Manchester United are set to complete the deal for Owen Hargreaves on Tuesday. This will bring to ab end a transfer saga that began a year ago, but one that always felt like it would happen. The deal is expected to cost United 17million pounds, and does not look like being the end to their big spending, with Nani of Sporting Lisbon, Samuel Eto'o of Barcelona, and Fernando Torres of Athletico Madrid all targets for Sir Alex.
United defender Gabriel Heinze is said to be on the verge of a 5 million pound move to Real Madrid. Heinze has found himself playing back up to Patrice Evra for much of the season, and is said to have already met Madrid officials. If the deal goes through he will join the likes of David Beckham and Ruud van Nistilrooy, who have moved from Old Trafford to Madrid in the last few years. However with United having missed out on Gareth Bale they may not be ready to cash in on Heinze just yet.
Valenica are weighing up a move for ex United forward Diego Forlan of Villareal. Forlan has a buy out clause of around 24 million pounds, but Valencia will test the waters with an initial 15 million bid. This may be Valencia's bid to cope with life without top scorer David Villa who is wanted by all of Europe's top clubs. Valencia however will argue that they are looking for a partner for Villa rather then a replacement.
News that will raise the spirits of every non Chelsea fan, and sicken the Chelsea fans to their stomachs, is that owner Roman Abramovich is said to have decided to no longer pour money into the club. He wants Chelsea to be run as a proper business and to generate their own transfer funds, as other clubs do. He is also set to put an end to sky high wages by putting in place a salary cap. This means that John Terry and Frank Lampard, both of whom have had contract negotiations stall as they seek to be in line with the top earners at the club, will have to either settle for less then they want, or leave.
Lampard is set to be involved in a tug of war between Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus, as they all seek to bring in the midfielder who seems likely to leave Chelsea this summer. Lampard is said to be favouring a deal with Barcelona, as his fiancee is from Catalunya, but will listen to all offers if Barca delay.
1 comment:
Tuesday came and went, and no official word on Hargreaves...i think it'll be good for the club, though. need a bit of depth in midfield, and maybe another creative midfielder for the middle, since Scholes seems to be the only one like that.
Strikers - i don't think they need any more. Rossi and the Chinese guy are set to come back, plus Solskjaer and Saha are there, despite their injuries. So, up front they've got enough. Not to mention Smith.
Left back seems a saturated position - too many left backs, not enough right backs.
Overall, i think the squad is very well set. A superstar signing would be good, but it's not really necessary. This team is in it's early stages, and hopefully it'll stay together like the 90s generation.
Chelsea (Kenyon) spoke about those business plans a few years ago - they didn't plan on staying big spenders. The long-term plan was development, so maybe we'll see their youth system produce some good talent in years to come.
(But hopefully United's will stay ahead :)
This is the time of year where, when reading all this speculation, keep in mind a lot of it is just that: speculation.
Stick with the official quotes from players and clubs, and don't regard the opinions of writers that seriously.
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