Transfer rumour mill

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Nick Barmby will be offered an #8million move by Chelsea following a bitter wage row at Everton. Barmby, whose brilliant form earned him a dramatic last minute recall by England for Euro 2000, has rejected Everton's final offer of #25,000 a week to extend a contract which has another season to run.

Chelsea, among the most lavish payers in the Premiership, are prepared to top Everton's figure. Barmby's departure would be a massive blow to manager Walter Smith, who has succeeded in rejuvenating an ailing Everton in spite of limited cash resources. Former Scotland man John Collins is the club's top earner on #25,000 a week and the club are adamant that parity is the best Barmby can expect.

Everton have, however, agreed a #3million fee with Newcastle for Italian defender Alessandro Pistone. The former Inter Milan full-back will discuss terms next week.

Chelsea are also keen to sign Barmby's England team-mate Gareth Southgate.

Aston Villa have had a #12m offer for Tottenham's Norway striker Steffen Iversen rejected but are still interested in taking David Ginola and centre-back Chris Perry from Spurs in exchange for Ugo Ehiogu.

But Spurs face a tough battle with Sunderland for the #7million-rated Ehiogu. The talented central defender is a definite departure but Villa manager John Gregory will immediately invest the cash in taking Jason Euell from Wimbledon.

With Spurs having registered a #12m offer to the Dons for striker Carl Cort and defender Ben Thatcher, chairman and owner Alan Sugar is expected to demand that the books be balanced.

Cort has indicated that Leicester City had approached Wimbledon and that he was keen to team up with Peter Taylor, his former coach with England at Under 21 level.

All from Soccernet.

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2000

Answers

Other than celebrating the heroics of "England's true No.1", the Sunday Sun makes depressing reading for Toon fans.
They report that Fernando Miera has decided to stay in Portugal with a move to Benfica. He is quoted as saying he has decided to stay in Portugal because he does feel ready to join a club of the stature of NUFC or Udinese (?) - "I don't think I can play for clubs of their size". Presumably then he thinks Benfica are a small club!
They also report that Argentinian striker Daniel Cordone has NOT yet signed for the Toon as has been widely reported. His Agent is quoted as saying "We are still in negotiations".
The makems are reportedly tracking Bart Goor (old news), Marinko Galic Slovenia's CB (#2mm), and the Czech Republic's Redek Bejbl (#4mm) who is presently with Athletico Madrid.
The Smoggies, having signed Christin Karembeu and being involved in negotiations for Chelsea's Chris Sutton, still have a #13mm offer outstanding for Barcelona's Dani. They and also reported to be close to signing Oleg Luzhny from Arsenal, and are in discussion with Blackburn over the sale of Brian Deane for ca. #2mm.
Hmmm!!

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2000

A snippet in the NOTW suggests Gary Speed will move to Man City for #3m.

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2000

Is there a decided lack of toon related activity or is bobby playing the wise old geyser and keeping xards close to his chest before announcing a couple of fine aquisitions? I'm a tad concerned.

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2000

That Gary Speed rumour has me scared.......

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2000

I seem to remember YBR as being quoted as saying something along the lines of there will be no news until after Euro 2000.

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2000


Apparently Everton and the Smoggies are vying for Stevie Watson's signature - for #3mm, NOT the measly #1mm reported earlier. So, we can forget him as well.

-- Anonymous, June 18, 2000

O.K. this is going to be a bit long, but what's new for me. Actually I'll break it up into a series of posts.

With the exception of Pistone, these are the guys who are likely on NUFC transfer list who I'd want rid of, and how much we paid for them. Oh I also want rid of Pistone.

What I'd like to know is how much would we expect to get for each of them and where would they likely go. E.g. Robinson, 1 million pounds, first division.

Perez - free. Karelse - 750,000 pounds. Marcelino - 5 million pounds. Charvet - 520,000 pounds. Serrant - 500,000 pounds. Hamilton - 1.375 million pounds. Glass - 650,000 pounds. Maric - 3.5 million pounds. Brady - 650,000 pounds. Ketsbaia - free. Robinson - 250,000 pounds. Pistone - 4.3 million pounds.

