Premier League club Birmingham City have confirmed they have given up the chase for Tottenham striker Robbie Keane.Keane was linked with a four-million-pound move to St Andrew’s last week that could have risen to six million pounds, with reports suggesting the deal was only a matter of time from being sealed.
But Birmingham have since cooled their interest and confirmed on Monday that they are no longer interested in the forward.
“I met with Alex and Paul today to discuss some new targets – names that we will not be mentioning at this moment in time – as we have decided that the signing of Keane would not be in the best financial interests of the club,” Birmingham City’s acting chairman Peter Pannu said in a statement.
“Everyone knows he is a tremendous player but having considered the overall package (one which certainly wasn’t unfair on the part of his representatives to ask for given his talent and experience), Keane’s age and the length of contract we felt that financially he wasn’t the best option available.”
“This is unfortunate because Keane is a class act but supporters can rest assured we are considering other options and will pursue them where financially viable.”
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Keane has started only two Premier League matches for Tottenham this season and is still expected to move on in the January transfer window, with West Ham the most likely destination.
Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson has wasted no time in identifying Edwin Van der Sar’s successor by lining up a summer swoop for Schalke and Germany’s number one, Manuel Neuer.
Ferguson is thought to have made a three man short-list for the vacancy in May, with Ajax’s Maarten Stekelenburg and Athletico Madrid’s David De Gea joining Neuer in the running.
However many believe that Neuer, who has been linked with United in recent weeks, tops their goalkeeping wish-list. Neuer is approaching his 25th birthday which means that he would be one for both the present and the future should he move to Old Trafford at the end of the season.
Neuer, who has been an ever present for Schalke so far this year, made his name with some fine performances in Germany’s run to the 2010 World Cup third place play-off.
Manchester United fans will have bad memories of the amount of time, and money spent, that it took to replace Peter Schmeichel, so Ferguson will be under pressure to get it right first time.
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Yesterday, Liverpool agreed a fee of close to £23m for Ajax striker Luis Suarez and are continuing to hassle Blackpool for Charlie Adam’s services.
Whilst Holloway remains determined that he wants to leave the club over a £25,000 fine issued by the FA for its 10-man team change following their 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa back in November, Charlie Adam’s quest to join Liverpool continues.
As pointed out by numerous Premier League managers such as Harry Redknapp and Alex Ferguson, the Premier League’s winter transfer market is without a doubt the trickiest business in football as prices for players plummet to ridiculous prices, and are finely complemented by the various club’s form, and this year it’s Liverpool’s.
Following a disappointing start to the 2010-11 campaign with Roy Hodgson, John Henry and his new boys decided that the former Fulham was not suited for the job and gave his position to Kop legend Kenny Dalgleish, who alongside Director of Football Damien Comolli, is looking to add to the squad.
However what Liverpool have decided to do is finally splash the cash and invest in players who can immediately help recover the club’s woes and propel them back amongst Europe’s elite.
Luis Suarez imminent arrival on Merseyside may jolt the Uruguayan and together with Liverpool’s incomprehensible tongue, may confuse the 24-year-old to where the goal exactly is. His hopes of playing with some of the world’s best players could be dampened with Fernando Torres’s recent politely declined request to leave the club.
Has Torres’s recent request put a halt on Suarez’s arrival? Maybe.
Has Torres’s recent request put a halt to Liverpool’s ambitions this season and ability to bring Europe’s top names to the club? Indeed.
Why exactly Liverpool decided to reveal Chelsea’s bid for the Spaniard is beyond any Reds fan at the moment, as the media have manipulated every single one of the major transfers so far in the window, with words being stretch to such extremes to suit ‘dramatic’ situations that they no longer are relevant to the topic.
Torres needs to partner up with Suarez for the rest of the season, not Didier Drogba.
If he must go, he must go in the summer, when he has longer than 2 days to make up his mind and have to move all the way to London with his new born son, and countless Premier League trophies *cough*.
