The on/off transfer of Steve Sidwell has taken another twist with the news that Wolves are looking likely to clinch the player’s signature.
Wolves were the club originally linked with the player before Avram Grant hijacked the move. Sidwell had passed a medical at West Ham before Christmas, but the move has since collapsed and now Wolves look set to complete the deal that they failed with in December.
It was reported that Sidwell was at Molineux for Wolves’ win against Chelsea last night, but that rumour has been neither confirmed nor denied by Mick McCarthy.
About the chance of a possible move, McCarthy said: “I haven’t spoken to him so there’s nothing much I can say,”
“A fee had been agreed with the clubs beforehand.
“And as I’d said before, his family were closer to West Ham and I had no gripe with that at all.
“But if he’s available and we can agree a fee and terms I would take him in a heartbeat.
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“If that’s the case then I would love to sign him.”
It is also thought that Sidwell is keen to reunite with Wolves’ former Reading players Kevin Doyle, Stephen Hunt and Marcus Hahnemann. The only potential stumbling block in the deal is Sidwell’s £45,000 a-week wages which would exceed Wolves’ tight wage structure.
Chelsea are readying a £32 million bid for Brazilian starlet Lucas Moura, according to The Daily Mail.
The 19-year-old attacking midfielder is one of the hottest prospects in the South American game, and has already broken into the Brazil international set-up after stellar performances for club side Sao Paulo.
With the west London club looking to add some exuberance and creativity to an ageing midfield, Moura could well be the man to link up with attackers Daniel Sturridge and Juan Mata.
The starlet’s club president has stated that the Stamford Bridge side have been in touch and are leading the chase between the European sides for the player’s signature.
“At the moment it is Chelsea that are the closest team to Lucas,” Sao Paulo president Juvenal Juvencio is believed to have confessed.
“Inter have presented an offer but that was not considered satisfactory to us. Real Madrid are another one of the teams and there have been contacts with Florentino Perez who admires the player very much.
“I do not know what it will take for Moura to leave. There are many factors. He is happy here and he will only go if there is an important proposal,” he concluded.
Despite the interest of other European sides, Chelsea have good links with the Brasileiro club after signing Lucas Piazon from them last year.
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Chelsea’s interest in Moura could well put their proposed interest in Eden Hazard on the back-burner, which will be of relief to Manchester United and City.
The Championship is already the 5th biggest league in European football and with the new season kicking off in less than three week it looks to be one of the hardest campaigns yet in the race to the promised land of the Premier League.
There are only six teams in the league who have not had previous experience in the Premier League and there are number of sides that have had long-term spells in the top-flight and will be looking to return there this season.
The likes of former double European Cup winner’s Nottingham Forest, Leeds United with their intensive history and recently relegated West Ham are all clubs associated with the higher echelons of the English game, not the second tier.
These sorts of clubs are capable of attracting high-profile managerial names such as former England manager’s Sven Goran Eriksson and Steve McClaren who will both be looking to set their career back on the right-path with Leicester City and Nottingham Forest respectively.
West Ham’s new man at the helm, Sam Allardyce is a highly regarded manager in the lower regions of the Premier League and probably one of the main reasons why both Bolton and Blackburn are now established clubs in the Premier League. Although the football under ‘Big Sam’ won’t be that pretty, I don’t think Hammers fans will mind if come the end of the campaign they are back in the top tier of English football.
Then you have the other relegated teams, Birmingham City and Blackpool who will both be hoping for an instant return to the Premier League. Birmingham have recovered from losing Alex McLeish to rivals Villa by appointing Chris Houghton as boss. Houghton did an excellent job taking Newcastle back to the Premier League at the first time of asking and Birmingham fans will be hoping he can repeat his magic at St Andrews this term. Blackpool may have lost key men in Charlie Adam, David Vaughan and DJ Campbell but under Ian Holloway they still stand a chance of challenging this year and also have the benefit of parachute payments to help them achieve an quick return.
Leicester City look like title contenders after their summer spending and they have made a statement of intent with their high-quality signings. They have strengthened an already established team and I would not be surprised if it didn’t pay off with a promotion season under Sven.
Another team who could be in with a shout are Reading who will still be picking themselves up from the disappointment of their playoff final defeat to Swansea but the success of their season may hang on keeping last year’s squad together.
Other clubs who will be disappointed not to be involved in the playoffs in May are Burnley who under Eddie Howe look a good bet to have a better campaign after a transition season last term. The list goes on of teams who will be in with a reasonable chance of competing for the playoffs.
