Premier League - Transfer Talk: Arshavin around

Eurosport - Thu, 19 Jun 23:43:00 2008

Arsenal are at the centre of the transfer universe with a host of players hurtling in and out of the Emirates' shiny revolving doors.

FOOTBALL - RUSSIE - ARSHAVIN - 0

The re-emergence of Russian playmaker Andrei Arshavin in the vital Euro 2008 game against Sweden last night has apparently led Arsene Wenger to enquire about his availability. Why bother with scouts when you've got ITV, eh?

Arshavin came back from suspension to ensure his country's progress by scoring the second goal in a 2-0 win. Among some eye-catching displays at club level is a man-of-the-match performance in Zenit St Petersburg's Uefa Cup final triumph.

The 27-year-old comes with a price tag in the region of £10 million, but Arsenal officials will be kept waiting until the end of Euro 2008 before speaking to the player.

Another who was on national duty and under observation from the spectacled 'professor' is Spain defender Raul Albiol. Apparently the Frenchman remains an admirer despite the Valencia man's shoddy marking of Angelos Charisteas for the Greek goal last evening.

No need to hang around for long-term target Samir Nasri. The Marseille wonder-kid, who made a 16-minute cameo against Italy before being dragged off, is now free to negotiate and has a buy-out clause of £13.5m.

Are Barcelona the bane of Arsenal's existence? Over the Wenger era, the Catalans have lured away Petit, Overmars, Silvinho, van Bronckhorst, and Henry. Just when Milan's pursuit of Emmanuel Adebayor seemed to run out of steam, the Liga giants could be willing to step in with a bid of £24m.

There is more substance to this next proposition though. Barcelona vice-president Marc Ingla has told the ever-reliable Marca that the club are in talks with Alexander Hleb.

Chelsea have picked themselves up after Milan wizard Kaka refused a move to Stamford Bridge for the umpteenth time and want to make waves by snaring leading Euro 2008 scorer David Villa.

While money is usually no object for the Blues, they have a habit of doing things the hard way. They face competition from Real Madrid and Liverpool, amid rumours that Villa's preference is to remain in his native Spain - or at least among a large sangria-slurping contingent at Anfield.

Uncertainty over Villa is having a domino effect on the plans of other Premier League clubs. Tottenham want to drag Diego Milito out of relegated Real Zaragoza but will have to wait because Valencia have asked the Argentine not to make a decision until the Villa saga has been resolved.

Milito is marked as a possible replacement for Dimitar Berbatov , a £25m priority for regular pilferers of North London residents, Barcelona. The player's agent has claimed his will be clarified in a couple of weeks, and we can only pray he is right.

And Juande Ramos wants to add to the acquisitions of Luka Modric and Giovani dos Santos andand sees Sevilla left-winger Diego Capel and Blackburn's right-sided David Bentley as the ideal route to more Robbie Keane somersaults.

Aston Villa and Everton are also in the market for Bentley with Martin O'Neill having already used Alan Shearer's mobile to phone in a £15m bid.

The Ulsterman has also taken time out from rueing France's demise to ponder a move for Portugal and Valencia right-back Miguel.

The Daily Mirror claims Emre's move from Newcastle to Fenerbahce could be ballsed up by the Turkish international's call-up for national service, possibly as a chimney sweep. This could the Magpies's pursuit of the Andy Murray-haired Pablo Aimar as a £4m replacement.

Michael Owen has told John McCririck (seriously) that he is in talks over a new contract with Newcastle. Good news for the Geordies, who risk losing him on a Bosman next summer.

In other conjectural tidbits, Darren Bent might be allowed to leave White Hart Lane for Sunderland if Roy Keane has £12m to spare. Celtic are also monitoring developments but would prefer a loan arrangement; and Swedish goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson 's wish to leave Manchester City could come true for a cut-price £1m move to Atletico Madrid.

The two Ronnies

All the huffing and puffing from Old Trafford about Real Madrid's supposed lack of morals over the Cristiano Ronaldo saga has cut no ice with Serie A side Roma.

They say Manchester United are hypocrites, having half-inched 16-year-old David Petrucci from the Stadio Olimpico.

Technical director Bruno Conti said: "They complain about Ronaldo and then did the same thing with David."

And with Milan and Inter backing slowly away from Ronaldinho, the buck-toothed Brazilian is starting to face up to the prospect of life at Manchester City.

Amardeep Claire / Eurosport

Comment 10 - 29 of 29

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  1. To the writer of this article with regards Arsenal players"lured away" by Barca.I think the players you named to have been lured away were indeed offloaded by Wenger and not lured. None of the players excelled at Barcelona after Wenger sold them, though Overmars had a good enough first season there but then was gradually phased out, due to his injuries and has retired on those grounds. Manu Petit had his best years at Arsenal, and was used sparingly at Barcelona, and was indeed a bit part player at Chelsea. Henry as great a player as he became at Arsenal, has not replicated that at Barcelona either, so indeed Wenger knows when to offload, so would you get your facts correct please.

    From kpb, on Sat 21 Jun 10:53AM

  2. rgj150,

    Your saying that Arsene is not a good pundit and commentator on TF1 is rubbish. I understand French very well and I think he is spot on with many of his observations.

