Summer transfer thread

[Penk!]

David Silva has taken time out from sitting on Spain's bench to sign for Manchester City for £30m, the first really big Premiership transfer of the summer (though Hernandez, the Mexican who's joining Man Utd, looked good in the World Cup).
He's a lovely player on his day, could be a good signing for them.

[Qube]

He's a good player, not sure £30m though. His predecessor, Martin Petrov has gone to Bolton, good signing for them if they can keep him fit as he always looked dangerous from what I saw.

[Goat Boy]

Madness.

Fergie will be rubbing his hands after watching Hernandez. He looks a real player.

[The Modernist]

David Silva has taken time out from sitting on Spain's bench to sign for Manchester City for £30m, the first really big Premiership transfer of the summer (though Hernandez, the Mexican who's joining Man Utd, looked good in the World Cup).
He's a lovely player on his day, could be a good signing for them.

And they're being linked with a whole load more. But the new squad size restrictions come into play next season, along with the quota of players who have been developed in England (though these can still be foreign of course). It'll be very interesting to see how Man City organise their squad to fit with this.

[Diamond Dog]

But the new squad size restrictions come into play next season, along with the quota of players who have been developed in England (though these can still be foreign of course). It'll be very interesting to see how Man City organise their squad to fit with this.

I thought that had been quietly dropped, last week, G?

[mentalist (slight return)]

So which previously unknown, now world cup superstar, is going to make a big money transfer to a premier league club only to end up a complete dud?

[Limpin' Jez McKenzie]

David Silva has taken time out from sitting on Spain's bench to sign for Manchester City for £30m, the first really big Premiership transfer of the summer (though Hernandez, the Mexican who's joining Man Utd, looked good in the World Cup).
He's a lovely player on his day, could be a good signing for them.

was Arsenal signing Chamakh not "big"?

[Penk!]

Moroccan striker untested outside the French league (with a mediocre goalscoring record there) signing on a free transfer that was wrapped up months ago: it's hardly front-page stuff, is it?

[Diamond Dog]

Moroccan striker untested outside the French league (with a mediocre goalscoring record there) signing on a free transfer that was wrapped up months ago: it's hardly front-page stuff, is it?

It is when half of your present strike force is Nicolas Bentdner.

[Limpin' Jez McKenzie]

Yaya Toure to City.

[Xeopac]

Yaya Toure to City.

That's a good signing, but the BBC speculated he cost them around £30million! Seems a bit much to me...

[Qube]

They're going to have to get rid of a few players aren't they, impossible to keep them all happy.

Barry, De Jong, Toure, Kompany, Veira (or is he released now?), Ireland. All central midfield players and with the exception of Ireland, all fairly similar.

[John_K]

Benayoun's gone to Chelsea.

Little surprised with that...

[The Modernist]

Benayoun's gone to Chelsea.

Little surprised with that...

He'll play a Joe Cole kind of role. A guy to bring off the bench when you want to spark things up. Basically they've swapped a guy who gets injured a lot, for a similar aged guy who doesn't. But I think Benayoun deserves better than that, I've always rated him highly. He wasn't used enough by Benitez which hasn't helped, Liverpool should've integrated him as one of their key players.

[Spec]

I follow the latest transfer news on the various football websites with great interest. I am therefore delighted to see that the Arsenal squad for next season will be:

Goalies: Schwarzer, Joe Hart, Eduardo (the Portugese one, not our current attacker), Handanovic, Ruffier, Marchetti and Enyeama

Defence: Sagna, Clichy, Vermalean, Hangeland, Campbell, Jagielka, Cahill, Tasci, Halliche, Koscielny, Djourou, Taylor, Mertesacker

Midfield: Fabregas, Rosicky, Nasri, Eboue, Ozil, Hazard, Melo, Wilshere, Diaby, Walcott, Montolivo, Joe Cole, Gourcuff, Van Der Vaart, Arteta, Denilson, Rodwell, Honda

Attack: Huntelaar, Remy, Chamakh, Van Persie, Bendtner, Arshavin, Vela

Of course one or two of these might not come off. And Van Persie and Fabregas might leave. But with the new signings there is enough to see us through.

[Penk!]

Benayoun's gone to Chelsea.

Little surprised with that...

He'll play a Joe Cole kind of role. A guy to bring off the bench when you want to spark things up. Basically they've swapped a guy who gets injured a lot, for a similar aged guy who doesn't. But I think Benayoun deserves better than that, I've always rated him highly. He wasn't used enough by Benitez which hasn't helped, Liverpool should've integrated him as one of their key players.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jul/11/rafa-benitez-yossi-benayoun-liverpool

[Penk!]

Earlier this season it transpired that the Romanian fourth division side Regal Hornia signed the defender Marius Cioara from the second division club UT Arad for the princely sum of ... 15kg of pork sausages! "We gave up the team's sausage allowance for a week to secure him, but we are confident it will be worth it," revealed a Regal spokesman.

However, the deal went sour within 24 hours when Cioara decided he had endured enough bangers-related ribbing to last a lifetime and promptly retired. "The sausage taunts all got too much, they were joking I would have got more from the Germans and making sausage jokes," he moaned. "It was a huge insult. I have decided to go to Spain where I have got a job on a farm." Hopefully away from the pigs. Regal were less than chuffed as they wheeled out their spokesman for a final lament: "We are upset because we lost twice. Firstly because we lost a good player, and secondly because we lost our team's food for a whole week."

[Johnny Fartpants]

Boro seem to have bought half the Old Firm for next season!! Kris Boyd should be a good signing though.

And they've just bought a highly rated Estonian winger called Tarmo Kink!! With a name like that, and bearing in mind the local takeaway food delicacy in Teesside is know as a Parmo, expect comedy terrace chants to ensue from the Riverside next season.

[Ranking Ted]

Boro seem to have bought half the Old Firm for next season!! Kris Boyd should be a good signing though.

And they've just bought a highly rated Estonian winger called Tarmo Kink!! With a name like that, and bearing in mind the local takeaway food delicacy in Teesside is know as a Parmo, expect comedy terrace chants to ensue from the Riverside next season.

I think Thomson's the one you'll warm to most out of the two good guys you signed.

The Celts you know already: Robson's a hard worker and effective at set pieces, McDonald's fat but a goalscorer and McManus is agricultural but a leader.

Add to that Boyd, a moody, lazy, static git that will score a barrel of goals for you (at home anyway), and Thomson, who is hard tackling and a good passer. Given a good run clear of injuries I reckon you may find some other clubs looking at him. The only worry is he's another injury away from becoming too slow to be effective.

[Johnny Fartpants]

Add to that Boyd, a moody, lazy, static git that will score a barrel of goals for you (at home anyway), and Thomson, who is hard tackling and a good passer.

I was talking to one of my customers in East Kilbride last week, who happens to be from the Green side of Glasgow. Even he said that Boyd does fuck all outside the box, but he's brilliant inside it and will get goals most other strikers wouldn't. With the exception of one season of Fabrizio Ravanelli, and even including Viduka, Hasselbaink and Yakubu, who were all good but maybe not as good as you might have expected, the last proper consistent 20 goals per season striker Boro had was Sir Bernard Slaven in the late 80s and early 90s. If Boyd can come anywhere close to his Rangers scoring record at Boro, we'll be more than chuffed. And as you say, I've heard good things about Kevin Thomson too, and hopefully he will work well with Barry Robson ... Robson was one of the few Boro players in the second half of last season that actually looked like he gave a fuck.

I know it's probably the usual pre-season blind optimism, but I think we should be there or thereabouts next season. I think if we don't back up next season, we're probably going to drift around at Championship level for a few years.