Arsenal have had a stg7m bid for Moldovan teenager Masal Bugduv turned down.
:rolleyes:
Hard to say thusfar. I’ll tell you after the munster and leinster finals.
Ah tis a great story Bandage you’d have to admit. Might be old news but only heard about it the other day. Exposes the bullshit of the summer transfer market brilliantly. Yer man who came up with it is from Galway was on Off the Ball the other night.
Times of London 30th best youngster in world football 
Juventus have completed the permanent signings of Motta, Pepe, Matri and Quagliarella. No word on Aquilani though.
Good acquisitions there. Matri in particular was very impressive since January I thought.
Yes, Matri certainly knows where the net is. Quagliarella was in sparkling form until he ruptured his cruciate before Christmas also. It will be interesting to see how they link up this coming season. Pepe will be a decent squad player - not much else. Motta had a very poor season but he has lots of potential and I’d expect him to get back on track this year. Bastos is reportedly close to signing as well.
Always liked Quagliarella and think he offers a bit more versatility than Matri but they aren’t a natural pairing you’d imagine together - purely on build anyway being a bit similar. Quagliarella can play a bit deeper so they may work together but it’s not a natural fit.
What position is Bastos playing these days?
Left midfield for Lyon I think, he’s versataile anyway but I’d imagine he’ll play on the left side of midfield for Juve given the signing of Ziegler.
The fees has also been disclosed by Juventus.
Matri - €15.5m
Quagliarella - €10.5m
Pepe - €7.5m
Motta €3.75m
Cagliari have puchased the remaining 50% of Davide Astori’s transfer rights for a fee of €4m from Milan.
Giovinco to Parma on co-ownership for €3m. Bargain.
What’s the story with all these co-ownerships? How do they work?
Two teams both own half the players rights. He will stay with one of the clubs for a period of time (usually two years). Then at the end of the time period, both sides enter into a blind auction, whoever bids highest obtains the players full rights.
I don’t see the advantages for the club that doesn’t get the player? Worst case scenario you let the player off to the other club and bid for him in two years and at least you know what the fair price is? Is it that the two clubs are generally a rich one and a not so rich one, so the rich one is confident they can take him if they want?
Alot of the bigger clubs use them to offload their fringe players or youngsters who they hold some hope out for. I’ll give you a hypothetical situation, we’ll take someone like Bojan who came through with huge hype and expectations but his career has floundered recently. Co-ownership basically allows him to go away and develop himself which still gives the club the option to retain his services in a couple of years. They are rarely conducted between clubs of similar size or stature, usually between a smaller and bigger club. The big club should comfortably be able to outbid the smaller one if the player has developed sufficiently. Personally, I like the system.
Kieren Westwood signed for Sunderland today. Not sure where he’ll be in the pecking order with the Belgian chap and Craig Gordon already there. Talk lately that Gordon will be let leave if they get a decent offer but he’s injured until late September apparently.
Gordon is shit. Think Keane spent 8m or 9m on him
Weak physically, terrible on crosses etc
Villa are interested in McGregor. Might be some movement there with Cuellar going back to Glasgow. I’m not a huge fan of Cuellar but he is better than the SPL. He was used too much at right back at Villa but when given chances to nail down a spot at centre half he never fully convinced either. Think he has an injury though it might hold up any move. We need to cut a centre half. Dunne with Euro 2014 hopefully on the horizon will surely burst his arse to get in proper shape.
On our keeper search, think Given would be a safer bet than paying decent money for an SPL keeper. I think Foster is hugely overrated, Robinson is alright, Al Habsi impressed me last season but Given would do for me.
Kind of forgot Spurs signed Brad Friedel. Friedel can still make a decent save but is so poor in other aspects of his game that it is a bizarre signing. If he is first choice Spurs won’t be in any top 4 next season.
:rolleyes: