If you can sign a 25 year old Stephen Ireland directly from the EPL that has to be one of the biggest DP signings to date. Clearly he hasn't been in the form he was a few years ago at City but still signing a player his age who has the ability to play for a few EPL sides is great for the league.
Who the f u c k are we kidding? It's going to be John Carew or Backe will lure Henrik Larrson out of retirement. Backe loves his Scandinavians!
No Ireland, according to this NY Post article. Soler "insist unequivocally that the Red Bulls would not be acquiring Ireland this summer." Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/socce..._marquez_8lt4Cu3pVFQ7tCaNOxeZFN#ixzz1poTegIoe
I think it just means no Ballack and no Ireland. Sounds like they're still focusing on a CAM for the summer.
GUYS. When have Backe and/or Soler told us the truth about ANYTHING? As far as I'm concerned Ireland is still on the table. I found this part of the article on Conde interesting though: “We tried to get him when he was playing in Chicago. We obviously knew him very well. One thing that we made certain is that the injury is not career-ending, or any long-term problem at all. Its more about the fact we understood he might not be available for 100 percent of the games at the start of the season. But that’s a risk that we were willing to take. " Makes me feel a little better about his injury...I guess.
I have no reason to believe either of them are lying. On one side we have a rumor that doesn't even appear to be well sourced and on the other side we have a definite denial from Soler. Yeah, I'll take the man at his word.
If you know Freud... this is a negation... Soler almost always means the opposite of what he says emphatically... It is like Bill Clinton saying during the Monica Lewinsky conundrum: "I did not have sex with that woman!"
What do you want them to do? Announce to the whole world which player they are pursuing? That will immediately add $1,000,000 to the price tag. When I would go car shopping with my parents they always said, "Don't say anything. Don't say, 'Oh I love this car. Can we PLEASE get this car?' because the salesman will increase the price."
Actually, Soler pretty much downplays everything that is rumored. It may be that nothing is happening, but even when something is happening he still downplays, or denies. That's his style. But his denials are usually non-denial denials, where he might answer the question in a way that skirts the truth. He usually avoids downright lying. That is a typical trait of all executives in sports, in general. As was pointed out, he doesn't want to mess up a negotiation when it is ongoing, and thus usually avoids divulging much of substance until there is something concrete.
FYI- There was an article in the Irish Independent written after Soler's denial indicating that the Red Bulls are still pursuing Ireland and that he may come here before (get this) this transfer window ends on April 15th. So Soler's denial may still be correct in that Ireland is NOT coming in the summer but in fact coming in the SPRING. http://www.independent.ie/sport/soc...big-apple-offers-new-temptations-3060561.html