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Middlesbrough who ended last season in impressive fashion will be hoping to continue this improvement and mount a push, while Ipswich look a lot stronger this year and under Paul Jewell have a manager with experience of reaching the Premier League.
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Add teams like Hull City, Bristol City, Cardiff City, Milwall, Portsmouth and Watford to the equation and you can see just how tough it will be this year, with all these outfits looking for a place in the higher reaches of the league.
Then you have to consider the three promoted teams who all have plenty of cash to spend after winning promotion from League One. Southampton look an outside bet for playoffs under the leadership of Nigel Adkins as do Brighton who will be in a new home with over 18,000 season ticket holders. Both could well upset the odds this season and repeat Norwich’s trick of a double promotion.
The new Championship season is set to one of the most competitive ever and it will be hard to predict the winner in any game making it very difficult for even the biggest of teams. I expect to see a few of these major teams disappointed at the end of the year and trying to pick out of any of the teams that will finish in the playoffs is a bit of lottery, a lottery worth an estimated £90m to the victor. I can’t wait for it to kick off now!
Arsene Wenger has stressed to his players that they should not fear meeting Barcelona in the Champions League.
The Gunners booked their spot in the last 16 with a 3-1 victory over Partizan Belgrade on Wednesday night, with Robin van Persie, Theo Walcott and Samir Nasri on target to ensure Arsenal's progression.
However, Arsenal qualified for the next round in second place as Shakhtar Donetsk secured a 2-0 victory over Braga on Wednesday and the Gunners now face the possibility of a tricky last 16 showdown.
Spanish giants Barcelona are the current favourites to take the Champions League title and Arsenal could be handed the task of facing Pep Guardiola's men in the next round, with Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Schalke the other possible opponents for the Gunners.
Despite the fact either Barcelona or Real Madrid could lie in wait for Arsenal Wenger remains optimistic about his side's chances in the competition.
"Let's be realistic, Barcelona are the super favourite at the moment," Wenger said,"but we take what we get and if it is Barcelona, it is Barcelona.
"It depends whether you have your best players available, whether we have a good level of confidence then.
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"It is very difficult to predict how far you can go.
"In the last 16 it becomes a different competition, a cup competition and that means for 180 minutes you have to be at your top."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
It’s more Groundhog Year than Groundhog Day at White Hart Lane this season. Complete capitulation in the second half of the season, another year propping up Arsenal in the league table and an air of uncertainty around several key players. And how good of Luka Modric to come out today and put his future on hold, just to perfect that Summer 2011 feeling.
But whist the mood of a Spurs fan might not have changed in 12 months, a lot of other things have. Luka Modric will stay, if he knows what’s good for him
On the face of it, the diminutive Croatian could well pack his bags and jump ship this summer. Despite a relatively unspectacular 2012 so far, Modric has had a solid season. His touch, vision and composure are undeniable and he is capable of being an asset to any, top European club. A couple of great showings at Euro 2012 next month will propel him straight back into the gossip columns and Spurs fans straight back to the chemist; but hold the headache for just a moment.
If Chelsea loose to Bayern Munich this Saturday, the game changes for them completely. The Blues may have bid a supposed £40million for Modric last summer, but if Spurs benefit from their missed Champions League spot, a transfer to West London might not stick. Modric said today, “I will make the decision where to continue my career. I’m ready for the big tests.” I’m not a mind reader, but I would hazard a guess that he isn’t talking about a Thursday night trip to Salzburg in the Europa League.
Of course, there is always the notion that Mr. Modric is simply looking to paint his landing gold and put a helipad in his back garden. But there is already a £100,000 a week contract on the table at Spurs. Chelsea will pay more, but he won’t be looking at Manchester City wages. There is still massive uncertainty over the managerial post at Stamford Bridge and their Champions League run shouldn’t fool anyone- as outstanding as they were to beat Barcelona, Chelsea will need a lot more than Luka Modric to sustain any form of title tilt next year.
£40million is, even in today’s transfer marker, still a mammoth sum. For a player who has at times, especially in the wake of the 5-2 disaster at the Emirates, pandered through games like he’s got one foot out the door already, selling him might not feel like such a mitigating disaster.
