The world of Premiership transfer gossip is full of nonsense, but some nonsense is more interesting that the other nonsense. Speculation is rife in the likes of the Mirror, Daily Mail, Times, Sun and… err… Tribal Football all do their best to predict and/or completely make up the future.
Here’s our opinion on the Premiership transfer rumours we’ve read in the papers and around the net… and if you have any thoughts, pop em in the comments.
CaughtOffside Says: If Shevchenko really moved to London for a nice off-pitch life, and the side challenge of trying out the Premiership, we don’t think he’ll be quite ready to go back to Milan. At least another season to prove his critics wrong, and then maybe he’ll head back to Italy when he’s Inzaghi’s age. The story won’t go away, but neither will Andriy.
Carlos Tevez will be unveiled as a Manchester United player on Thursday.
CaughtOffside Says: Premier League officials who? We reckon United are under the microscope for this as a bit of show so that the Hammers don’t feel unfairly treated. But there won’t be more to this story than what the press can speculate.
Spurs target Curtis Davies has asked West Brom to lower their asking price.
CaughtOffside Says: Why the heck do Spurs need another centreback, unless of course Ledley King is done for his career or Michael Dawson secretly plans to become a fish monger. They got their ‘talented up and comer’ in Younes Kaboul so any more talk of Davies is probably just that, talk.
Aston Villa boss Martin O’Neill is hot on the trail of Manchester United’s £8m striker Alan Smith.
CaughtOffside Says: The sort of blood-and-guts player O’Neill likes, but 8 million seems high for a player who hasn’t had regular football for a while now and is coming off a major injury. But in O’Neill’s 4-3-3 or 4-4-2, a striker who can hold the ball and bring others into play works nicely.
Manchester City are in continuing talks for Swedish winger Christian Wilhelmsson.
CaughtOffside Says: We really hope City get him, so that from now on there will be even more reason to link every Swedish player in the world to Sven. Wilhelmsson has long been linked to Premiership clubs like Tottenham and West Ham, and we look forward to seeing his bag of tricks on dispaly sooner rather than later.
Middlesbrough have missed out on Alan Smith, but will move onto Everton’s James Beattie.
CaughtOffside Says: Well, they did just sell their main fat, lazy striker to Newcastle. So why not replace him like-for-like? Except that Viduka has more footballing talent in one of his chins than Beattie does in all 8 of his stomach rolls.
Manchester City are preparing a £10m bid for Boro striker Yakubu.
CaughtOffside Says: Yakubu has done the business at both Portsmouth and Middlesbrough, and for a club like City – whose first task is to establish themselves in the Premiership UEFA challenge – a pure goalgetter like Yak will be a nice addition even if his all-around game lacks somewhat.
Sunderland boss Roy Keane has won the race to sign Kieran Richardson from Manchester United for £5.5m.
CaughtOffside Says: Was there really a “race” for Richardson at 5.5 million? He’ll do a great job as the creative force on a side who wants to be midtable, but doesn’t have the mentality to take them further. A smart signing for Keane, if Sunderland can spare the dosh.
Aston Villa and Manchester City are lining up a £3m swoop for Tottenham central defender Anthony Gardner.
CaughtOffside Says: Speaking of incredibly poor transfer value, this is a terrible idea. Gardner would be solid on a promoted team but doesn’t have the consistency or concentration you want if you are trying to push for a UEFA cup spot. He is also surprisingly poor at winning headers considering he is almost 9 feet tall.
Sven-Goran Eriksson is also after Giuly and Motta from Barcelona.
CaughtOffside Says: If Giuly moves to City we will be very surprised, all the noises we’ve heard out of Spain since he moved there are about how arrogant he is about his football. Taking a step down like this, or chasing the cash to work with Sven, seems out of character. But if the club can pull it off, he’d be fantastic in the Premiership.
Fulham boss Lawrie Sanchez remains confident of signing QPR winger Lee Cook after making a final offer of £2.2m.
CaughtOffside Says: This is the bloke who was being quoted at around 10 million when Spurs were sniffing around in January. The ‘best winger in the lower leagues’ they called him, which we suppose is some kind of praise.
Spurs are set to sign Leeds whiz-kid, 17 year-old Danny Rose.
CaughtOffside Says: Last time they picked up a teen from Leeds, Aaron Lennon, it worked out quite well. No harm going back to the same well.
Eric Djemba-Djemba is quitting Aston Villa to join French side Lille on loan.
CaughtOffside Says: Has there been a crapper Premiership import than EDD? Well, yes… but he’s been pretty crap.
Cardiff have rejected Liverpool’s £1m bid for 16-year-old midfielder Aaron Ramsey.
CaughtOffside Says: And thus we see the first disadvantage of everyone finding out just how minted you really are.