It’s not his desire to leave the club that comes as a shock, but the manner in which he has decided to do it. World-class players have the right to play for the best teams in the world and win trophies, but unfortunately for Liverpool – they are not in that bracket just yet.
Torres has stuck by the club since his success with Spain in the summer, which has shown that El Nino loves playing for the club and hear his name sung by the Kop and wants Liverpool to succeed. However with the infamous six-month Hodgson era, Torres has underperformed and become one of many wantaways on Merseyside.
One must remain respectful for his services to Liverpool’s history, becoming the fastest player to reach 50 goals in a season and entering double-digit scoring tally every season since joining back in 2007. Torres was not a part of their 2005 Champions League triumph, their 2006 FA Cup win or CL Final in Athens a year later in 2007.
It is understandable that Torres wishes to leave Liverpool, he has established the building blocks of his career at Anfield and has always been a fans favourite. The timing however could be better, with a couple of days left in the window – it is unlikely that he will be able to bridge a move to Chelsea.
He could very well endure a difficult future four months at the club, unless King Kenny can persuade the 26-year-old to stay, and string together a series of wins and Champions League worthy performances.
Then again if El Nino opts to stay until the summer, he could pick up an injury that could scare potential suitors away or knock a cool £20m off his £50m price tag – where’s Paulo Ferreira when you need him (remember Rooney in 2006)?
Torres’s departure could leave Liverpool in tatters, and will be a backwards step for the club. The former Athletico Madrid striker is in a brilliant position at the moment, either he will get the big money deal away from Anfield or his CRUCIAL agent will intervene and demand a nice fat new contract worth millions of pounds.
Gerrard and Torres remain the core of Liverpool’s talent at the moment, and his departure could signal to the world that the club are not heading in the right direction and prevent big names from joining the club.
Suarez should be playing the role of a classic number ten, cutting in from the wide areas and feeding the number nine, in this case Torres. The Spaniard should most defiantly stay until the rest of the season and see what prevails, because Chelsea, for a number of reasons, will not win the Premier League nor will they reach the finals of the Champions League due to Barcelona and Milan’s recent form.
Is Chelsea the right club for Torres, with the likes of Steven Pienaar rejecting them for Tottenham and Benfica’s David Luiz’s deal collapsing – are they honestly offering that much more than King Kenny? With the Blues key players perhaps overstepping their stay at Stamford Bridge, could Barcelona be the ones to adopt Torres into their Spanish home?
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Who should play on Liverpool’s wings? Niko Kranjcar is not getting a game at Tottenham all thanks to Gareth Bale, and at a cool estimate of £6m, could he be the man for the job to replace out-of-depth Maxi? Perhaps a debate for another time but…
What do YOU think?
Follow and ask me YOUR questions on Twitter (@mwoodward90) – best questions will be mentioned in next week’s Fan’s Question of the Week.
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Nottingham Forest beat Watford 1-0 on Saturday to climb to second in the Championship, while Norwich lost 2-1 away to Burnley.
Marcus Tudgay scored the winner for Forest in the first minute at the City Ground.
The win pushes Billy Davies’ side into the automatic promotion places.
Forest are seven points behind top side Queens Park Rangers, but have played two games fewer than the league leaders.
Norwich slipped to third following their defeat at Burnley.
Former Tottenham man Dean Marney put hosts Burnley 1-0 up in the first half at Turf Moor, before Grant Holt equalised in the 65th minute.
Jay Rodriguez grabbed all three points for Burnley, who are now 10th, five points outside the playoff places.
Davide Somma’s 56th-minute strike helped Leeds United secure a 1-0 win at home to Coventry City.
The victory sees Leeds climb to fifth, one point ahead of Cardiff in sixth and one point behind fourth-placed Swansea, who meet in a Welsh derby on Sunday.
At the opposite end of the table, Crystal Palace remain outside the relegation zone following their 1-0 win over Middlesbrough.
James Vaughan, on loan from Everton, scored the winning goal in the 36th minute.
