Karl-Heinz Rumour Mill

[crowie]

Originally Posted by Kiko

Fowler to Celtic?

Can't say i would be too enthusiastic about that. Yes he would score a barrel load in Scotland but i would rather his wages were invested in a striker who would do it on the CL stage.

Celtic have players who have been in the top goalscorers bracket the last few seasons in the SPL such as Killen, Riordan and McDonald.

What they are lacking is that class act for Europe.

Waste on Fowler imo

Already been denied by Strachan. Think it must be his agent trying to work him a move somewhere.

As for scoring a barrowload in the SPL, I doubt that too. Its sad to say but IMO Robbie Fowler is finished as a top quality, top level player. He didn't kick a ball at City and only the move back to his beloved Liverpool prolonged his career by a bit. If it wasn't for that I think he would have already been out of the game as he is not the sort of player who I can see playing in Championship or below.

I think his desire has gone, it looked like that at City and Liverpool reignited if again for a little while but overall, he doesn't need to play (well minted with property) and I just don't think he has the will anymore to do so.

Shame, he should still have been England's main goalscorer now but somewhere it went a bit wrong for Robbie.

[all_funkt_up]

Rangers are vying with Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Roma for Torino midfielder Alessandro Rosina's signature to help fans forget about the loss of Scott Brown to Celtic. (Scottish Daily Mirror)

Joey Barton will seal his £5.5m move to Newcastle as soon as Magpies skipper Scott Parker completes his £8m switch to West Ham. (Various)

Barton will speak with Newcastle and West Ham this week after both clubs made £5.5m bids for the fiery star. (Daily Mirror)

Newcastle have insisted on a contract clause in Barton's contract to protect the club if he is jailed over the incident with Manchester City team-mate Ousmane Dabo. (The Sun)

David Beckham has no intention of trying to escape from his £125m LA Galaxy deal in order to prolong his England career. (Daily Star)


Bolton striker Nicolas Anelka said he would not be able to turn down a potential move to Manchester United. (Various)

Manchester United defender Gabriel Heinze is at the centre of a transfer tug-of-war between Real Madrid and Barcelona. (The Sun)

Arsenal are close to signing Auxerre right-back Bakari Sagna for £6m. (The Sun)

West Brom midfielder Jason Koumas has revealed that Aston Villa have joined the race to sign him. (Daily Mail)

Sheffield Wednesday are poised to cash in on Chris Brunt by selling him to Wigan for £2m. (Daily Express)

Wigan are understood to have agreed a deal to sign Titus Bramble on a free transfer. (The Times)

West Ham are looking for a reserve keeper after releasing Roy Carroll. (The Times)

Bolton boss Sammy Lee opened talks with Antoine Sibierski in a bid to pinch him from under the noses of Wigan. (Daily Mirror)

Coventry boss Iain Dowie is set to snap up left-back Gary Borrowdale from Crystal Palace. (Daily Mirror)

Sunderland boss Roy Keane wants to make a £2m bid for West Brom skipper Paul Robinson. (Daily Mirror)

Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce spent the weekend in Cardiff trying to tie up a deal for Czech Republic centre-half David Rozehnal. (Daily Mirror)

Leicester boss Martin Allen has joined the £1m chase for Marek Saganowski. (Daily Mirror)

Tottenham are turning to Portugal defender Jose Bosingwa as they prepare for life without Pascal Chimbonda. (The Sun)

The Scott Parker move is an interesting one. I saw on SSNews that the Sheffield United Chairman was upbeat about being reinstated to the Premiership at West Ham's expense. The matter goes to arbitration 2 weeks today and I wonder what happens to West Ham if the worst comes to the worst.

I mean how can they afford to lay out such sums of money on players if they end up in the Championship. It's a high risk game they are playing at the moment, whilst the matter is still up in the air.

And you can add this one to that as well:

West Ham are looking to tempt Everton striker Andy Johnson away from Goodison in an £13m deal plus the promise of £90,000-a-week wages. (Daily Mail)

There would be hell on at Everton if they were to let Johnson go. Cant see it. I heard that the Hammers were coming in for Cahill and Johnson, cant see the board allowing them to leave. Would send out a very very bad signal to fans if they were premitted to leave.

