistelrooy - PSV to Manchester United, $36M (2001)
13. Michael Carrick - Tottenham to Manchester United, $35M (2006)
The Guardian
Summary
Buying club - Manchester United 5, Chelsea 5, Real Madrid 2, Barcelona 1.
Selling club - Arsenal 2, Porto, Milan, Leeds, Lazio, Lyon, Marseilles, PSV, Everton, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United (all 1 each).
Spurs fans must be disappointed at losing Carrick but it would have been insane to turn down that sort of money for a player who cost them around $5M a couple of seasons ago.
I don't think you will find too many United fans who believe Carrick will provide $35M of value but the prevailing view seems to be that they are thankful that Fergie has at least made a move in the transfer market.
As for future moves there are rumbles that despite Fernando Torres' "commitment' to Atletico Madrid there is a chance he could still move before the transfer deadline. He has two years left on his contract and no contract extension in sight. If Atletico don't sign him to an extension then his transfer value will plummet by next summer.
I am not a spurs fan but l have to give it to them they have made a lot of money out of fergie's foolishness.I think with that money he would have solved his midfield problems if he had gone for the foreign market and after this if fergie does not get a decent trophy next season he will be fired because this is a huge gamble
Yes SAF overpaid for Carrick, but he's a very good player, and a PROVEN player in the EPL. The only stretch was the money they paid, not the player himself. If they put Senna next to him, they will be very good in the midfield.
People forget, Man U was tied for the most goals in the EPL last season with Chelsea (72 goals) and they did it with horrible service from midfield. What are we going to do this year when we get a good ball winner like Senna, and put him next to a proven creator of scoring chances like Carrick? Sounds like goals to me.
Last edited by MrRedDevil on July 31st at 8:27 AM.
General census of opinion is that Shevchenko will be the most influentual player to be transfered this season. Personnally I beleive that although Utd fans are not jumping up and down about Carrick, that they will quickly see what Carrick is about. I beleive that Carrick will be a greater influence for Utd than any other player this season. If Ferguson can help Carrick become more of a thrust going forward then he has made a great buy. As a Spurs fan I am sorry to see him leave, he was to be critical to our further development, and I can only hope that those who have come in at WHL can fill his shoes. Carrick is one of the best passers of the ball in the Premiership, he can use both feet, and I am actually looking forward to seeing his improvement.
Utd fans should not be to hasty to write Carrick off, I think he will be a Utd star for many years to come, and will, without doubt become the main central figure for England by the next world cup.
When you consider that ManU has recoverd at least 10 of the 19 million pounds they spent on Ruud, I would give that deal a full 10 out of 10.
Also, I had a laugh at this quote about Rio:
"three trophies in four seasons isn't a spectacular return."
Perhaps that is true by Manchester United's high standards but one has to realize they have been in a rebuilding phase and Carrick is now a big part of that. Whether he is worth that much cash is another story. If he can help the squad move deeper in the Champions League then part of his fee will be reclaimed through TV and other revenue streams.
Comparing Carrick to Veron is unfair and probably a poor assessment. Carrick is more mobile than Veron was in his time at either ManU or Chelsea and I think that was one of his problems. He was not able to keep up with hurried style of the EPL. After he moved to Inter, he settled into the slightly slower, more technical style of Serie A and did perform better.
Too often, people expect that players will perform in real life the way they do in video games. Drop them into any team and watch them go! Unfortunately, it does not work that way. Some players are more suited to certain styles of play and do not always form understandings with new players easily. For me, this is one of the things that seperates the truly great from the above average player. A truly great player adapts and thrives in different styles of play while the above average dominates under the right circumstances.
