> Transfer Talk <

[Dave A]

He's an attacking winger, like Ronaldo.

 

[Only_in_f1]

Ah I see now. Still he's a class player.

Although, Id rather have Berbatov, wouldn't you?

 

[Dave A]

Absolutely, Berbatov is a fantastic player, he can create play, he can finish, he's strong, can read play and has superb ball control. He doesn't rely on pace so he should have a good 4 years of his best left in him. I'm hoping that we get him, I'm not too confident we will, but I'm hoping we do. If we don't, and he stays at Tottenham this season I tihn kwe'll go for him again next summer.

 

[Only_in_f1]

Well he was left out of the Tottenham squad today so anything could happen.

 

[Dave A]

He was left out because he wasn't in the right frame of mind apparently. So it was nothing to do with fitness or the International on Weds which is a good sign for us. Poyet was pretty open abuot the situation after the match and Ramos even more so later on. Ramos has said that he will talk to Berbatov tomorrow and if he doesn't feel like he will be in the right frame of mind to play thier next game he will have to find an alternative solution, which to me reads let him go and buy someone else. They will have to have a deal done early in the week though if they want to get a replacment in time for next weekends game. Ofcourse nothing is saying that he is on his way to United yet but the signs point to him leaving Tottenham be it United, Barca or wherever.

 

[Dave A]

We've got him, Berbatov has signed for United and the paperwork has been submitted. Hell of a day, City being taken over was big news then City bidding for Berbatov, Villa and Gomes was big news. Then Berbatov arrived in Manchester but no one knew which team he was going to, I'm really happy we've got him. It looks like City have got Robinho, hell of a coup for them.

 

[Only_in_f1]

Crazy day, as far as I was concerned this time last night Man City were skint. Crazy Game. Crazy crazy game.

ZE WINDOW HAS CLOSED!

I wonder how many deals have missed out by a matter of minutes

 

[Dave A]

Frazier Campbell has been loaned to Tottenham as part of a £30.75 million deal to sign Berbatov on a 4 year contract. And I have to waying for the International break to finish before I can see him play in red. I think loaning Campbell is a good mave, with us signing Dimi he won't get much of a chance to prove himself at United this year. If he can pick up form at Tottenham and plays really well there then we take him back as a more developed and experienced player and take less of a risk playing him. If he doesn't do well in the PL then we can look at selling him.

 

[Alex.]

Berbatov and Robinho both overpriced. But I'd have 'em over keane any day.

 

[Dave A]

And I'm suddenly a hell of a lot more confident going into the games against Liverpool and Chelsea without Ronaldo .

 

[Alex.]

you should be, No torres no gerrard, all's we've got now is Alonso, Mascherano, Carragher and Reina left in the squad.

 

[Touring Mars]

And, erm, £135 million for Ronaldo?

We're through the looking glass, people...

 

[Only_in_f1]

Stupid Money. Wait its not even stupid its obscene. 135Million!? 35 is bad enough.

 

[Dave A]

It's just verbal fluff. Ronaldo's not going to City in January, neithers Torres or Fabregas. I doubt Hughes will be happy that this Abu Dhabi bloke has come out with this. Who City buy should be his decision and not the guy who doesn't know anything about footballs. I've heared a few City fans today saying he should shut up.

If City do pull a good team together than can challenge for a top 4 spot then that will be good as there will be 5 teams competing for 4 CL places and if another team can edge in there every now and then too that will be even better.

EDIT: RE the verbal fluff Abu Dabu Doo said earlie, I had an indepth conversation with a mate of mine just earlier and he's kept tabs on the whole day pretty much. Abu was actually answering questions that a lot of the storries haven't included in his quotes. He never said he was going to try and sign thoes players, he was asked a question along the lines of "what about Ronaldo, would you try to sign him" and then he started talking about Ronaldo, Torres and Fabregas, but he made the point that all transfers would be done with Hughes. He will be funding Hughes targets, not his own. So the majority of articles implying that he will be bidding for all these players in January was just him saying "If Hughes wants us to, we will" but with that context taken out. So if City do build as expected with Abu's help there could be two Champions League teams in Manchester, I'm up for that.




BTW I know the guys name isn't Abu.

 

[Dave A]

Well, so far we've replaced Tevez and Ronaldo with Owen and Valecia. Yep Owen, as in Michael Owen. All I can say is that it's an interesting move. Well actually I can say a lot more than that, I think it could pay off but it is a gamble. There's no doubt that Owen can score goals and has bags of talent, the gamble is that he can only do that if he's fit and getting games under his belt. The fact he's a free transfer is probably the reason we've taken the risk, if he doesn't work out then we've only spent money on his wages and we can sell sell him to another club, but if he doesn't get any big injuries he should make some kind of impact.

I think Valencia is a good signing, people have been comparing him to Ronaldo but they shouldn't. We arn't replacing Ronaldo, simply because you can't replace him. Players like Ronaldo arn't readilly available. What we need to do and what I see us doing so far is changing our system. Valencia is more of a proper winger and will be more of a supply man to the forwards rather than a direct goal scoring replacment for Ronaldo.

