Ending months of speculation over his future, Andriy Shevchenko today signed a 4-year deal with Chelsea. According to the Ukrainian Football Federation, Sheva cost the blues 50 million Euro and will receive a total of 36 million Euro over the four years.
A quick summary of today’s transfer stories:
Spain: Atlético Madrid completed a triple swoop today with the signing of Argentine teen sensation Sergio Agüero from Independiente and Giourkas Seitaridis and Costinha from Dynamo Moscow. The three new signings follow hot on the heals of the signings of naturalised Spaniard Mariano Pernía from Getafe and new coach Javier Aguirre who miraculously guided Osasuna Pamplona into next season’s Champions’ League. The long suffering fans will be looking for a significant improvement from their team in the new season - Atléti was Madrid’s third best team this year even finishing behind minnows Getafe. A lot will depend on whether talismanic forward Fernando Torres stays and how much time Aguirre is given to stamp his mark; Atlético’s board has a notoriously itchy trigger finger..
England: Champions Chelsea announced the signing of Salomon Kalou from Feyenoord. Kalou who hails from the Ivory Coast was one of the hottest properties in Dutch football. Van Basten was desperate for him to gain Dutch citizenship so that he could take him to the World Cup. This would have lead to the curious situation of two brothers playing for opposing countries (elder Bonaventure stars for the Ivory Coast). Whether Kalou can be successful in the Premiership remains to be seen. Mateja Kezman joined Chelsea from PSV with a great goalscoring reputation but barely registered in the Premiership and is now rebuilding his career at Atletico Madrid where he still misses more than he scores.
With Shevchenko expected to join shortly and rumours about Carlos Tevez, there must surely be doubts over the future of both Hernan Crespo and Didier Drogba who are unlikely to want to spend too much time on the bench.
Andrew Johnson joined Everton from Crystal Palace in an inflated £8.6 million deal. Johnson features regularly as a non-playing member of the England squad. His reputation is largely built on one good Premiership season a couple of years ago when he finished with 21 goals, many of which were penalties. Boss David Moyes will be hoping that Johnson can reproduce this form rather than mirror that of new strike partner James Beattie, who was signed on the back of a prolific season with Southampton but has since struggled to find the net.
Ruud van Nistelrooy will leave Man U after falling out with Alex Ferguson, but it’s still unclear where he will be earning his money next season.
Over the past days the Dutch striker has been linked to Chelsea (in a deal that would see Gudjohnsen move to the Reds), but according to more recent rumours he may be closer to moving to Inter Milan. The striker is valued at £12m and the Italian club would be offering Argentinean midfielder Cambiasso plus money.
Inter, who are also interested in Luca Toni and David Trezeguet, will buy at least one world-class striker for next season. With Adriano and the new signing(s), be it Toni, Van Nistelrooy or Trezeguet, they will have an enviable attack that will place them in a position better than ever to finally put an end to their 17-year scudetto drought.
Watford beat Leeds United 3-0 in the final of the Championship play-offs today to gain promotion to the Premiership. They dominated what is probably the most valuable game in football (promotion is said to be worth £35 million) from start to finish. It marks a remarkable turnaround for a club which only a year ago was close to relegation. Ironically the architect of their success is former Leeds coach Aidy Boothroyd.
How will they fair next year? They are likely to go the way of Sunderland unless they bring some quality players to the club. Relying mainly on meticulous planning and organisation may be sufficient in the Championship, but in the Premiership, a large amount of inspiration is also necessary; Marlon King may have scored 20 goals this season, but the likes of John Terry and Rio Ferdinand are unlikely to be losing any sleep over him.
In Saturday’s FA Cup final, Steven Gerrard gave the kind of performance which should have made England fans breathe a sigh of relief and stop worrying about broken metatarsals anda forward line being lead by the slow and goal shy Peter Crouch.
At 2-0 down, Liverpool seemed down and out. However, one killer Gerrard pass (and superb Cissé finish) and fantastic volley later, and Liverpool were level. Even Paul Konch
esky’s fluke was not enough to finish Gerrard off. His stunning 35 yard last minute volley, despite suffering from cramp, was the kind of moment he has produced regularly for Liverpool during the last couple of seasons.
In the final group game of last year’s Champions League, Liverpool were facing a similarly difficult situation. Needing to beat Olympiakos to progress by 2 clear goals, Liverpool fell behind to Rivaldo’s first half free kick. A Gerrard inspired Liverpool roused in the second half with another stunning effort from Gerrard making it 3-1 with a few minutes left. Then, in the final, it was Gerrard who again showed his team the way back from 3-0, with a header to reduce the deficit to 3-1.
