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Official Football Thread 2006/2007 (Soccer)

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Malouda 'wants to join' Jose's Blues

France midfielder Florent Malouda has revealed he wants to join Chelsea after holding talks with Blues coach Jose Mourinho.

The 27-year-old has made no attempt to hide his desire to quit six-times French champions Lyon, but on Saturday he confirmed his preferred destination was the London club.

Malouda told Progres: "It's Chelsea where I want to go. I have made my choice.

"I have talked about it with the coach Jose Mourinho and I have had direct contact with the club, unlike Liverpool where too many intermediaries and sharks have entered the game."

Liverpool have also been linked with Malouda, a member of the France team that played in last year's World Cup final.

If he does move to Chelsea, Malouda will link up again with Didier Drogba with whom he had a great season at Guingamp in 2002-3.

Malouda looks set to follow Eric Abidal out of the exit door - his France and Lyon team-mate joined Barcelona on Friday.

He told Progres: "I want to leave, the directors know it and in these conditions I can't see carrying on with Lyon.

"So much the better for Eric and it changes nothing for me."
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Looks like it's Chelsea for Malouda.

http://www.teamtalk.com/football/story/0,16368,2483_2459604,00.html
 
Wooh, a direct red card for Peru's Garcia. Still 0-0.

Btw, I just got back from the Transformers Movie. Go watch it, now. It's amazing.
 
far too quick with my judgement again. Argentina aren't that great either, they will have their work cut out if they want to beat the Czech.

Very enjoyable so far though.
 
I find it funny you guys ask a lot about Insua. I think i recognize the entire team but him, don't know where or how he plays.
 
it was 0:0, enjoyable game - but I missed most of it due to sleep.

rumours:

TRANSFER RUMOURS

Arsenal are to table a £20m offer for Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o this week. (The People)

And the Gunners are also the only serious contenders battling Manchester United for the signature of striker Carlos Tevez. (News of the World)

Liverpool, Chelsea and West Ham also want the Argentine. (Sunday Express)

Tevez's former team-mate Javier Mascherano has not yet signed a full-time deal with Liverpool and could join Manchester City. (The People)

Bolton striker Nicolas Anelka has told 'friends' he could rejoin Manchester City. (Mirror)

Middlesbrough forward Yakubu could join him at Eastlands. (Mirror)

And veteran Italian forward Christian Vieri is another City target, as are Newcastle's Michael Owen and West Ham's Nigel Reo-Coker. (News of the World)

Aston Villa also want Reo-Coker as well as Chelsea duo Shaun Wright-Phillips and Geremi and Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy. (Sunday Telegraph)

Newcastle are keeping tabs on Barcelona striker Eidur Gudjohnson. (Express)

Wayne Bridge, Lassana Diarra and Geremi could be in a job-lot move from Chelsea to Newcastle. (Mail on Sunday)

Midfielder Frank Lampard has turned down Chelsea's offer of £121,000 a week sparking renewed speculation he will join Juventus or Barcelona. (NotW)

Barcelona midfielder Thiago Motta has his sights on a move to England with Chelsea, Manchester City, West Ham and Middlesbrough interested. (Mirror)

OTHER GOSSIP

A rift with chief administrators has made it more likely manager Arsene Wenger will leave Arsenal when his current contract expires next year. (Mail on Sunday)

AND FINALLY

Former England striker Rodney Marsh, who played in the United States in the 1970s, believes long-distance travel, lower-quality play and media surveillance will prevent midfielder David Beckham maintaining his England form while playing for LA Galaxy. (Mail on Sunday)

Story from BBC SPORT:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport1/hi/football/gossip_and_transfers/6258182.stm

Published: 2007/07/01 08:11:47 GMT

© BBC MMVII
Click to expand...

Frank Lampard has turned down Chelsea's offer of £121,000 a week
Click to expand...
what an arrogant little prick. he's a perfect fit for Chelsea
 
Maybe he wants to genuinely join Barca.

and where the **** did that Mascherano rumour come from... oh The Sunday People now it makes sense.
 
The Thai guy has already had loads of assets frozen in his home country and has been asked to be put under investigation here, I dunno if that's the best person you want buying your club.

... unlike Liverpool where too many intermediaries and sharks have entered the game."
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That's pretty telling. They've got to get it sorted because people do want to go there.
 
If lampard hopes to move to barca, then he's going to be rather disappointed because a barca executive said that barca and no other big european club wants lampard.

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_2461294,00.html

Sunday's Observer quotes a Barcelona executive as saying that Frank Lampard 'knows he has no chance of moving' to any of the big European clubs and so will almost definitely stay at Chelsea.

'There is no other option. He has been offered to us, Milan, Inter and Real Madrid. Basically all of the big clubs. But none are interested. We are the same as those clubs are, we're looking for a player who is more creative and has a greater technique than Lampard. So it looks like he will go nowhere.'