Total expenditure = 17.895 million pounds.

Aaargghh, who & how many could we get for that today.

-- Anonymous, June 19, 2000


So far we've signed Christian Bassedas, an attacking midfielder come left winger for 3.5 million pounds.

We've been linked with the following players:

Helder - option to sign after loan for season. However NUFC don't want to pay the 4 million asking price due to his likelyhood of picking up injuries.

Guardiola - Robson has watched the player a few times and has expressed his interest, but nothing further has been heard. Fee of around 4 million was mentioned, probably be higher.

Goor - Probably becuase he fills a need and the papers/internet are linking us with any euro 2000 players. Fee believed to be around 4 million pounds.

Any number of strikers due to their avaliability.

We would probably need all three mentioned players plus a striker of quality.

However concerns have been raised as to the availability of funds for transfers.

I'd also like to see a couple of young english lads brought in as we don't have to many promisisng local youngsters in the squad. NUFC are aging in quite a few areas as well. You all know my preferences.

-- Anonymous, June 19, 2000


With us apparently ready to offload Ferguson, we would need to sign at least another two strikers to compliment Shearer and Gallagher.

I sincerely hope there is some action after Euro 2000 and I hope the bulk of the talent hasn't gone elsewhere.

-- Anonymous, June 19, 2000


From Teamtwaddle, calm down Gav

Joe Royle is understood to want Gary Speed to strengthen Manchester City's return to the Premiership but Newcastle won't sanction any move. The 30-year-old Welsh captain has just completed a highly successful season in which he scored 11 goals from 49 appearances. He's a player much admired by Bobby Robson, who said: "Gary did a magnificent job for me and he's a very important player to Newcastle United." Chairman Freddy Shepherd stressed that Speed will not be leaving, and said: "Manchester City or anyone else will be wasting their time if they're looking to buy Gary Speed. He's not going anywhere

Newcastle now face domestic rather than international competition for Portuguese star Joao Pinto. Fiorentina have withdrawn their lucrative offer to the ex-Benfica striker and are now pursuing Aston Villa's Benito Carbone, as well as Middlesbrough target Dani. And with Chelsea also insisting they are out of the hunt for Pinto, Everton and Liverpool have stepped into the breach. Representatives of both the Mersey rivals have met with Pinto and his agent in Portugal's Euro 2000 team hotel. And the signs are that the 28-year-old - available on a free transfer - is willing to drop his #60,000-a-week wage demands in order to find a new club.

-- Anonymous, June 19, 2000



So Pinto wants #60,000 a week but he'll be available on a free. By my rough calculations the overall cost will be #3,120,000 per year and he wanted a four year contract, so just under #12.5 million with no transfer fee (no bonuses included either). Must work out a hell of a lot cheaper than Ferguson who cost around #7 mill and reputedly on #40,000 a week.

So to summarise! Ferguson for two years #12 mill. Pinto for four years #12 mill.

??

-- Anonymous, June 19, 2000


I don't think he looked that good against Romania on Saturday....lost the ball a few times and didn't tackle....

I know we a skillful midfielder/attacker but we also need someone who's gonna be able to play PREMIERSHIP football.....and I'm not convinced he's the man....give me Luis Enrique anyday!

-- Anonymous, June 19, 2000


Spot on gav - Pinto isn't the answer. Very expensive and not that good.

The whole Luis Enrique thing has gone very quiet - is he in the Spanish Euro2000 squad, or is he injured?

Barcelona are managerless which is a problem, but given the chance I'd blow the entire transfer budget on Enrique and Guardiola - they're both top class.

-- Anonymous, June 19, 2000


We could offer #30 mill for each of them but they are unlikely to want to play for us are they? No European football is higher on their agenda than playing for a coach who they have played for in the past.

-- Anonymous, June 19, 2000

Not very likely I admit but YBR is our only chance of attracting them.....

It would seem that Enrique didn't actually get picked for the Spain Euro 2000 squad!! any ideas if he's injured or just been dropped?

