"and can slot in at right-back if required" - close season transfer banter 2014

Leicester City boss Nigel Pearson has confirmed his interest in Argentina midfielder Esteban Cambiasso, but is furious the story has been leaked.

Pearson told BBC Radio Leicester: "I am not going to say no, because we have [been interested].

"But what's disappointing is that some clown somewhere down the line has leaked information that is sensitive.

"We like to try to do business in the right way and make sure all parties interests are looked after for the right reason.

"But for some reason, some balloon head has decided to leak it."

can we convene a balloon head symposium regarding what we're calling the epl thread this year btw

southampton won't win the premiership?

Arsenal: Szczesny, Debuchy, Koscielny, Chambers, Gibbs, Arteta, Wilshere, Ramsey, Alexis, Cazorla, Sanogo
City: Caballero, Clichy, Boyata, Nastasic, Kolarov, Navas, Fernando, Toure, Nasri, Jovetic, Dzeko

no finer way to raise the epl curtain than sanago v boyata in a hurricane

Legia Warsaw challenge Celtic to one-off Champions League rematch http://t.co/6HokYSnsvz

soton won't win EPL seconded imo

was there a charity shield thread? i was working. the giroud goal was fabulous. how did chambers fare at centre half? i guess he is vermaelans replacement and that seems bloody risky

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/soccer/the-kid-that-had-it-all-278965.html

very interesting interview with liam brady about youth development. he goes pretty hard on frimpong* (currently clubless) for caring more about being twitter famous than actually fighting for a place. also i'm very interested in this: "Luke Freeman? Gillingham needed a bit of money, Arsenal came in and said we’ll have a bit of a gamble on this lad and the press went ‘Arsenal sign young superstar from Gillingham’." - this seems a dodgy statement however you look at it.

*he doesn't say his name but its just after he was asked about him and other players and he gets the others out of the way and then talks about social media a lot.

I was at the game and Chambers was excellent - was between him and Ramsey for motm imo (not Giroud like it was hilariously given to, tho his goal was great). He's been playing there a lot in preseason and he looks very very assured, calm on the ball and he's much bigger than I realised in person as well, has a real presence which is pretty impressive for a 19 year old. Wenger says they should be getting at least one more player in though, but seems like Verms replacement might be more of a dm/cb/utility man combo box.

Anyway, that was a great game but then I would say that. Quality goals, Santi and Ramsey can't stop scoring at Wembley, winning is a good habit. And if Man City's team was weaker we still had Sanogo up front for 45, a 19 year old in defence and Monreal at CB for half the game too. So really if City are supposed to have such a good squad that shouldn't be a problem. Looks like Wilshere is the one who drops out of the best XI when Ozil comes back though... bench is suddenly looking quite packed, with Walcott to come back as well. Although I'm sure injuries will take care of that in due course.

Even since leaving the job though, the eye never switches off. Watching the first Brazil-Croatia game at the World Cup in the RTÉ studio, Brady’s fingers itched to text Wenger. He couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel room to get on the internet and check out Ivan Rakitic, Croatia’s holding midfielder. Another find. “I went straight onto Google, and there you are, he’s already promised to Barcelona... Anyway, I’ve had 18 years of that, and I want to get away from it all."

another find

lol

he's ok I guess

Marcos Rojo: Manchester United bid for Argentina defender

Sporting Lisbon defender Marcos Rojo has handed in a transfer request and told his club he wants to be allowed to join Manchester United.

United have submitted a £15.9m (20m Euro) offer for Rojo, 24, who played for Argentina in the World Cup final.

Sporting, runners-up in Portugal's Primeira Liga, are considering the bid.

United manager Louis van Gaal has been looking for a central defender following the summer departures of Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand.
Play media

Van Gaal missed out on Thomas Vermaelen last week after the Belgian opted to join Barcelona from Arsenal.

Rojo has informed the Portuguese side he will no longer train with them until the situation is resolved to his satisfaction.

Real starting Modric, Kroos, James, Bale, Ronaldo, and Benzema tonight

and Rodriguez. I'm psyched to see what this Real team are gonna be like

lol u dimwit

Stfu u dickhead

let's keep it positive lads

that's the slightly too angry response of someone who knows he's been a bit of a dimwit

Yeah yeah we get it you don't like Real Madrid

lol that wasn't the dimwit part m8

*looks at NN's post again*

A bit unwarranted there but that's your way I guess. All the same get ducked cuntyflaps

Predictive text, the great leveller

:D

Not enjoying watching this Football Manager Madrid squad, despite Kroos' luscious crosses.

the Old Trafford crowd are sarcastically cheering every Fellaini touch. Not pretty

and he scores the winner with the last kick of the game

have that you cunts

Shane Long to Southampton

12m

no beef tbh

oh yeah, Rooney is the new Utd captain

LVG out

LVG on some cowardly bullshit

Bruce on some bullshit bullshit

I don't know NN, wasn't Rooney pretty much misused and therefore scapegoated under Moyes? I for one think Roo is the anti-Christ, but he's looking fitter than ever. Making him captain, giving him confidence, is seemingly doing him very good.

