Karl-Heinz Rumour Mill

[all_funkt_up]

I would sooner have Johnson than Bent in my line up.

I think he's ace, a real grafter and a decent finisher too

[all_funkt_up]

Originally Posted by crowie

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.

As for Robbie, I do think he would do ok in the SPL. However if Celtic's goal is to progress in Europe this year, Robbie isnt your man. Im sure he could kick arse against the likes of Motherwell or Falkirk, but he hasnt got the pace for the CL games against top notch opposition.

[all_funkt_up]

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has accepted undisclosed libel damages over a claim he had been in secret talks over a possible move to Real Madrid.
The England star brought proceedings in London’s High Court over a “world exclusive” in Sport Magazine in February.

His solicitor, Gerard Tyrrell, told Mr Justice Eady that the article was accompanied by a fax from the Park Lane Marriott Hotel which it claimed was “confirmation of a hotel reservation in London for the Liverpool captain”.

The story stated that “Sport Magazine might not be the sharpest tool in the box, but even we can join the dots on this one”.

Interesting....

[all_funkt_up]

Liverpool could set their sights on £16m Diego Forlan rather than Barcelona's £35m-rated Samuel Eto'o. (The Times)

I seriously hope someone's having a Giraffe with this one. £16m for Forlan?????????????

Newcastle are interested in signing French winger Ludovic Giuly from Barcelona for just £1.5m. (Daily Mirror)

I think he'd be a good buy, wouldnt mind seeing him move to Liverpool actually. Always been a big fan of Giuly.

David Nugent has told Everton he will not wait all summer to clinch a move to Goodison Park. (Daily Mail)

Well, if you dont, you're staying at Deepdale pal. There's hardly a clammer to sign you is there yer daft twat.

David Beckham has snubbed a last-ditch attempt to persuade him to stay with Real Madrid. (Daily Mirror)

Manchester United have been told they will need to stump up £40m if they want to buy Carlos Tevez. (Daily Star)

But they are only willing to pay £12m, with Inter Milan prepared to splash out £34m on the Argentine. (Independent)

Lyon could start an auction to sell Florent Malouda, with Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and AC Milan all interested. (Daily Express)

West Ham are chasing Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe and Liverpool frontman Craig Bellamy. (Daily Mirror)

Tal Ben Haim is willing to turn down Chelsea to sign for former Bolton boss Sam Allardyce at Newcastle. (Daily Express)

Everton could offer Gary Naysmith and even James McFadden in a bid to land Sheffield United captain Phil Jagielka. (Daily Mirror)

Man Utd defender Gabriel Heinze says he would consider an offer from Barcelona. (Daily Star)

Wigan are confident of tying up the signing of former Chelsea right-back Mario Melchiot on a free transfer. (The Sun)

Sunderland are favourites to sign Neil Lennon after he turned down Wycombe. (The Times)

Aston Villa are lining up a move for Hamburg's Holland international midfielder Nigel de Jong. (Daily Mirror)

Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp has made Middlesbrough's former Pompey striker Yakubu his top transfer target. (Various)

Keith Gillespie is set to snub Bolton in favour of a new improved contract at Sheffield United. (Daily Mirror)

Manchester United winger Jamie Mullan is poised to join Leeds on a free transfer. (Daily Mirror)

Paris St Germain boss Paul Le Guen is battling with Portsmouth and Lyon to sign Wigan striker Henri Camara. (Daily Record)

Garry O'Connor's agent claims the Lokomotiv Moscow striker would relish a return to British football. (Daily Record)

Hibs boss John Collins has been warned he will have to break his wage structure to land Celtic keeper David Marshall. (Daily Record)

[rcgills]

That story about Beckham maybe staying at Real Madrid is in the papers here too. Apparently there's a get-out clause in his contract with LA Galaxy whereby Beckham can buy out the contract for $10m. Real Madrid are apparently interested in re-signing him, but for the moment Beckham seems to still want to go to LA.

[rene]

I think that his wife wanna go to LA to have a celebraty life there. But on the other hand if they will have a comeback as singer she has to stay in europe cause no one knows the Spice Girls in the States.
But Galaxy made a lot of advertising for Beckham and the whole league wanna see him in summer...

what do you think about richard?