Fianlly we've loaned Possebon out to... Someone. I tihnk this indicates that we're probably going to buy another midfielder this summer. I think that Possebon as a good future ahead of himself and has shown a lot of promise for us so far but he's still young.

 

[Brend]

LOL, MAN U are getting utterly pwned by Real Madrid in the transfer market. I mean come on, Owen?!? remember to bubblewrap the tunnel because he might break both his legs walking down for the photoshoot XD

 

[Dave A]

Or not, Owen is a great deal for both parties because no one can lose. If we had to pay for him I'd perhaps be concerned over his injury issues, but his hamstring hasn't been a problem since he got help with a private specialst coach who he will still be using. The cracked ankle last season was something that can happen to anyone, you don't have to be injury prone for that. The big issues is his knee, he's passed his medical and had his knee specifically exammined with increased scrutiny according to sources and been green lighted. That's no guarentee ofcourse, it could go again, but the knee is the only issue.

As for Real, I won't stoop to the depths of using the word "pwned" beyond quoting you, but I think you'll find that Real Madrid are dominating everyone this transfer window, United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Barcelona, Milan (both of them). Real are amking everyone look like they're spending pennies.

I don't think our transfer deals are done, Valencia is a good buy but as I said before we've loaned Possebon out for the full season, to me that suggests we are looking into buying an established central midfield player which I think we need and we may still buy another forward, though I wonder if we'll put more responsibility in Welbeck and Macheda instead. I'm actually not too concerned about our front line, Rooney, Berbatov and Owen can cover the first team 11, we could only really do with another striker in the event of injury to one of thoes which will happen over the course of the season but I think another signing is on the cards regardless.

I think we are weak in central mid and with it looking like Hargreaves will not be fit for the start of the season we do need to strenthen that area. I wouldn't mind taking Sneijder from Real, he's not going to be a first team regualr anymore though he's a great player. Two footed, he can play on either wing of through the centre and he will chip in with a few goals too. But really we need another holding midfielder as well.

 

[Brend]

yup they are pretty much beating everyone, but its just because Manchester United used to be the best team in the world, its a bit shocking

 

[Dave A]

I'm relieved they bought Benzema mind, because I think we would have been the next most likely to have got him and I don't think he's as good as hes made out to be or worth the £30million price tag. But Real have bought 4 players so far and they've spent over £170million. Absolutely astonishing. What riles me though is that Sepp Blatter, in January when City were after Kaka Blatter was up in arms throwing his toys out and everything, it was obscene. Now Real are splashing more cash than City have, are or were planning on it's just good business and shows how much demand there is for football. How he can be in charge, he's a major hypocrite.

Back to transfers, I wouldn't mind Sergio Aguero but if we had to pay his £40million+ buy out for him I'd say maybe not.

 

[Brend]

i would NEVER say he is worth that much by a helluva long shot, no chance. But he is worth quite a lot but christ, not that lol. (Maybe its because i support Celtic )

 

[Dave A]

That Pato from Milan would be a great signing too, but Milan won't sell for any price right now after Kaka leaving and I think his value is only going one way and that's up. I've kept tabs on Pato for the last couple of seasons and I think he'll be the next big thing in football in a couple of years, but I think United would be priced out of any move for him. We don't spend stupid on young players often, Rooney was an exception and even his fee pales into comparison to what we'd have to pay for Pato. Chelsea have reportedly had a £40 million offter for Pato turned down and he's only 19. The prices for palyers right now are going stupid. £30million for Benzema, £80million for ronaldo, over £40million for Pato, Douglas Cost would liekly cost his £12.6million buy out which seems cheap in comparison but he's 18 and not even a first team regular with his current club Gremio yet but he seems a steal compared to other prices. I wouldn't mind a punt for Eden Hazard, he looks like a very good prospect but I've no idea what price he'd fetch. And if we don't sign Wesley Sneijder, how about his brother Rodney (yes Rodney), he's a good prospect, he's 17 and like Wesley he's two footed and can play either wing or in the centre of midfield. He's not as attack focused as his brother but he's got great passing ability. I saw a match with him in last season, he did score in that game but he's about setting up goals and breaking up opposition play rather than scoring them himself.

 

[Famine]

Would you have, 3 days ago, said that Owen to United was a good move?

'Cos I know several fans of several different clubs who said they wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole. And today I've seen two different Manchester United fans say that, actually, it's a good move - after the move has already happened...


Mind you, he'd be the perfect replacement for Solskjaer...

 

[Aremburgkerve]

I agree with you Dave A, on the hypocrisy of Blatter. I don't mind whether he condones huge money signings or not, but all I want is a bit of consistency. Either condone it, and let Man City make stupid bids without getting uppity, or don't, and get annoyed at Real Madrid as well.

Some of the money they are banding about is really ludicrous.

 

[Sureboss]

Genuinely never thought Owen would go to United.

We've signed a few players.

Camp, Adebola, McGoldrick and Anderson.

Some good signings there. Expecting another 4 before the season starts. Davies is a man on a mission.

 

[Dave A]

Would you have, 3 days ago, said that Owen to United was a good move?