So, £12m for Shane Long?

2011–2014 West Bromwich Albion 81 (19)
2014– Hull City 15 (4)

How much did Hull pay for him?

undisclosed but rumoured to be £6.5 million-ish. can't believe City have let him go for anything other than financial reasons which is small club mentality bullshit if so

Tottenham Hotspur open to offers for 11 players in desperate attempt to cut squad

Townsend, Lennon, Soldado, Dawson, Assou-Ekotto, Naughton, Chiriches, Sandro, Capoue, Chadli and Dembele all up for sale by north London club

Head coach Pochettino and chairman Daniel Levy want to bring the squad down to 25 and face a race against time to move players on.

Queens Park Rangers have targeted Townsend, but Spurs are also open to offers for former England international Lennon. It is unlikely both wingers will leave. Striker Loïc Remy could be offered to Tottenham as part of a QPR bid to sign Townsend, which may be tempting to Pochettino – particularly if he can offload Roberto Soldado. The Spaniard is part of Pochettino’s plans, but Spurs would consider selling him if they can line up a replacement.

Levy’s task is being made more difficult by the valuations he is putting on a number of Spurs’ unwanted players. He succeeded in negotiating a £10 million fee for Gylfi Sigurdsson to return to Swansea.

But Hull were put off 30-year-old captain Dawson because of his £6 million price tag and Swansea refused to pay a similar fee for Naughton. Levy wants around £15 million for Sandro, £13 million for Soldado and £10 million for Townsend and Lennon.

Zenit St Petersburg, where former Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas is in charge, are interested in Sandro.

nothing wrong with a goal ratio of one in four for a player of longs type at teams like wba imo

Hull not exactly overburdened with strikers

Don't really understand that, Long and Jelavic had the makings of a reasonable partnership for Hull.

Townsend, Lennon, Soldado, Dawson, Assou-Ekotto, Naughton, Chiriches, Sandro, Capoue, Chadli and Dembele all up for sale by north London club

That's a lot of players up for sale for a club who presumably are not going to sell their entire central midfield and most of their defence. But then again we get one of these stories every summer.

Van Gaal playing a 3-5-2 is likely to play to everyone's advantage, if only for putting to bed the purest fuckwittery that Rooney is a #10. He's always been at his best in a front two (or proper front three) rather than any point in a system with a lone striker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuwzrhAe6Ok

^^^ Bradley Wright-Phillips war dubs.

18 goals in 21 games this year for New York!

http://i.imgur.com/fq49aQQ.png

Luke Shaw out for a month...

Jeff Carlisle ‏@JeffreyCarlisle 22s

DeAndre Yedlin's move to Tottenham now official. Some confusion as to when though, end of 2014 or prior to 2015/16 season? #usmnt #mls

Prior to the 2015/16 season, pretty clear on the Spuds announcement.

yeah, I saw it just after reading the tweet

still think he's over-rated but we shall see

Spurs announcement says he's coming "ahead of" 2015/16 season; Sounders announcement says he stays with Seattle through 2014 MLS season, so it's ambiguous

I guess technically "ahead of" 2015/16 season could include a move in January or whatever

well this isn't very nice

Manchester United have received a boost in their pursuit of Sporting Lisbon full-back Marcos Rojo, with third party fund Doyen Sports attacking the club over their refusal to sell the player.

Doyen own 75 per cent of Rojo's rights and Sporting are contractually bound to pay the fund 75% of any rejected bid. United have so far tabled an offer worth a reported £16 million, which falls short of his £30m release clause, meaning Sporting will have to pay £12m if they continue to reject the Premier League club's advances.

Doyen have confirmed that they will vigorously pursue that figure, whilst also threatening the Portuguese outfit with legal action if no payment is made.

“(Sporting are) making mindless demands as a condition of releasing the player,” they said in a statement.

“If Sporting want to keep Rojo they must compensate the fund under the terms and deadlines set forth by the contract. If necessary we will not hesitate to use every legal resource at our disposal to fully defend our rights and interests.”

Sporting have since cancelled their contract with Doyen, announcing they have terminated the agreement with “just cause.”

ban agents

Sporting are contractually bound to pay the fund 75% of any rejected bid

i don't even

on a once off basis I guess?