-- Anonymous, June 19, 2000



Enrique and Guardiola coming would probably be the first time a player has asked for the manager to have a medical. If they harbour any desire to link up with Bobby again they may be persuaded to miss out on European action for a year, but after that, we'd be hoping YBR is still at the helm - he'd be what 68/69? I know he's fitter than most of us on here, but how much longer will he still want to get out of bed and go training on a cold wet Monday morning in February?
Just a thought. I'll get my electric fan and go.

-- Anonymous, June 19, 2000

Reportedly Pinto is willing to drop his wage demands somewhat to play in the premiership. Why who knows?

As Enrique, how much do you think it would cost to get him? Remember he is now 30 and who knows how much longer he has to play.

Personnaly I'd rather Rui Costa who is two years younger, and everyone seems to be ready to jump ship from Fiorentina. Or the Uruguan Alvaro Recoba fron Inter, who I think is surplus to requirements. He could add to Bobby's growing band of South Americans, and surely we could use the ones we have now to entice him.

That said we have two chances to sign any of these players.

No hope in hell. and None.

-- Anonymous, June 20, 2000


Of all the top European players we've ever been linked with, Rui Costa is undoubtedly the one I'd love to see signed by NUFC. Brilliant control, hard to knock off the ball when bursting forward, creative, happy coming from the left etc. From interviews I've heard he seems a canny lad too, sensible head on his shoulders. We can all live in hope eh Tre ?

-- Anonymous, June 20, 2000

Sorry LT, I think I'm starting to turn Geordie as I don't like the idea of holding out hope becuase I'm likely to be let down every time.

This offseason is getting pretty depressing. So far we've signed one player, Bassedas, who no one had heard of before. We are unsure we he is going to be played, left wing acording to one publication, behind the front two according to Nobby.

This then raises the questionas as to what type of formation we are going to play next year and who is going to play in the midfield. You can count on Solano and probably Gavilan sharing the right wing depending on who's available when. You can count on Speed playing in the middle, but is he going to play a holding role or try an attack. Where does Bassedas play? And does Rob Lee start or come off the bench?

Importantly where does Dyer play? Dyer's best two positions are right wing or behind the front two. However it is unlikely that he is to play on the wing with Nobby and Gavilan in the squad. He prefers behind the front two, but this leaves us with a very light weight midfield if Bassedas is on the left wing and Lee on the bench. Or an unbalanced midfield on the left if the midfield play as they did for much of last season.

-- Anonymous, June 20, 2000


Then we move into the defence.

I like the idea of Pistone being sold, provided Domi stays. If their both off, who do we buy for the left full back spot? I'm unconvinced about Hughes playing there, same with Griffen, and i much prefer Barton on the right side. There is still speculation that we are interested in Oxford's 22 year oldleft back Paul Powell for one million pounds. I'd be in favour of this deal provided Domi remained and the Powell would have to oust Domi if he were to play.

Then we have the central defence. Dabizas was our one consistant player here last season. Everyone else spent a lot of time injured. I'd cut our losses on Marcelino and sell him. I'd keep Goma and give him a chance to impress this season. Howey can't be trusted anymore due to his injury legacy and his poor performances towards the end of last season don't bode well for this season. I still think Hughes is a bit young and inexperienced but shows promise for the future. And we don't know what Beharall and the Caldwell brothers can do yet, but I hold out some hope.

That still leaves us short of one experienced defender, and I'd like to see Helder back, but not at the 4 million pounds that Deportivo are asking for.

I think the right back spot is probably our one safe spot in defence.

-- Anonymous, June 20, 2000


And what is going on with the Keepers. We keep being linked with experienced european keepers, suggesting Bobby wants some one who commands their area and defence better than what Given or Harper do.

And we can't get rid of Karelse or Perez.

Do we stand pat with Shay and Steve, or sell Shay and move for one of the keepers bobby's said to be interested in? And where does that leave Harper? back on the bench and not happy.

Then we still need a third keeper, for the reserves atleast. I wouldn't mind having tommy Wright back from Man. City. And do we have any young keepers coming through? We're supposed to, but they haven't put in an appearance for the reserves yet.