I have tried to put myself in the shoes of the Glazers who owe $1.3B in debt and think that they have spend $35m on one player although there is need for two more pivotal signings .Ruud’s replacement will not come cheap be it today or in a couple of tears or so and that another $50m the Glazers have to prepare for. Even with the presence of Carrick one feels there is little protection to united’s back four of which the targets Fregie is being linked with are too expensive for defensive midfield .Diara and Mascherano are being quoted as in the $45m bracket ,senna is being quoted as in the $20m range which might throw united’s spending budget to $130m.To be honest the Glazers are no Ambromovich and l don’t think they can afford to splash money like that .To make matters worse nothing has looked encouraging for the other 19 clubs because Roman seems to have settled.
No one has denied that carrick is a good player, but for every player nomatter how much he can produce there is always a price.People forget that there is no guarantee for a player playing in an average side to make it at a big club like SWP's case.The big question is that after spending $35m can Fergie look at his midfield and claim that he has replaced roy keane that much l doubt.If you are looking at senna coming it means united will play 4-5-1 every week to accomodate scholes as their only attacking midfielder.If this is not l can't see fergie sacrifising his winger for a central midfilder because that will remove a strong aspect of their attck which has served him so well over the years.the alex ferguson everyone knows loves his 4-4-2 which l doubt will accomodate carrick i####ood DM is bought.I just can not see the reason why fergie spent money on carrick when he has scholes,fletcher,richardson who l feel are cover if he is to use carrick in attacking midfield role as what most people think he would
I was wondering why we hadn't heard about Mascherano but at that price I can see why--although I would love to see him at Old Trafford. To be honest, I am more than just a little excited to see the new faces at ManU. this season. I would like to see how Rossi or Saha can fill that striker spot. With chelsea loading up with every concievable all-star could there be a massive unloading of talent in the next year or two? They have two full squads of exceptional mid-fielders. Maybe fill your squad now with quality players and go after an unhappy star from that stacked line-up at chelsea. I would love to see an unhappy Makelele (sorry for the spelling)become a happy Red Devil. Is this proper thinking or am I just dreaming?
Bobby, What has happened with ManU. and a few of the Argentine internationals that have expressed a desire to play at Old Trafford? Players like Riquleme, Mascherano and Tevez. Each one of these players represent a vacancy at ManU. These three showed great skill at the World Cup. Is the age old question of how to afford them or a lack of interest on ManU.'s part?
neophyte - I think we have to take comments attributed to players with a pinch of salt. After all the more demand generated for their services the more they are likely to be paid more. You are not likely to hear many players saying that they would never go to Old Trafford or any other big club.
As for Riquelme - that's always been a non-starter as far as I was concerened. We have seen that for Riquelme to star the team has to be built around him and that is not something SAF is going to do. As for the other two they are both playing for a club that many believe is a front for Roman Abramovich - unproved I may add. But if true Corinthians would not consider selling Mascherano and Tevez to United. If they are to move it might be more likely to happen in the January transfer window.
The list in the Guardian looks like it is limited to transfers involving EPL clubs, so here are a few other noteworthy transfers, in no particular order.
Zinedine Zidane – Bordeaux to Juventus, $6M (1996)
Zinedine Zidane – Juventus to Real Madrid, $84M (2001)
Andrij Shevchenko – Dinamo Kiev to AC Milan, $48 (1999)
Gigi Buffon – Parma to Juventus, $62M (2001)
Pavel Nedved – Lazio to Juventus, $52M (2001)
Ronaldo – Inter to Real Madrid, $50M (2002)
Kaka’ – Sao Paulo to AC Milan, $8.5M (2003)
Ronaldinho – PSG to Barcelona, $34M (2003)
While we are all fascinated with transfer fees, without knowing the structure of a player’s contract, as well as that of his new contract and salary, this information is trivial. In fact some of the greatest players of our generation have changed teams without any transfer fee, since Bosman walked out on RFC Liege.
Unless Glazier Utd are going to play in the Abramovich league I think spending a disproportionate amount of the kitty for Carrick is a mistake. The World Cup and the Champions League really showed the difference between very good player and world-class. Carrick is not yet near world-class but is likely to be a 90 minute player. I.e. it's unlikely he'll make a difference in creating a world class performance. The Glaziers must be running to a budget and their ROI has to be judged in those terms.
