Hafnia

i have no qualms with what you said mate i was just laughing at what dangermouse wrote

yeah soz - quoted the wrong response!

hahaha!

£7m is the only official bid we have made this summer. That was for Naughton, any other bids? As far as I can see apart from that we are talking bosmans and loans. Anyway - that was my reason for £7m

I think we all need to look at this from a financial perspective not an emotional perspective. If we had a problem spending money like Real and City then keep Joleon. This issue we have is that we have no money and a weak depth of strength in the squad. Every player has his price. Given that Johnson went to Liverpool for £18.5m then as far as I'm concerned the starting price is £25m. Allied to the fact that we are dealing with a club that has excessive sums of money, and that Joleon can cover at LB we are really looking at £30m plus. If Moyes gets his original budget prob (£7m)plus the £30m for Lescott we could seriously get the players in we need. A left midfielder, right back, Moutinho/Defour and a centre half.

Something is going on - why are we looking at bosmans and loans? surely we get £15m each year for transfers? I think if we sell Lescott we will just get the same money back for transfers and big bill will save the £7m for another day............. One thing is for sure, we don't ever have enjoyable transfer windows do we!

ffs, just give him the dosh he wants. Chances are he will want parity with arteta, cahill, saha, fellaini and yak, and to be honest he would be justified. Why piss him off when we would only get £8m for him but would need £15m to replace him. Consistent performer, fan favourite, I do not want to see another Don Hutchison situation again. Don wanted a few grand more when he was on 15k, and we had players like campbell and big dunc on 35k.

Pienaar could look at fellaini and demand same pay.

£25m is my price, if they want him, then they will pay that, the red shite spending £18m on that bloated right back has firmly set the pricing expectation, anything less then no.

The way I look at this is: "If we had £25m to spend but didn't have lescott, would we look to pay £15m for lescott?, or would we get someone cheaper and strengthen other areas of the squad?"

It's as simple as that, and until Kenwright sells us (and he did have the opportunity to sell us to Randy Lerner) that is how we will operate. Unfortunately money talks. Respect to lescott though, he hasn't thrown his toys out the pram in order to treble his wages.

Looks like he would move here, can we get in ahead of Hamburg??? Aren't they signing Berg aswell?

Certainly would add some steel to midfield, Fellaini and Cana acting as Arteta's bodyguards, I say sign him, prefer him to M'Bia, 7 yellows and 1 red ain't that bad to be honest, I don't know how that would translate in the Prem.

Ball was a fan favourite, and thinking back a major factor in the game against Coventry when we stayed up, nonetheless judge him as he is now, as back up i'm fine with that. A brickwall of a defender.

If we look at the lescott situation properly. Yes he is a great player and has been brilliant for us, but at the same time he is not unreplaceable, certainly if we get a player of Richards potential and £15m or so, then I feel it is good business. If we had a stronger financial position I would say no chance, but alas we are not exactly rolling in it. The money from lescott will give us an opportunity to strengthen other areas of the team and also to find a replacement.

We could get a similar quality player from abroad for a lot less. Rodwell will be a centre half in 2 years, and lescott does have a history with knee problems, all in all it does make sense, will be a loss but we will be adequately compensated.

It was not an attack on Stoke, it was merely a laugh at another fan (most likely one of our own just having a joke) trying to use the "bigger club" argument, the same would have applied had it been any supporter regardless of their club.

 

As for M'Bia, I still have seen nothing of him, but from what I've heard from what those who have seen him is that he is somewhat of a quality player. But all this speculation over the past year in the paper about who he might be going to, who he wants to go to, how much he wants a week etc. is growing tiring. If he joins he joins, if he doesn't join then we move on. I just wish this speculation would turn into an outcome, even if things don't swing our way.

I was being sarcy, I was havin a go at Stoke, they are harmless though - that said if they do get him and he does the business, they will have last laugh

Leave Stoke alone, they gave us Bracewell, they now possess James Beattie and Steve Simonsen...... nah i'm not getting into this one.

Any club that buys M'bia is asking for trouble, he attitude stinks, in fact he shoukld play for these:

http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/ac%20milan%20pooh.jpg

In principal I think that the compensation is right to a point, there certainly needs to be a cap or a banding on it though. Imagine if somone stole Rooney or Rodwell at an early age, we would be pig sick.

On the other hand, back in Sep 1998 when we played Leeds at home (dacourt sent off - bowyer), the Leeds fans thought that given their elevated financial status they could wave £20 notes at us. Move on to 2009..........Funny old game.

They are probably holding out for 18m, we should have got them to negotiate for us when we sold Rooney to Utd. Drive a hard deal.

The yak is probably about 10 years younger than Kanu, that will make him 34 I think....

Haha no way is that true. where do people come up with these rumours! they are rather amusing though!

Not very often Bluekipper give a 4 star rating to a rumour and are wrong, they will have insiders in club, heard many negatives about Micah in last year, hope we get some stringent performance/disciplinary conditions in the contract. May have just needed new start and wanted Chelsea a year or two ago.

http://www.bluekipper.com/fishy/in_summer_09/summer_09_2.htm#46

Not like Blue Kipper to let loose on bad rumours. Depends on what the deal entails, we better get him plus £15m for Joleon at least.