-- Anonymous, June 20, 2000


And that just leaves us with our biggest problem. Up front.

We have Shearer, but who else?

It now appears Bobby wants Ferguson out, at least according to teamtwaddle, who usually follow some of the less trust worthy papers for their stories. But these stories have been going on for three days at least now and the club hasn't moved to dismiss them.

According to TT we will accept half of what we paid for Ferguson. However I'm not yet ready to see the club give up on him.

Bobby's being linked with Joao Pinto who is on a freebee. He is said to want some excessive amount of cash, and a four year deal. He is 29 this year, so a four year deal isn't that big a deal. He has scored 18 goals in 57 appearences for his country, but what is of note is that he scored 9 goals in the 10 qualifying matches for EURO 2000, and has scored as many goals as Al so far at the tournament.

The club has missed out on Gudjohnsen to Chelsea, the young Dane to Rangers and have dismissed the links with Carl Cort out of hand.

The club also appears ready to sell our two youngsters from the reserves; Robinson, who's 21, has an attitude, is a Makem and who Softie reckons hasn't shown enough improvement and we don't need; and Coppinger, who's only 19 and who softie reckons we'd be mad to sell, but has been out on loan. That would leave us with the next lot of youngsters out of the U.19's, Shola Ameobi (6 goals), and Kevin Gall (11 goals), neither really set the U.19's alight last season. And our big hope from the U.17's Michael Chopra (12 goals) and ? Mann (12 goals - U.17 & 2 goals -U.19).

-- Anonymous, June 20, 2000


At least I'm learning from Dougal. ;-)

-- Anonymous, June 20, 2000

Tre, I was under the impression that we had given Karelse a free transfer, therefore allowing him to leave the club and sort his own future out. Given was the only keeper on the Trinidad & Tobago trip.

-- Anonymous, June 20, 2000

Tre,
So what you're basically saying is that nothing has changed since last season!
I have to say that I'd be very disappointed - indeed alarmed - if we were to start the new season with basically the same squad.
As you indicate there are many problems with the squad that is defficient in several positions. I also believe that BR was able to get this squad to over-achieve last season, and that it is unlikely he would quite so successful a second time around with the same players and a heavy over-dependance yet again on AS's goals.
IMO, there are problems that simply MUST be addressed through new personnel - and I haven't as yet given up hope that they will be.

-- Anonymous, June 20, 2000

PS: there is virtually no chance, IMO, of offloading DF for half of what we paid for him, ie. #4mm. He is well known to be Sicknote II, and no other Club in their right minds would pay #4mm, plus #40k pw, for him.
This is yet another massive financial problem - in the same mould as Sylvia Maric - that BR has to sort out, and I'm afraid all the potential answers are going to prove very costly.

-- Anonymous, June 20, 2000

If Ferguson can play somewhere near 65% of matches this season when he is 100% fit then that'll do me as long as we have somebody who comes in a does a job as well. when he's fully fir he's awesome as we saw last year and he played his part in getting us out of the shit.

Who's to say that there isn't something in his contract about less money when he's injured?

-- Anonymous, June 20, 2000


ASTON VILLA and Newcastle are reportedly ready to match Malaga's asking price for their top goalscorer Catanha. Malaga president Fernando Puche has admitted that the Brazilian can leave if the price is right and, although Spanish sources are suggesting that it would cost around #9 million to land the striker, it is understood that he could be acquired for less than that amount.

Atletico Madrid are prepared to pay over #5 million for Catanha in a bid to replace Chelsea-bound Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, and Real Madrid were also believed to be chasing the player, but a move to The Premiership is looking like a viable option.

Catanha, who hit 24 goals last season, wants Spanish nationality and that could make him an even more attractive signing for the likes of Villa and Newcastle, who have been linked with new forwards all summer.

After starting his rise to prominence with Betenses, where he scored 12 goals in 13 games, the 28-year-old diminutive attacker went on to Salamanca and Leganes before proving his goalscoring ability at the top level with his current side.

Malaga are exploring the possibility of replacing their hot-shot attacker with Mexican international Cuahtemoc Blanco.

-- Anonymous, June 20, 2000


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