Yeah it’s a different son who’s the agent.
Ricardo Rocha from Benfica to Spurs for 3m - a good player this lad.
Lucas Neill completes move to West Ham and says he got a ‘cold response’ from Liverpool and felt a ‘volcanic hot’ response from the Hammers when he spoke to the clubs. Liverpool offered 30k a week, the Hammers twice that. Good man Lucas.
Claudio Reyna is being released by Manchester City and is likely to go back to the USA.
Alex McLeish is set to be appointed Scotland manager.
What’s the story with Reyna? Is he not in the frame any more?
Ricardo Rocha is a good signing for Spurs I think.
Lucas Neill is a fool.
Quality bit from today’s Fiver in the Guardian:
According to the 2001 census, Kettering is remarkably white. 96.7% white, in fact. The town’s football club, however, is far more diverse: chairman Imraan Ladak is Asian, manager Morell Maison is black and the club’s new director of football, Ron Atkinson, orange. And, as he was keen to stress yet again today, definitely not a racist. “I suggest you look at the team sheet when I took Aston Villa to Everton in 1993. Eight of the 13 were black so why would I need to make a publicity stunt now?” insisted the man who’s spent every waking moment since calling Marcel Desailly a “fing lazy thick n**” appearing on publicity stunts like What Ron Said, Big Ron Manager and Excuse My French.
Reyna’s getting on now and is on the treatment table more often than not. His contract is actually up at the end of January (strange in itself) and it makes financial sense to let him go.
Milan signed Massimo Oddo, the Lazio captain, to play right back for the rest of the Champions League.
Celtic make their final offer to Shaun Maloney today with 3 or 4 mediocre EPL teams already having offered him more money than what Peter Lawwell is likely to propose today.
Liverpool have announced the signing of Javier Mascherano from West Ham in an 18-month loan deal that has bent football’s rules.
Mascherano, who was deemed not good enough for West Ham’s relegation battle by Alan Curbishley, will be thrust into Liverpool’s Champions League campaign instead.
The signing is reward for Liverpool’s patience.
They hoped to sign the Argentine midfield powerhouse, 22, at the start of the transfer window, but have had to wait while lawyers have thrashed out a deal with UEFA and FIFA, because players aren’t supposed to move clubs twice in a season. Mascherano has already played for Corinthians, as well as West Ham.
The authorities finally agreed to cave in on the transfer and it will be announced tomorrow, on the final day of the transfer window.
Rafa Benitez last night saluted the signing. "We have an agreement to take him on loan for 18 months then we have an option to sign him permanently.
"He is a top class player and played at the top level at the World Cup. We were monitoring him when he was with River Plate. The only question is whether he can play to his level in England, but I know he can play a lot better than he did at West Ham.
“We don’t have another holding midfielder and this is a crucial time for us. We will play against West Ham, Everton, Newcastle, Sheffield United and Barcelona twice.”
Mascherano made only three Premiership starts with West Ham, and seven appearances altogether.
Benitez added: “Maybe Liverpool can be a better option for him because we can speak in Spanish to him and we play a different style of football that suits him better. Corinthians and River Plate are top sides in their countries and he is used to winning trophies. I think he will have more possibilities with us.”
Benitez also explained why he expected to get his man. “There is a big difference between the law and the rules,” he said. "A worker cannot be stopped working. That’s the law in the European Community.
"Then there are the rules, which can change depending on your country or continent. There are players in the world now who have played for three or four clubs in a season.
“The rules are one thing, but the law is another. Nobody can stop people moving to other jobs. They have freedom and they need to work. The law is more important than the rules.”
Liverpool are moving to secure the long-term future of a number of their top men because of a new regulation giving a player the right to buy out his contract when it entered the last two years.
Benitez confirmed that Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher would be offered new deals in the summer along with Spanish pair Xabi Alonso and Luis Garcia.
West Ham last night had a 2.5m offer turned down by Charlton for Icelandic central defender Hermann Hreidarsson.
At least its not Lucas Neill…
Liverpool are set to sign Deportivo La Coruna right-back Alvaro Arbeloa, according to the Primera Liga side.
“There is a verbal agreement between Deportivo and Liverpool for the permanent transfer of Arbeloa to Liverpool,” said a Deportivo spokesman.
It is believed that Liverpool are set to pay about 2.6m for the 24-year-old.
The defender, who arrived from Real Madrid for just under 1m at the start of the season, has made 20 appearances for Deportivo.
West Ham have just bid 18m for Darren Bent!!!
Charlton rejected the offered.
What a joke.
That really is astonishing. There is no way that sort of cash is justified. I cannot believe the amount of money that is being spent in the Premiership. People talked about absurd amounts of money in football in the past but what is currently happening in the EPL is a joke - it’s miles out of step with the rest of the league. Hilarious that the clubs are all so predictable with their over-reliance on English talent.
It’s mental.
I can’t believe that.
No other huge deals today yet. There’ll surely be a late rush both this evening and tomorrow.
I was just thinking there:
Kevin Doyle - 80k from Cork
Darren Bent - West Ham bid 18m for him
Both have similar records, scoring the majority of their goals in the last 2 seasons.
This is actually criminal! Charlton, as a club, are hardly worth 18m never mind just one of their players.
Someone actually pointed out to me that Charlton were better off not selling Bent as they are in for a massive windfall if they don’t get relegated - then again they are in for one if they do.
What has Bent ever done? Was he even top scorer last season? I think that was his first season in the Premiership as well
The EPL market is ridiculous.
There is nothing further to say really.
Curbishley seems to be one of those ‘yeah, but he’s never done it in the Premiership’ type of managers. He’d probably say that if he was offered Adriano or Torres or someone. Much better off going for tried and trusted English talent that have a proven ‘Premiership’ record.
Like Darren Bent for EIGHTEEN MILLION POUNDS. Ha ha ha!
Julius Aghahowa to Wigan Athletic.
Do my eyes deceive me?
Ronaldo to Milan is completed now.
He’s cup-tied for the CL though.
I see where he is only 30. What a smashing player he was though. My best memory of him was in the 1998 UEFA Cup final where he destroyed the then Italian golden boy Alessandro Nesta as Inter beat Lazio 3-0. I have heard an argument that he is the best player of his generation. I think Zidane was superior in terms of ability but Big Ron definitely wasn’t far behind. His attitude stank though…
His golden single season at Barca is what I’ll remember him for. Some incredible goals. It would be nice to see him rekindle some of that form before he retires so people won’t always mention what a fook up he’s made of things in the last few years. What a cv though: PSV, Barca, Inter, Real Madrid, Milan. That’s like an accountant having: KPMG, PWC, Deloitte’s, Ernst&Young and BDO Simpson Xavier on theirs.
It looks like I’ll be sitting here at the laptop for the next 11.5 hours eating chickatees and drinking strawberry yops waiting for signings.