Preston stay bottom following their 4-0 thrashing at home to Bristol City, while Scunthorpe are second-last after a suffering a 5-1 hammering at the hands of Hull City.
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Sheffield United complete the trio inside the drop zone, they lost 3-0 away to improving Ipswich.
Leicester City are just three points away from the playoff places after dispatching Barnsley 4-1.
Millwall are level with Leicester on 45 points after they beat Doncaster 1-0.
Struggling Derby County dropped vital points when they surrendered a one-goal lead in the 90th minute of their match at Portsmouth’s Fratton Park.
The FA’s failure to punish Wayne Rooney has brought out roar in some quarters with many slamming the double standards within the game. Dave Whelan has been particularly vocal this morning at the decision, but you have to ask the question as to what they are supposed to do given the laws that FIFA have in place with regards to retrospective punishments. They are only following the letter of the law here much to the annoyance of many.
In the papers this morning there has been a mixed bag of stories that includes Ancelotti sticking up for Ashley Cole; Keegan warns Pardew over Carroll cash, while Aston Villa turn to the academy in order to balance the club’s books.
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Whelan fumes at authorities – Sky Sports
Ancelotti angry but Cole keeps his place in Chelsea team – Guardian
Jav: I’ll let Roo have my place – Sun
Toon can forget about splashing Carroll cash – warns Keegan – Mirror
Spurs set to relaunch move for £15m Manchester City defender Richards – Daily Mail
Villa turn to academy to balance books – Guardian
Hammers get FA snub over Ashton – Sun
Saha to face Reading in Everton’s FA Cup clash just 48 hours after car smash escape –Daily Mail
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Arsenal reaffirm faith in Wenger’s vision – Daily Telegraph
The Los Angeles Galaxy got their Major League Soccer campaign off to a winning start with a 1-0 win on the road over Seattle on Tuesday.The winners of last season’s MLS Supporters’ Shield looked out of sorts for most of the first-half, but the Galaxy took the lead 12 minutes after the interval through a goal from Brazilian midfielder Juninho.Seattle midfielder Erik Friberg’s slack pass was picked up by the Galaxy’s Todd Dunivant, who laid the ball off for Juninho, whose swerving shot was too strong for Sounders goalkeeper Kasey Keller to keep out.Seattle could have levelled in on the 72-minute mark when striker O’Brian White found himself on the end of a cross from Steve Zakuani, but his shot came off the woodwork meaning Los Angeles claimed all three points from the season curtain-raiser.England star David Beckham played all 90 minutes for the Galaxy in what is expected to be his last season with the club, but exerted little influence on the match and was booked for a robust challenge in second-half stoppage time.
Roberto Mancini has stressed the importance of resting players to ensure Manchester City secure fourth spot in the English Premier League.City host relegation battlers Wigan on Saturday – their second game in three days – and Mancini gladly took the opportunity to rest players in the FA Cup victory over Aston Villa on Wednesday.”For me it is important I must try to rest some players, (Edin) Dzeko, and Carlos (Tevez) for 60 minutes. I need to try to rest some players because it is impossible to play every three days,” he said.Villa boss Gerard Houllier has been criticised for making a large number of changes to his side but Mancini said he would have taken the same approach.”I don’t have seven or eight players to change at the moment but if I did I would do the same,” he said.”But now we should recall our strength for Saturday. The FA Cup (quarter-final against Reading) we play next week but before this we have important games and for us it is very important to focus on Wigan.””I think (Wigan boss Roberto) Martinez is a good manager. His team plays very well. Every time that we meet him we have difficulties. For this I think that it is important to have three or four fresh players because I think it will be a difficult game, but we should win.”Chelsea and Tottenham are breathing down City’s neck and Mancini’s men cannot afford to slip up against teams lingering at the foot of the table if they are to secure Champions League qualification. “I think we deserve to get fourth position because we have stayed there for 28 games between the first and third positions,” he said.”But now is a key moment because we play important games and I think that if we recall all the players – if we recall also Adam Johnson – after Chelsea (in two week’s time) and after the international break and if we have all our players I think we can take the Champions League, but now we don’t have all of this.”Mancini is hopeful Nigel De Jong can make a comeback after recovering from a ankle injury. Vincent Kompany is also expected to return from a hip complaint to bolster City’s defence.