The Chelsea buys are in a different league and can't be judged against the other teams. Roman Abramovich didn't need to be at the Addidas store with a mob of hundreds fans. He didn’t need to stay for two hours. It really opened my eyes to the fact that he really is as crazy a fan as we are. That tells me he's loves being with the team and will spend to make Chelsea the best. If it means holding SWP (and probably Essien too now) on the subs bench at a cost of $85m and bringing them in to make a difference in key games then he will judge his ROI as good. He, not us, will be the judge of value for money and he doesn’t need to be held accountable to a budget like the rest of the EPL leaders.
There are always going to be crazy transfer fees paid for players. I think Reyes cost Arsenal over $25 million and he hasn't yet produced his best. Carrick is 25 or 26, which means he has at least 6 years left at the top of his game, and probably more. I think we need to wait a season or two before we try to analyze value for money, after all, look how much value Adrian Mutu turned out to be...
As for replacing Roy Keane, I don't buy it. There are some players you can never replace, Keane and Viera are two such players. Arsenal have moved on and changed their system slightly in order to cope with losing him. Maybe Utd need to do the same and stop trying to replace Keane. Maybe they just need to accept that he's gone and try to build their midfield around the players they have now, not the players they used to have.
SAF has made transfer blunders before. Veron is an easy one, especially after his failure with chelsea after leaving old trafford. Diego Forlan is a good one too, especially when comparing his strike rate with ruud's. Its almost funny. Thank god Forlan left and Rooney was signed.
However, I don't think Carrick will flop. He was overpriced for sure, but he has proven his quality in the epl. If you think richardson or fletcher are half the quality of scholes and Keaneo, you kidding yourself. They clearly do not belong. As for replacing ruud, well Saha did that last season didn't he?
When Man U originally bid for Carrick, and Spurs said no, it was reported as between 10m and 12m pounds ($18.6m - $22.3m US).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi /football/teams/m/m
an_utd/5067550.stm
Nobody seemed to outraged by that amount of $$$ at the time. Now it is reported that Man U has offered between 15m and 18m pounds ($27.9m - $33.5m US) and everyone is all worked up about it.
To paraphrase ESPN's Bill Simmons: Ideally, you don't want to pay $30mil for a $20mil yacht. But if it's the only way you can get it, and you can afford it, and you really need it, then you still have a $20mil yacht!
He's 25 yrs old, he's 6ft 170 lbs, he's played very well in the EPL, he's played for England (not that Sven gave him much of a chance) and he has ambition. He left a good Spurs side to come to Old Trafford. At the end of the day, he's a good young player with good potential that will be at Man U for a while. Well done Man U.
Does a few million pounds really matter all that much? as long as SAF got the player he wants then we are set. I would be a little worried if SAF decided not to bid because he didnt have the money he needed from the Glazers. It isnt as if that extra 3mill would have sealed us a deal for Fernando Torres. Carrick was the missing piece in midfield and now we have the starting lineup in place to compete with Chelsea.
You have to give credit to Spurs for good negotiating though.
A lot of people are confusing the idea of the impact of carrick and whether he will flop.what l doubt is if he can cope with the pressure that comes with being a $35m dollar player.I can not see him changing united any inch more than to what they did last year and one wonders that if the glazers are true footballing people they expect carrick to be the main guy in united's midfield and bobby can you help with how they are going to play their midfield if scholes is to be part of it and the wingers.Also l would want to know where they would fit another defensive midfielder
Back to the 1-10 list...Notice, no buys by Arsenal but 2 sales, reflecting their pattern of buying very young, developing players or about-to-emerge stars, while the buyers in these deals have gone for players on whom the "word was out", shown in the price. The two Arsenal sales are obvious windfalls for them, poor value for the buyers. I don't remember what they sold Petit for but I believe he too did very little in Spain. Barring injury, several of Chelsea's moves could look better eventually (Essien, SWP) so I'd like to see this list again in a couple of years.