I have a sneaking suspicion that Defour will be our big money signing which will use our budget up. If that goes through and we are linked with more players, expect Lescott to go (I think this is probably already a done deal and we are holding off announcing so that Defours club don't add £8m onto the £9m that we have already bid)Once we get Defour I think Joleon will go with richards maybe coming the other way and we may sure up the squad with a few signings such as Gudjohnsen, Tuncay etc. That's my guess anyhow, if we get £22m+ for Joleon I would be fine with that.

I think Moyes has identified the need for a busy midfield general and Mbia was his first choice. Looking at Defours attributes I would say he tickes the boxes:

Looks good on the ball,

Works hard to regain ball,

Mobile (Felli ain't)

Can pass

Young enough to realise our investment over time

I think the only area that has been picked as weakness is his shooting, but that is not what we need if we have the Yak upfront, areteta. After watching him against us I would say he has the right game for the prem, and he is the type of midfielder who loks like he can take the game by the scruff of the neck and dictate play.

If we get him it will be interesting to see the formations we could play. I would guess a 5 man midfield consisting of:

Pienaar/Arteta - Defour/Rodwell/Neville - Cahill/Fellaini - Pennant/Osman

Looking at which I would say we are in need of another winger, pref a left sided one to cover Pienaar as would prefer arteta in centre or right if needed. This makes me think that a bid for Tuncay may be on cards as he will play anywhere, we will need a wide variety of formations so that we do not end up with over tired players this season.

does he play on the right at all?

On FM 2009 he can play on the right (not natural but very able) so I would say yes (given that we have paid money to use their data I would hope it's right!), his attributes are work rate, passing and creativity. His main position is centre mid/attacking mid. Playing against us in UEFA cup I noticed he should have got sent off for nearly pushing ref over. He then went to set up their goal. Must admit I was impressed by him in that game.

bit pricey but liked the look of him, bit of guile and steel.

quote: Known for his passionate affinity with fans at his beloved Fenerbahçe SK, Tuncay has developed the same kind of relationship with the fans of Middlesbrough. His efforts aren't going unnoticed, with Middlesbrough supporters singing in his favour, "we've only got one player!" in reference to their admiration of his non-stop attitude.[6]

Tuncay's endless energy and passion shown during matches has won him many plaudits. In May 2009, Matt Le Tissier of Sky Sports acknowledged his performances: "If they [boro] had 11 Tuncay's they'd be in the top half of the table; this boy is quality, he works his socks off as well. He showed great technique with the overhead kick and was a great example for the rest of the team - it's just a shame there are not a few more like him in the side.[7]"

The 2008-09 season saw him pick up all four of the club's major awards for 2009: the Players Player of the Year, Garmin Player of the Year, the Middlesbrough FC Official Supporters’ Club Prize and the Terrace Legends Award. [8] He won the Player of the Year with a massive 75% of the vote.

Anyone who seen him play for Middlesboro could not have failed to have been impressed with him, can play winger, in the hole or up front. Given the lack of matches Saha, Vaughan and Yak played last year we could do with him - £4m is a snip, go on many a forum, Middlesboro fans rate him highly, similar player to Hunt but far better and more versatile.

I think he's a great player, ability and work rate. I would go in around £5m, if we get him for that we can use him anywhere upfront, would be a great foil for Yak as he will run all day and cause defenders problems. Similar in effort to Vaughan, gave everthing for Middlesboro and scored some important goals. Deffo yes from me.

swapping the future for the past? are we a rest home for their most loyal players who are deemed not good enough? stories like this sicken me.

I looked at his youtube clips, there is a stark difference from the 18-22 year old to the one who had done his hamstrings in one too many times, add to that a bad knee injury and a good couple of kg's.

I think his goalscoring record was boosted by the fact he used to score braces and hat tricks in comfortable wins (plus pens which he was never great at) and then go a few games without registering. His goals to chances ratio was nothing major if I remember, certainly not in the same way torres or drogba punishes you, and his number of chances were more when he had the opportunity to outpace the last man after a gerrard pass.

Owen will score goals at united, in a team like that playing a poachers role it would be hard for any self respecting forward player not to. Owen is the last of a breed of forward, the Bob Latchford, Lineker, Cottee role where nothing other than being in the 6 yard box matters, leave the work for the midfielders and wingers, the harsh fact is the game has moved on, forwards are now expected to do more for the team which is why capello has left him out of the England squad. Having him at united will be like them having Andy Cole again.

I'm wondering whether SAF is using Owen as a way of playing hard ball with Athletico over Aguero, if he buys a recognised striker (historically) on a free, he is in a better position to negotiate as he will appear less desperate. Dunno, just can't work this one out. Play a 29 year old on the way out or play and develop Macheda or Wellbeck? Who I believe are better.

I hope the mancs sign him. He will not get many games, his team work vs Rooney would be embarrasing, simply put there is no way united would sign him as a first team option, to sell a few shirts and Carling cup yes, but they have better options already in macheda and welbeck, let alone berbatov and rooney. Can owen play up front alone? No, would het get in ahead of Rooney and Berbatov? No. United are also looking at Aguero so I believe it's a no go or a merchandice signing.