English Football Thread! 2006-2007 Season

This is for discussion of the 2006-2007 season for English football clubs and whatnot. Of course, at the moment, it's all about transfers, but oh well. I like to read about that sort of thing while the World Cup is going on!

Latest for Man Utd fans (all rumours these days, of course, due to private ownership) includes...
- £10m bid for Carrick rejected by Spurs with Jol saying he'll never sell him, but suddenly they went all quiet after a £15m bid with Carrick apparently wanting to go for it and not happy that they're holding him back.
- Ghana's 21 year old midfielder Sulley Muntari is eager to move to the premiership, targetting his old club Manchester United.
- Ruud and Sir Alex have apparently got over their issues and he could be staying at United after all.
- ...not stopping MU apparently agreeing on something in the range of £20-25m for Spanish striker Torres.
- Meanwhile, the favourites of the fans Riquelme and Diarra seem to have nothing happening with Man Utd with the past weeks with little report on either of them.

Liverpool are trying to sign Daniel Alves, one of the stars of Sevilla's UEFA Cup winning team. And with that, we'll have the two best right-backs in the Premiership. And Jan Kromkamp. Oh baby.

Eidur Gudjohnsen is on the brink of a move to Barcelona, which is good news as his talent is wasted at Chelski, but will he get into the team ahead of the likes of Ronaldinho, Messi and Giuly? Should've joined us, Eidur. We would have given you love :(

Everton *snort* after spending *chuckle* £8.6 million on *giggle* Andy Johnson, have now spent £5m on a *guffaw* Wolves defender.

I have no idea why United fans think they have a chance in hell of landing Riquelme, but I'd love to see him and Rooney combine all the same. Carrick is now probably Old Trafford bound, which is a shame as I liked the guy (and as a Liverpool fan it is my duty to detest and loathe every United player :p), but on the other hand, it will show whether or not he is ready to make the step into the big-time. If he'd signed before the WC, you know Sven would start with him and Stevie G...

Newcastle news - Well Lee Bowyer has gone to West Ham I think, Roeder is beggin' Steve Harper to stay and Michael Chopra has gone to Cardiff city.

We have a chance for Riquelme only because Riquelme has openly stated that he would like to play for Manchester United in the past. That, and I think his club has not qualified for the CL next season, something which is also working against Athletico (who have Torres), who haven't even managed to make the UEFA Cup.

EDIT: On a quick check, Riquelme's current club Villarreal haven't made the UEFA Cup, either.

And then Chelski will take United's bid, and treble it, as per Robben and Essien. And they'll quite happily buy players so that other teams don't get them, and then leave them to rot on the bench. Look at SWP, and even Robben to a lesser extent.

Still, now is as good a time as any for English clubs to land big stars (As seen by Shevchenko, Ballack and Rosicky joining the Premiership) thanks to English teams doing well in Europe, and the Italian league currently being in turmoil. It wouldn't be too surprising to see Torres or Riquelme in the Premiership next season, but I still think they'll both remain in La Liga.

With the exception of Ballack, Chelsea haven't actually gone after any of the players Manchester United are going after. Diarra, Riquelme, Torres, Carrick and more have all been linked with us for a long time but not once have Chelsea made a known move for them.

I think it's the upside of the Glazer takeover, being able to do everything in private so that word doesn't get out until it's happened. In the past, MU's offers were often known to the public before they were known to the player's team.

EDIT: I should note that I don't think Riquelme will be coming our way, personally. I think it'll be Carrick, some attacking midfielder and either Ruud will stay or Torres will come. Both preferrably but with Rossi in the mix, that's doubtful, we don't need five strikers. Torres also has offers from Newcastle and supposedly Arsenal on the table.

EDIT: Riquelme's contract also notably ends next year, meaning Villareal may wish to cash in before he can leave on a free.

Apparently Wenger's interested in Celtic goalie Artur Boruc, and he'll be watched closely during the Poland vs Germany game. (Kinda interesting, like a face-off between Lehmann and Boruc.) Lehmann still has a year left on his contract, but it's doubtful he's a long-term measure. But it's just a rumour, yeah.

