Premier League - Transfer Talk: A right old mess

Eurosport - Thu, 17 Jul 08:58:00 2008

Oh dear. It appears that Liverpool's shameless pursuit of Aston Villa skipper Gareth Barry may grind to a halt after all.

FOOTBALL Gareth Barry - 0

Like a bearded, brazen, louche Lothario who hits on other people's wives at dinner parties, Rafael Benitez has repeatedly and publicly expressed his desire to snare Barry at a reasonable price.

The thing is, with Liverpool's feuding American owners keen to reign in the spending after two seasons of bling-bling cash-flashing, Rafa's attempts to buy the England international at below his market value always needed to be funded by the sale of existing players.

So, he tried to offload Xabi Alonso and Scott Carson - for significantly higher than their own market values.

But with Juventus able to source the less creative, yet equally effective Christian Poulsen at half Alonso's £15 million price, and with Villa themselves baulking at the quite ridiculous £10 million tag initially placed on Carson (who is set to join Stoke for well under half that), Benitez could be left with a lot of egg on his face.

So what next for Barry, who returned to around two dozen cold shoulders at Villa training today? The Sun and Daily Mirror say Arsenal have declared a tentative interest, but with Liverpool's fading ability to put their money where their big mouths are - and with the Gunners' own squeaky-clean transfer dealings - Arsene Wenger will be strategically and morally placed to drive a harder bargain.

Furthermore, Liverpool have loads of midfielders while Arsenal - already short of Mathieu Flamini and set to lose Alexander Hleb and Gilberto Silva - could do with a deep-lying, hard-working foil for Cesc Fabregas.

Which could see Benitez's attempts to close the gap on the top three ultimately widen their own deficit behind Arsenal. Oops.

Gilberto, meanwhile, would be laughing his way to the Bank of Greece if it didn't always look like he was on the verge of tears. Reports are circulating that his move to Panathinaikos will make him the highest-paid player in Greek football history, with a three-year deal on £40,000 a week being mooted.

That's right - the 31-year-old midfield yeoman will earn more than fellow Brazilian and former World Player of the Year Rivaldo. He could be joined at Pana by Blackburn defender Andre Ooijer, according to the Daily Mirror.

With Frank Lampard - who the Daily Express claim Roman Abramovich's son teenage Arkady is begging not to be sold - kicking his heels at Chelsea's reluctance to let him join Jose Mourinho at Internazionale, and Didier Drogba being coveted by half of Europe, Blues boss Luiz Felipe Scolari is wisely keen to hang onto existing assets.

Ricardo Carvalho was reportedly set on a reunion with mentor Mourinho, but the fighting man's Gene Hackman has worked his Portuguese-speaking magic and the former Porto defender has declared his happiness at the club (all papers).

And, amazingly, Scolari also wants Ukrainian misfit Andriy Shevchenko to stay at Stamford Bridge, pointing to the fact that - while he only scored eight times last season - the man who has been harking for a return to Milan or even the knackers' yard of MLS only started 12 matches.

The Daily Mirror reckon that Chelsea may let Israeli defender Tal Ben Haim go, with Manchester City rumoured to be preparing a £5 million bid, which along with Steven Sidwell's transfer to Villa for the same amount would represent a tidy profit on two players the Blues got for free last summer.

The same paper is also convinced that spindly-limbed, wild-haired Strokes roadie Pablo Aimar will tread the treacherous Newcastle training ground turf in a £7 million deal from the surprisingly-relegated Zaragoza, although The Sun's report that Toon are set to bag impressive Hamburg midfielder Nigel de Jong for around half that amount made more football (and fiscal) sense until the player himself scotched the rumours.

Another Segunda Division - Premier League link is between Real Sociedad and Arsenal, who are set to loan youngsters Fran Merida and Pedro to the insolvent Basques. The San Sebastian strugglers are also in talks with former Bolton furball Ivan Campo, according to the Spanish press.

Spurs fans continue to bash their heads in frustration after inconsistent one-trick pony Aaron Lennon insisted in The Sun that he will stay at the 'Lane, with Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane nearing respective moves to Manchester United and Liverpool, although one wonders where the latter will get the money from.

Hull boss Phil Brown remains deferential in his dealings with Sir Alex over re-signing Manchester United reserves striker Fraizer Campbell, although he admitted that the youngster - who impressed on-loan in last season's promotion campaign - is "very, very important to him".

Fellow new-boys Stoke, meanwhile, could add drink-driving, FA Cup-hating, Shakespeare-reading, anti-globalisation, professional redhead Dave Kitson to their ranks for a whopping £4.5 million (Daily Mirror). The erudite one-time non league player cost Reading only £150,000 from Cambridge five years ago, but he scored 10 Premier League goals for the relegated Royals last season.

Finally, West Ham are set to bid £2 million for Leicester prospect Joe Mattock. With Sunderland target George McCartney the only specialist left-back in the Hammers squad, and captain Lucas Neill set to leave the club as the Icelandic owners look to trim the wage bill, Alan Curbishley is desperate for cheap reinforcements and the Under-21 starlet fits all the criteria

Reda Maher / Eurosport

Comment 104 - 123 of 123

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  1. AND, AmigaOasis. If you're going to slag people off for their spelling, you might want to learn how to write yourself first? Punctuation? Twit?

    From coopeair, on Fri 18 Jul 10:28AM

  2. Hey Barker. I must apologise. If you're only 9 years old you've got a damn good reson for knowing nothing about football. Stick to your Playstation, at least there your IN the team, not sitting on the bench. And keep your hands off the little joystick.

    From coopeair, on Fri 18 Jul 10:24AM

  3. Im glad liverpool can't afford barry. hahahahahah.

    well for barry. He can sit in the stands and watch villa beat liverpool and finish above them in the league for his betrayal.

    From Stephen J, on Thu 17 Jul 8:04PM

  4. This journalist is so Anti-Liverpool haha

    From macca051, on Thu 17 Jul 4:32PM

  5. im only nine years old, so i think i am acting my age, whats funny is that im nine and got a rise out of grown man hahahahahaah, im laughing all the way to my playstation, come on you blues

    From barker193, on Thu 17 Jul 3:24PM

  6. This character writing this article must be Liverpool's accountant, seeing as he knows all about the Mighty Red's finances..... You pathetic excuse for a Journalist.....

    From sheed007, on Thu 17 Jul 2:40PM

  7. Liamdenn if you are trying to insult someone at least learn to spell first huh, its scouse, this is sadly the side effect of computers for schools britan so every chav chimp gets access to the net now!

    Stick to setting things on fire in moss side and beating up old grannies!!

    From AmigaOasis, on Thu 17 Jul 1:57PM

  8. A right old mess? give it a rest Yahoo, even if you didnt write this article its a load of tosh.
    Liverpool didnt reveal their transfer targets, no club would and to even suggest liverpool created the mess is downright insulting and lacking any sort of fundamental proof.

    The player slipped up in an interview, the only person to blame for this "mess" is the player himself. And then media hype involving Martin O'neil and stiring up rubbish with the he said this and that.

    The truth is the clubs were conducting talks in private and it accidently got leaked by the player in an interview, Liverpool are only guilty of bidding for a player which they any every club does, stupid moronic articles like this incourage the minimal iq's of whiny everscum fans to chip in with pointless comments that have nothing to do with the topic whome are just looking to get a rise.

    Everwhine mr barker, its a bit rich when you got mr AJ I trip over on grass in your team, grow up and act your age!!!

    From AmigaOasis, on Thu 17 Jul 1:54PM

  9. You Everton fans are f@#$%ng hilarious! Man U fans are whingers as well, but at least they've got a decent team. Then again, you never know, if you have a REALLY good year, & the top 4 play their B teams, you might win the LEAGUE Cup.
    ps:(i'm still laughing, are you?)

    From coopeair, on Thu 17 Jul 1:44PM

  10. Im an everton fan and would love S gerrard in our side, because evrytime the game wasnt going our way, we could get old steve G to have a quick word with the ref. BINGO We get our way and win the game

    From barker193, on Thu 17 Jul 1:20PM

  11. liamdenn - where in the article was gerrard slagged off??! hes not even been mentioned!

    From godmachine78, on Thu 17 Jul 1:20PM

  12. Chris A i would just like to say what you know about football could probably be written on a postage stamp. Liverpool not a big team what a stupid comment to make. As for the Stevie G comment's anyone who say's they wouldn't be jumping with joy if he was in there side is a liar. I agree he maybe didn't single handed win the final in Istanbul but if not for him we would not of got there in the first place. Finally as for Gareth Barry if Villa think he is worth 18 Mil and we cant get 15 Mil for Alonso then that should tell them he is a tad overpriced, I will be more than happy if we keep Xavi.

    From seanwalker80, on Thu 17 Jul 10:30AM

  13. Slag him off as much as you want,you would all love to have a STEVIE GERRARD in your side!!Stop listening to these narrow minded idiots who write these articles,he's a great player and you all know it!So what if he only scored 22 goals IN ALL COMPETITIONS!By my reconing,thats not bad for a midfielder.Once again,you would all love a STEVIE GERRARD (BE HONEST WITH YOURSELFS).

    From liamdenn, on Thu 17 Jul 9:12AM

  14. gerrard is not a bad footballer but the brain of a scoucer , he would win a lot of medals at a big club , but he is loyal , not a bad thing really cos as i said thinks scoucer his home team , but for him to win what he deserves he needs to move on , a shame for the fans of liverpool , but if you want your home grown boy to be really big he needs to move , he would fit in really well at man u , yes bad move but his way of play he would shine at old traf, but cant see that happening can you ? gerrard is a good player anyone can see that , but move stevie and win , rafa is going for 4th every year , just for europe ?and i love the way of the scoucer great fun to be with ,

    From Chris A, on Thu 17 Jul 6:05AM

  15. g4grant, I've not heard anything so deranged in years. thanx for making me laugh. it made me want to comment.
    I don't think anyone will detest that Gerrard is an above the average player technically - good at shooting, passing and tackling - basically he has all the elements needed to make a good midfielder. but for me none of that is what makes him great. What makes him great (and the captain of Liverpool), is in his head, heart, spirit, whatever you want to call it. His spirit inspires others, especially when they need it. That's why he scores those crucial goals, because in his head, he is always going to win. He CANNOT accept defeat. That's how stubborn he is. Where others start to feel the force of their opponents, Gerrard starts to live it. He performs under those circumstances. For me, that's what a good captain is, that's why Keane and Terry are great captains. They don't even have to be good technically, but they need to be tough, in body and mind.
    CL 2005 final (great match.. even my ManU mate was ecstatic) was not won single handedly by Gerrard. That's how the papers make it out for enhanced sensation. He knows, his teammates know that it's not possible to win a football match single handedly (particularly CL final), even if it seems like that (like Maradona 1986). there are always some players doing the hard work unseen (like Hamann in that match). There were too many stars in that match to single out any one of them. What Gerrard did, with his "floppy" header (I though it was a bloody good header myself), was to show his own teammates that he's up for a fight. g4grant, and all who says @#$% player this and @#$% players that need to understand one thing, which they cannot understand unless they perform at something. its called performing under pressure. CL final - so much at stake, 3-0 down to one of the best defense in the world. Gerrard is the kind of kid who won't stay down when kicked. The kind who you need on your side.

    From Ryokan P, on Thu 17 Jul 3:30AM

  16. The best midfielder in the permier league is Fabregas. Thats it

    From Gonzalo C, on Thu 17 Jul 1:31AM

  17. ManU, Arsenal, Chelsea, Leverpool. It is all the same: overhyped craaaap!!!

    From brainless, on Thu 17 Jul 1:15AM

  18. G4GRANT dead right it needed to be said about GERRARD, who the f##k does he think he is? his he picking the team at ANFIELD? he wants BARRY playing along side him, to make look good. GERRARD is prima donna. get shut Mr Benitez. LFC SUPPORTER for over 50 years

    From a.mcdonough6, on Thu 17 Jul 12:31AM

  19. g4grant- I havent' heard anyone say that Stevie G scores 20 goals every season. I have heard people say that Gerrard scores crucial goals at crucial times and I agree with them because it is true. For example, v West Ham in the FA cup final or the free-kick v Aston Villa last season in the last minute. Yes Dudek should have got some credit after Istanbul and he did but he was on the way out anyway and if you want to argue about Dudek go talk to Rafa because hes the one who sold him.

    From ph_p10, on Thu 17 Jul 12:23AM

  20. Lampard can only play for Jose Mourinho. Here's why:
    He plays in the hole beehind the strikers but the play doesn't go through him. Essien or Makalele pass it to the wingers or strikers and they set it up for Lampard to come in and score from 20-25 yards. That was how Jose did it. Avram Grant never got this. Frank still scored goals but was not as influential as when Jose was in charge.

    Barry can fit in with many different midfielders as we have seen at Villa and would be the perfect midfield partner for Gerrard.

    Both are worth £10-£15 million

    From ph_p10, on Thu 17 Jul 12:13AM
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