Former Hoffenheim boss Ralf Rangnick has been appointed as Felix Magath’s successor at Bundesliga club Schalke.Despite steering the club into the Champions League quarter-finals, Magath was sacked by Schalke on Wednesday due to their poor domestic record, which sees them sit in 10th place in the Bundesliga, just seven points above the relegation zone.It will be Rangnick’s second spell at the club after season-long stint in which he guided the side to the German Cup final and a second place in the league.A statement on the club’s official site read: “FC Schalke 04 have a new head coach in Ralf Rangnick and he will be presented at the Royal on Monday March, 21.””The 52-year-old signed a contract at Schalke until June 30, 2014 and his first game in charge will be away at FC St. Pauli on Friday April 1, 2011.”Rangnick stepped down as Hoffenheim boss in January after the club sold midfielder Luis Gustavo to rivals Bayern Munich against his wishes.The 52-year-old guided Hoffenheim from the lower reaches of German football in to the top-flight during his four years at the Rhein-Neckar Arena, and has also coached Stuttgart and Hannover.
Earlier in the season I wrote a blog commenting on how ridiculous it was that so many people, fans and journalists alike, were comparing the transfer fees of James Milner to Manchester City and Mesut Ozil to Real Madrid when there were a number of extenuating circumstances. And predictably enough, as a new transfer window swings into action, we get the same shock, horror and outrage at the fee being discussed for the transfer of Darren Bent from Sunderland to Aston Villa. Yet again people are all too keen to point out other transfer fees as some sort of proof that he is overpriced.
Why is it so black and white with some people when discussing transfer fees? Every transfer is unique – so many factors come into play that decide what that fee is, that the actual skill of the player becomes the tip of the iceberg. And what is a market value for a player? Well the fact is there isn’t one. There’s no manual available, no graphs to check to see what a player is worth, no complex formula – it is a figure that cannot be determined – what is the worth of a human being to a football club? Almost impossible to say. And there are other costs as well of course – wages, signing on fees, payments to agents and so on. The transfer fee is just the beginning, and it often includes add-ons that will only be paid if the player is successful anyway, plus sell-on clauses, image rights, and so much more.
So it might be stating the obvious, but what are the factors?
Do the selling club need to sell? If the selling club are desperate to sell, this puts the buyer in a better position to haggle a good price.
Do the selling club want to sell? If the buying club is after a player the other club had no intention of selling, then the price will inevitably rise. The favourite quote of those shocked at the Bent fee over the last 24 hours has been to mention that van der Vaart only cost £7m. Good value for sure, but then he wasn’t wanted by Madrid, was languishing on the bench, and thus probably wanted out anyway, and Madrid were a few hours from being stuck with him for at least another 4 months. Any potential buying club was in a very strong position.
Does the player want to leave? If he is angling for a move, it of course helps the buying club to come to a deal on their terms. If there is one criticism of Villa’s fee that I personally would make, it’s that Bent wants to leave – but of course Sunderland could make him stay if they so wished, though the player usually gets his own way in the end.
How good is the player? Quite important consideration I guess!
Continue to PAGE TWO for more factors…
In what position does the player play? Quite simply, strikers cost more than anyone else, a simple fact of life. Every world record transfer fee of the last 10 years has been for a forward/attack-minded player – Zidane is the nearest to an exception. The seven highest ever fees show a similar pattern.
What nationality is the player? Yes there is a premium on English players in English leagues. I imagine there is for French players in France too. In a world where success is demanded instantly and a club is never more than 3 games away from a crisis or a manager 3 games away from the sack, their worth in being able to adapt and settle instantly should be apparent, and their experience in the league in question should not be underestimated either. Familiarity breeds high prices.
