Transfer Window - Summer 2008

sunderland are trying to complete a 23 million pound move with spurs for pascal chimbonda, steed malbranque, teamu tainio and younas kaboul…id say juande ramos is laughing his arse off…sunderland paying 23 million for the dead wood that he wants shot of…wouldn’t rate any of them too highly apart from malbranq but he is worth around 5 million tops…

Malbranque is a class act but he must be pushing on a little bit, chimichanga is decent enough but a troublemaker, Tainio was good when he first started at spurs but hasn’t had many chances in the past year. You could take or leave Kabul.

They’re a whole lot better than what’s there at the moment though

I think Puke is right though - dead wood.

You would count yourself lucky to get rid of one of them during the close season never mind four of them…

They are also averaging over 5 million each which is crazy…

They are all dead wood to spurs alright but with the potential departure of Keane and Berbatov Ramos better have something up his sleeve or it could all go tits up for him very fast.

twas in one of the papers that with them 4 leaving for sunderland along with berbatov and keane ramos will use money to sign diego capel from sevilla, david bentley from blackburn, pavluchenko from spartak moscow and milito from real zaragoza…

Milito and Pavluchenko would be a cracking striking partnership. I’d say Ramos will indeed be laughing lots if he manages to get that quartet off his wage bill. Malbranque is obviously the class guy out of the four but he’s not worth a quarter of the total, never mind the rest of them.

I ridiculed Keane’s signings last year and while these 4 players would strengthen Sunderland, they’re still bit part players for Spurs and are commanding silly money. Surely there’s better value for money elsewhere? If he’s going to buy almost exclusively in the English market then they’ll consistently pay inflated prices for players. I wonder how far the Drumaville crowd are willing to go in terms of giving him financial backing too. The likes of these 4 players are pretty much mid-table standard and they’re costing 20m+ so they’ll be required rto stump up significantly more if they’re to break into the top 10 and better. That said I’m not sure how much of this is Sky TV money or direct investment.

One has to wonder how much of what we’re reading in the papers is true though. Last week Wayne Bridge to Pompey was a done deal and the next day he signed a new 4 year deal. You have to laugh sometimes.

What a lack of ambition from Bridge btw.

Absolutely. I always liked Bridge but Cole has obviously got that full back spot nailed down(unless Scolari stops picking cunts, and he loves Terry). Bridge is already a millionaire from his time with Chelsea so why not try to play a bit of ball?

Bridge is weird. For some reason a lot of people seem to like him - always seemed to come across as an ok bloke somehow. But that’s a really dreadful lack of ambition. Don’t care what Scolari promised him, the last thing he needed was an extended contract at Chelsea.

Seems the vast number of people may be wrong about Bridge and that he is as bad as all the rest of the money grabbing footballers. I have no problem with footballers grabbing as much money as they can, but to piss away a career as Cuntley Coles reserve is a crime.

It’s amusing to me that 'Appy 'Arry Redknapp is gradually accumulating an England B collective at Portsmouth. Crouch and Defoe upfront. He’s in for Wright-Phillips, tried to sign Bridge and already has Glen Johnson, David James and others. Agreed on Bridge unless of course they’re going to punt Cole, who’s been a shadow of the player he was at Arsenal since going to Chelsea.

That’s not a B collection - most of them start for England.

James and Crouch anyway…

To be fair, while they may all not be first choice for Ingerlund, they’re not a bad side, and while 'Arry is a gangster, he’s doing an ok job down there, albeit not on the “shoestring” that many commentators like to claim he’s working on.

If Cole isn’t going to first choice, I don’t see a side with Chelseas ambitions winning the big trophy’s with Bridge in their side. They look to be aiming for a side with a lot of central players and Cole gives them width that Bridge could never provide.

[quote=“farmerinthecity”]That’s not a B collection - most of them start for England.

James and Crouch anyway…[/quote]

James is the only player who’s a first choice for England, is he not?

I would say Crouch is now ahead of Owen…

But Capello only plays one striker, and thats Wazza.

Some more confirmed deals today and in the last few days:
Noel Hunt to Reading for c.600k, rising to 1m based on appearances and achievements.
The Swiss player Behrami to West Ham from Lazio for 5m.
The Ghanaian centre back John Mensah from Rennes to Lyon.
Fernando Meira from Stuttgart to Galatasaray.
Freddy Adu and Matuzalem to Monaco and Lazio on loan respectively.
Emre from Newcastle to Galatasaray.

Other deals in the pipeline:
Aston Villa have had an offer accepted for Brad Friedel.
Chimbonda and Tainio are apparently undergoing medicals at Sunderland. Malbranque and Kabul have yet to decide what they want to do

Why are Villa buying Friedl - have they dropped their interest in Carson?

Pity to see Hunt leaving Dundee United. He was a decent enough player and really hated the huns. Not a bad fee for him, decent profit for the Arabs but it’s disappointing for the league to be losing guys to Reading. I’d imagine he was enjoying his time at Dundee United alright, but the wages will probably have made a world of difference.