The England midfielder has been trying to negotiate a new contract for the past year, with negotiations seemingly deadlocked because of his excessive demands.

Apparently Lampard wants to earn the same as Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack, Chelsea's top earners, reportedly on £130,000 a week.

Lampard has been offered £110,000, around £20,000 more than his current deal, although the News of the World claims that Lampard turned down an offer that would have made him the club's highest earner.
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I think thats just made up. If lampard did reject a new contract, then he must have done it knowing that there are big clubs interested in him. I find it difficult to believe that none of those clubs would want him.
 
Sky Sports made it sound like Barca are not going to be satisfied this Summer unless they try to sign Lampard but it depends if they can sell Deco.
 
Steroyd said:
Sky Sports made it sound like Barca are not going to be satisfied this Summer unless they try to sign Lampard but it depends if they can sell Deco.
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yeah that's what I heard yesterday too. They also named names, and not just "a executive".

Or "a close friend of an executives milkman"
 
I really dont know too much about malouda, but if he comes to chelsea then I think SWP is going to go. He's hardly had that much first team football for the last two years and with the addition of another winger his playing time is going to become less. You can see why he wants to stay at chelsea. He's getting paid a lot and he's got a much better chance of winnings things with them, but he's hardly been a big part of that. He should really consider moving so that he gets to play football regularly and become a big part of a teams success.
 
hadareud said:
what an arrogant little prick. he's a perfect fit for Chelsea
Click to expand...


It was reported ages ago that both him and John Terry have clauses in their current contracts promising them parity with the highest paid player at the club, so £121k a week is almost certainly a pay cut. As much as they are greedy ****s you can understand them not wanting to be paid less then the likes of Ballack and Sheva when they are so much more important to the team.



West Ham have apparently agreed to buy Julien Faubert from Bordeaux. Anyone heard of him?
 
Ghost said:
It was reported ages ago that both him and John Terry have clauses in their current contracts promising them parity with the highest paid player at the club, so £121k a week is almost certainly a pay cut. As much as they are greedy ****s you can understand them not wanting to be paid less then the likes of Ballack and Sheva when they are so much more important to the team.
Click to expand...
fair enough, they are arguing about 4 to 9k a week.

I nearly dropped my mobile phone and drove into a tree when I heard that my boss offered me 5k a week less than I wanted.
 
I really wish I was in a position to get offered 5k a week less then I wanted without having to pay my boss for me to work for them. :(
 
the BBC have updated their site with more rumours:

TRANSFER RUMOURS

Arsenal will table a £20m offer for Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o. (The People)

AC Milan have confirmed Eto'o is their number one target and say Arsenal do not stand a chance of signing the Cameroon forward. (News of the World)

The Gunners are also the only serious contenders battling Manchester United for the signature of striker Carlos Tevez. (NotW)

But Chelsea and Liverpool are also interested, while West Ham will match any offer Tevez receives. (Mirror)

Midfielder Frank Lampard has turned down Chelsea's offer of £121,000 a week sparking renewed speculation he will join Juventus or Barcelona. (NotW)

Chelsea will not buckle in their talks with players who want big bucks. That means Lampard and Arjen Robben could be heading to Spain. (Mail)

Image rights are the stumbling block for Lampard and John Terry. (Mirror)

Striker Didier Drogba says he is not hankering after a move to AC Milan and wants to stay at Chelsea. (NotW)

Midfielder Javier Mascherano has not yet signed a full-time deal with Liverpool and could make a surprise move to Manchester City. (The People)

Bolton striker Nicolas Anelka has told 'friends' he is interested in rejoining Manchester City. (Mirror)

Middlesbrough forward Yakubu could join him at Eastlands. (Mirror)

And veteran Italian forward Christian Vieri is another City target, as are Newcastle's Michael Owen and West Ham's Nigel Reo-Coker. (News of the World)

Aston Villa want Reo-Coker as well as Chelsea duo Geremi and Shaun Wright-Phillips and Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy. (Sunday Telegraph)

Liverpool want £3m and Michael Johnson from Manchester City for Bellamy. (Daily Star Sunday)

The Reds are close to landing Athletic Bilbao 'wonderkid' Mikel San Jose. He is an 18-year-old defender. (NotW)

Liverpool turned down an offer from Besiktas for Sami Hyypia as they need to find a replacement first. (People)

Barcelona midfielder Thiago Motta has his sights on a move to England with Chelsea, Manchester City, West Ham and Middlesbrough interested. (Mirror)

Newcastle are keeping tabs on Barcelona striker Eidur Gudjohnson. (Express)

Wayne Bridge, Lassana Diarra and Geremi could be in a job-lot move from Chelsea to Newcastle. (Mail on Sunday)