How long does he have left on his contract? The Bosman ruling changed everything, not just in snapping up free transfers, but in shaping transfer fees too. Any player can be purchased much more cheaply if he is near the end of his contract than if he has years left to run. And this is the crux of why Ozil cost less than Milner, in addition to some of the factors previously mentioned. Ozil was nearing the end of his contract – he had told his club he wasn’t going to sign a new contract, so the club had two options – keep an unhappy player and lose him for nothing at the end of his contract or sell him on the cheap (relatively speaking). Real Madrid signed Khedira under similar circumstances. And this is of course why Steven Pienaar is available for £3m.
Are there a number of clubs after him? Always useful for the selling club to instigate a bidding war.
Age? No need to explain this one. Bent has a good seven or eight years left in him, fitness permitting, maybe more.
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The factors listed above are just some of the reasons. There will be more that I haven’t mentioned – injury history, attitude, lifestyle – the player might have a release clause – as I said, every deal is unique. But the facts are that Darren Bent is the 3rd top scoring player of the last 18 months in the Premier League. He has scored consistently for years, and not in one of your “Top 4” teams. In the last 5 years he has scored one less goal than Rooney or Drogba. Those statistics suggest to me that he also is not too injury-prone. He is English, under contract, and Sunderland were not looking to offload. Yes, it probably is still too high a fee when looking at that set-in-stone market value, but the fact is that we won’t know how good value the fee represents until he has stopped playing for Villa – if he is the difference between staying up and getting relegated (not that I think they will anyway), then he will have been worth every penny.
On Friday, it was revealed that Liverpool will be signing a new kit deal with American firm Warrior Sports when their current supplier’s contract with Adidas expires in 2012/13. The biggest revelation from the deal is that the Reds will be getting £25m a year, taking over Manchester United’s deal with Nike (£23m a year) as the biggest kit supplier deal in British football.
Liverpool are currently the fourth largest replica shirt sellers in the world, with 900,000 sold per year, only trailing behind Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid. The Reds deal with Warrior Sports will be the first football shirt deal for the American company, who are little known outside of the United States.
So who are Warrior Sports? There were set up in the 1992 by former champion Lacrosse player David Morrow. Since, they have been at the forefront of new Lacrosse equipment and jerseys, becoming the first supplier to develop titanium shafts for Lacrosses sticks. They eventually branched out into Hockey, but they have yet to breakthrough into any other sports.
So how, you may ask, could they afford to outbid global giants Adidas for the right to make Liverpool replica shirts? In 2004, they were taken over by American Sportswear firm New Balance. New Balance have been going since the early 1900s, and are most famous in the US for developing footwear for athletes. New Balance grew steadily as a company and is now worth over $1billion, which is still only a tenth of the size of both Nike and Adidas. The American company, in addition to acquiring Warrior, has also bought out Dunham, PF Flyers, Aravon and Brine Sporting Goods.
The connection to New Balance for Warrior is crucial though, as they are a New England based firm, which will certainly have heavy business connections around Boston. It is no coincidence that the Liverpool deal, quickly followed one that saw Warrior Sports take on the role of manufacturing kits for the Boston Red Sox.
It seems then that Fenway Sports Group connections to American businesses was crucial in this bumper deal. There is a no real connection between a Lacrosse kit supplier firm and Liverpool other than FSG, and the massive marketing potential of Liverpool, and the exponential rise in their brand awareness around the world, must have been enough for Warrior to cough up the record £25million a year.
Although New Balance and Warrior Sports are small compared to Nike and Adidas, the fact the Reds will have no competition from other football teams, means the benefits could be hugely mutually beneficial. While the Reds get a massive kit supplier deal with a big firm fully behind them, Warrior Sports will get a massive benefit from their name being spread throughout the world by Liverpool FC.
Tremendous credit must go to FSG and the Reds marketing team for pulling off such a deal; a deal which would not have been possible a year ago.
David Tully is the editor of Live4Liverpool.com
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