But when he is in full flow, he is a delight to watch. Ignore the stats brigade and his relatively low goals and assists return. Watch Spurs from September to January. Who was scampering around, and pinging balls off to Bale, Lennon & Van der Vaart to get those assists and goals? How many times during a match has he shielded the ball and kept possession in seemingly impossible situations? The impact of his departure, purely in footballing terms would be a disaster. Perhaps it is a case of you won’t miss him till he’s gone.
But when he’s not playing well, he still gets in the team. It is difficult to imagine Ferguson or Mancini keeping faith with Modric as he switches off when the chips are down, or half-heartedly trots back as their team are hit on the break. But Spurs do. That’s why Scott Parker or Sandro are there. The way Spurs are set up, suits Modric perfectly. He doesn’t need to worry about the stats with Bale and Van der Vaart there. At United or City, he will do.
Manchester United aren’t going to mould their team around Modric, they are going to mould it around Wayne Rooney. Manchester City are not going to mould their team around Modric, in fact, what would he honestly add to that team? The only position you can see him playing in Roberto Mancini’s team is where David Silva is. He won’t drop David Silva. Luka Modric’s uniqueness as a central midfielder might also be his biggest problem. He doesn’t make masquerading tackles, he doesn’t gallivant from box-to-box and he doesn’t score regularly. Not every team needs a human metronome.
Modric will earn more money elsewhere, that is basic fact. But he can still be handsomely paid, play Champions League football and participate in the “biggest tests”, whilst playing every league game. If he leaves Tottenham, that simply isn’t a guarantee.
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It’s a horrible cliché, but the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. It’s been a difficult last few months for both Modric and Spurs. But neither can loose sight of how important they both are for each other.
Laughing at the thought of him staying at Spurs? Reckon he’d make it into the City team? Tell us what you’d do: follow @samuel_antrobus
Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish has asked the club’s fans to give him time to show he is the right man for the job.The former Birmingham City manager crossed to the city rivals last week to replace Gerard Houllier, who stood down as boss.
Villa fans were unhappy with his appointment, but McLeish asked on Monday to be given a chance.
“Let me prove myself and I will win you over. It is not a case of proving the fans wrong. I want to go forward with them and prove I am the man for this job,” he said.
“I can understand the passion and emotion of football and as long as it doesn’t get out of control I can understand their feelings. Am I fazed by it? No. Have I had it before? Yes. I really look forward to the challenge.”
The former Rangers manager, 52, led Birmingham to success in the League Cup last season.
The club was relegated to the Championship after a 2-1 loss at Tottenham on the final day of the season and City powerbrokers were unhappy when he resigned on June 12 with two years left to run on his contract.
McLeish said the offer from Villa was too good to refuse.
“To think I have been able to manage both of them (Aston Villa and Birmingham City) is a wonderful honour,” he said.
“I wouldn’t say it was a difficult decision in my career but it was a tough one. It is not every day you get offered a job like this. There is no way I couldn’t have been the manager of Villa.”
“I thank them very much for their support over the four years I have been there. Not everybody was sure of me at Birmingham and OK, I left on relegated, but we just fought one of the hardest Premier League campaigns ever.”
The Scot did not rule out making a move for some of his former players at St Andrew’s.
“I know there are many good players there but the policy that I have always maintained is not to talk about other clubs’ players,” McLeish said.
“If I thought a player could improve Aston Villa Football Club, why not?”
McLeish’s first competitive game in charge will be away at Fulham on the opening day of the Premier League season on August 13.
Before we begin with the gratuitous insults, we’ve got to tell you about the fantastic Money-Back Special Paddy Power are running for this game. If there are more than 4 goals in the match, they’ll refund all losing 1st goalscorer, last goalscorer, correct score and scorecast bets on the match.
“Pah! Well more than 4 goals is 5,” you might scoff in response to our transparent and ill-conceived choice of language, “there won’t be 5 goals in this game.” In response to that cynicism we’d say then you clearly haven’t seen either of these teams try to defend this season.
Whilst Tottenham have generally been able to cover up their defensive shortcomings by scoring more goals then their opponents, Liverpool have struggled in the goalscoring department. And the defending department.
A trouncing of West Ham has helped, but the reality is that Liverpool are still no where near their best. If Gareth Bale was able to destroy alleged best right-back in the world, Maicon, think what he’s going to do to poor Glenn Johnson – a man who’s defending is suspect at the best of times!
