Seeing how Kompany and De Jong have worked out I think a bid for both Villa and Silva would be a good idea. Villa has supposedly said that City wouldn't be his first choice, but if he con some to City with someone he knows it might make it a bit more of an attractive option. Kinda in the way having Elano may have made City a good option for Robinho. One thing is for sure, I'd love to have Villa on the team.
Possibly just stupid paper talk but... The Sun is saying that Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa are "close" to capturing Joe Hart from us for... wait for this... £3 million. If we did sell him for that I'd hope it'd have a bunch of clauses like more money when he reaches x appearances and x England caps. Our problem is Given is world class but a way off retirement yet and Joe wants first team football so what do we do? We can't loan him out until Given declines or retires can we?
Has there been any news of Sturridge lately? I think the Hart to Villa story might have just a tiny problem -- Brad Friedel is still playing very well and probably has two more good years in him. Not the place to go for guaranteed 1st team football.
Valencia seems to have been in financial troubles for ages now. One thing I noticed is sometimes it appears La Liga teams like to deal within their league and add all kinds of incentives and conditions. Villa would be a great addition, but judging from the winter transfer rumors, they turned down over 100 million for the two seems pretty ridiculous and makes Valencia look greedy. Can anyone (maybe besides Zidane) really live up to a 50-60 million pound fee? One guy I would personally like to see in a blue shirt is Mario Gomez, hes young and have plenty to prove after a horrible Euro 2008. He scores great goals in the bundesliga, he has pace, skill and will probably cost less than Villa. He's linked with RM, Barcelona, Bayern, ManU, but not us though. I can see the Hart to AV rumor. AV is starting to break down a bit due to their squad depth. They are likely to be in 3 cups and the league next season and probably want to bulk up the squad. No harm in keeping two young guys battling it out. I hope we do everything to keep Hart but the England GK spot is wide open and I wouldn't blame him if he left.
The Vice-president of Valencia is quoted in the Times, saying talks have taken place with Manchester City over the transfer of David Villa.
Didnt we make an offer in the winter for both Valencia players with some ridiculous bid of over 100 million pounds and it was rejected because they wanted 150 million...
Even with our bags of money, we're still having trouble... "David Villa's agent insists the Valencia striker will not be moving to Manchester City or any club outside the Primera Liga. Valencia vice-president Fernando Gomez confirmed on Thursday that the club have held talks with City regarding the possible transfer of the Spain striker to the Premier League side. However, Jose Luis Tamargo claims Villa will not leave Spain." ... of course this could change by the end of the season but if its correct I'm sure Real will sign him and offload the "flop" (aka he hasn't had a chance) Huntelaar, who I wouldn't mind at City either.
http://goal.com/en/news/11/transfer...-not-leave-valencia-for-manchester-city-agent So maybe the move for Villa is dead in the water. What I find interesting is what's at the end. Say Barca really wants Villa, if what it says about Eto'o is true I'd think that City would have to seriously consider putting in a bid for him.
The 'flop' already scored 6 goals in 5 games. A true flop indeed I'm not sure where you get the idea that Madrid wants to offload Huntelaar. Sounds more like wishful thinking.
There was a rumor a while back that Huntelaar wanted to leave Real because of lack of playing time. Of course that was only a few weeks after La Liga had started up after their break. But who knows what the validity of that rumor.
A story made up by an overzealous newspaper. Huntelaar was quick to dismiss talks about leaving. With Raul retiring soon and Ruud in the same wake Huntelaar will be spearhead the attack for many years if he keeps up his goal scoringexploits. Manchity would be better off with a more dynamic player like Benzema.
Well Benzema has said he'll be staying at Lyon, so it pretty much leaves City in the same place with him as with Huntelaar, looking for someone else.
From Sporting Life's transfer clockwatch: "Here is probably the most interesting story we have read today. Diego Forlan could be set for a summer switch to the Premier League, according to the Atletico Madrid striker's agent. The Uruguay international is reported to be a target for big-spending Manchester City, who have been alerted by Forlan's form in the Primera Liga this term, where he has 19 goals to his name." Forlan... he's not exactly David Villa but has been scoring in Spain. I can't help remember his spell at Manyoo though, where he scored about 10 goals in 60 matches. So either its a league thing or he has just improved.
The curious case of Diego Forlan... the man was very ineffective in england but after just a few months he was the top scorer of la liga and went on to do something ridiculous like 1 goal every 2 games ever since in la liga. It has to be a league thing and not a personal improvement unless he had one magical summer of training.