henry14 - For the vast majority of Premiership games United don't need a defensive midfield player. Same goes for Chelsea - Makelele is usually a luxury. United can play Carrick and Scoles togther with Park and Ronaldo wide. As was pointed out by someone else United didn't have a problem with their defensive last season - they lacked someone with a bit of guile in the midfield. Now when you get to the knock stages in Europe then it is a bit different.
kirbym - I can't find the exact amount but Petit went as part of the Overmars deal and it was for around $10M I think. Barcelona got soaked on these two deals.
From
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/ne ws/story?id=374603&
cc=5901
Disappointed Jol said: 'This is a move that Michael wants to make. We have given him every reason to stay, but he has asked to be allowed to leave.'
Carrick wanted to leave a club that is playing in Europe and has a good side, for a club that plays in the CL every year and has a VERY good side.
He chose to go to Man U, one of THE MOST FAMOUS CLUBS in the world. That alone says he's ok with the pressure. He could have stayed at Spurs forever and not dealt with that pressure. He knew what his transfer fee was, and he still chose to do it. He's wearing Roy Keane's #, and he wants to!!!
I don't know how good he'll be, but AT LEAST GIVE HIM A CHANCE before you start telling us how average Man U are going to be this year.
I think Arsenal are SOFT and are still going to get bullied by the likes of Blackburn and Bolton in the EPL this year, but I was at least going to give them a chance to show improvement before I commented.
Last edited by MrRedDevil on July 31st at 3:00 PM.
From
http://www.manutd.com/default.s ps?pagegid={B4CEE8FA-9A47-47BC-B069 -3F7A2F35DB70}&newsid=351099
With Carrick set to complete a move from Tottenham, Frank Lampard senior - his coach at West Ham - believes the midfielder will flourish on a bigger stage.
Lampard Sr told BBC Sport: "No disrespect to Spurs but he will have to push himself at United because he's stepping up a level and there will be demands on him all the time.
"When you're training with world-class players every day, you learn from them. If you have got the capabilities - which Michael certainly has - then you adapt and lift your level.
Lampard Sr is in no doubt that United are buying a top class talent, one that he feels Sir Alex will mould to fit in with United's plans.
"Michael was used mainly as a holding midfielder at Spurs but I expect Sir Alex to ask him to show more and become more of an all-round player.
"He might be asked to get forward more and score goals, or become more of a ball winner. Having worked closely with him, I know he's capable of doing that.
"It was clear from the first time I saw Michael train that he was a rare talent.
"The main thing that struck me about him was he always looked like he had time on the ball. That might not sound like much, but it's something only a few players have."
I always enjoy your posts as they are intelligent and respectful but I must say that calling Arsenal soft is a bit harsh. They might not be the most physical side in the Prem, but you cannot deny that based on pure entertainment they play the most elegant and beautiful football in England.
(However I do admit that being a Liverpool fan I have said much worse of Everton, so I don't blame you for disliking Arsenal.)
But I agree with you, everyone should give Carrick a chance before writing him off.
I never would have said it, but I felt that Henry14 just kept pummeling us with his "Man U aren't improved and they're just average" posts. We haven't even started the season yet.
Arsenal play BEAUTIFUL football, a blind man can see that. But I think that sometimes the more physical squads bother them, especially in the EPL. That's what I think, it's my opinion, but I'm not making posts that say it will always be like that this year, because we just don't know. We have to give Arsenal a chance to show what they can do.
That's my point, let's give everyone a chance to play before we start to get TOO critical.
Last edited by MrRedDevil on July 31st at 3:33 PM.
As Bobby mentined, Spurs would have been crazy to turn down that much money. I know Spurs didn't want to lose Carrick, but they just pocketed a HEALTHY profit. Good for them.