[all_funkt_up]

I might start an entirely new thread devoted to overpriced English based players.

Reasons to shop abroad for players - reason number 147

Celtic boss Gordon Strachan has been told he will have to pay £9m for Jason Koumas and West Brom team-mate Diomansy Kamara. (Daily Mirror)

[prsljen31]

I abpsolutely agree,Kamara has potenial to be in Arsenal but he has to many empty slots inside the brain and he is the most selfish player I have ever seen...I saw every single game of the playoffs and something is obvious,too many decent and overpriced players...

[all_funkt_up]

Agreed to a certain extent. He is one of those players that must frustrate managers. He plays very well some of the time but is too greedy to make it at a big club. Some days he can be a superstar and others he can play like a Pub Team player. Doesnt work hard enough and contribute to the team enough for me.

[crowie]

Originally Posted by all_funkt_up

I heard that the Hammers were coming in for Cahill and Johnson, cant see the board allowing them to leave. Would send out a very very bad signal to fans if they were premitted to leave.

It was on the RM a couple of days ago but it was Arteta and Johnson - for £30m West Ham are the new Chelsea.

[all_funkt_up]

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has urged the Blues to sign Lyon winger Florent Malouda before he joins Liverpool. (Various)

The day after the CL final, Benitez said he wanted the board to act quickly on his transfers and this is why. You either have clubs coming in and nicking your players or at the very least, they push the prices up as will probably happen here.

Manchester City midfielder Joey Barton, who signed for Newcastle on Tuesday night, will bank £12m over five years if he completes his contract at St James' Park. (Daily Mirror)

Good signing this one for Newcastle. Off load Parker for around £7.5m and sign Barton for around £5.5m - better player for Newcastle and £2m in the bank as well.

Reasons to sign foreign players - reason number 148:

West Ham's former Charlton boss Alan Curbishley wants to buy Darren Bent from his old club but the Addicks have told him the striker will cost £18m. (Daily Mirror)

Shocking - absolutely shocking. Since when did his value become £18m?

Former Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri wants to lure midfielder Frank Lampard away from Stamford Bridge to join him at Juventus. (Daily Mirror)

Manchester United striker Alan Smith will not be offered a new contract, which is set to spark a bidding battle between Tottenham, Everton, Middlesbrough and Aston Villa. (The Sun)


Middlesbrough are poised for an £8m double swoop for Portsmouth midfielder Sean Davis and Porto defender Jose Bosingwa. (Daily Mirror)

Chelsea are chasing Brazilian wonderkid Pato, 17, who plays for Internacional and who has also attracted the interest of Juventus and AC Milan. (Daily Star)


Everton are prepared to cash in on striker Andrew Johnson - but only if West Ham pay £20m. (Daily Star)

Leicester want to swap Patrick McCarthy, plus cash, for Charlton midfielder Matt Holland. (The Sun)

Portsmouth are considering a £3m bid for Wigan striker Henri Camara. (Daily Mirror)

Derby are battling Watford for the signature of Norwich striker Robert Earnshaw. (The Sun)

Birmingham want to sign Arsenal defender Johan Djourou on a season-long deal. (Daily Mirror)

Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas has hinted that his team-mates expect Gunners striker Thierry Henry to join Barcelona. (Daily Mirror)

Laryea Kingston's agent says a permanent Hearts deal for the midfielder, who has been on loan from Terek Grozny, must be struck by midnight. (Daily Record)

Wigan boss Chris Hutchings has pleaded with chairman Dave Whelan not to sell midfielder Lee McCulloch to Rangers. (Daily Record)

Ipswich want defender Chris Perry after he was released by West Brom. (The Sun)

West Brom striker Diomansy Kamara is a £2m target for Middlesbrough. (Various)

Sevilla defender Daniel Alves, whose agent held talks with Chelsea last week, has left the door open for a last-gasp bid from Liverpool - if the "economical factors" are right. (The Sun)

Portsmouth want to sign Bolton striker Nicolas Anelka. (Various)

Striker Leon Best is set to join Nottingham Forest after making it clear he wants to leave Southampton. (Daily Star)

West Ham face a battle to hang on to Yossi Benayoun after the midfielder turned down a five-year contract worth £50,000 a week. (Daily Mail)

[crowie]

Some of the stories and amounts are just getting silly again. Bent for £18m, Johnson for £20m.

