Will the Red Devils regret taking on the First Class striker?
After beating off the advances of Stoke and Hull using a stick with a piece of dog poo on the end, Michael Owen yesterday found himself on the brink of a move to Manchester Utd.
Sir Alex Ferguson is said to have studied the Wasserman glossy brochure in great detail, and depending on which paper you read, will offer the Championship striker between £20,000 and £50,000-a-week, with added bonuses for not being injured.
According to Sky Sports, Owen has just passed a medical at the club. So it looks like this thing is really going to happen.
But is the man who is not deemed worthy of a place in the England squad worthy of the Premier League champions? On the one hand, he is a relatively low financial risk and is a proven finisher, particularly when paired with Wayne Rooney. However, his constant injuries and wonky form could easily put him on the Forlan/Saha/Smith flop list. Also, few Utd fans will roll out the welcome mat for a player who once said this:
“In an ideal world, and in the long term, I want to help Liverpool become the most successful club in the world again.”
Let us know whether you think Owen will prove to be a Cantona-style bargain or another of Fergie’s regrettable acquisitions below…
Spanish press think Cameroonian could be Manchester bound
Manchester Utd have already aided Real Madrid’s 2009/10 title challenge this week, and they could be about to give it an even bigger boost, by weakening Barcelona’s strike force.
According to Spanish paper Sport, Manchester Utd are interested in using some of their £80m windfall to lure Samuel Eto’o to the Premiership. The Cameroonian - who scored the opening goal of the Champions League final against the Red Devils - is currently being courted by Inter Milan. They have offered the Catalan giants £30m, an amount that the Premier League champions would almost certainly have to eclipse.
Kaka, Henry and, er, Joe Cole will be joining Steve Nash in New York for this year’s Showdown in Chinatown. You can win an all-expenses paid trip to see them by entering this competition.
David Beckham invites you to the pants party
[Kickette]
Is it the right time for the Red Devils to flog their biggest asset?
Despite Sir Alex Ferguson’s vitriolic insistence that he wouldn’t sell Real Madrid a virus, it seems that Manchester Utd have finally caved to the wishes of their star player, and agreed to sell him to their Spanish rivals.
It many respects, it’s a very sensible time for Ronaldo to depart - for starters, the preposterous £80m bid is an excellent return on a player who cost just £12.3m in 2003. The Portuguese star has made absolutely no secret of his desire to play at the Bernebeu, his petulance and humongous ego often threaten to get in the way of his game, and he would probably ask for a similar move at the end of each forthcoming season until he got his own way.
However, some might say it’s a mistake to part with the tricky winger at this stage. No other player in the world could possibly contribute as many goals from a wide forward position (alright, maybe Leo Messi), and his tenacity is as unfaltering as his winning mentality. Also, what does it say about Utd’s ambitions if they are happy to sell their best player to a team who have done very little on the big stage in recent years?
So, were Utd right to accept the bid, or should they have held on to their want-away star for a little while longer? Let us know your thoughts below…
Spanish press claim teams have already been decided
If you thought you were going to have to wait until next Wednesday to find out the starting line-ups for the Champions League final, you were quite wrong: our amigos in the Spanish press have peered into the future, and brought the teams back to the present for your consideration.
AS claim Pep Guardiola has already settled upon his formation, with the only debate being the left-back position. They believe Seydou Keita will be played out of position over Sylvinho and Martín Cáceres, but fail to give a reason (we suspect it is because he has played more this season). Crucially, none of the players in the starting line-up will face Osasuna at the weekend, and no one in la Liga will threaten to sue them.
Meanwhile, the folks at Sport have published an article entitled ‘Ferguson already has the eleven that will face the Barça in Rome’, and in it they reveal that Nani and Paul Scholes will be joined on the bench by Carlitos Tevez and Dimitar Berbatov. Apparently, they will play with Cristiano Ronaldo up front on his own, much like he did in the semi-final at The Emirates.
Do you believe the Spanish press’ assertions, or should they leave the predictions to Mark Lawrenson and Nostradamus? Let us know your thoughts below…
Last summer, Emmanuel Adebayor nearly made an escape to his beloved AC Milan, but was thwarted by that pesky Silvio Berlusconi, who insisted the Rossoneri sign Ronaldinho instead (what a great move that turned out to be).
It was Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti who wanted to bring the Togolese striker to Italy, and since he is expected to announce a union with Chelsea in the next few days, Adebayor has been strongly linked with a move across London. Speaking in this morning’s Guardian, Arsene Wenger revealed that he has no qualms about selling his hitman to Chelsea:
“I don’t want to go especially into any individual assessment of who we want to keep and who not, at the moment, and normally Adebayor is part of our plans for the future,” he said. “If I feel that a player should go, or could go, why not sell him to one of the other top four?”
Selling a player to a rival club is something that Alex Ferguson generally tries to avoid (particularly the ‘L’ word), but the prospect of Manu banging in 30 goals for Chelsea next season apparently does not trouble the Gunners manager. Most Arsenal fans agree it’s time for the inconsistent striker to move on, but will selling him to a domestic rival come back to haunt them? Let us know your thoughts below…
England legend looks back on career highs and high jinx
In his latest interview with talkSPORT, we’re delighted to see Paul Gascoigne back to his usual chirpy self. At times we needed our Geordie translator to interpret, but his stories of Stan Collymore nudity and playful fire exstinguisher fights with Liam Gallagher are well worth hearing.
The video above is part two of the interview, check out part one (released last week) after the jump…
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