I enjoy watching their matches. I hope they can have another good season, as I am usually required to cheer for them when they play Arsenal. :)
Seems like arsenal is having quite the impact on the EPL as teams are looking to add more and more pace to their squads. Arsenal have added Rosicky and their is a month to go int he transfer window and alot can happen. The element thats behind in arsenal are the defensive qualities needed to keep up with the big four. With Senderos out for a bit and Cole moving momre than likely, seems that Wenge need to pay some attention to this area. The Gunners are still searching for a Viera. Would love to see mascherano but think its a long shot.
Tis the season for mental masturbation the proof is coming soon!
Bobby--
Thanks for refreshing my memory. Those were two good players who had "value added" in Arsenal's system. Not every player Arsenal themselves have purchased has worked out, but they have thrived by making lots of medium-sized deals for young players with lots of possible upside, rather than chasing the blockbuster deal--as we've seen, the blockbusters for Arsenal are when they sell.
Just read Mundo deportivo, from spain, reporting ac mialn considering 100 million euro offer for ronaldinho. Couldnt they just fix the matches for far less?
i think manu overpaid for carrick. they had to overpay for carrick, because tottenham wanted no part of letting him go.
however if carrick can outperform the likes of fletcher, o'shea and smith (i think he can) - then this will be a great addition to man utd.
for all the stick manu gets, you would have thought they finished in 13th place a year ago. manu had a tremendous season last year. chelsea just did better, they've been making a habit of that these last two seasons.
most importantly, i would like to see if man utd can keep their domestic form from last year while playing further in this year's CL. as a die hard manu supporter - i must admit that being knocked out of the CL so early last year did wonders for manu's domestic campaign (2nd) and a carling cup.
can saf build a team that can handle both demanding domestic and european schedules? we'll see.
rio:
where have you been!?
Milan is not interested in Ronaldinho, neither is anybody else although Chelsea offered over $100M for him last year. I'd be very interested to see a link to that article. Milan, however, has been interested in Torres for a few years, and is still their #1 target.
By the way, Milan don't even need money to fix matches; in fact the charges don't include the paying of bribes.
Last edited by Venti_vidi_vici on July 31st at 5:35 PM.
Rio:
I don't mean to be argumentative, it's one of my couple of flaws.
There is absolutely no way that Milan would offer 100M euros for Ronaldinho. They might offer half that for Torres, but it'll be a while before Zidane's record is broken.
If Michael Carrick is now worth this amount of money then the Man united board should be asking why Fergie didn't get him from West Ham for far cheaper two years ago? Has he now improved almost tenfold? If so shouldn't Fergie have spotted that potential. It was the same story with Rio Ferdinand where we paid way more to Leeds than we could have done two years previously to West Ham. Add in Veron, Forlan, Djemba Djemba, Kleberson etc and serious questions must be asked of Fergie's judgment.
Bobby,got to disagree with you somewhat on Utd's midfield.Most great teams build from the back forward,and yes,Utd. already have a great back four in Neville,Rio,Brown/Vidic and Heinze.However if that backfour was protected even more by a solid defensive midfielder an immense amount of confidence would be created throughtout the whole eleven.Knowing they are solid at the back the attacking midfielder,Carrick,will be free to supply the forwards with all the ammunition they need to score goals;by the same token,the forwards will not have to track back except in emergencies enabling them to pressure the opposition.
Thanks.