Signing Forlan might have its positives (we doubted Bellamy - at least, many of us did - remember) but it'd again show that we can't attract superstar players, even after grabbing Robinho. Then again, if Forlan hadn't already flopped in England (for our bitter rivals too), I doubt we'd question this possible signing given that he's scored just as many as David Villa this season - we'd probably view it in the same way we did Jo or if we went to sign Vagner Love (who maybe we should have got instead of Jo). We do need a hitman up front, we have been less than clinical at times, looking at Sturridge I think he has the potential to possibly be one but needs more playing time. Bojinov has impressed me but again, he needs playing time and we need to improve our squad in the off-season to make a bigger push. Caicedo, Vassell, Benjani (though we haven't seen much of him, he's never fit), Evans (I'd loan him but am not too optimistic of him making the grade), and probably Jo (unless of some marked improvement at Everton) need to go in summer, because we have Bellamy, Robinho, Sturridge, and Bojinov, with more to come (I think Blackburn are going down so Santa Cruz may be available at a cut price too).
Well I think the owners need to just make up their mind on whether they want to control who gets in or let Sparky decide. I really doubt Sparky has David Villa as his #1 target, its probably Santa Cruz who has proven himself under his system. I bet if we compared Sparky's shortlist with the one from the transfer rumors from various papers it would be very different.
No doubt about it. What he's doing is team building, what the media/possibly the owners have/want him doing is collecting superstars.
We're back in the news again. So we have a world class 'keeper in Shay Given and a highly promising one in Joe Hart, plus Kasper. Yet... - DONI DISMISSES CITY LINK Roma goalkeeper Alexander Doni insists he has no intention of joining Manchester City in the summer. The Brazil international is reported to be a big-money target for the Blues as they look to put the Abu Dhabi United Group's considerable wealth to use. A £12million approach has been touted, with Roma's financial woes likely to force them into accepting such an offer. The Giallorossi could miss out on a Champions League spot this season and would welcome the significant funding generated by the sale of Doni. However, the 29-year-old has reiterated his desire to remain in Italy and claims to have no interest in discussing a proposed switch to the Premier League. "I don't want to leave Roma, as my family is happy here and I am settled into the squad. It never passed my mind to request a transfer," Doni told Corriere dello Sport. "Last year I signed a contract that expires in 2012, so why would I want to leave? Besides, this story of an offer from Manchester City is entirely untrue. "Even if it were, I wish to categorically confirm my happiness at Roma. "The directors haven't told me of any news regarding my future and I think if such a possibility did exist, they would have asked me about it." - And from yesterday's papers: - Brazil superstar Ronaldinho has sensationally claimed that Manchester City want him this summer. (LOL) - Italy legend Fabio Cannavaro could play in England next season - possibly with Manchester City or Tottenham.
... and Joe Hart has been made available for loan, which is good. All quiet here at the moment, roll on the fixtures. I was dismayed to see none of our boys in the England team but SWP was injured and Bridge isn't even in the squad. If we can keep Sturridge (the papers refuse to let go of Chelsea links) and he stays healthy, I could see him in the England squad by the end of 2010.
Hey check this out! Cronaldo clames his will to leave MU by the end of this season and might gotto Calcio !!! ITW_The_SUN.htm
KARIUS MONEY CLAIMS REJECTED The father of Loris Karius has refuted suggestions money is driving force behind his summer switch to Manchester City. Stuttgart have already revealed their annoyance at the fact the 15-year-old Germany youth international has opted to join City. They offered Karius terms at the Mercedes Benz Arena, but he opted instead to sign a three-year deal with City - and Stuttgart claim it was because of the money involved. But Karius senior, Harald, has denied Stuttgart's claims. "This is rubbish, money was never a decisive factor," he told Spox. "If there is a young player making it in the game, he is paid good money. If he had stayed on at Stuttgart he would have earned equally much within two years' time. "VfB Stuttgart is known for having good youngsters, we also partially regret he is moving. But (Manchester) City came up with a clear line, the club was able to point Loris's way into professional football better than VfB (Stuttgart). "There was no similar perspective for Loris at Stuttgart, he would have to go through two more teams to become a professional player. "At Manchester City he will start out in the U18 squad." Karius Sr insists there are no regrets about doing the deal with City. He added: "The people from Manchester City kept all promises they made. "We were given answers to all our questions within no time. "We as the parents of Loris we can only assist and help Loris, we never told him to make any choice. "He wanted to do that. He liked the conditions, the surroundings and the chances at Manchester City. And he will be back in Germany if he fails that test. "There will still be interest in him, if that should happen."