[all_funkt_up]

Not quite sure who Richard is, but here's my input on the Beckham saga.

I think Calderon is just trying as best he can to cover his arse.

He is the man that allowed Beckham to leave. A new deal was not forthcoming, the management made no effort to keep him and he was dropped from the team. Now Beckham is a hero and flavour of the month once more. The Madrid boss plays lip service to the idea of David staying, in order to appease the fans who blame Calderon for his departure.

That way at least he can say "I tried to keep him, but he wasnt interested."

There is NO clause in Beckham's contract that allows him to stay. LA Galaxy and MLS as a whole have made a huge commitment to getting Beckham. The value of the 'buy out' (if there was one, which there isnt) would be way more that $10m USD. The value of the Beckham brand is measured in the hundreds of millions, not just a paltry $10m.

In conclusion, I think he's off to a Galaxy far far away.

[rcgills]

Originally Posted by all_funkt_up

He is the man that allowed Beckham to leave. A new deal was not forthcoming, the management made no effort to keep him and he was dropped from the team.

Don't know where you got that idea from, AFU, but he was certainly offered a new deal with Madrid. Not as good a deal as he was offered with LA, maybe, but they certainly made him an offer. And he was dropped from the team precisely because of the fact that he'd signed the deal with LA and Capello decided he didn't want players not committed to the club.

"This week Real Madrid asked me to make a decision regarding my future and the offer to extend my contract for a further two seasons," said Beckham. "After discussing several options with my family and advisers to either stay here at Madrid or join other major British and European clubs, I have decided to join the Los Angeles Galaxy and play in the MLS from August this year.

Beckham confirms LA Galaxy move | Special Reports | Guardian Unlimited Football

[crowie]

He would get, what £80-100k or so, a week at Madrid. He is getting, reportedly, £500k a week a LA. He will be off to LA.

And lets be honest, if Barca hadn't chucked away the league like the have done, this wouldn't even be an issue.

[all_funkt_up]

Madrid did offer Beckham a deal. Dont you think though that again, it was merely paying lip service to the idea of him staying? They didnt offer 'market value' for him.

I am sure that all things being equal, he would have stayed at Madrid. They didnt offer him a serious deal and so he left.

For any club to offer around half of the basic salary the player can command and then to turn around and say they made every effort to keep him, is a bit of a joke.

[rcgills]

There's no denying that from a financial point of view, LA's offer is far better for Beckham than Madrid's offer was, I was just taking issue with your claim that "A new deal was not forthcoming, the management made no effort to keep him..." because that clearly wasn't the case. They offered him a deal that in their opinion probably represented his value to them at that stage in his career. International career seemingly over, and indifferent performances for Madrid. He was clearly worth more to a club like LA Galaxy for off-field reasons than he was to Madrid, who've already milked that side of things with Beckham probably as much as they can. It's a credit to Beckham the way he turned things around, forced his way back into the England team and started playing superbly for Madrid, to the extent that Madrid would now be prepared to re-sign him, purely on footballing grounds.

[all_funkt_up]

Atletico Madrid will spark a transfer scramble among Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham next week when they say striker Fernando Torres can leave (Mirror).

Would be interested to see what RC thinks of Torres. I have always thought he was a quality player, but then again I thought Morientes walked on water until I saw him get out muscled against the likes of Middlesbrough etc.

Is he quick enough, strong enough and a good enough all round performer to make it in the Premiership I wonder? Sometimes I think we English hold players in high regard because they are foreign. If there was a striker in the French League called Davide Nugentio who was banging goals in for fun, no doubt he'd be touted around every premiership club. But because he plays for Preston, he isnt seen as being a quality player.

Turkish side Besiktas have made an offer to sign Sheffield United former Colin Kazim-Richards (The Guardian).

?? Anyone know why ??

Wigan boss Chris Hutchings is planning a £2.5m swoop for Sheffield United striker Rob Hulse (The Sun).

And he could follow that up with a move for unsettled Tottenham midfielder Danny Murphy and Portsmouth defender Andy O'Brien (The Guardian)

Couple of good buys there I think. I had almost forgotten that Danny Murphy played for Spurs, infact I had almost forgotten that he played football full stop. My word, the last 2 years have been a complete disaster for him havent they.

