Fiorentina seem to be building a nice project.... 17:49 GMT: Some clarity, at last. A statement: "ACF Fiorentina and Villarreal CF SAD confirm that they have reached an agreement for the transfer of Giuseppe Rossi." 17:39 GMT: But wait! Conflicting reports as it is suggested Giuseppe Rossi has NOT signed for Fiorentina. Watch this (uncertain) space. 17:27 GMT: Rossi deal is reported to be for £7 million, potentially rising to £10 million. 17:25 GMT: Sure to be many more deals throughout the night. Including this: Former Manchester United forward Guiseppe Rossi has reportedly signed for Fiorentina from Villareal.
sorry but i can't really agree.... their squad is big but not that good. we all have to admit that bale is their top player and on a long contract it'll take massive moeny to prise him out of levy's hands. But lets be fair, they've a keeper who's not very happy in loris, a defense thats interesting if not quite sturdy, a couple of corkers in there and a few numptys. their midfield withouit parker looks weak demebele improved it but when you think huddlestone.... then up top they are short of options... dempsey? sigurdsson? pah. I think their project is weel down the road but actually winning something and establishing a CL pedgree is not going to be easy at all... they are competing directly with arsenal for 4th.... cos if chelsea would stop sacking managers every 5mins they'd be top of the league. anyway...... we're never going to be in for these players until we radically step forward. this means get close to the cl spots and go far in the europa to make ourselves look good... we've a lot of work to do. What doesn't add up is rodgers mouthing about small squads one minute and then saying only one deal will be done this window... maybe one more but unlikely.... one in one out.. that doesn't add up to small squad does it? i'd not mind but our team on paper is quite competitive.
Ferguson is complaining to the Premier League about THFC making good deals. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20915309
The old twat forgets hes not exactly squeaky clean himself. No FA action over Stam 'approach' please log in to view this image Jaap Stam was signed from PSV Eindhoven for �.75m The Football Association will not be taking any action against Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson over an alleged "illegal approach" for defender Jaap Stam.Stam claimed in his autobiography that Ferguson had made an "unofficial approach" for him prior to his �.75m move from PSV Eindhoven. The Dutch international revealed how Ferguson arranged a secret meeting in an apartment close to Amsterdam's airport to tempt him away from Holland. But FA spokesman Paul Newman said the organisation had no jurisdiction to launch an inquiry into the matter. "This is a matter which has to be dealt with under Fifa regulations and not by the FA as Fifa have jurisdiction over international transfers," he said. "It is up to the Dutch FA to raise the issue with Fifa on behalf of the club if they feel it is appropriate." Premier League rules state that clubs must not approach a player without previously making contact with the selling club. "If there was a direct complaint to us, the matter would be investigated, but that has not happened," said a Premier League spokesperson. PSV Eindhoven have already said they will not be taking the matter any further. Secret meeting Stam revealed details of the transfer in his autobiography being serialised in the Mirror. "We had to keep everything under wraps, so the club (PSV) didn't find out about the unofficial approach," Stam claimed. [TABLE="width: 150"] [TR] [TD="class: quoteboxbody, bgcolor: #FFFFFF"] please log in to view this image We didn't want to go to a hotel in case there was even the remotest chance somebody might see us please log in to view this image [/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="class: quoteboxhead, bgcolor: #003399"] Stam's agent Tom van Dalen[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Stam's agent Tom van Dalen arranged the meeting and was the only other person present. "Ferguson was on holiday in France with his wife at the time, and on the flight back to Manchester he stopped by in Amsterdam to meet with us," said van Dalen. "I had arranged the meeting in an apartment near the airport because we didn't want to go to a hotel in case there was even the remotest chance somebody might see us." Stam said: "We spent most of our 30 minutes just talking about what my plans were and how he'd like me to come to Old Trafford. "There was no discussion about positional play, contracts or money. I guess he just wanted to meet me and see what kind of guy I was. "He strode into the room, full of confidence and smiling broadly. "'Jaap, I want you to play for Manchester United,' said Ferguson. 'I want you to command our back line and help us to win the Champions' League'."
Liverpool are believed to be close to completing a move for Nicolas Isimat-Mirin - Gary Jacob, The Times Also heard tonight the reason that Carra may have been 3rd choice CB an not Coates recently, is due to LFC trying to avoid paying an appearance fee clause with Nacional, defo sounds like Seb Coates may be on his way out
Sunderland are now odds-on (8/11) to sign Stewart Downing in January, with consistent backing pushing long-term favourites Middlesbrough out to 9/1. Arsenal are surprise second favourites though at 8/1.
Arsenal certainly won't want him. Can't see Sunderland wanting him, they have Larsson, Johnson, McClean and Sessengon. Can't see Downing dropping a division to join Boro either.
IMO Downing won't leave unless we had a replacement coming in, and I don't mean Ince! I don't think any such player will be arriving so I agree that he will remain at the club until the summer at least.
IF we was to get rid of Downing(doubt it personally) anyone think we might make a move for Sneijder (spelling?) if he hasn't moved by then. wages would be silly, but he would certainly help us push a top 4 finish, and could be a good move, just until Summer anyway.
no chance..... WS is in a dispute but i am thinking of a certain valencia genius who just venished and ended up at middlesboro! gaizeta mendieta..... he just went to pot but got massive wages. 18months ago it was mooted that utd refused to pay WS 180k per week or so. This guy will want a fortune we don't have so i see no reason to mention him, not when we have gerrard to play that type of AM role and not track back already. now the sunderland link is only media IMO as MON had downing at villa and signed him.... there's no way a boro boy will play for sunderland as the fans won't accpt him and he knows it.
prob true Mito, i was hoping or wondering if he could have a similar impact to what Spurs had with Van Der Vart, if he did we would benefit massively in the long run as he would get us top 4 to hopefully to attract the players, and then we could see where the owners ambitions are for the club really are.
He already played for them on loan (crazy that in 2003 it was Boro sending players on loan to Sunderland, shows how their fortunes have both changed)
