It was a shock when Giggs moved on - Photo James Adams CCA
On this day in BBC’s transfer gossip column, Ryan Giggs’s Manchester United career was coming to an end, Robinho was on Chelsea’s radar (though there was no sign of Chelsea shirts with Robinho printed on the back just yet), foreign investors some way west of Thailand and the Abu Dhabi were eyeing up Manchester City, and Edu was settling down at Arsenal and waiting for the return of Emmanuel Petit. Still, at least Redknapp provided the Sunday papers with one good call, walking out of Fratton Park for the first time in the days that followed, embarking on a set of career choices that would not look out of place amongst the crazy stories the papers come up with so consistently.
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is aiming to replace Ryan Giggs with Real Madrid midfielder Santiago Solari in the summer. (Various)
That would be the Ryan Giggs who was named PFA Player of the Year in 2009 wearing a Manchester United shirt, having broken Bobby Charlton’s appearance record and won the Champions League for the second time. Seems like Ferguson wasn’t so keen to replace him after all. Solari, rather than replacing Ryan Giggs, went to Inter where he racked up a set of Serie A medals.
Manchester rivals City are set for a £40m takeover in the New Year through Norwegian shipping magnate Inge Steensland. (Sunday Express)
Sounds simple. More simple than the reality, with City being bought out in 2007 by exiled Thai Prime Minister/fugitive from the law and a further year passed before the Abu Dhabi billionaires came knocking, bought the club, signed Robinho from under Chelsea’s noses and everything went mental.
Chelsea have moved to the front of the queue to sign Brazilian ace Robinho. The club have jumped a march on Real Madrid for the £14m star. (News of the World)
Speaking of Robinho, being at the front of the queue never counted for much when it came to Chelsea signing him, with Real Madrid securing his signature in July the following year. When Madrid tried to use him as bait for bringing Ronaldo to the Bernabeu after two seasons, the disgruntled Brazilian looked to Chelsea, gain at the front of the queue, but Manchester City gazumped them. With the rumour mill turning and Barcelona seemingly now at the front of the queue, perhaps it is finally Chelsea’s turn to come from behind and sign Robinho.Then again, probably not.
David Beckham has refused to open talks over a new deal with Real Madrid until the end of the season. (News of the World)
Those talks, of course, would never take place, with Beckham instead opening then closing rather lucrative talks with LA Galaxy in January. Seems like he may have had a plan in place by November.
Liverpool are keeping a close eye on Malaga’s Juanito after the midfielder called off fresh contract talks with the La Liga club. (Sunday Mirror)
In Benitez’s first season most Spanish players were linked with Liverpool, and though a handful joined, Juanito wasn’t one of them. If Liverpool kept a close eye on Juanito, they would have seen him go to Alaves at the end of the season, then once they were relegated, go to Real Sociedad. Who were relegated. Seems like they missed out on a lucky charm.
But any hopes of signing Barry Ferguson look to have been quashed by the club’s current striker crisis. (Sunday Mirror)
Again, Liverpool dodged a bullet, with Ferguson never really excelling in the Premiership, partly owing to a fractured kneecap that left him on the sidelines for a lengthy period, before he climbed back over Hadrian’s wall to rejoin Rangers.
Arsene Wenger could offer Emmanuel Petit a return to Highbury on a short-term deal. The player has been training with the club. (Daily Star on Sunday)
If a deal had have been struck, it would have been short term in the extreme - Petit retired in January 2005 after learning the true extent of his knee injury.
Wenger also looks set to be boosted by news that Edu looks on course to sign a new contract with Arsenal. He is out of contract in the summer. (Various)
Various newspapers got this all wrong, with Edu departing for nothing to join Valencia at the end of the season under the Bosman ruling, providing no boost whatsoever for Wenger.
Middlesbrough are preparing a £3m bid to bring Norwich goalkeeper Robert Green to the Riverside in the New Year. He is being lined up as Mark Schwarzer is looking increasingly likely to leave the club. (Various)
Some serious jumping of the gun by the various papers here, with Green remaining at Norwich before a £2m switch to West Ham in 2006.Fotrunately for Middlesbrough, this wasn’t such an issue as Schwarzer, despite looking increasingly likely to leave, remained thier number 1 for a further 3 seasons, breaking Bergkamp’s record as the longest serving foreigner in the process.