When you then see Pompey rumoured to be bidding for Henri Camara at £3m or Anelka you realise that some players are becoming way over priced.

Put Anelka into a top side and, attitude apart, I reckon he would do better than Johnson or Bent, and probably for half the price. And are either of these two 6 or 7 times the value of Henri Camara?

[all_funkt_up]

I know Crowie, the transfer situation is mad. Bent isnt even an England regular like. I heard today too that Alan Smith isnt going to be offered a new deal at Manchester United and that could spark a transfer frenzy.

Quite who would be in a frenzy to sign that platinum blonde shit bag is beyond me

[all_funkt_up]

Oh and as for Anelka, the bloke is class. Mad but class.

I think he just needs to be at a club where he is appreciated and he feels the club is as good as him. He would take the piss at Man U like, he is miles better than Sahahahahaha or Solskjaer given his advanced stage in life. That lad will be doing adverts for Stannah soon, but he still looks 6 years old.

[rcgills]

I'll admit I've not seen much of Bent, but whenever I have seen him, I've not been overly impressed. If you asked me to put a price on him, I'd say £2-3m, no more. 18 is an absolute joke.

Drogba asking Chelsea to sign Malouda makes sense, given what I mentioned the other week about how well the two of them linked up at Guingamp.

And why the hell would Leon Best want to leave Southampton for Forest? If he's fallen out with Southampton for some reason then fair enough, but why drop down a division, he looks more than capable of playing in the Championship.

[mrmuzeman]

There would be hell on at Everton if they were to let Johnson go. Cant see it. I heard that the Hammers were coming in for Cahill and Johnson, cant see the board allowing them to leave. Would send out a very very bad signal to fans if they were premitted to leave.

West Ham need to get real, like either of them (or Arteta for that matter - even more so) would leave Everton to go to the Hammers.

[all_funkt_up]

Real Madrid defender Roberto Carlos has agreed to join Turkish champions Fenerbahce at the end of the season.

Blimey, didnt see that coming

[crowie]

I do think both Johnson and Bent are decent quality EPL strikers. Both will get you about 15, maybe 20 goals per season given the right service. But neither of them are international class IMO and when your spending £15m+ I would expect the player you are buying to be an pretty regular international level player.



Muze, yep, I would agree with you. I think Everton have the basis of a pretty solid EPL side. They are the sort of side who I would now expect to be in the hunt for European football each season. Johnson, Arteta, Cahill, Lescott, Yobo, all good quality players and the basis of a good side. As you said, why the hell would they go from that to West Ham?

Then again, look at my old friend Lucas Neill - Liverpool or West Ham. Mmmm, hard one that. And he takes the mental money on offer at the Hammers and a relegation dog fight over the chance of pretty much guaranteed CL football every season. Lacking ambition but not lacking in the bank account dept



RC, Malouda has looked pretty decent when I have seen Lyon but is he not an out and out winger? The way Jose went with Chelsea last season, they didn't really do wingers. Can he play up front in a Robben like role, sort of widey but forwardedy?



I knew Bobby Carlos was on his way out of Real but didn't see him heading to Turkey.

[rcgills]

Originally Posted by crowie

RC, Malouda has looked pretty decent when I have seen Lyon but is he not an out and out winger? The way Jose went with Chelsea last season, they didn't really do wingers. Can he play up front in a Robben like role, sort of widey but forwardedy?

I'm pretty sure Malouda can play that kind of role. His goalscoring record's not bad for a winger, 50 goals in 325 games. However, you say that Chelsea didn't do wingers last season - they didn't win the title either. Maybe that will lead to Mourinho having a change of plan. If two players link up well, and have a good understanding of each other's game, it's worth trying to keep them together - Beckham and Van Nistelrooy at Man Utd and then Madrid, for example - and I think Drogba and Malouda could work the same way.