The Summer Transfer Thread

[R.W.]

Yeah, Warnock has come out and flaty said he hasn't asked for a transfer and the stories are rubbish.

The media really do seem to have it in for us this summer, they're constantly linking our players with moves elsewhere and it must be unsettling. Since Hughes left, they have said Friedel, Warnock, Samba, Ooijer, Dunn, Bentley, McCarthy & Santa Cruz would all be off at some stage, and at the same time we'd be replacing them with players like Keith Andrew and the guy from Wolves called Seji whose surname I can't spell. (N)

Blackburn have also made an enquiry as to the availability of Nikola Zigic, but Valencia would rather sell Zigic than loan him out, which is the offer Blackburn have made

[alldaws1]

The media really do seem to have it in for us this summer, they're constantly linking our players with moves elsewhere and it must be unsettling. Since Hughes left, they have said Friedel, Warnock, Samba, Ooijer, Dunn, Bentley, McCarthy & Santa Cruz would all be off at some stage, and at the same time we'd be replacing them with players like Keith Andrew and the guy from Wolves called Seji whose surname I can't spell. (N)

What's so difficult about Olofinjana? >_>

[R.W.]

Remembering it off the top of my head!

[9 to 5]

He played for Wolves. The ultimate sin.

[alldaws1]

Gareth Bale has signed a new contract with Spurs that lasts until 2012. I'm presuming it's more money because his previous contract surely couldn't have been in danger of running out seeing as he only signed for us last season? Still, I'm happy, he looks like a very promising player and has been surprisingly good in left midfield for us when he's been fit. I remember having doubts when I heard he was playing against Man Utd but he turned out to be our best player that day.

There's also reports that Man Utd have agreed a fee of £28m with Spurs for Dimitar Berbatov and an official announcement should be made in the next few days. While I don't want to see Berbatov leave, I would probably accept £28m too with our team in its current state. That could go towards finally bringing Arshavin in and another defender for some much needed depth too.

[-A-]

You'd surely need another striker apart from Arshavin if Berbatov goes? From what I've seen Arshavin isn't an out-and-out striker, he's a playmaker who will chip in with important goals. Having Bent as the only genuine striker wouldn't be likely, would it?

Interesting to see what a few clubs have spent so far. The Berbatov transfer casts a shadow over this, but here's the in/out and total spending for some of the more active clubs:

Man United:

IN: Nobody

OUT: Eagles, Pique (£3m)

TOTAL: -£3m

Chelsea:

IN: Bosingwa, Deco (£24m)

OUT: Sidwell, Ben Haim, Boulahrouz (£12m)

TOTAL: £12m

Arsenal:

IN: Bischoff, Nasri, Ramsey (£20m)

OUT: Gilberto, Hleb (£13m)

TOTAL: £7m

Liverpool:

IN: Keane, Cavalieri, Dossena (£32m)

OUT: Carson, Crouch, Guthrie, Riise, Le Tallec (£22m)

TOTAL: £10m

Spurs:

IN: Bentley, Modric, Gomes, dos Santos, Bostock (£44m)

OUT: Malbranque, Keane, Tainio, Chimbonda, Robinson (£33m)

TOTAL: £11m

Aston Villa:

IN: Guzan, Friedel, Sidwell, Davies, L. Young, Shorey, Cuellar (£33m)

OUT: Luke Moore (£3m)

TOTAL: £30m

So Man U will probably buy Berbatov for £25-28m, sell Saha for £5-7m and that'll be their business mostly done bar a youngster or two - outlay of about £15m. Liverpool seem to be at the 'sell before buying' stage so their total will be roughly the same it seems. Arsenal will probably buy another midfielder between £5-10m to take their total outgoings to about £15m too. Chelsea are being surprisingly quiet so far (but anything could still happen - it's Chelsea.) The Big 4 all look like spending about £15m in total - though Chelsea will probably splurge on Robinho or Kaka.

Outside the top 4, Spurs and Villa have been incredibly active. Spurs certainly seem to have money to spend, though they've kept their net figure pretty low so far. I wouldn't be surprised to see Berbs go for £25m or so and then Arshavin AND another striker come in for £35-40 (just under £20m on Arshavin and then another player for £15-20m.) That would leave Spurs having spent still only about £20m this summer.

Villa seemed to be leaving all their business until the last possible moment, but it's worked out well. They had 3 fit defenders this time last week and signed Shorey and Young just in time for the European registration deadline (Cuellar won't be eligible, I think.) They've only recouped money from Luke Moore and their total stands at £30m. Does this suggest that Lerner's finally splashing out, or is it likely that Barry will be sold for £17m and a cheaper, £8-10m midfielder will come in and leave their net spending at around £20m?

Edited August 13, 2008 by -A-

[Zaz]

You'd surely need another striker apart from Arshavin if Berbatov goes? From what I've seen Arshavin isn't an out-and-out striker, he's a playmaker who will chip in with important goals. Having Bent as the only genuine striker wouldn't be likely, would it?