If that paints a picture gloomier than a Goth in art class, then there is hope for the Reds. Midweek matches have had a significant impact on Spurs Premier League campaign to the point where they’ve suffered some shock defeats and dropped valuable points. In their six games following European action so far this season they’ve picked up 10 points out of a possible 18. It’s hardly a disaster, but it suggests a potential weakness. Liverpool’s players have spent the week taking it easy and saying ill-advised things on Twitter and their freshness should give Tottenham else to think about.
When trying to pick out a result, you could make a case for virtually any of them. Spurs are clearly good enough to claim a straightforward win @ 11/10. Liverpool could improve their general performance levels and possibly claim at least a point and if not all three points. We’ll be indecisive about our indecision and nail our colours to the mast of the draw @ 23/10.
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One bet that we’ve been watching closely for the last number of weeks if Raul Meireles to get one the scoresheet at any stage in the match. Throughout his career he’s chipped in with goals for Porto and Portugal and he seems to be finding his range a bit more as he settles in to the Liverpool side. It’s only a matter of time before he opens his account and the 6/1 for that to happen this Sunday is tempting. If you’re that way inclined, then the option of Meireles to be 1st Goalscorer @ 16/1 may also appeal.
For Spurs, there’s such a wide variety of goalscoring options it’s difficult to single out one. Incredibly, Spurs have had 11 different goalscorers in all competitions this season and with less than half the season gone, 4 players are already in the foothills of notching up 10 goals. As we mentioned before, Bale could get his fair share of joy out of Johnson, but with Liverpool unlikely to commit when forward, it’s likely he’ll then provide the assist for a team-mate. Against one of his many former employers, Peter Crouch may have extra motivation to score and 13/2 for his to open the scoring looks like value.
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Have a bet on the Football FanCast specials, including Kranjcar to join Liverpool in the 2011 January Transfer Window at 11/2!
Gary Cahill will be fit and able to replace the injured David Luiz in Chelsea’s crunch first leg clash with Barcelona in the Champions League on Wednesday.
The Brazil international picked up a hamstring strain in the Blues’ 5-1 win over Tottenham on Sunday, and will now miss the game against the European champions.
However, Frank Lampard has confirmed that Cahill is available for selection.
“Luiz might be fairly bad but Cahill will be all right; fortunately we have back-up,” Lampard told reporters, published by Sky Sports.
“Branislav Ivanovic is suspended for the league games but he will be around to face Barcelona.
“It is a shame for David personally and for us as a team because he is such a good player.”
Meanwhile, Barcelona defender Dani Alves has raised tension ahead of the clash by stating that Chelsea played with fear the last time the clubs met.
With the Catalan giants down to ten men and a goal down in the second leg of the semi-finals of the 2009 tournament, Andres Iniesta scored a last minute equaliser at Stamford Bridge to see the Camp Nou side progress to the final on away goals.
“There is no doubt that was the hardest game we have played, with everything that was at stake, the moment and everything that happened,” Alves is reported to have said by The Guardian.
“People say Chelsea could have won but for the referee, but that is not our problem. We do not control the referees. We are there to play football, to compete and to try to reach the final. What can we do about the referee?
“Chelsea did not reach the final for one reason: fear. The team that has got a man more, is playing at home and winning should have attacked us more.
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“But of course if you don’t have that [attacking] concept of football that Barcelona have, you stay back and you get knocked out. You have to go forward. Stay back: losers. Go forward: winners.
“I think Chelsea lacked the courage to take a step forward and attack us. They paid for it,” he stated.
One look through the Premier League finances quickly shows that it is a very uneven financial field. Based on this it at least appears on the surface that there are only a number of Premier League teams that have a realistic chance of winning the title and qualifying for the Champions League by finishing in the top four places in the league. However, is that just close minded thinking? And can Major League Baseball (MLB) in the US and a book written by Michael Lewis entitled Moneyball provide inspiration for smaller teams with less money?
Moneyball details the success that MLB franchise Oakland Athletics had despite having significantly smaller budgets. Oakland A’s had some truly remarkable seasons, most notably in 2001 and 2002. In 2001 they won the American League West with a 102/60 win/loss record. However, the following season they did even better by winning the American League West with a 103/59 win/loss record. These achievements are to be commended under any circumstances – but the truly remarkable thing is they did it with a payroll considering less than their rivals.
Comparisons with the MLB in 2002 and world football now can be drawn at the time. As the game was ceasing to become an athletic competition and becoming a financial one; at the time the gap between the richest and poorest teams was the greatest of any professional sport. To put things into perspective, the richest team was the New York Yankees and they had a payroll of $126m and the two poorest teams were Oakland A’s and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays had a payroll of around $40m. However, despite that financial difference Oakland A’s showed that they can perform equally well in the regular season as the New York Yankees – because both teams won the same number of games.