'Cos I know several fans of several different clubs who said they wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole. And today I've seen two different Manchester United fans say that, actually, it's a good move - after the move has already happened...


Mind you, he'd be the perfect replacement for Solskjaer...

Yes, with him being free I think it's a no brainer. I've said this before he signed and I've said it since, but it's a no lose situation for United. We sign him free on reduced wages (which we have), if it works out and he stays fit then we'll have a very good striker in the squad. If it doesn't work then we simply sell him for 1 to 2 million next season and move on. Everyone knows he's a very good player still, it's just that knee injury and a series of other niggles have given him that injury prone tag which hopefully we can remove. It's not a move I saw coming until the trickles of info started on Wednesday mind.

I think some people can go to extremes on some matters, people saying they wouldn't want their clubs to even consider him clearly haven't thought about it. Owen isn't suddenly a bad player after the last couple of years, he's just been injured a far bit. Even then his injury prone status though it has been true at certain stages of his career is exaggerated as he still played over 30 games each season for the last two seasons at Newcastle. He is a gamble, but he's a free gamble that will either be very good or could be sold for at least what his wages will have cost next summer.

 

[GTP_Ingram]

I have a sneaky feeling that Mickey Owen is going to look like good value, he is on a low (ish) wage with lots of performance related bonuses. Also, with the quantity and quality of supply he's going to get, as long as he stays fit he should do pretty well (fingers crossed!)

And anyway, no matter how poorly he plays, its going to be a better deal than splashing out 25 mil on Adebayor...

 

[Famine]

And anyway, no matter how poorly he plays...

...if and when he's fit enough to.

 

[Dave A]

But he's not injury prone, he said that himself . Speaking of Owen, he scored today, only against that Malaysia XI team but nice to see him start with goal either way. Manchester City have signed Adebayor on a 5 year contract, how many strikers is that now, 8,9. I can't see how Hughes will keep them all happy, frankly I can't see Hughes wanting all thoes strikers when his team clerly needs defensive strenth. City had few problems scoring last season, their problem was that they had no problem conceeding either. Sure buying another top striker to parter Robinho isn't a bad move, but to buy 3 to go with the 6 you already have is silly. You arn't keeping Tevez, Robihno, Bellamy, Adebayor and Santa Cruz all happy. I really don' think Hughes is incharge of transfers at City at all, I can't see him building a squad so unbalanced.

 

[GTP_Ingram]

Sure buying another top striker to parter Robinho isn't a bad move, but to buy 3 to go with the 6 you already have is silly. You arn't keeping Tevez, Robihno, Bellamy, Adebayor and Santa Cruz all happy. I really don' think Hughes is incharge of transfers at City at all, I can't see him building a squad so unbalanced

I think that Hughes has just been throwing money all over the place to get some big names in. I can see some players being loaned out (i.e. Caicedo, hes only 20 ish) and maybe some sold (Bojinov?) and that pretty much leaves the strikers you've mentioned.

They will just have to play with a very attacking line-up, but I can see potential in it. Barry, Kompany, Ireland in midfield, Robinho, Tevez, and Cruz/Adebayor up front. Now all they need is a centre back or two. I would be surprised if they get Terry, but you never know (Noel Gallagher doesn't want him though, apparently he is a 'cockney cry-baby' ) and Everton seem to be holding on to Lescott very tightly, so that position is up in the air a bit.

 

[Dave A]

I really don't think Hughes is pulling the strings, I honestly don't.

As for Citys strikers, they have 9.
Bojinov
Caicedo
Benjani
Robinho
Evans
Tevez
Santa Cruz
Adebayor
and Bellamy

I was under the mpression Bojinov was well rated, when he's not injured. Who knows what will happen with him. I'd be very suprised if Benjani and Evans were there next season. So if they both get sold that's 7, then lets say they loan Caicedo out, that's still 6 strikers. They've got far too amny tokeep happy. A 4-3-3 will suit them if they play Robihn wide and Tevez wide or behind and then whoever else up front but then you're wasting Robinho who only cost £32m because his best position by far is through the middle.

Then you have Wright-Philliops and Petrov who will want to play reglalry and you can't play a 4-3-3 with thoes two unless you use them as two of the attackers and then you're leaving two of the strikers out.

I just can't see City accomodating the striers they have enough to keep them happy.

What they should have done imo is bought another decent player who can play on the left wing to cover for Petrov if and when Petrov isn't available. Then you can play Robinho through the middle all the time where he's best, and all City would needed is just one more top striker to play off him. They already had Bellamy who Could then fill in as 3rd choice after they bought Santa Cruz which made sense as he's much more of a target man than Robinho. Then they bough Tevez, so okay Tevez is a work horse and he'll pull defenders out of position and generally runs around like a mad man, but he wasn't really needed. Then they bought Adebayor who IMO is the worst signing of the lot, he's had 1 good season at Arsenal and he's been there for 4 or 5 years. He's way overrated imo.

Don't get me wrong, I recognise City have a very powerfull front line now, but their front line didn't need this many additions. Thier defense is what really needed this kind of attention to it.