Joined-up Journalism Watch In the wake of Forest dumping Arsenal on their proverbial backsides, this has led to speculation linking us with Forest striker Ben Brereton - although it's not the first time we've been linked with Brereton, as there were reports that we had the scouts giving him the once-over in March last year. So if Bristol City somehow manage the improbable (yet bloody hilarious) does that mean we'll be linked with one of their players too?
Apparently Chelsea agreed to pay Barkley's agent a £7m fee on top of the £15m paid to Everton for the player. The fee is so disproportionately large that the mayor of Liverpool himself has reported the deal to the FA demanding it be investigated for irregularities. Saw this in The Times so pretty credible source. I think we've found the reason why we pulled out of the deal. The Bald Man must have wet himself laughing when he heard that quote.
Is it just me or does it seem like potential incoming transfer activity this January window is non-exitent?
It's a waste of time trying to do anything about it. United agreed to pay Mino Raiola £41m over 5 years for the Pogba transfer, on top of the £89m transfer fee. Neither the Premier League or the FA saw anything wrong in that. When the Big 6 wanted more of the money from the overseas TV contracts, who did they get to try and broker a deal...........? "A plan to appease them had been put forward by Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore, who is concerned at the entrenched disagreement and how it could harm the league and future negotiations, which would have seen 35 per cent of the revenue split according to where a club finishes in the table." [The Telegraph] The money is all the PL care about. That means some clubs are more equal than others. Nothing can be allowed to damage the perception that all is well and if you've got the financial muscle, you can do as you please. The PL won't do anything. The FA are a joke. When FFP was brought in, Citeh were allowed to do as they pleased. Debt was hived off into other companies; key non-playing staff had their contracts moved out of the football club as well, a ridiculously large 'sponsorship' deal from the owners was deemed permissible as well as many other sham practices as FFP 'get outs'. If Pep took a dump on Richard Scudamore's desk, the Premier League would complete the paperwork.
It's not surprising you don't hear anything, the only people with a vested interest in making noises about transfers are the media and the players agents. If we are interested in a player it's in our interest to be quiet about it until we are in a position to clinch the deal. We have hundreds of posts on here about transfers and 95% of it has no substance at all. Keep smiling!
To be fair, of that 95% a good third of that is bemoaning the annual saga where a transfer that could easily be wrapped up in the space of a couple of weeks somehow takes the best part of three months. Last summer it was Foyth.
SESSEGNON STAYING AT FULHAM Fulham’s head of operations Tony Khan has confirmed young left-back Ryan Sessegnon will not be leaving the club in the January transfer window. “As it’s been the subject of a great deal of speculation, I’d like to announce that Ryan Sessegnon is staying with Fulham and will not be departing during this January transfer window," he told the Daily Telegraph. "Ryan is a very important part of the Fulham family, and we’re grateful that he’ll be with us as we fight to achieve promotion this season.” And after that?