    From Stephen, on Fri 20 Jun 12:31PM

  3. its just shows that the press are over hyping berbatov,how come no big names have even come to to say they want him.hmmm berbs just sit there in tot cos u are not as good as ur agent thinks

    From emmanuel e, on Thu 19 Jun 11:59PM

  4. i feel the french should hire aserne wenger,to bring in more class and style to thier game,the french team are now just history tellers just too old for a squad to bring into this competition

    From emmanuel e, on Thu 19 Jun 11:57PM

  5. All transfer speculation is indeed just that. The media are responsible for flouting around rumours all summer, and not many have any substance until a player actually comes out and says he has SIGNED on the dotted line. Not that contracts are worth much these days as they seem always to contain get out or buy out clauses, which begs the question are the contrats worth the paper they are written on?The Berbatov, Ronaldo, Ronaldhino, and half the Chelsea team should have been bought and paid for by now according to media hype. Agree with post 8 that in the world of football today, mainly the fans who are hard done by......

    From kpb, on Thu 19 Jun 11:39PM

  6. da jadat lajna site so se za mun utd. kopilinja so se to ronaldo kopileto.!!!!!

    From niko_juca, on Thu 19 Jun 11:31PM

  7. I am a Man Utd fan from Scotland and a huge admirer of Ronaldo. I think he is the worlds best player by a mile but his attitude at this moment is letting not only himself down but his club too. NO player in the world is bigger than Manchester United and if any Man Utd player cannot commit theyr future to the club then they are not worthy of the shirt.I think if he really wants to leave then Man Utd should cash in and look towards other future prospects with the profits. Sorry Ronnie boy but you will make a huge mistake by leaving at this current point when you will be stepping down not only a club but a league too !

    From wee gordy bhoy, on Thu 19 Jun 11:29PM

  8. i am a forest green rovers fan and i was passing the ground when i saw wayne rooney n n zico. zico as manager n rooney as no 10. cardif to sign ruud van nistelrooy 0.1% true. manchester united to sign trevor benjamin 10 mil plus tevez to luton. coventry to sign pirlo done deal. jj okocha n zidane to become new maccesfield bosses 100% mtfc. eric cantona to sign 4 southend 4 year contract on monday. hleb to reject barcelona and go to colchester. from your reliable source tom hunt cmon u spurs berbatov n modric r @#$% cmon spurs sign jay bothrooyd. 100% truth 20 mil plus berba n modric from wolves. spurs r goin down.
    TOM HUNT

    From jordan.cooke17, on Thu 19 Jun 9:42PM

  9. Just how many more times does Rosa S have to switch gender and post spam before getting banned?

    From lolqbabolq, on Thu 19 Jun 6:14PM

  10. Wenger is an announcer (not very good) for TF1, a French TV station. Do you think he would be in England watching ITV?
    I think he will take over the French National team...

    From RGJ International SA, on Thu 19 Jun 5:29PM

  11. ronaldo is as good as gone from man u

    From hamishhore, on Thu 19 Jun 5:24PM

  12. where's speculation about xabi alonso to juventus?

    From au_rhel, on Thu 19 Jun 5:21PM

  13. this guy who wrote this lol because Ronaldinho, the buck-toothed Brazilian is starting to face up to the prospect of life at Manchester City.

    From motorsportchampion, on Thu 19 Jun 5:01PM

  14. i will barcelona to think about drogba.this new season will be a diffrent thing.why they want to sell deco.i think is crazy to sell such a playmaker like anderson de soza

    From powell p, on Thu 19 Jun 4:24PM

  15. Arsene,Arsehavin at Arsenal,wot a win treble.Goonerboy.

    From albi.daniels, on Thu 19 Jun 3:59PM

  16. Real Madrid cannot afford Boy wonder Real are 250million in debt and club manager an president Raul who thinks he runs he club so i cant see him liking Ronaldo coming as the shine and hype will be taking off him for RVH and Heinze saying they would roll out the red carpet what a Joke all Real Madrid want Ronaldo for is marketing and merchandising Ronaldo would be stupid to go he always says one day he will play for Real Chumps and when fergie does retire then Ronaldo will go.

    From irnbru_rebel03, on Thu 19 Jun 3:24PM

  17. im a huge unite fan but they did the same thing when they were sniffing around owen hargreaves after world cup 06. They had mentioned that for months in the papers and now there complaining because real madrid are doing it to them.
    That sad Ronaldo should stay,

    From Dave L, on Thu 19 Jun 3:22PM

  18. united r jus rubbish an av a cry when something happens 2 them even thothey do the exact same thing 4 most of there signins. is probably cos there not welsh
    COME ON CARDIFF

    From llwydhurd, on Thu 19 Jun 2:49PM

  19. i agree wit u.. Jammi.. football had gone wrong now.. Fans always wanted to see exaggerate signings, they get excited, they buy loads of merchandise, they go to the stadium to see their stars.. I believe all football team have "tapped" palyer in b4, b it man utd arsenal or Real...i m a arsenal fans myself.. but XS.. stop actin so "man u" tat u keep tryin to be extremely sure tat they nv do the wrongs.. how did u now sir alex didnt call up the reporter to this.. who knows whatever happened? Y he wasnt linked wit benni mccarthy whn the latter was performin well? Its juz so cloudy among the football world...

    From Joshua, on Thu 19 Jun 2:45PM

  20. pls help me tell arsene wenger that he should as a matter of urgency go for bentley and klass jan huntelear of holland, and then shop for defence most importantly. we [arsenal] have enough midfielders so he should go for defenders which was our major crises area last season otherwise he'll be making the same mistake over and over again. finally pls i beg arsenal management to sell johan johrou and justine hoyte, both of them are surplus to requirement pls.then goalkeeper, a very good one not just a goalkeeper since he has let go jens lehman. almunia is good but not much experienced in crucial stages of the league or champions league. pls man u should let Ronaldo go so that he can win world footballer of the year, since FIFA has sworn not to give it to any player from Englis league. i am the man they called UCHEBORA.

    From Hollywood M, on Thu 19 Jun 2:42PM
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