Ask any Liverpool fan and he will be able countless other superhuman performances from Gerrard in pulling his club out of adversity. Yet Gerrard has consistently failed to produce the same form for England. Many blame this on fatigue, the argument being that by the time improtant events come around, Gerrard’s tank is running on empty. Doubtless this is a valid point and the omens do not look good for the summer as Gerrard has already played over 50 games this season. However, it fails to explain a series of lacklustre displays by Gerrard during the last two qualifying campaigns.
Maybe Gerrard is the type of player that needs to be surrounded by a mediocre team which relies on his leadership, in order to be inspired to consistently produce his best. In a team where the supporting cast is superior to that at Liverpool, Gerrard struggles to develop the same level of motivation, preferring to share the burden of leadership and his performances suffer as a result. So maybe Rafa Benitez should think long and hard about how many top class players he should sign for Liverpool as they may in fact blunt the performances of Stevie G.
Mahamadou Diarra could be on his way to Manchester United in a part exchange deal with Ruud Van Nistelrooy, according to sportime.gr. The 25-year Mali international, who began his European career with OFI of Crete as a 16 year old before moving to Vitesse Arnhem in Holland and then Lyon, is seen by Sir Alex Ferguson as the perfect replacement for United legend Roy Keane, now at Celtic.
Sportime reports that the French champions are willing to let Diarra go for €38 million but that United believe the price to be too high and so are prepared to offer Van Nistelrooy, who has scored 150 goals for United and finished second to Thierry Henry in this year’s Premiership scoring charts, in part-exchange after his recent falling out with Ferguson. Lyon have been on the lookout for a top class forward and have been heavily linked with a bid for Chelsea’s Didier Drogba.
Bernard Lacombe, who is responsible for the majority of Lyon’s transfer activity said:
“It’s true that Lyon is interested in Van Nistelrooy. We haven’t yet contacted the United board to initiate formal talks. The financial side of the deal will be complicated unless we agree to swap some players.”
Watch this space..
The much awaited appointment of England’s new manager finally took place last week when Steve McClaren, very much second choice, was appointed following Luis Felipe Scolari’s last minute change of heart .
Felipao was just the type of manager England needed. He is bold, authoritative and not afraid to take risks and drop players with big reputations when they are not performing. He transformed a team, that had been struggling in South American qualifying into World Champions in 2002. At Euro 2004, he did not hesitate to drop Rui Costa or substitute Luis Figo despite public outcry. The result? Rui Costa’s dramatic goal against England and Figo’s superlative performance in the semi-final against Holland.
So why did he say no? Could it have anything to do with the managerial vacancy at Real Madrid? Felipao has always stated that his ambition is to manage one of Europe’s top clubs. His managerial style might also be exactly what is called for to whip Real’s underperforming team of pre-madonnas into shape.
The media frenzy surrounding Theo Walcott’s inclusion in the England squad is understandable. Sven Goran Eriksson admits to never having seen him play and on relying on Arsene Wenger’s recommendation in selecting him.
Brazil’s World Cup squad at USA 1994 also included a 17 year old phenomenon - Ronaldo, although he did not play.
There are two major differences between Ronaldo’s selection then and Walcott’s selection now. First Ronaldo had already experienced top level action, having scored 58 goals in 60 games for Cruzeiro of Belo Horizonte before being selected. Walcott scored 5 goals in 12 starts this season for Championship strugglers Southampton before joining Arsenal for an intial £5 million, where to date he has only played for the reserves. Second, Brazil had a fully fit partnership of Romario and Bebeto leading the line with plenty of goals in back-up forwards Viola, Paulo Sergio and Muller. England’s two first choice forwards Rooney and Owen are either injured or recovering and Peter Crouch is hardly prolific. With such strength in depth, Brazil could afford to bring a young player with bags of potential along for the experience. It’s doubtful whether England can.
If Wenger believes that Walcott is ready to handle arguably the most pressurised competition in football and carry the hopes of a nation on his young shoulders, then why hasn’t he thought him ready to handle the Premiership or the Champions League? If he is ready, may be he should be given a run out in Wednesday’s final against Barcelona?
As for Sven, he has little to lose in selecting Walcott. If the gamble pays off, he will be hailed as a genius. If it does not, he is leaving his job after the World Cup and so will not have to face the stinging criticism of the notoriously fickle English tabloids.
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