Why aren’t we going for Essien or Banega?
There better be somebody else lined up. I don’t doubt there isn’t.
[quote=“Sidney, post: 892657, member: 183”]Why aren’t we going for Essien or Banega?
There better be somebody else lined up. I don’t doubt there isn’t.[/quote]
Essien on his way to Milan
Another absolutely atrocious signing by Milan. After initially doing some good work after the sales of Ibrahimovic, Silva and Cassano they are now back to being a shambles. Guys like Rami and Essien are going to do nothing for them - they exteneded Robinho’s contract at the start of the season for reasons unknown and now look likely to do the same with Emanuelson. Retarded stuff.
[quote=“chewy louie, post: 892626, member: 1137”]Sunderland are trying to sign Ever Banega. He is a fine footballer but volatile to say the least.
Anthony Pilkington is being linked with a move to Swansea while Michael Essien is in talks with AC Milan[/quote]
anthony pilkington is an atrocious footballer, stone fucking useless
Talk is that Arsenal have agreed a fee with Schalke for Julien Draxler.
Have only seen bits and pieces of him playing but he looks an excellent young player.
[quote=“chewy louie, post: 892703, member: 1137”]Talk is that Arsenal have agreed a fee with Schalke for Julien Draxler.
Have only seen bits and pieces of him playing but he looks an excellent young player.[/quote]
He is a super prospect alright though his form hasn’t been quite as stellar this year.
Gundogan would be a terrific fit at Arsenal I think, though I hope he signs a new deal.
[quote=“chewy louie, post: 892703, member: 1137”]Talk is that Arsenal have agreed a fee with Schalke for Julien Draxler.
Have only seen bits and pieces of him playing but he looks an excellent young player.[/quote]
There talk is £35m-that’s mental that Arsenal are going to spend that much on another attacking midfielder when they have one half decent striker in their squad.
Wont happen.
Utd are going to give Rooney 300K a week 
Fuck. Never heard anything about that before. Some stunt, they well and truly mugged off/clamped the outraged irish public there in fairness.
Puts transfer request in. Subsequently gets new deal. Its just the way it goes!!
sensational transfer news breaking on radio 1 sunday sport
" the word is" according to Darren Frehill , “Moyes is chasing two full backs, a midfielder and a striker”…
Best thing was it spawned this amazing appearance on the Late Late Show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk-A93GAdAI
The lads in the KLF are fucking genius.
[SIZE=6]Manchester United keep Chelsea at arm’s length before Mata transfer[/SIZE]
Blues fail to engage United in direct negotiation over Spaniard due to Old Trafford fears about Wayne Rooney’s future
Perhaps the most intriguing part of the long, complex process that finally led to a helicopter carrying Juan Mata arriving at Manchester United’s training ground on Saturday is that a £37.1m deal can be arranged without as much as a telephone call between the clubs. Several months of positioning, mutual suspicion and political bargaining, and everything was done without a single word being exchanged in person.
Chelsea certainly tried. On more than one occasion, a message reached Ed Woodward, United’s chief executive, that the relevant people at Stamford Bridge were open to sitting at the other side of the negotiating table. Each time, he politely declined. Everybody in football knows Chelsea want to sign Wayne Rooney and Woodward reasoned that it would be virtually impossible to keep them sweet on Mata while also informing them they could forget about anything happening the other way.
Instead, the background to the Mata deal is a case study about how complicated and sensitive these big-money arrangements can be, and an insight into the high influence of agents in the modern business. Without them, both clubs recognise the chances of the deal going through were nonexistent. Seven different agents approached United since August to say they could make it happen. As it turned out, they used Mata’s father, Juan senior, and Colin Pomford, a Madrid-based agent who specialises in Spanish business going back to Steve McManaman’s time at Liverpool and, later, the Rafael Benítez era.