Magpies boss Sam Allardyce, who says he needs five years to sort the club out, is 100% sure striker Michael Owen will stay at St James' Park. (NotW)

Charlton want West Brom's £4m-rated striker Nathan Ellington as a replacement for Darren Bent. (NotW)

Albion will in turn boost their attacking options with a move for Celtic's Craig Beattie. (NotW)

Rangers and Derby are willing to meet the £5m valuation West Brom have put on midfielder Jason Koumas. (People)

Derby also want Norwich striker Dickson Etuhu, West Ham winger Matthew Etherington and Sheffield United centre-back Claude Davis. (People)

Paul Robinson and Paul McShane will leave West Brom for Sunderland in a £6m double deal. (NotW)

Sunderland will sign Hearts goalkeeper Craig Gordon for £4.5m. (People)

Manchester United midfielder Kieron Richardson is in the middle of a tug of war between Sunderland and Sheffield United. (People)

Sunderland hope to catch Chelsea and Manchester United on the back foot with an early move for Heerenveen's Brazilian striker Afonso Alves. (NotW)

Bolton want to sign Tottenham midfielder Danny Murphy. (People)

Tottenham are lining up £3.5m bids for Celta Vigo's Borja Oubina and Hertha Berlin's Kevin Prince Boateng. (NotW)

Spurs have had a £6m offer for Celtic's Shunsuke Nakamura turned down. Liverpool and Aston Villa are also interested in the midfielder. (NotW)

Arsenal are set to go head-to-head with free-spending Spurs. Both clubs have targeted £8m-rated West Brom defender Curtis Davies. (NotW)

Real Madrid want Arsenal's Jose Antonio Reyes but will only offer £6m, half the amount they agreed last summer. (NotW)

Birmingham will boost their ranks with Spartak Moscow's former Arsenal striker Quincy Owusu-Abeyie and Dutch U21 star Daniel de Ridder. (NotW)

Midfielder Stephen Clemence will swap Birmingham for Southampton. (Various)

Chelsea are putting the finishing touches to a deal for Dutch U21 star Royston Drenthe. (People)

Everton want Preston's David Nugent but will not go above £4m. (NotW)

Blackburn will fend off Portsmouth's interest in Ryan Nelson by offering the defender a new contract. (People)

Colchester are the latest club to express interest in signing veteran forward Teddy Sheringham. (People)

West Ham have beaten Rangers to the signing of Bordeaux midfielder Julien Faubert. The fee is £6m. (NotW)

Middlesbrough are close to agreeing terms with AZ Alkmaar's Icelandic right-back Gretar Steinsson. (Various)

Fulham will renew their efforts to sign Leeds striker David Healy after missing out on Tottenham's Mido. (NotW)

OTHER GOSSIP

Sources at Arsenal say it is unlikely manager Arsene Wenger will stay at the club when his contract expires at the end of next season. (Mail on Sunday)

Sheffield United expect to be reinstated to the Premier League this week at the expense of West Ham. (Mirror)

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore is thinking about quitting his role for a similar one in Major League Soccer in America. (People)

Steve Morgan will complete his £10 takeover of Wolves this week. (NotW)

Czech and Serbian tycoons are eyeing a takeover at Bristol City. (Various)

AND FINALLY

David Beckham has beaten the 37-year distance record for an American Football field goal with a 64-yard effort in an advert. "The guy's leg is golden," said running back Reggie Bush. "He could sign up for the NFL now and play for 20 more years." (NotW)

Former England striker Rodney Marsh, who played in the United States in the 1970s, believes long-distance travel, lower-quality play and media surveillance will prevent midfielder David Beckham maintaining his England form while playing for LA Galaxy. (Mail on Sunday)

Story from BBC SPORT:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport1/hi/football/gossip_and_transfers/6258182.stm

Published: 2007/07/01 08:11:47 GMT

© BBC MMVII
Click to expand...
 
The situation between Torres and Garcia, is that it's like a swap but they're not reliant on each going through, so while we are swapping Garcia for Torres to soften how much we're spending on the guy, it'll still be registered as a £27 million transfer deal for Torres.

Image rights are the stumbling block for Lampard and John Terry. (Mirror)
Click to expand...

Here's in more detail.

A RIGHTS OLD MESS
WHY LAMPS AND JT HAVEN'T SIGNED NEW DEALS
Exclusive by Steve Stammers 01/07/2007

FRANK LAMPARD and John Terry have not signed new deals with Chelsea because of a dispute over image rights.

Sunday Mirror Sport can reveal the lack of progress in agreeing new deals with the England superstars lies in the players' insistence that they retain their image rights, which are worth millions of pounds to them.

Lampard and Terry want pay parity with last summer's expensive imports, Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko - and, crucially, they want their image rights too.
Advertisement
Click here to find out more!

