It has taken all summer, but Tottenham Hotspur have finally agreed to sell Luka Modric to Real
Madrid for a fee in the region of £30m. Considering that is what Madrid offered for Modric two
months ago, you have to wonder what Daniel Levy's strategy was here, and what impact it has had on
Spurs slow start to the season?
Top Spurs story in the news today comes courtesy of the Evening Standard who claim that the
club's Chairman Daniel Levy is preparing to make Harry Redknapp a personal offer he can't refuse
while throwing in a £50m transfer fund to strengthen the squad for next season.
The article by James Olley is an interesting read but this is probably the essence of it,
"Redknapp's contract with Spurs expires at the end of next season and negotiations have begun on
a new four-year deal on an increased salary from his present £3m a year before bonuses.
Headline featured in The Sun this morning.
This morning we have woken up to this headline as featured in The Sun that Chelsea
have rejected a bid of around £30m for David Luiz from Manchester City.
Now Luiz didn't feature in the game last night after "Tweeting" that he had a knee
injury as featured on here yesterday.
Newcastle's managing director Derek Llambias has allegedly launched a stunning rant against former
managers Kevin Keegan and Alan Shearer and said that Andy Carroll was not worth the £35 million
that Liverpool paid for him.
A report in the Sunday Mirror claims that Llambias was caught on tape slamming the Newcastle
legends to Toon fans in a bar and former Magpies striker Carroll bore the brunt of the foul-mouthed
abuse.
Giampaolo Pazzini and Antonio Cassano are all set to trade clubs. Pazzini will be moving to
Milan as he no longer fits in with Andrea Stramaccioni's plans while Cassano is moving to Inter
because he's Cassano and a rolling stone.
Both clubs are strapped for cash but Milan is worse off but are willing to pay €7.
The French footballer of the year is soon to be a Chelsea man. Eden Hazard, the Lille midfielder
with the growing reputation is ready to sign a five year contract which will pay him £170,000 a
week. The transfer is worth £35m. In all, with the transfer fee, player wages, and agent fee, it
amounts to £78m.
One of the players mentioned as Luka Modric's replacement is Joao Moutinho. The Porto midfielder
was one of the stars of Euro 2012 and is well known to AVB. As such, it's an obvious choice for the
rumour mills to link the player with a move to the Lane.
Moutinho has spoken of the prospect but was giving very little away.
Fernando Torres doesn't often speak to the media but when he does we sit up and take notice. If you
are a Chelsea fan reading this blog post, you will know that Torres hasn't started a game for
Chelsea in weeks now and it must be frustrating.
Torres's future at our club was called into question last week with reports that he would be
sold for £20m in January which was denied by AVB stating that he is not for sale!
Last night news broke that Chelsea will be willing to listen for offers of around £20m for
Fernando Torres in January as long as someone can match his reported £150K per week wages. The
story continued that Chelsea had already put the feelers out around Europe amongst the elite to see
if anyone wanted to take him.
The Luka Modric transfer saga continues to drag on for a second summer in a row.
The problem for Modric is that his preferred destination, Real Madrid insist that they will not
pay more than £30m for the creative midfielder, while Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy wants closer
to £40m.
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has acknowledged the legitimacy of reports linking his
side with Arsenal skipper Robin van Persie since yesterday, confirming that a bid was quietly
submitted.
Van Persie did not travel to the Gunners' pre-season tour of Asia amid speculation that United's
bid was being considered.
How Chelsea's Champions League win affects City's, United's and Arsenal's revenues - originally
posted on Soccerlens.com
Chelsea winning the Champions League will see the other English Champions League qualifiers lose
a few million pounds each from UEFA's pot of TV money going to the Premier League.
West Ham manager Sam Allardyce is hoping that he will be able to persuade Joe Cole to make an
emotional return to the club after securing promotion to the Premier League at the first time of
asking.
Cole left the Hammers in 2003 to join Chelsea but is still a firm fan favourite after coming
through the academy at the east London club and going on to become a regular England player while
still with West Ham.
Will Gareth Bale and Luka Modric leave Tottenham? - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
It is widely accepted that most rumoured transfer rumours are made up. They're made up by
newspaper journalists under pressure from tetchy impatient editors who want new, fresh stories that
will sell newspapers and garner a load of hits on the internet.
So Liverpool have finally released their financials for last year and despite Liverpool Managing
Director Ian Ayre's spin, these numbers do not make good reading.
Liverpool's total income last season fell by £1m to £184m, with TV and media £14m down due to
Liverpool not playing in the Champions League.
This post originally appeared on our Arsenal blog, but I thought it was worth covering here.