Critics might say that Oakland A’s performance is somewhat less impressive without World Series wins – but doing well in the regular season and qualifying for the play-offs is a measure of consistency. Much like in the Premier League qualifying for the Champions League is the real gauge of consistency. Arsenal fans may bemoan the lack of trophies – but would they really swap their place in the Champions League for winning the FA Cup.
But back to the Oakland A’s performance in the 2002 season – it is really hard to comprehend how incredible it is; a bit like if Wigan Athletic winning the same number of games as Manchester United and finished second in the Premier League. However, as the Premier League is at the moment it’s hard to imagine that such a feat is even possible.
MLB had a similar issue until the moneyball concept completely changed things and defied belief in the baseball world – how a team with so much less money could be successful. The trick in baseball seemed to be to take a much more scientific approach to how teams were put together. It became less about who the magazines/newspapers thought were the best players and to a certain extent less about what the scouts made of the player on one-off games – but much more about what the statistics said. Ball players were now being signed on data from someone’s laptop, even when it seemed to defy what the scouts thought they knew. Ball players were being traded despite being out of shape and being unable to run. But somehow the statistics concluded they were effective and the statistics were proved to be correct.
The moneyball statistical analysis concluded that there were two statistics more important than any other and those were on-base percentage and slugging percentage. Therefore, Oakland A’s knew where they should focus their efforts in order to build a successful team. It is debatable if such an analysis could be undertaken in football and if two or three statistics could be considered more important than others. But despite all the statistical data available from companies such as Opta – has anyone bothered to find out?
Anyway what Oakland A’s found out was that they were able to trade players cheaply because the data wasn’t being analysed as well by the other teams and they could sign statistically brilliant players very cheaply because they were drastically undervalued by the market.
But here really holds the key to the system, if you want to compete with the Yankees then you can’t simply do what they do, if you are a team with low budgets – because the Yankees have spent $126m on 25 players and have maybe another $100m in reserve; whereas, Oakland have just $40m.
So a team has to be put together cheaply but it also has to been competitive with the best – which have the biggest budgets. So player development plays a big part in the system and when those previous nobodies become stars and command too high of a salary they are traded and the next one comes in.
However, could an adapted strategy work in the Premier League? Could a smaller Premier League side like Fulham use it to be successful? Well some of the ideas may need to be adapted bearing in mind football is a different sport. However, it seems sensible to look at some players that will not be on the radar of the big clubs. Clubs have managed to do this in some way – think to the success of players like Charlie Adam and Peter Odemwingie from last season’s Premier League.
But not all teams follow that blueprint – West Ham has been overspending on player’s wages and will need to adjust their wage bill quickly to adjust to life in the Championship – especially if they don’t make an immediate return to the Premier League.
In order for clubs to spot these rough diamonds in the first place they need to have a worldwide scouting network and use statistical data to back-up the thoughts and opinions of the scouts. Furthermore, the scouting system needs operate at youth level to bring through and develop young players at little to no cost that could become future stars; that involves expertise to spot youth players and facilities to train them up.
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Gradually building a team in the right way and not spending excessive wages and when those players get too good and demand too high wages then are simply sold off and the next crop of talent comes in. With the right ownership and good manager it is certainly a system that could work and certainly seems like it’s worth a go. After all it isn’t just about how much money you have but also how well it is spent.
Time will tell if such ideas will come into the Premier League with teams with smaller budgets getting smart – but it’s certainly food for thought.
Tottenham Hotspur have revealed they have reached a pre-contract agreement with SuperSport United for the transfer of Bongani Khumalo.
The South Africa international defender had a trial at the north London club in September and will join, subject to a work permit being granted, in January.
"We are delighted to announce that we have reached a pre-contract agreement with SuperSport United for the transfer of Bongani Khumalo to the Club in January 2011, subject to a work permit being granted," read a club statement.
SuperSport United are one of Tottenham's partner clubs and recently won a third straight South African Premier League title.
Khumalo was part of South Africa's World Cup squad and scored the winning goal in their group stage victory over France.
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Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp has struggled to send out a settled defence this season with Jonathan Woodgate and Michael Dawson sidelined with long-term injuries and Ledley King plagued by a chronic knee problem.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email