*Tomas Rosicky.

who does everyone think will get promoted next season from the championship?
there were a lot of surprises last season.

Manchester United have reportedly put in a bid for Benfica & Portugal midfielder Petit, who, after confirming that there was a bid, stated that "Anybody would love to play for Manchester United".

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SaintDave

who does everyone think will get promoted next season from the championship?
there were a lot of surprises last season.

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Birmingham, Leeds and Cardiff

cardiff?
replace that with the mighty saints
WE ARE GOING UP

Bit early for this, doncha think? ;)

Trasnfer speculation all over the place, and the World Cup can only generate further rumours. All sorts of ideas fly around at this time, the difference being that with funding from Abramovich and Glazer respectively, Chelsea and Man. Utd actually have the resources to make such extravagant purchases. The vast mounts of money being showered on our rivals are enough to make any Arsenal fan seethe with fury, but at least this year the purchase of Rosicky shows that we're going to make changes too.

United are going to be the biggest spenders this summer, as they'll be pushing to challenge Chelsea for the top prize, and they can't do that with the players they've got now. The addition of Riquelme or Torres would be a great help in reconstructing their attack, but what they really need is a new Roy Keane to provide a dependable base that enables those attackers to roam free in the opponents' half and wreak havoc. Currently there's nobody really filling that role, and I don't think United can really take on Chelsea until they've found that man. Liverpool have already been linked with a number of players too, and while Benitez might not spend as much as his rivals this summer, the quality of the players he's already brought in suggests they'll be quality signings.

What should be very interesting is the outcome of the Juventus match-fixing scandal. I doubt any action will be taken, but if the worst comes to the worst Juventus' squad is sure to scatter, and one or two will be guarenteed to come to the Premiership. Zlatan Ibrahimovic? Yes please. :D

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Originally Posted by Cz

United are going to be the biggest spenders this summer

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What planet are you living on? We're in massive debt, there's no way we're going to spend more than Chelsea did on Ballack (on a free, but the cost of his wages is big enough) & Shevchenko (undisclosed), let alone Obi Mikel (£12m) and Kalou (undisclosed). It's possible we won't even spend as much altogether as they did on a single player (Shev rumoured to have costed up to £35m, or as "low" as £25m). Man U will probably spend about... £20-35m, at a guesstimate.

If we spend £15m on Carrick, £5m on Petit and £25m on Torres, though, along with an attacking central midfielder... well, I'll be very surprised.

EDIT: And obviously happy. ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Loony BoB

What planet are you living on? We're in massive debt, there's no way we're going to spend more than Chelsea did on Ballack (on a free, but the cost of his wages is big enough) & Shevchenko (undisclosed), let alone Obi Mikel (£12m) and Kalou (undisclosed). It's possible we won't even spend as much altogether as they did on a single player (Shev rumoured to have costed up to £35m, or as "low" as £25m). Man U will probably spend about... £20-35m, at a guesstimate.

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Pfft, every football club is in debt to some extent. You don't think we built a £400 million stadium on profit alone, do you? You won't be spending as much as Chelsea, with their bottomless purse, but I'd be surprised if they added more than one or two new players now that they've got Ballack and Sheva. Given that Chelsea's squad has got even stronger since the season ended, you'd be foolish not to give your side a make-over. The Glazers promised plenty of transfer funds for just this purpose, and you'll probably get a decent amount of cash from sales (not to mention the £10m hush money you got for not buying Jon Obi Mikel). United aren't flat broke, and they'll be bringing in all the personnel they can if they want to pose a large-scale threat next year.

EDIT: Although bear in mind that the more you spend, the sadder I'll get. ;)

I think we have £32m to spend, after Obi Mikel's money came in. I think it was either £20m or £25m before that happened, though, so yeah. Hence, if they have indeed offered £15m for Carrick, we're already running out of cash.