There are some mind blowing quotes from Arsene Wenger in Tuesday's Daily Mirror.
Arsene Wenger is quoted as talking about how much he likes Lille's £30m-rated Eden Hazard, but
he basically says that Hazard is too expensive for Arsenal.
With the departure of Cesc and Nasri, no matter what you think of the players, it's obvious that
our goals from the midfield area have reduced. Whether this be down to the injury of Wilshire, or
the lack of width provided by the full backs, I don't know. But, with Arshavin looking increasingly
on his way out, what has become clear is that Arsenal are in need of an attacking midfielder/wide
player who can create and score goals in equal measure.
With the departure of Cesc and Nasri, no matter what you think of the players, it's obvious that
our goals from the midfield area have reduced. Whether this be down to the injury of Wilshire, or
the lack of width provided by the full backs, I don't know. But, with Arshavin looking increasingly
on his way out, what has become clear is that Arsenal are in need of an attacking midfielder/wide
player who can create and score goals in equal measure.
Well that did take long. About 48 hours after firing Neil Warnock, QPR have hired Mark Hughes as
their new manager.
Hughes told QPR.co.uk:
"It's a great feeling to be back in football and to be the manager of QPR. I'm fully aware of
the challenge in the short and long term and I am genuinely excited about the ambition of the
owners.
Well that did take long. About 48 hours after firing Neil Warnock, QPR have hired Mark Hughes as
their new manager.
Hughes told QPR.co.uk:
"It's a great feeling to be back in football and to be the manager of QPR. I'm fully aware of
the challenge in the short and long term and I am genuinely excited about the ambition of the
owners.
Sir Alex Ferguson rarely confirms who are transfer targets are so when he opted to tell the
media that we were trying to bring in Lucas Moura from Sao Paulo and Robin van Persie, conspiracy
theories started to circulate amongst some United fans. Was he under instructions to make the club
look more competitive to help with the IPO?
So Liverpool have finally released their financials for last year and despite Liverpool Managing
Director Ian Ayre's spin, these numbers do not make good reading.
Liverpool's total income last season fell by £1m to £184m, with TV and media £14m down due to
Liverpool not playing in the Champions League.
Liverpool's hopes of signing Brazilian youngster Lucas have been dashed after he revealed he is
scared of leaving his country for Europe.
The midfielder is under contract with Sao Paulo until 2015 and is valued at around £30m, with
Liverpool among a string of admirers from across Europe.
Manchester United, AC Milan and Barcelona have all tracked his progress but Lucas believes he is
better off staying put for now.
Dimitar Berbatov has praised Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson's man-management style
despite the striker struggling to break into the first team this season.
Berbatov, 30, has started one league game and his future at Old Trafford is far from certain with a
year remaining on his contract.
Another summer, another saga. Football off-seasons are getting a little tiresome, with the
constant cycle of nonsense speculation, agent-planted seeds, and the oil rich moneybags flashing
their cleavage at their chosen prey of the year. Talk of ambition, talk of 'a new challenge' it is
all just a load of transparent posturing.
Around 12 months ago the asking price for Italian striker Giuseppi Rossi was around £30m but
what a difference a year can make in football. Injuries and an unexpected relegation for his club
side Villarreal has got the rumour mills speaking in terms of around £10m for his services.
While these suggestions continue however, the player himself is likely to be out until December
2012 at least.
Charles Green bought the business, assets and – according to some, but not all, of paragraphs
in last week's report to creditors from administrators Duff and Phelps – the history of Rangers
Football Club for a pittance in June. But he's really paying for it now. "New Rangers'" placement
in Scottish Football's fourth tier means that what Channel 4 journalist Alex Thomson last week
called the "voodoo economics" of old Rangers is part of that history.
I still can't wrap my hear around the looming possibility of Ibra and Thiago Silva moving to PSG
from Milan for 62m Euros. Ibra and Silva are the bedrock of Milan's attack and defense respectively
and they're being let go for a paltry 62m?
.
Just weeks ago, Silva was the target of a 46m Euro bid from PSG.
Yes, we finished third. Yes, there was a St. Totteringham's day after all (albeit much delayed).
Yes, we finally displayed some of that oft-referred-to mental strength. But I for one am glad we
have seen the back of 2011-12. I'd rather sit through a Justin Bieber Rebecca Black duet concert
than experience what I experienced last season again.
Since returning to Anfield, Kenny Dalglish has spent more than 100m on new players. Which, if any,
of these players could be sold at a profit for Liverpool in the future?
One of FSG's goals is to buy young players with a view to increasing their value over the duration
of their contracts, with Liverpool (hopefully) benefiting in the meantime.
