Summer 2010 Transfer Thread: B*llsh*t, Rumours & Wishes

[Des Little]

If we spunk the surplus Milner money on MacGreedy (sic) I'll not be very happy

[Irreverent ad]

Just saw Redknapp on SSN. To me it sounded certain that Keane is leaving. something along the lines.."i'd like to keep Robbie, but we need to sign players too. And if Robbie is the only one people are interested in then we would probably sell him"

[BoredNow]

I'd love Keane to come to us. Wish it had been five years ago, but hey ho. Just think he would work fantastically well with Gabby. He's exactly the kind of clever striker he needs alongside him.

As for McGeady, I've seen nothing that makes me believe he's good enough, but I'm willing to be proved wrong.

[Dante Lavelli]

Based on the current speculation I would be happy, maybe delighted with the following:

Milner to City for £18m
Carew to Turkey for £4m
Young to ? for £2m
Shorey to WBA for £2m
Sidwell to ? for £2m
Davies for p/x

That's an income of about £28m

Ireland p/x
Flamini for £5m
Keane for £7m
Bentley as p/x (davies)
plus a young fullback for say £3m

That's roughly £15m so a decent "profit" that should cover any increase in wages (or fill any remaining gaps in the squad).  Similarly if we cannot shift Young then we don't need to buy the extra full-back.

I'd play 4-2-3-1

-----------------Big Brad--------------------     (unless Hart fancies coming)
Beye------Cuellar-----Dunne----Warnock
------------Petrov-----Flamini--------------
-----Bentley-----Ireland-----Young--------
-------------------Gabby---------------------

Just about every position has decent cover except the full backs.  Virtually every player will be utilized so the squad should be fully engaged and committed.  I don't think I am being that unrealistic either (except maybe Flamini).

This lark is easy.

[boboonthecorner]

So Keane would just be an expensive sub? Plus one player down on last seasons already threadbare squad.......hmmmm.

[Risso]

Losing Carew would be a disaster in my opinion.

[boboonthecorner]

Losing Carew and not replacing him would be ridiculous. We don't score enough goals as it is, it looks like we will sign Keane five years to late but he will do job. We need another quality forward on top of that.

[BedsVillain]

Losing Carew would be a disaster in my opinion.

Whilst keeping Heskey! Disaster²

[TheSandman]

I don't want us to sell Carew. I like Carew plus he is contrary to both what many think and expectations a pretty talented footballer.

As much as I like Gabby I'd quite like to see a partnership of Keane and Carew. I think it would be an entertaining partnership. That said I'd only like to see it I'd still favour a 4-2-3-1 as a formation probably with Gabby as the one.

[Irreverent ad]

Losing Carew and not replacing him would be ridiculous. We don't score enough goals as it is, it looks like we will sign Keane five years to late but he will do job. We need another quality forward on top of that.

I am hoping Ireland coming in might negate that need. Hopefull bot Ireland and Keane would provide a good link between midfield and the main striker (Agbonlahor, Carew or Delfouneso).

I don't think the problem is the finishing, I think that we don't have enough guile through the middle of the pitch. So the teams who 'park the bus' just block the midfield. We need players who can operate between these teams' midfield and defences causing havoc.

[Monty]

Irreverent Ad, I agree. Considering we will only be playing one out-and-out forward in most games (he said on his knees staring at the Heavens), we should make sure we have variety and not necessarily quantity. Gabby is, of course, the obvious first choice, but we should also have ONE target man (of course it should be Carew), the Fonz who offers a different threat, capable of cutting in from the left, and Keane who could play behind Gabby as part of a four-man attacking midfield with Ash, Downing and Ireland (in possession, obviously). We could rotate between that and a three man midfield of Ireland, Petrov and Delph or the Milner replacement signing (again, praying). It's about having a squad, and I sense that we're getting close.

[Villa'Zawg]

Looks like McGeady is not going to happen...

Celtic manager Neil Lennon has admitted he has resigned himself to Aiden McGeady leaving the club and cannot now see him heading anywhere but Spartak Moscow.

Lennon spoke to the midfielder since his visit to Moscow and believes the trip has sold McGeady on the £9.5million move.

Celtic lost their final pre-season game 2-1 at home to Blackburn without McGeady being involved and Lennon, who claims he will receive "all the money" from any sale, believes the transfer could be sealed within 48 hours.

He said: "He was in yesterday and more or less said his goodbyes really so we'll see how that develops over the next one or two days. I would probably think it will be Moscow.

"He's going to go to Moscow in the next few days and get the deal finalised and that will be a relief in terms of putting the deal to bed because the sooner it's done the better. I'll get all the money.

"I won't be relieved at Aiden going because I'll be losing my best player and nobody wants to do that, but we feel it's good money for a top player.

"Having spoken to him yesterday he seemed a lot more settled. He said he liked what he saw. I'd like to think the way he was talking, this is the club he will go to unless something happens last minute."

It is understood McGeady would prefer to move to the Premier League and he has been linked with Aston Villa, managed by his former Celtic boss Martin O'Neill, but Lennon doubts there will be a twist in the tale.

He added: "From what I gather it should get done over the next couple of days.

"It's not England, but you can't always get what you want in football. He's going to a big club with a decent pedigree and it might develop him further. All we can do is wish him the best."

Sporting Life -Clicky

[Monty]

YES! Thank GOD for that. That's a huge fucking relief that it.

[TheSandman]

Yes! Well I guess because of Albrighton's form we decided not to go for another winger.

More money in that pot for central midfield then.

[BedsVillain]

Irreverent Ad, I agree. Considering we will only be playing one out-and-out forward in most games (he said on his knees staring at the Heavens), we should make sure we have variety and not necessarily quantity. Gabby is, of course, the obvious first choice, but we should also have ONE target man (of course it should be Carew), the Fonz who offers a different threat, capable of cutting in from the left, and Keane who could play behind Gabby as part of a four-man attacking midfield with Ash, Downing and Ireland (in possession, obviously). We could rotate between that and a three man midfield of Ireland, Petrov and Delph or the Milner replacement signing (again, praying). It's about having a squad, and I sense that we're getting close.

Agree with you Monty, I think when we are looking at potential signings, we've got so used to thinking, "Yeah, but how are they going to fit into the 1st team?" We need to build an adaptable squad and use it well. Now MON hasn't instilled us with much confidence with regards to actually using a squad, but I imagine he realises that, for us to have an equally as successful season as last year, we're going to have to change things around in the different competitions. This may well mean that some of the fans favorites don't play every game, Ashley, for instance, may have to sit out a game in order for Ireland and Keane to play with Carew etc..

I think if we do get Keane and Ireland I'd be delighted, if we then got another DM type (Flamini) and a fullback (Richards) I'd be over the moon with our 4 signings.