Teasy

They offered him a contract extension but he told them he wanted to go. Apparently the chairman was a bit annoyed because he claimed they had supported him earlier in his time there by giving him a new contract while he had a knee injury: "It is up to him to say clearly what he wants to do, said Aulas (Lyron Chairman). I like Claudio a lot. I extended his contract while he had a knee injury. It's now time for pay-back" EDIT, beat me to it Baggio

Dragutinovic was voted best dressed serb 7 years running.. what more do you people want?

Who would you like him to be? Swisstoni Bingo, that's him. Just saw him trying to strike a deal at Fenwicks chocolate counter. He was just on SSN telling the reporter how "Signing for Newcastle is.. very much like making love to a beautiful woman".

He's lived in Germany now for 9 years, so I don't see how a work permit can be a problem.

It doesn't mean anything of the sort.. also you're massively under rating Alan Smith. Obviously he's no world beater, but to say he shouldn't be anywhere near our first team is just silly, who are we?.. Barca?

He wouldn't be free at all had he decided to accept Lyon's new contract offer. So while he is likely past his best (who isn't at 31?) I wouldn't say him being a free agent has any relevance.

Anyone know the correct pronounciation? Claudio Roberto da Silva

£7m is not the price being quoted down here. More like a down payment of about £2m with more to follow based on appearances etc. Same with his wages, we are not paying anywhere close to £80k a week. He was never getting anywhere near £80,000 a week here mate, that was idiotic paper talk and nothing more. I can believe that he was on as much as £60,000 a week though.

Indeed, but if there were any chance he'd recover, we'd have offered him a longer contract. How do you know you haven't though? He may want a fresh start at another club..

There are two possible answers to the second question:- 1 - You've already got someone to replace him 2 - You aren't letting him go, he just chose to go

To be honest I'm not sure how many times Smith has played as an out and out striker, but its a fair question, one I can't answer though..

And then there is the goal difference. While I realise Smith isnt a prolific scorer (apart from one year at Leeds when he got 18), I'd he's still capable and has the potential (injuries and selection permitting) to score more goals a season than Dyer Definitely yeah, as you say Smith isn't exactly a goal scorer, but his record of a goal every 4 games over the course of his carear so far is still better then Dyer's record of a goal every 6 games..

What?! Since when did Allardyce ever claim such a thing? As for claiming he was instrumental to the team, that was an excellent move considering we've gotten £7 million for him, more then anyone here could have possibly dreamt of. Would you have preferred him to tell everyone how we didn't really want him like Souness did with Bellamy?.....

£2.7 million at the current exchange rate, I've got no problem with that price for a good player with a lot of experience who can sort out the left side of our defence for the next couple of years. I think the Marca article mentioned another 1 million Euro's to be paid based on apearances/success, but still that's only another £670,000 and if its paid it would mean he's been a big success for us, which is fine with me

How have you come to that conclusion exactly? He is just as injury prone but we also have the games hhe will miss after his red cards! In the last 8 seasons, since signing for Newcastle, Dyer has played 222 games. Smith has played 291 in the same time.. Smith is a bit injury prone maybe, but not in the same league as Dyer.

Instantly discredits anything else there.. Do you get-recognize-understand sarcasm at all? The Guardian is merely recounting the rumours that are being reported elsewhere-- and pointing out that some of them are nuts. I know where they picked up the rubbish about selling Martins, I would like to know who originally reported the link with Thuram. I don't understand sarcasm because I won't take a rumour seriously which is written in an article that routinely post rumours they know aren't true as a joke?

He already showed what he can do against Juve..

Instantly discredits anything else there..

Heskey is a much better striker than Smith when hes on form. When hes off form, Smith just about shades it, but theres not much in it - and this is when Heskey is in his shell and everything he does looks poor. Emile Heskey hasn't been on form since 2002 though Last season he almost single handedly kept Wigan up. Even think he out-scored Martins in the league as well. AFAIK Heskey scored 8 goals in all competitions for Wigan last season, all of which were in the league. Martins got 11 in the league and 17 total.

Smith wouldn't be my first choice but he will give us something different, sometimes you can play brilliant football and for some reason it just doesn't happen for you, at least Smith will give us a bit of a battering ram to unsettle the opposition defence, I quite liked him when he was at Leeds but don't think he's really developed that much at Man U. If we get him then I'll reserve judgement on him and see how we play him and how he does. I think Heskey is a better striker than Smith, I reckon Abdoulaye Faye is a better midfielder than Smith, for an extra £1m or whatever, you could have two better squad players than the single one doubling up. Heskey and Smiths goal scoring records are pretty much the same. Also Smith does have the age advantage (26 instead of 29 like both Hesky and Faye). Also two players would likely cost more in wages. But appart from that you've got a point, just replace Heskey with anyone but Heskey and I'd probably agree

Rozehnal and Taylor are both capable defenders. Even though I loath him, you have to count Carr as established as well. Carr looked good against Juve, but he's got some way to go to convince me he's actually a capable defender. Difference between capable and established. Well yeah, but considering you replied to my post about capable defenders saying that "Carr is established as well" I assumed you meant established to mean capable in this case..

Rozehnal and Taylor are both capable defenders. Even though I loath him, you have to count Carr as established as well. Carr looked good against Juve, but he's got some way to go to convince me he's actually a capable defender.

Rozehnal and Taylor are both capable defenders.

According to someone on another board Allardyce also said: "by the end of today I think a deal will be done for Dyer and that'll solve both our and his problems - Dyer will be closer to his family and I will have that money to spend in the market tomorrow on defenders" Any truth in this or has it been twisted to wind people up? It would be quite an odd contradiction to say that "there's been no problem with money being made available", and then say "now we've sold Dyer I've finally got some money!!" Especially in the same interview

How's Smith injury prone, he had a horrific injury that wasn't down to his body unlike Dyer who pulls every muscle going, i won't go into detail. Well I don't know, what is his injury history. My first thought on him was "a bit injury prone", but I could be wrong. Of course either way he's not as injury prone as Dyer as I said. I just had him down as the type of player who will play around 30 games a season rather then 50.