Everton boss David Moyes has not given up his interest in Porto striker Benni McCarthy. He will most likely cost the majority of the £10m available to Moyes. (Various)
By 2006 Moyes was forced to finally give up on McCarthy, as the South African made his Blackburn debut against Everton, going on to show Moyes exactly what he was missing by netting 24 times in an impressive first season.
Moyes are also in interested in Tottenham front man Robbie Keane. Spurs have slapped a £7m price tag on his head. (Daily Star on Sunday)
Keane remained at Tottenham for a further three seasons before departing for Merseyside. The other half of Merseyside, that it. Which went well for everyone involved.
Graeme Souness has given up hope of signing Chelsea midfielder Damien Duff. Instead he will sign three defenders. (News of the World)
A crazy train of thought touted by the News of the World here. 3 defenders is not the most obvious solution to failing to secure a tricky left winger, but to be fair Souness did did into the market for defenders, without much success. Duff did join Newcastle, but not until a few months after Souness departed.
Defensive target Jean-Alain Boumsong, however, won’t be one of Souness’ signings, insisting he would rather stay at Rangers instead. (Daily Star on Sunday)
The Daily Star got this one all wrong and Souness snapped him up in January in an £8m deal that raised all sorts of eyebrows and came under investigation as part of the Stevens Inquiry into football corruption. Boumsong was the best example of a the lack of success Souness had in signing defenders, and paired with the equally hapless Titus Bramble (already at the club) he was frequently an unmitigated disaster at the heart of the defence.
One who may be on the way to St James’ Park is Belgian international centre-half Daniel van Buyten. He previously tried to sign him for Blackburn Rovers. (The People)
A failed stab in the dark here from the People based on previous efforts from Souness. After an unproductive loan spell at Manchester City van Buyten settled in Germany, first with Hamburg then with Bayern Munich, where he remains today.
Tottenham are planning to dip into the January transfer market by signing Portsmouth striker Yakubu and Dutch international midfielder Mark van Bommel. (Sunday Mirror)
Yakubu headed north to Middlesbrough and then Everton instead, while van Bommel made his way to Barcelona, and then Bayern Munich. Both await their Spurs debuts.
A goalkeeping battle is on for the services of Fulham stopper Edwin van der Sar between Premiership rivals Arsenal and Manchester United. (Sunday Mirror)
Something that might actually be true! Well, possibly not the Arsenal part, given that Lehmann stayed between the sticks until 2008, but the bit about van der Sar going to United? Definitely. Worked out for him.
Harry Redknapp will finally quit Portsmouth next week in the wake of his spat with chairman Milan Mandaric. (News of the World)
He did go on to quit Portsmouth in November 2004. He’ll never do it again though.
Four English clubs are battling for the services of Belgian goalkeeper Silvio Proto. The quartet in question targeting the £4m-rated player are Newcastle, Aston Villa, West Ham and Portsmouth. (News of the World)
Well done NotW - he went to Anderlecht in 2005, and has only played for them 30 times since joining, and is now out on loan. Probably not worth £4m.
Liverpool are to off-load Stephane Henchoz to Charlton and then use the £1m as extra collateral to lure Fernando Morientes to the club. (News of the World)
Henchoz moved on, but on loan to Celtic and then returning to the Premiership through Wigan. No matter, though - Morientes still joined on loan. Maybe the two deals were unrelated.
Former Tottenham boss Jacques Santini could make an immediate return to football management with Lens or Marseille. (Daily Star on Sunday)
But he could equally make a much later return by joining Auxerre the following year, and then being forced out and not working since.
Liverpool are going to make an official bid for Manchester City striker Nicholas Anelka in the New Year. The player is likely to cost £8m. (Daily Star on Sunday)
Liverpool’s totally official bid must not have been as good as the £7m one made by Fenerbahce, whom he joined in the New Year.
Olivier Bernard wants a staggering £8m to re-sign for Newcastle. (Daily Star on Sunday)
If that were true, it left him out on his ear, and he went to Southampton. He found his way back to St James Park in 2006, but has been without a club since his release two years ago.
Lomana LuaLua is ready to turn his back on Portsmouth next year and instead make a move to French side Monaco. (The People)
LuaLua kept his front towards Portsmouth, and remained there until 2007, before experiencing the delights of Greek and Qatari football.