Spurs:

IN: Bentley, Modric, Gomes, dos Santos, Bostock (£44m)

OUT: Malbranque, Keane, Tainio, Chimbonda, Robinson (£33m)

TOTAL: £11m

I think this one's more accurate for Spurs:

IN

Heurelho Gomes - 7m

(Cesar Sanchez - 200k - TBC)

John Bostock - 1.3m

Luka Modric - 16.5m

David Bentley - 17m

Giovani dos Santos - 8.6m

TOTAL - £50.6m

OUT

Radek Cerny - contract expired

Paul Robinson - 3.5m

Anthony Gardner - loan

Younes Kaboul - 6m

[Pascal Chimbonda |

Teemu Tainio |

Steed Malbranque] - 17m

Robbie Keane - 20.3m

TOTAL - £46.8m

NET SPEND - £3.8m

Also, I wouldn't mind Bent playing the lone striker role this year.

A formation of:

Bent

Dos Santos - Modric - Bentley

Jenas/Huddlestone - Zokora

Bale - King - Woodgate - Hutton

Gomes

Would be pretty awesome IMO. If we sign Arshavin he can just go into the attacking mid line with either Modric dropping back to Jenas' position or Dos Santos back to the bench. All we need is a good, young striker who can come off the bench and fill in when need be, I reckon. And Corluka >_>

[alldaws1]

You'd surely need another striker apart from Arshavin if Berbatov goes? From what I've seen Arshavin isn't an out-and-out striker, he's a playmaker who will chip in with important goals. Having Bent as the only genuine striker wouldn't be likely, would it?

It really depends what system Ramos chooses to go with. If he wants two strikers then yeah we'll probably have to bring in two new strikers but if he does decide to go 4-5-1 or 4-4-1-1 then it's not a necessity. Dos Santos & Modric can both play just behind Bent and Arshavin (presuming he comes in obviously) can do the same. Though, yeah, if Bent were to get injured we'd have no out-and-out striker which would suck.

Villa seemed to be leaving all their business until the last possible moment, but it's worked out well. They had 3 fit defenders this time last week and signed Shorey and Young just in time for the European registration deadline (Cuellar won't be eligible, I think.) They've only recouped money from Luke Moore and their total stands at £30m. Does this suggest that Lerner's finally splashing out, or is it likely that Barry will be sold for £17m and a cheaper, £8-10m midfielder will come in and leave their net spending at around £20m?

I think it does, wasn't he quoted the other week as saying something along the lines of him willing to spend £30m on one player if he was the right fit/good enough?

[TheArsenal]

We also released Flamini and Lehmann - and we have promoted a few more youngsters. Jack Wilshere has been amazing in pre-season, especially considering he's 16. Carlos Vela has also settled fairly well and scored a few goals after spending the last few years out on loan at various clubs. And Vito Mannone has finally come up to the first team squad as third choice keeper.

I'd like us to get another experienced central midfielder, especially with Hleb, Flamini and Gilberto gone. I know Hleb was a winger, but Wenger had started to use him a bit more in the advanced central position (due to a lack of strikers) that was similar to the role Ljungberg often occupied during his latter years at the club. Gareth Barry would be ideal to play alongside Fabregas, but I just can't see Wenger parting with that much cash.

[-A-]

IN

Heurelho Gomes - 7m

(Cesar Sanchez - 200k - TBC)

John Bostock - 1.3m

Luka Modric - 16.5m

David Bentley - 17m

Giovani dos Santos - 8.6m

TOTAL - £50.6m

OUT

Radek Cerny - contract expired

Paul Robinson - 3.5m

Anthony Gardner - loan

Younes Kaboul - 6m

[Pascal Chimbonda |

Teemu Tainio |

Steed Malbranque] - 17m

Robbie Keane - 20.3m

TOTAL - £46.8m

NET SPEND - £3.8m

I thought the figure for dos Santos was €8m if all clauses were fulfilled and £4.7m up front - he only had a year left on his contract, didn't look particularly good last season and is supposed to be a party animal.

The £17m total for Steed, Tainio and Chimbonda is surely too high as well - think that was Sunderland's bid for all four players. Steed at £5m, Chimbonda at £4m and Tainio at £3m is what I estimated.

Forgot about Kaboul though, so we agree on the rough spend so far - £4-5m. Hey, If Berbatov goes then Spurs can sign £18m Arshavin and £28m David Villa and only spend £22m this summer!

[-A-]

We also released Flamini and Lehmann - and we have promoted a few more youngsters.

For sure, this was purely to look at transfer spending so the Flaminis, Kewells and Cernys were left out.

It really depends what system Ramos chooses to go with. If he wants two strikers then yeah we'll probably have to bring in two new strikers but if he does decide to go 4-5-1 or 4-4-1-1 then it's not a necessity. Dos Santos & Modric can both play just behind Bent and Arshavin (presuming he comes in obviously) can do the same. Though, yeah, if Bent were to get injured we'd have no out-and-out striker which would suck.