Ballack and Shevchenko are Chelsea's highest earners on about £130,000 a week. But when they joined, they signed their image rights over to the club.

Lampard and Terry have shown their loyalty to the Blues since the pre-Roman Abramovich days. Now the England duo believe their proven quality and commitment merits the same wages as their highest paid team-mates.

But Chelsea are refusing to budge above the £110,000-a-week offer currently on the table to Lamps and England captain Terry.

Abramovich has decided to play hard ball in the talks with the club's star names. The owner's message to chief executive Peter Kenyon has been that the club will not give way over the pay offer of £110,000 a week - if the players insist on keeping their image rights.

What are image rights? A leading agent explained: "Put simply, it's the ability to commercially exploit the image of a player.

"It could be by using his photograph, his autograph, his voice or even his silhouette."

If a player signs over his image rights to the club he normally receives higher wages in return for the club exploiting the star's deals.

By retaining his image rights, a player can maximise his own commercial opportunities - and keep that income, often paid in a tax-advantageous way.

England skipper Terry was handpicked by King Of Shaves to front their high-profile advertising campaign. Lampard has lucrative deals with the likes of Orange, Tesco, adidas and Pepsi.

It has been made clear to Lampard and Terry that if they want the same money as Ballack and Shevchenko, they must sign over their image rights to the club.

But the representatives of the two English players are refusing to concede those rights which could be worth in excess of £5m a year to their high-profile clients. The advisors working for Lampard and Terry are aware of the huge earnings available through advertising and sponsorship deals.

David Beckham is the most successful player to cash in on his rights. While at Manchester United he refused to sign them away as part of any contract but he did reach an agreement with Real Madrid when he moved to Spain four years ago.

Real normally take over the image rights of any player they sign but Beckham's representatives negotiated a 50-50 agreement which still allowed the former England captain to capitalise on his name and profile.

The sale of Beckham shirts and goods was one of Real's biggest earners in recent years.

There could be a compromise to settle the Chelsea row. It isn't the only issue to be sorted out before an agreement is reached but it is the major factor behind the delay.

The question is who will blink first in the current stand-off.
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King Luis we'll miss you.

No matter how many times I wanted to punch your face in because you lose possession so easily, you always seemed to bring a spectacular goal that brings a smile to my face.
 
Do Sheffield United really think they're getting back into the Premier League or are they just looking for a nice pay day?
It seems mad to boot West Ham down a league at this time of the season, should have been 2 months ago if at all.
 
Drogba sez:

Thierry Henry's Arsenal exit will ensure a two-horse race for the Premier League title between Manchester United and Chelsea, according to Blues striker Didier Drogba.

Henry, the Gunners' main source of goals in recent years and former club captain, has joined Barcelona in a £16million deal.

Drogba, whose goals kept Chelsea in the hunt for last season's title and who scored the matchwinner in a disappointing FA Cup final against United, told the News of the World: 'The exit of Henry to Barcelona is good news for us - it means that there is one less rival in Chelsea's way.

'And Arsenal have a serious problem because Henry's absence is a very complicated issue to resolve.

'For us this one rare change means it will be Chelsea and United fighting for the Premiership again.''

Drogba also denied reports linking him with a move to European champions AC Milan, adding: 'Milan? What a good club, they are the champions of Europe. But I have spoken to nobody.

'I only know what I read in the press but there is no problem with my contract with Chelsea. My deal is clear and no bother to me.''
Click to expand...

So it must be true...it's true.
 
just saw the rumors...nice to see us being linked with big name strikers again.

But will Wenger pay 20mil for anyone?And why didn't he request a straight swap with Eto'o? guess I'll believe it when i see it.
 
good question, the more I think about all this the less I believe that he'll shelve out that kind of money.

Somebody we haven't been linked with at all is Huntelaar - I say that's the one he'll buy.
 
Stevie Gerrard said:
that anderlecht goal is one of the best headers i've ever seen

I think he'll be missed a lot more than people expect
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Yes I agree, he's very creative. We need a player to replace him.
 
Like every Gunner out there, I would love to get Eto'o but I honestly don't see it happening. Eto'o has a raging for Henry. He has been pretty public and up front about his admiration for TH. Eto'o definitely does not want to leave Barca now.

And even if he did, he would have been part of a swap deal in the Henry transfer. I can't see us getting him, although he would save us big time.

Tevez and Martins seem the most likely now, but I'm going to say Martins is more likely than Tevez. I just hope we sign someone. Both of them are good players and could score 20+ goals a season im my opinion. As most of you know, I'd prefer Tevez but I honestly think he'll spend another season at West Ham for now.
 
Yes, I agree with you. Eto'o won't leave Barca and it's going to take a lot more than 20 million to get him.

Martins and Tevez (the loan deal) are a lot more realistic.
 
Uniteds new kit



Looks very plain, but I prefer it like that
 
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