A lot of controversy from yesterday’s posts – the angry comments are still coming in. I *should* put up a disclaimer, but first, a quick look at today’s news.
Manchester United
Clarification from Manchester United regarding Kuszczak’s transfer – it’s a permanent transfer, four years, with the first year on loan.
David Gill:
“He has come to us on loan for the first year and then will join us permanently in July 2007.”
The permanent move, combined with Foster’s growth as a long-term prospect, means that Howard’s time at United could be very limited when he comes back from Everton. Ferguson will want to choose his top keeper from between Howard, Foster and Kuszczak, and right now Howard’s star is at the lowest. Despite what he’s saying, this season with Everton will require him to prove, at least to Manchester United, that’s he’s good enough to be kept on their books.
Lee Martin has moved to the Rangers on a loan till January. The left winger’s move is as much a sign of the depth of talent in Manchester United’s ranks as it is of the paucity of funds available to the Old Firm (if anyone read Strachan’s interview a few days ago, he talked about how Celtic have a lower budget than even Championship clubs). Good for Martin – he should be back to United next year with a view towards taking over from Giggs (where he will compete with Richardson and possibly Park as well.
Chelsea
Excellent interview with John Terry in the Guardian, a must-read.
And while we’re on the subject, here’s an interview with Jose Mourinho on Soccernet.
Arsenal
The media is speculating that Abramovich might push through Ashley Cole’s transfer to Chelsea by agreeing to pay what Arsenal are asking. Sound like idle speculation to me, as the ‘standoff’ would not have taken place without Roman’s agreement in the first place.
Ribery, that Gary Neville lookalike and a candidate for the most unreliable football player title (a nomination he shares with William Gallas and Ashley Cole), has now said that he’s willing to stay in Marseille and help them get into the Champions League next season. Could it have something to do with Marseille refusing to sell Ribery to Lyon, and Ribery not wanted to leave France until his court case with Galatasaray (see Wikipedia’s entry on Franck Ribery for more on this)? Hat tip to two of our commenters on this recent article – although I’d still like to see some Fifa documents on this.
I’ll have more tonight once England’s squad is fully announced by Stevo and once he names his first 11 for Greece.
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