Player Transfer Gossip

Seriously. Lying about a dead grandmother? (Oh, sorry, two dead grandmothers.) What is this, middle school?

 

I heard the Friedel to Fulham rumor as well, and even though I will be sorry I asked, even though it was probably started by 2 journohacks 3 pints into a long lunch, has anyone seen the link?

 

This is unconfirmed, but damn, it would suck -- http://soccernet-assets.espn.go.com/new ... nd&cc=5901

Senderos out for months with a ruptured achilles tendon.

 

He's Irish. Taking into account the derivable stunted maturity growth curve, he probably was on par with a middle-schooler at the time.

 

Ugh, Senderos has never and more than likely will never stay healthy. Sorry to the young man, very talented, but this is going to be a long road back.

 

Guess Baird will have to cover Hughes and Hangman for now. Wonder if Sparky will try to sign a CB now. Silvestre?

 

One of the more persistent rumors I've seen of late links us with Benfica's center back Rafik Halliche, half of the pairing (with Rangers' Madjid Bougherra) that did such a solid job for Algeria at the World Cup this summer. You never know if there's any truth to these things, of course, but it would seem to make sense both in terms of our desire to bring in younger players (Halliche is only 23) at a reasonable cost, and in terms of Halliche not getting much of a chance at his current club (he's spent the last two seasons out on loan at Nacional).

 

ah, I did see that too jmh.

 

Aston Villa are preparing to bring Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia to Villa Park as part of a triangle of moves, with Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer joining Arsenal and Villa's Brad Friedel moving to Craven Cottage.
Full story: Daily Mirror



New Fulham boss Mark Hughes wants Manchester City striker Roque Santa Cruz to spearhead his attack. The 28-year-old player fears he could miss out on Roberto Mancini's 25-man squad and would be keen to link up with the manager who originally brought him to England from Bayern Munich

 

I cant see that. We'd be getting the best keeper of the three.

 

^Agreed.

We made it through last year with Baird and Smalling backing up the middle, so with fewer fixtures, we could conceivably get by with just Baird. If not, anyone better than Smalling (presently, not potentially) would be an upgrade.

Depth at fullback and central mid and upgrading our strike options should be the bigger concerns.

 

MAYBE, maybe not. Mo, you know I love Brad much as the next Ahian and Crew fan but he is now on the downslope. That's why I was pretty sure that his saying he wanted to move to Fulham wasnt much more than a straw on MON's back.

If Brad does keep for fulham, I dont see it being more than a year.. just like Kasey.
Crew fans are now doing a lot of bitching about Hesmer.. I think it's 'hive-mind' expecting to get Brad back in Columbus next year.
I'm not exactly on that bandwagon

 

Schwarzer wants to go to Arsenal. Really, Really, Really Bad.

I guess in the long run, I can't fault him. Hope this Friedel rumor has legs.

Oh, and I still would agree w/ Ag -- Bad Brad has plenty of gas left in his tank.

 

They Who Will Not Be Named tapping up Neymar? Impossible! Ssantos apparently are not very happy with our neighbors. That line is long and distinguished, gentlemen -- take a number.

 

I'm really starting to wonder who will be the goalkeeper in a couple of weeks. This is not how I want to start the new season.