EPL Gossip Thread

[sinnacle]

Below are some rumors from British newspapers in bold. My opinions are under it. Feel free to add your own if it interests you.

Alexander Hleb’s agent Nikolai Shpilevski says the player is to leave the club. He said: “He is leaving Arsenal even though they want to offer him a new long-term contract and better conditions.” (Belarusian newspaper Pressball, 0720 BST)

Football agents are just about the lowest life form there is. Guess Hleb wasn’t going out for “Ice Cream” in Milan.

Liverpool have knocked back a £25m bid for captain Steven Gerrard from Inter Milan. (The Sun)

Liverpool knows full well that it can’t sell Gerrard. Since the player himself hasn’t expressed a desire to leave, Inter would be better off looking elsewhere.

Arsenal’s problems could also be exacerbated by Emmanuel Adebayor wanting a massive wage rise to stay with them. (Daily Mail)

At some point Arsenal will need to put there foot down on these types of matters.

Juventus are ready to table a £15m bid for Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso. (Daily Mail)

And Liverpool are ready to accept a £15m bid for Xabi Alonso. That is a nice price for a defensive midfielder.

Tottenham are ready to match Blackburn’s £15m valuation of David Bentley and bring the ex-Arsenal midfielder to White Hart Lane. (The Daily Express)

Spurs are also ready to beat Newcastle to the signing of Celtic winger Aidan McGeady. (Mirror)

Unless Tottenham are interested in selling Aaron Lennon I can’t see both happening. I don’t think McGeady wants to leave Celtic yet. There is a better chance signing Bentley but it won’t be cheap. Spending £16 on new signing Luka Modric and another £15m for David Bentley is a lot to spend on your midfield when the real issue is defense.

Liverpool striker Peter Crouch is angry at the club’s £15m valuation of him. (The Sun)

As he should be but what is Rafa Benitez going to say? It would be foolish to announce that you are willing to sell Crouch on the cheap.

Manchester City keeper Joe Hart has two years left on his contract and has rejected a new deal. (The Sun)

Smart move, I wouldn’t sign a new deal either with all the turmoil currently at Manchester City.

Sunderland boss Roy Keane has delivered a hands-off message to any clubs thinking of signing Kenwyne Jones or Craig Gordon. (Times)

Last week Keane send no one was untouchable. Watch want you say to the press.

[mhayer10]

WOW inter milan trying to grab Stevie G? are they crazy, Steven gerrard is liverpool they would never sell him

[sinnacle]

EPL Gossip Saturday May 10th

Liverpool describe as “fantasy” suggestions that they have had a bid from Inter Milan for Steven Gerrard. (Press Association, 0439 BST)

Well that explains that rumor that came out of the blue yesterday.

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has agreed a three-year deal with AC Milan to link up with boss Jose Mourinho, who is likely to replace Carlo Ancelotti next season. (The Daily Mirror)

It’s easy for A.C Milan to strike a deal with Drogba. It won’t be so easy to strike a deal with Chelsea that would allow the transfer to happen.

Chelsea are ready to bid £20m to take striker Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham. (Daily Express)

As stated many times before I’m all in favour of Tottenham cashing in on Berbatov. I would look to ship him to an non EPL team mind you.

Ajax forward Klaas-Jan Huntelaar will be a £16m target for Manchester United if they cannot lure Berbatov from Spurs. (Daily Express)

The press are going to report Manchester United with 20 targets come the summer transfer period. Sometimes I think the press just picks out names out of a hat and go with that as the headline.

Frank Lampard has been given a “take it or leave it” offer on a new contract, with Inter Milan joining the queue of clubs keen to take the England midfielder. (The Sun)

Nothing will decided while the season is still ongoing one way or another. My gut feeling is that Lampard decides to take up a new challenge next season.