It's actually baffling trying to figure out what formation Spurs are going to have until Berbs goes out and whoever else comes in. There's clearly a whole load of talent in the AM area and Bent seems like a good fit to play up front on his own, permanently hanging on the shoulder of the last defender and feeding off through balls from the creative midfield. When another striker comes in, playing two up front would make it hard to fit in the midfielders - so is it another 'Up front on his own' striker that comes in or someone to play alongside Bent?

If Berbatov goes for £28m and Arshavin and (say) Milito come in - that might work. Milito has the presence to play up front on his own and benefit from Bentley's crosses like RSC did last season; or he can play alongside Bent. Neither Bent nor Milito is high profile enough to demand to play every game so Arshavin, Modric, Bentley and Giovani can rotate in the 3 AM positions. Jenas can get a look in here too as it's better for him than a deep position.

The 4-2-3-1 requires two DMC type players, are Huddlestone, Jenas and Zokora good enough? Your fullbacks, Hutton and Bale, are incredibly attacking and it would seem best that the DMCs be destructive rather than deep-lying playmakers. Huddlestone and Jenas seem to be more of that kind of player and you'd already be playing 3 AMs. I reckon that Corluka would literally be the perfect signing no matter if he's a bargain or not - he can play very well as a DMC and cover for the perennially crocked DCs you've got. Berbatov out, Arshavin, Milito and Corluka in - net spend for the summer about £15m. Fucking Levy doing amazing business.

[alldaws1]

IN

Heurelho Gomes - 7m

(Cesar Sanchez - 200k - TBC)

John Bostock - 1.3m

Luka Modric - 16.5m

David Bentley - 17m

Giovani dos Santos - 8.6m

TOTAL - £50.6m

OUT

Radek Cerny - contract expired

Paul Robinson - 3.5m

Anthony Gardner - loan

Younes Kaboul - 6m

[Pascal Chimbonda |

Teemu Tainio |

Steed Malbranque] - 17m

Robbie Keane - 20.3m

TOTAL - £46.8m

NET SPEND - £3.8m

I thought the figure for dos Santos was €8m if all clauses were fulfilled and £4.7m up front - he only had a year left on his contract, didn't look particularly good last season and is supposed to be a party animal.

The £17m total for Steed, Tainio and Chimbonda is surely too high as well - think that was Sunderland's bid for all four players. Steed at £5m, Chimbonda at £4m and Tainio at £3m is what I estimated.

Forgot about Kaboul though, so we agree on the rough spend so far - £4-5m. Hey, If Berbatov goes then Spurs can sign £18m Arshavin and £28m David Villa and only spend £22m this summer!

The £17m is about accurate actually. Sunderland were prepared to offer £23m for all four players (the three they signed and Kaboul) from what I heard. And also Bentley was £15m, rising to £17m, Bostock was £700k rising and I don't believe they ever revealed the fee for Gomes. It was initially thought to be about £10m though.

I know you were using Milito only as an example but it's unlikely he'll be bought, apparently his club are wanting an 8-figure sum whereas we're only willing to offer about £7m because he's 29 years old.

[-A-]

Yeah, the details of the transfers are always compicated with fees up front and conditional clauses. Reckon Spurs have spent about £5m so far anyway - things seem to balance out. Bostock's fee was massively variable for example - £700k rising to £3.25m

Yup, Milito's really just an example of the 'Arshavin + lower-profile striker' idea and how feasible it is. If Arshavin, a £10m striker and Corluka come in and only Berbatov goes out, Spurs have only spent £12m or so this summer. Scary.

[Zaz]

Yeah, I got those figures from the Spurs thread on the Football365 forum. So I'm not sure if they're entirely accurate but considering some of the people there it surely would've been called out if something was amiss >_>

[alldaws1]

It looks like Anthony Gardner's loan deal to Hull is going to be made permanent next week rather than in January. £2.5m more to put in the Arshavin jar >_>

Next week my foot, it's gone through already. Hull's record signing

Edited August 14, 2008 by AD

[The Kraig]

Rangers have signed Aarón Ñíguez on a two-year loan deal from Valencia, which is a bit shocking. Hard to find talented young foreigners that don't mind going to Scotland. David Murray's said this is where part of the cash from the sale of Cuéllar's went, and that there was no money given to Osasuna, it was a straight deal between Rangers and Villa.

Need to hurry up and get more players before the window shuts though.

[cmb211087]

Apparantly Blackburn are about to shock the footballing world with one of our newest signings, a midfielder....

....which just probably means Paul Ince is probably reregistering himself to play or some shit.

[9 to 5]

KEITH ANDREWS~!

He will shock the footballing world. >_>

[9 to 5]

16.08 Crystal Palace manager Neil Warnock expects non-league star Tom Denton to sign for Blackburn. The striker has been on trial with the Eagles this summer.

Credit - SkySports

Now I know what all the Ewood drama is all about!

[Herr Matzat]

Rumor has it that Pizarro is comming back to Bremen. That would be nice.