What has never come out before is that United first heard Mata was open to leaving Chelsea, and keen on moving to Manchester, late in the August transfer window, after he had picked up strong vibes from José Mourinho that he would be used only sparingly. Woodward never actively followed it up because of the Rooney situation. He did, however, establish that David Moyes liked the player.
Their next information – after the window closed – was that Mata was so unhappy he had been to see the top people at Chelsea, among them Roman Abramovich, and been given a verbal agreement that if he carried on being left out of the team, and maintained his professionalism, he would be allowed to leave in January. Chelsea would later harden that into a written agreement that included a €45m buyout and – possibly still thinking about the Rooney issue – one proviso: that the figure could not be activated by United.
That could easily have been the end of the deal. Except Mata and his father went back to Stamford Bridge, once it became clear there was interest from Old Trafford, and asked for the condition to be removed. One of the people involved in the negotiations has told this newspaper that Mata and Abramovich are “almost like friends”. Mata had kept to his side, bar one fit of pique after being substituted, and Abramovich respected that.
Chelsea gave him a verbal promise, but nothing in writing, and then sent a message, via Pomford, that maybe it was time the two clubs met face to face. Woodward said no. He simply did not want to risk changing the temperature by getting involved in any talks about Rooney and, with nothing in writing, he was not willing to take any chances about the price suddenly going up.
A separate message came back to United that Chelsea would welcome an official bid on a specific day. Woodward declined again. Instead, his lawyers faxed through a “transfer agreement” informing Chelsea that United had met the buy-out clause and would pay the money, as stipulated, in three parts.
But the game of cat and mouse continued. Chelsea indicated again they wanted to talk and would even let Mata travel to Manchester to take his medical. Except Woodward knew, again, that Rooney would crop up and potentially kibosh the whole deal. “He couldn’t risk it,” according to one source. So he sat tight, while Mata and the relevant agents went to work behind the scenes. Then Mourinho went public that Mata could leave and that was always going to speed up the process. Finally, the deal was closed on Saturday.
For Woodward, it is the biggest coup of his time in charge at Old Trafford. United have been accused of panic-buying and maybe, in light of the new detail, that is an unfair slant to put on it. The club had, however, advised journalists to “ignore” any speculation about Mata earlier in January, and sources say they still felt as recently as Tuesday that it was far more likely to happen, if at all, in the summer.
If Mata still feels like a strange buy, it is largely because Moyes has insisted for several months that all he wants is a central midfielder and a left-back. Questions about Mata were knocked back on the basis United already had Wayne Rooney and Shinji Kagawa for the No10 position, in line with the club’s explanation for not challenging Arsenal for the signature of Mesut Özil.
So why Mata and not Özil? Timing, basically. Özil was offered to United in the first week of the summer transfer window, but Moyes had barely seen Kagawa at that point and wanted to learn more about a player about whom Sir Alex Ferguson had left glowing reports. As it has turned out, Kagawa has been disappointing. United, however, would prefer to keep him for now, not least because Mata is ineligible in the Champions League.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/jan/26/chelsea-manchester-united-juan-mata-transfer
Leighton Baines has signed a 4 year deal with Everton.
Swansea have signed David Ngog until the end of the season.
Why!!!
Hernanes to Inter for €12m plus M’Baye is the story doing the rounds now. Excellent bit of business for Inter if it goes through. Surprised other teams aren’t in for him for that kind of money, particularly some of the English teams like Liverpool and United who could do with some quality in midfield. While he is primarily best playing in an advanced role he is very capable of playing deeper and has a dynamic edge to his game which would do well in England.
Taraabt to Milan with Zaccard to QPR looks like it is close to happening.
Inter are on the verge of signing Danilo D’Ambrosio - will be an excellent signing for them. Ranocchia is also being chased by Galatasaray, seems to be a lot of activity at Inter right now. I think Guarin and Ranocchia will leave before Friday with D’Ambrosio in and the possible arrivals of Osvaldo and Hernanes.