[krash322]

Every off season these rumours get started. Some are totally outrageous. I think it's mostly agents starting all this crap so that clubs end up paying more to keep players. So far we know Ronaldinho is going to AC Milan. Flamini is going to AC Milan too. They better get into the 4th spot or else it's gonna be funny that they don't even get to play in the Champions League. Stevie G ain't going nowhere. They would burn the town before that happens. It's like Man Utd selling Ronaldo, it just ain't happening. Lampard ain't moving either. He's just a greedy buffoon like Terry. His agent is just stringing all the clubs along so that he gets another pay raise from Chelski. Arsenal is looking like there's gonna be some shakeup though. The locker-room is divided and there is no leadership. Too many foreigners with no heart.

[sinnacle]

Manchester United are set to step up their bid to sign £20m-rated defender Micah Richards from local rivals Manchester City. (Daily Mail)

This transfer if true won’t be easy and I doubt will get done. City fans are already mad about what is happening to Sven, losing they best player to their bitter rivals would be another cruel blow. Besides where in Richards going to play? Are you going to play him at right back and drop Wes Brown since I don’t see him over taking Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidić in the middle.

Tottenham could be beaten to the signing of Samuel Eto’o after Inter Milan launched a £32m bid for the Barcelona striker. (Daily Mirror)

Eto’o was never going to Tottenham anyway quite frankly.

West Ham midfielder Freddie Ljungberg has been offered £3m to leave the club. (The Times)

I wish my employer offered me that amount of money not to come into work anymore.

Wigan manager Steve Bruce is to launch a £4m bid for Greek defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos who plays for AEK Athens. (Daily Mirror)

I’m sure English play by play announcers are thrilled with prospect of having to pronounce Papastathopoulos

[sinnacle]

Michael Owen could leave Newcastle if they try to cut his wages as part of a new deal, with Everton among the possible contenders to sign him. (Daily Mail)

Well Owen did grow up as an Everton fan. Would still be weird seeing a former Liverpool player join there cross town rivals.

West Ham will make another big to sign Reading defender Nicky Shorey but boss Alan Curbishley has been told he must sell before he buys. (Daily Express)

4 million pounds would get it done this time around. When you go down the teams that stay up circle around like vultures.

Manchester United have earmarked Sevilla’s Brazilian striker Luis Fabiano as their top summer target. (Times)

I’m sure this will change several times in the coming weeks. I don’t think Fabiano will enjoy only playing 20-25 games, many of them coming off the bench.

Richard Dunne’s sending-off at Middlesbrough could cost Manchester City their Uefa Cup place via the Fair Play League, with Fulham in contention to replace them. (Times)

I could be lead to believe that Dunne got himself set off on purpose.

[sinnacle]

May 14th Gossip from Across the Pond.

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba looks certain to leave the club this summer, with either AC or Inter Milan his preferred destination. (The Times/The Sun)

I really can’t understand why Drogba wants to leave Chelsea. I could only make sense of it if he wishes to play for Jose Mourinho. At Chelsea, Drogba is the man. If he goes to another team all it would take is a bad month and he’d be on the bench ala Thierry Henry.

However, Chelsea are poised to land Barcelona wonder kid Giovani dos Santos, who has been dubbed the new Ronaldinho. (The Sun)

dos Santos is good, the new Ronaldinho he is not. If Chelsea doesn’t play dos Santos he’d be the new Shaun Wright Phillips.

Manchester United defender Patrice Evra is sweating on a new contract, with the Frenchman having only one year left on his current deal. (Sun)

Just don’t ask for Rio Ferdinand money and you’ll be taken care of Evra.

Newcastle striker Michael Owen could turn his back on English football and Japan could be a possible destination. (Daily Star)

Maybe on holidays would Owen set foot in Japan. Former Liverpool coach gets hired by a Japanese football team and floats the Owen rumor around. Of course papers pick up on it like Owen is going to pack up half way around the world to play football.

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has stepped in to try to broker a £15m move for Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o. (Star)

Meanwhile, Tottenham could bid for Blackburn winger David Bentley, who would cost about £15m. (Sun)

Spurs are also lining up Manchester City keeper Joe Hart, with Paul Robinson moving in the opposite direction. (Daily Mail)

The White Hart Lane club are also keen on Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka, who is also valued at £15m. (Daily Express)

See this is why most media outlets bug me. They know that Tottenham spending cap is about 15 million pounds. From there they basically attach a name to the price tag hoping that it becomes fact. The only one that would make sense is Joe Hart since Tottenham glaring need is in goal since Paul Robinson is out of favour.

West Ham manager Alan Curbishley is hopeful of signing Manchester City captain Richard Dunne for about £6m. (Daily Express)

At least that is realistic. Dunne doesn’t have long left on his contact so if he wants out Manchester City will be forced into selling him instead of losing Dunne for nothing.

Former Manchester United striker Alan Smith is wanted by Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate. Smith joined Newcastle for £6m in 2007. (Daily Mirror)

Newcastle must be thinking, “really, Alan Smith, you sure?” Smith didn’t exactly have the best of years at Newcastle.

Aston Villa are keen on Portsmouth midfielder Pedro Mendes. (Mirror)

I would be keen on Mendes as well. Clearly he is second choice now at Portsmouth but Mendes was key in keeping them up two seasons ago.

Arsenal midfielder Alexander Hleb has given a bizarre reason for handing in a transfer request, claiming that London is too noisy for him to settle down in the city. (Sun)

Milan isn’t the country side either you know.

[sinnacle]

Liverpool are lining up a £10m move for Chelsea winger Flourent Malouda. (The Sun)

This has tricky transfer written all over it. I’m sure Chelsea would listen to offer for Malouda just not so sure they would sell him to Liverpool. What is it with Liverpool wanting players from the other big four teams anyway? Last year it was Manchester United Gabriel Heinze and this year Malouda from Chelsea.

Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill is considering a £5m bid for Chelsea midfielder Steve Sidwell. (The Guardian)

Perdo Mendes would be a cheaper and better option. Sidwell is not worth a 10 million transfer fee and another 5 million annual contact.

Liverpool striker Andriy Voronin is wanted by German outfit Bayer Leverkusen. (The Sun)

Voronin is a striker who lacks scoring touch. He may hustle out there but he is far from clinical in front of goal.

Chelsea misfit Andriy Shevchenko is a target for Turkish side Fenerbache. (Daily Mirror)

Chelsea misfit Andriy Shevchenko is not going to play in Turkey.

Aston Villa are the latest club to be linked to a move for Blackburn winger David Bentley. (Daily Express)

Bentley on one wing and Ashely Young on the other could one day vault Aston Villa to the Champions League.

Manchester United defender Jonny Evans is hopeful of securing a £5m move to Sunderland following a loan spell with the Black Cats. (Daily Express)

Just keep him away from any Christmas parties and he’ll be fine.

Charles N’Zogbia’s bust-up with team-mate Abdoulaye Faye has thrown his future at Newcastle into doubt. (Daily Telegraph)

N’Zogbia is another player who when on is a great player. The only thing holding N’Zogbia back is N’Zogbia himself since the talent is there.

Tottenham have moved a step closer to signing Espanyol keeper Carlos Kameni after the Spanish club themselves signed Cristian Alvarez. (Daily Express)

This also makes more sense compared to the rumors yesterday. Kameni has a pretty low release clause at Espanyol. Tottenham wouldn’t have to shell out big time money in order to get a pretty good number one goalie.

FYI In Spanish and Brazilian clubs, players contacts have a minimum release clause where if another team bids X amount for that player the team must allow the players agent to speak with that other team about a transfer. Players playing in other countries sometimes have a release clause as well but in Spain and Brazil minimum release clauses are the norm.

West Ham look set to land Palermo midfielder Mark Bresciano for £4m. (Daily Mail)

Just what West Ham need, another player who is often hurt.

[sinnacle]

Manchester United midfielder Cristiano Ronaldo has hinted he may reconsider his future at Old Trafford after the Champions League final. (various)

I don’t think Pele had to deal with the daily transfer rumors back when he was playing at Santos. Would I dismiss Ronaldo leaving out of hand? No, I wouldn’t but I would also think its unlikely he will decide to move on. My own opinion is that if Ronaldo does leave its due to the United owners wanting to sell him to pay down some of that massive debt than Ronaldo requesting to leave.

Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho also says that he is unsure whether he will be at the Blues next season. (various)

Carvalho will look around this summer to see if something else interests him. Maybe then Branislav Ivanovic can come out of the witness protect program and actually suit up for Chelsea next season.

Dutch side Feyenoord are interested in signing Chelsea centre-back Tal Ben Haim. (Daily Express)

Chelsea would drive Ben Haim to the airport the second a decent transfer request is made.

Manchester City owner Thaksin Shinawatra has put the entire squad up for sale. (Daily Express)

If Micah Richards as a price tag on his head I’d pay it. Manchester City would be foolish to sell him. Since Manchester City seems to be run by a fool it may happen.

Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas has reassured fans he is not planning to join Real Madrid. (Daily Express)

It’s bad enough for Barcelona fans to see their local product move on to Arsenal it would be even worse to see him play for Real Madrid.

[sinnacle]

Cesc Fabregas is close to signing a new contract at Arsenal after the Gunners warded off Real Madrid and Barcelona. (Daily Telegraph)

Fabregas is the man at Arsenal. Smart move if and when he does agree to a new contact. The grass is often not greener on the other side of the fence.

Manchester United striker Louis Saha admits he will be put up for sale after the Champions League final. (Various)

He is never fit. United patience has had to run out by now.

Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate will make a £5m bid for Newcastle midfielder James Milner if he fails to keep Gary O’Neil. (Sun)

I don’t see the talent in Gary O’Neil maybe its just me. Milner in my opinion would be an upgrade when if O’Neil stayed on the team.

Sunderland boss Roy Keane is the latest to target Manchester City’s Irish international defender Richard Dunne in a £2.5m deal. (Daily Mirror)

This is where wanting a 50 million pound transfer budget comes back to haunt you. For one Dunne is worth way more then 2.5 million. Secondly if other teams know you have money to spend they will try to bleed every cent dry out of you. Manchester City is not going to sell Dunne for so little when Sunderland have so much to spend.

Arsenal are ready to move for Werder Bremen midfielder Diego, 23, if Alexander Hleb leaves the Gunners. (Daily Mail)

I have often mentioned how wise Porto is in the transfer market but letting go of Diego was one of their few missteps.

Mathieu Flamini says he would still be an Arsenal player if they had offered him a new contract last summer. (Sun)

Flamini is right, Arsenal really have only themselves to blame for losing him.

[flexwong]

i'd sell ronaldo for 100million. any bid by real that is less then that, f off.

[sinnacle]

Also talking 100 million Euros here that is like 150 million Canadian. If United wanted to put a dent in that debt load they carry I can see them selling if and only if they win the Champions League. Real would make most of the money back within a year or two so I could also see why such a high fee would still make sense to them.

[sinnacle]

Everton want to bid £11m for Valencia winger Joaquin. (News of the World)

Joaquin and Arteta running up and down the flank will cause trouble for any EPL team. If Joaquin is unhappy at Valencia he may see Everton as a lifeline.

Chelsea are being strongly linked with a move for departing Barcelona midfielder Deco. (News of the World)

Only way Deco comes to Chelsea is if Lampard leaves. The Chelsea midfield is already crowded with Ballack and Lampard.

Thierry Henry could be tempted to follow David Beckham into Major League Soccer with a £5.2m-a-year offer to join new club Seattle Sounders. (Various)

I would like to think that Herny will one day end up playing in the MLS. I just can’t wrap my head around him playing for Seattle. An east coast team I could see. A west coast team with no talented players around him I can’t.

Juande Ramos wants £8m-rated Sevilla defender Adriano Correia added to his Tottenham squad this summer. (News of the World)

The last thing Sevilla want to do is sell anyone to Tottenham and there former coach Juande Ramos.

John Arne Riise is ready to snub a move to Newcastle for the lure of Champions League football next season with Schalke emerging as favourites to sign him. (News of the World)

Arne Riise needs to get himself out of Liverpool. The Liverpool fans will always see him as the player who gifted Chelsea an own goal in the Champions League.