I have to disagree with you bobby because when you talk as makelele a luxury l might understand because essien is not commited up the field either but whun it comes to manu and arsenal you will see that they push a lot of players up the field at every oppotunity and it makes then vulnerable when they lose the ball and that is why a DM is needed in these teams than what pompey do.If you compare with manu you will see 2wingers,2fullbacks,2strikers and the attacking midfielder attacking and you tell me you dont need a DM that does not make any sense at all.you can compare it to milan they still have gattuso even though they have pirlo playing the same style as carrick so manu really need a ball winner because trips to the boltons and blackburns of this world won't be handsome trust me
Makalele a luxury? I can't see Maka and Essien playing on the same team this year. I think he'll alternate with Essien, especially if Chelsea only play their first team against stronger opposition rationing the older legs for 30-40 games. You have to assume that Chelsea will play 2 wide players to service Drogba and Shevchenko for part of many games leaving only two midfielder players.
Cole/Gallas Swap?
Looks like the "where to play Gallas?" issue is about to be resolved. According to the Beeb this morning:
"Chelsea will release a statement later on Tuesday regarding unsettled French defender William Gallas. Reports suggest the 28-year-old failed to join up with the rest of the squad at a pre-season training camp in Los Angeles on Monday"
Hope he's not gone, he's always my favorite over Carvalho.
Maybe there's an Ashley Cole swap deal coming, which would be perfect for Gallas and Arsenal!! You heard it here first. See my blog for 2 other "scoops" re Rooney and 2010 world cup.
Of the people on that list - I still think SWP deal has to be the biggest bust for the player so far. I have never understoond why someone with such talent opts to go to a club that is already loaded to compete for a position, when he can go / stay to a diffrent team and be instrumental in it [remember Owen's bone headed nightmare in Madrid]. After all if the argument is playing in Champion's league - SWP did not even make the bench and then lost out to Aaron Lennon for WC. Yet he still insists on staying to fight - I think it is the male ego thing [ & bad advise from dad - Ian Wright]
Finally just how do you play Lampard, Essien, Mikel and Ballack on same team? I have always resented teams that load up on players and place them on the bench while they could be playing elsewhere. I blame the players too.
One more thought on Carrick's fee. It will be at least 14m pounds if Man U plays poorly and as much as 18.6m pounds if all goes well for Man U.
http://sport.independent.co.uk/ football/premiershi
p/article1207618.ece
That being said, they received 10m pounds for RVN and (I forgot about this following bit till I watched FSW Report this morning) they will receive 12m pounds from Chelsea for Jon Obi Mikel (They got half up front and half next June), which means they are making 12m pounds off a player that we've never seen in the EPL, and that Man U never paid anything for. Maybe he'll be a star, maybe not, but that's a tidy profit.
If you consider the Obi Mikel money as a part of the whole thing, the Carrick buy, from a financial standpoint, isn't as big a deal. In fact, Man U will end up with Carrick plus an extra 3.4m pounds. So it's not the end of the world, like some people would have you believe.
Last edited by MrRedDevil on August 1st at 11:07 AM.
I agree socanut. It all gets kind of pointless - even for a Chelsea fan. Gudjohnsen and G Johnson can flourish now. I wouldn't want to see the salary cap/league expansion/draft inducing mediocrity that has just about killed the NFL here. Must be some balance.
How has the NFL almost been killed? It is THE #1 sport in the US, mostly because of the parity that the salary cap brought. And do you realize how many people watch the NFL Draft? The NFL is better now than it has ever been. There are many teams that can compete for a championship every year, not just 3 or 4.
Last edited by MrRedDevil on August 1st at 11:44 AM.
so bobby what do you think about this two moves to help arsenal get back to top flight in the e.p.l- send ashley cole to chelsea for william gallas and then we send jose antonio reyes to real madrid for robinho.
hey Bobby, given the current market and manu's need for a central midfielder, this is a pretty good deal for manu. The other options would either be too expensive or need time to settle into the english game.
Maschareno (probably cost as much)
diahrra (at 25 mil, way too expensive)
barton (more defensive than creative)
guttaso,kaka & pirlo (AC would never let them go)
So all in all, not a bad move. What do you think ?