Quality player that would grace any club outside of the top 6 or so. Excellent set pieces as Manchester United will tell you, but he just doesnt have the pace that top clubs demand in all positions.

I like Andy O'Brien too. Reliable, versatile and cheap.

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has hinted he may quit the club to experience football in Spain or Italy (Various)

Bolton boss Sammy Lee has made a £1.5m move for Reading midfielder Stephen Hunt (Daily Express).

Everton manager David Moyes is challenging Barcelona, Inter Milan and Roma for the signature of Kolo Toure's £8m-rated brother Yaya, who plays in midfield for Monaco (Mirror).

Birmingham manager Steve Bruce has been told he will have to spend £6m if he wants to sign West Brom striker Diomansky Kamara (Various).

However, he could face competition from Fulham for Kamara's signature, with the Cottagers also targeting Baggies midfielder Jason Koumas (Daily Mail).

Arsenal defender Philippe Senderos is wanted by Spanish club Real Zaragoza (Mirror)

Chelsea have raided Leeds to sign rising teenage star Ben Gordon in a £1.5m deal (Daily Express).

Turkey's top striker Sanli Tuncay could be heading for Middlesbrough on a free transfer (Mirror)

Portsmouth and Fulham have expressed an interest in signing forward Hameur Bouazza from relegated Watford (The Guardian).

Rangers have been told they must treble their £1m offer for Osasuna centre-half Carlos Cuellar (Daily Record).

Blackburn midfielder Robbie Savage will reject a pay rise offer from Sheffield United to stay at Ewood Park (The Sun)

Tottenham will rival Newcastle for the signature of Barcelona's 30-year-old French winger Ludovic Giuly, who could be available for a cut-price £1.5m (Mirror)

Sunderland boss Roy Keane wants to follow up the signing of Greg Halford from Reading with a move for Manchester United forward Alan Smith (Daily Star).

Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce wants to completely rebuild his defence with the signings of Bolton's Tal Ben Haim, Liverpool centre-half Sami Hyypia, Paris St Germain's David Rozehnal and Marseille skipper Habib Beye (The Sun).

Aberdeen boss Jimmy Calderwood is ready to hijack Falkirk's bid to sign keeper Kasper Schmeichel on a permanent basis (Daily Record).

Relegated Leeds United want to sign free agent Marc Bircham, who was released by QPR last month (The Sun).

[rcgills]

Originally Posted by all_funkt_up

Would be interested to see what RC thinks of Torres.

I'll copy and paste some of my comments on previous threads about Torres. It may give the initial impression I'm not a fan. The initial impression would be spot on I'd choose Morientes over Torres every time, without a doubt.

As I've said on a few other threads on here in the past, he's vastly over-rated. Capable of some great goals, but in return he'll miss more than his fair share of sitters. Has a really annoying habit of just dropping to his knees and waving his arms in the air any time he thinks he's been fouled. And if you do sign him, make sure you don't let him anywhere near any penalties you get.

Should get change from a fiver. Most over-rated player in world football, misses far too many chances, insists on taking penalties despite being shit at them, and if people think Ronaldo is bad for diving, just wait until Torres gets over to England (if he ever does). Has a really annoying way of doing it too, doesn't actually throw himself to the floor, just at the slightest contact he drops to his knees and waves his arms in the air as if to say "How can I possibly keep running after what he's just done?". Drives me round the fucking twist, can't stand him.

Off the top of my head Eto'o, Villa, Morientes, Soldado, Saviola, even Sinama-Pongolle (is he still Liverpool's or was it a permanent transfer) would be better options from Spain and, with the possible (although not definite) exception of the first two, they'd be cheaper.

Torres is vastly over-rated in my opinion, he can do some excellent work in creating chances, but then consistently makes a mess of the easy bit when it comes to the finish. If Torres could actually finish, he'd have been up there with Villa and Eto'o competing for the Pichichi in Spain, but he can't.

[all_funkt_up]

Crist, we should make "vastly over-rated" copyright RC Gills 2007

[all_funkt_up]

So on the whole folks, it seems as if Torres aint the player he is made out to be.

Lets hope he goes to Man U then