Manchester City skipper Richard Dunne has set his heart on a summer move to Tottenham despite efforts by Sven-Goran Eriksson to keep him at Eastlands. (Mail on Sunday)

Quite confident in the fact that Richard Dunne will not be in a Manchester City jersey come next season.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is set to raid his homeland, France for three players to make up for the loss of Mathieu Flamini. Wenger has identified Lille midfielder Jean Makoun, St-Etienne right-back Mahamadou Dabo and Marseille’s Samir Nasri. (Sunday Telegraph)

Nasri is not going to come cheap. I think the press like to link up every young French player with Arsenal. Last week Hatem Ben Arfa this week Samir Nasri.

Tottenham have emerged as favourites to sign Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o after making a £24m bid. And they have also made their interest in West Ham’s Dean Ashton clear to the Hammers. (News of the World)

The last thing Tottenham need is another striker never mind two of them.

Villa have reached agreement with Chelsea for midfielder Steve Sidwell. The fee for the former Reading star is £7m. (News of the World)

The world has gone mad if someone sees Steve Sidwell as a 15 million dollar player.

Chelsea are poised to ditch Nicolas Anelka and set up the ninth transfer of his career. (Sunday Mirror)

That was quick. If I were Sunderland I’d give Chelsea a call to see if there is any truth to this.

Derby want former England boss Steve McClaren to take them back into the Premier League. (News of the World)

As I mentioned in my article a couple of months ago, Steve McClaren better make sure his next job in football is a good one or else it could be his last job in football.

[sinnacle]

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will swoop for Blackburn striker Roque Santa Cruz if Emmanuel Adebayor leaves to join Barcelona. (The Times)

I don’t envision Adebayor being dumb enough to leave Arsenal. I also don’t envision Arsenal could sell that transfer to its fans by replacing Adebayor with Roque Santa Cruz.

Liverpool could turn their attention to Stewart Downing if their proposed move for Aston Villa captain Gareth Barry falls through. Reds boss Rafael Benitez is prepared to pay £12m for the Middlesbrough winger. (Daily Telegraph)

Liverpool could use Downing racing up and down that left hand side. Downing scoring a goal at Anfield this season also didn’t hurt his stock.

Barcelona have agreed a £6m fee with Manchester United for 21-year-old defender Gerard Pique, who arrived at Old Trafford from the Catalan club in 2004. (Daily Mail)

Makes sense for both teams. Pique has a world of talent but he won’t feature much next season provided Ferdinand and Vidić stay healthy. Even if one of them did get injury Sir Alex Ferguson would more then likely turn to Wes Brown or John O’Shea ahead of Pique. With Pique contact coming up this time next year the smart thing to do is to cash in on Pique where he will feature heavily in what appears to be Barcelona's youth movement next season.

Harry Kewell is also on his way out of Anfield, with Portsmouth prepared to give the midfielder a £50,000-a-week deal. (Daily Mirror)

If Harry Redknapp does sign Kewell, Nico Kranjcar will be allowed to join Arsenal for £10m. (Daily Mirror)

There is no way Portsmouth is going to let Kranjcar go if they sign Kewell. While Kewell still has talent a team simply can not trust him to stay on the field for an entire season.

Fulham captain Brian McBride, whose contract expires this summer, is wanted by MLS sides Columbus Crew and Chicago Fire. (The Times)

While age is working against McBride he is still useful from set pieces and Fulham would be wise to lock him up for another season.

England midfielder David Beckham could be set to scale Mount Kilimanjaro after been asked by U2 frontman Bono to help raise funds for children’s charity Unicef. (The Sun)

Can’t Bono just ask Beckham to autograph a few things inside of climbing a mountain?

[NDman]

Good reads. Thanks for the round-up, sinnacle. Not sure where you found the tidbits, but it's nice to read the summarized version. Much better than the soccernet crap (for the msot part). BBC isn't bad sometimes though