I would like to see Rossi given more of an oppurtunity this year also, when viera left for juve everyone was questioing the judgement of wenger, but fabregas has turn out quite well, hasn't he ?
brooklyngunner - The first move is possible - the second I am not so sure. If Cole goes in exchange for Gallas is still leaves a hole at left back for the first few weeks of the season. On the second proposed move - what does Real Madrid get out of it?
Last edited by BobbyMcMahon on August 1st at 12:41 PM.
I am actually shocked with how Chelsea are running around doing business, l could even bet that they will never produce any world class talent in their youth ranks. Manu and arsenal are not involved in a lot of transfers that hinder their youths’ growth and l find it great. I can not see how Chelsea are going to play this season with three world class strikers who love to play .they also have a midfield that is full of first team regulars and l can not understand the formation that mourinho is going to use if he is to keep his stars satisfied and at the defence they seem to have player who declare that they want games at every press conference can’t wait to see mayhem at Stanford bridge next season. As for cole it either Chelsea pay $60m or they can not have him so it is pretty straight forward and personally l don’t think either team are desperate for cole be it Chelsea or arsenal because they have cover for him ,but my gut feeling is that he will stay because Chelsea are not desperate for a left back, they have fereiera,galas and bridge which makes me feel that Chelsea might not rush in as people think. It would add more problems to team management for jose.Bobby don't you think chelsea are not desperate for a left back and it can be a shock that they might not bid the money qouted by the gunners
henry14 - Ferreira is a stop gap as a left back; left back is the main reason Gallas wants out and if Bridge was the solution for Chelsea then Mourinho would not have bought Del Horno.
Whether it is Cole or not - and I think it will be - Chelsea will sign another left back before the start of the season.
Last edited by BobbyMcMahon on August 1st at 3:45 PM.
Bobby - What happened to Mahamadou Diarra of Lyon? He was seemed to be a hot commodity at DM, with names like Real Madrid and United in contention. Is he still on the radar for those teams?
Mr Red Devil - I understand that the departing Sven has recommended him to Arsene Wenger! Mind you Sven still hasn't seem him play at full game in top flight yet but it didn't stop Arsene either.
Big Wave - The latest I heard was that Diarra is going no place this season. I was looking at the movement of players in France this summer and it seems that they are "importing" players rather than "exporting" players. French teams got a massive increase in television money starting 2004/05 and it looks like it has helped them hold on to more players. Anecdotal evidence I agree but maybe someone can come up with facts.
Walcott will have his chance to shine and l think with young players you need to be carefull.wenger does not want a lot of pressure on walcott as he is still finding his feet and raw.he knows that a lot of carrers have been killed in england by pressure on the youngsters like for instance l thought darraus vassell was going to be world class
OK, so according to the bizarre Chelsea web site posting, the "Big Gallas story" is the shocking news that he's sulking in a corner somewhere.
Not sure why you (Bobby) think that he wouldn't be a great fix for the central or utility defender problems at Arsenal. He even speaks the local language! He also scored that blinding winner against Spurs and at least 2 vital short range goals.
Mr Red:
Having 4 of the top ten teams in the world in the EPL is what makes it the most compelling league anywhere. No other league has more than two. Look how it fuels Bobby's blog and all the media. It's great fun! Resurgence of Liverpool and Chelsea is great. I'd rather see more billionaires turn up at Heathrow than have it all regulated into mediocrity which is what the NFL is now (for me at least). You can't tell me that there's anything like Montana/Rice Aikman/Smith/Irvin or Elway or Marcus Allen around right now. It's all spread too thin.
I think I'll post a personal ad in the Seattle Times ("EPL team seeks Billionaire")
Last edited by LosAngelesChelseaFan on August 1st at 3:42 PM.
I am the soccer analyst for the Fox Soccer Report and appear twice a week - every Monday and Friday at 10:00 EST. I have also been a regular contributor to the Fox Soccer Channel website since the summer of 2004. Over the last twenty years I have contributed to various radio and television programs throughout North America as well writing about the game for newspapers, magazines and websites.
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