LooneyToonArmy

SMB legend! mackems.gif preferred their Honduran Milton `Tyson` Nunez tbh

Cordone and Bassedas just weren't very good to be honest.. Nowhere near the pedigree of Coloccini and Jonas. Veron is the exception BTW, name some more. Other than the ones mentioned so far like Veron, Bassedas, Cordone etc all the Argies (that I can think of) who played in the EPL is below. . ..by in large pretty much unknowns and bought on the cheap bar Crespo. Usually you get what you pay for with Veron an exception (who I thought wasnt that bad anyway) Figueroa Medina Crespo Heinze Scaloni Zarate Carbonari Esteben Fuertes Vivas Emmanuel Villa Taricco Marinelli Facundo Sava

Not surprised at the results on here....no bias or owt I wonder what the results would be if we had Woody and Colo had just signed for Spuds? I`d guess the opposite and the fans would be going on about how unproven he is, how many clubs he couldn`t settle at and so on......

hopefully they`ll come back with a bid too good to resist (even though I think 9m was too good to resist in the 1st place) ------------------------- Martin O'Neill won't take no for an answer in quest to sign Newcastle United's James Milner Aug 17 2008 Exclusive By Mat Kendrick http://www.sundaymercury.net/midlands-sport/aston-villa-fc/aston-villa-fc-news/2008/08/17/martin-o-neill-won-t-take-no-for-an-answer-in-quest-to-sign-newcastle-united-s-james-milner-66331-21549254/

don`t know if this is any help http://www.nufc.com/2008-09html/global-2008.html

he moved to Real on a free so I`d imagine his wages are not far off Owen`s too Don't be daft. He was brought in as a squad player. His wages will not be high. Robinho is on £30,000 a week for goodness sake. fair enough, was just a guess. Anyway, doing a bit of research AS claims that the wages earned by Saviola is €2.5 million per year which put off clubs like Benfica from signing him

he moved to Real on a free so I`d imagine his wages are not far off Owen`s too

would be nice to get either of the Zaragoza players on loan - Oliveira or Milito

Keegan's bluffs: what it didn't say on Kevin's Newcastle tin Six instances in which Kevin Keegan has found it not quite like it said in the brochure. 1 Spending and Pulling Power: Shortly after Keegan's return in January, Terry McDermott, his sidekick, gave an interview predicting a "major re-launch" and squad overhaul this summer. Meanwhile boardroom sources said that the only limit on Keegan's transfer ambitions would be imposed by "his own imagination." These days though money seems too tight to mention and he may have to sell James Milner and Alan Smith before buying again. Moreover Keegan's 'pulling power' is diminished by the fact that Newcastle no longer offer 'Hollywood wages' and, more than one potential deal this summer has collapsed over 'failure to agree personal terms.' 2 The Owner: Back in January Keegan claimed that Ashley was probably "the best owner" in the Premier League but come the end of the season he was complaining they "never spoke" and breaking into the top four would be an impossibility. Cue a summons to London for a ticking off by the billionaire owner of Sports Direct. 3 Dennis Wise: When Keegan took the job he knew Ashley wanted to introduce a new continental style management structure with devolved responsibility for scouting, transfers and the academy but he didn't know that the man in charge of it would be Wise. By all accounts it is not a marriage made in heaven and there is a distinct lack of frank communication. Tellingly Keegan has been heard to lament: "Don't ask me, I'm just the coach." 4 Backroom Staff: One of Keegan's first appointments as Newcastle's manager was to give Arthur Cox a key role in his bootroom. Earlier this month Cox left the club apparently disillusioned by the way it was being run from above. Similarly Keegan is a coach light after Steve Round was poached by Everton to become David Moyes's assistant. The word is that the highly rated Round will not be replaced. 5 Transfer market philosophy: Wheras Keegan wanted to sign established, experienced Premier League players on the fringe of the England side Wise and his associate 'deals' man Tony Jiminez, have targeted young, principally foreign players often from South America. Disagreements about who to buy perhaps partly explain the lack of signings. 6 Michael Owen's contract: Since the spring Keegan has been urging his board to sign Owen up on a new, extended contract. Although preliminary talks have begun they appear to be stuttering and a fresh agreement still looks a long way from being struck. Meanwhile Owen, who will be entitled to leave on a free transfer when his current deal expires next June, will be able to speak to potential new employers in January. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/aug/16/premierleague.newcastleunited

a bit disappointed by this and the transfer fee was a bit low IMO despite him being 30.......other players of his age range seem to go for much more these days

you think Colo is going to be thrown in at the deep end without any games with the team under his belt? (unless there was some closed doors friendly we dont know about?)

Man Of Many Clubs – Fabricio Coloccini Steve Porter looks at Fabricio Coloccini's short but eventful career thus far as he prepares to settle into life with Newcastle United... http://jp.goal.com/en/articolo.aspx?contenutoid=814305

Weren't there reports in france a while back saying we'd signed him or somthing. That's correct. He has been very promising lately, and is exactly what we need. A young, tall, technical targetman with pace. with a goal to games record almost identical to Shola

disappointing if he gets sold. It`s like 2 steps forward with Colo signing then 1 step back with Faye leaving possibly. With both of them in the centre of defence I`d be confident we`d not ship goals......certainly moreso than having Taylor in there. Typical Newcatle this. As soon as we end up with buying 2 decent centre backs 1 ends up getting sold not long to undo the good work

Two English Clubs On Tiago - Secco Juventus transfer Guru Alessio Secco admits that English clubs have come forward interested in under-fire midfielder Tiago Mendes. Reports in both England and Italy have linked the player to Newcastle United and it has been claimed that talks are at an advanced stage. Tiago has been a flop at Juve ever since his arrival in Turin from Lyon last year. The club spent €13m for him but he has not paid the Old Lady back for their investment on the pitch. Secco has cleared the air regarding the confusion around Tiago’s future and he revealed that there has only been interest from the clubs and nothing else. “Newcastle? Effectively we have received interest from two English clubs but that’s it, nothing else,” said the transfer chief. “It’s still a little too early to talk about the matter just yet.” Tiago is no longer a part of Claudio Ranieri’s plans this term and he seems set for a return to the Premier League. The Portuguese midfielder played in England for Chelsea during the 2004-05 season. http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=817899

kind of, they bought Poulsen from Sevilla as another centre midfielder

Both about as good as each other tbh. give over. amady is different class Him and Lee Clark > Any midfield pairing we've ever had tbh. Jamie McClen and Clarence Acuna beg to differ. wtf, don`t knock Acuna man

what s a load of $hite. He played well when he was at Chelsea given the limited opportunities he had due to Makelele ,Lampard etc being ahead of him. Mourinho didnt want to sell him and said himself he was sad reluctant to let him leave. Tiago had to leave to try and get a place on the 2006 world cup squad especially when Essien came in. He played great for Lyon too forming a good midfield partnership with Diarra in the centre.......if he was crap Juve would not have been attracted to buying him in the first place. Agreed at Juve he`s been bad though.....but so are many players who make the move to Serie A (just not suited to serie a).Their other signing Sergio Almiron who moved for big money has not lived up to expectations too last season Would be nice to try a sneaky loan deal first

Guthrie and Bassong

can`t trust Oliver to get his facts right. He said Sydney Govou was a left back once

plenty of other forums to go on

apparently he had a work permit turned down to go to Betis so I doubt he`d get one in the EPL with the all the red tape rules we have here...........he`s on facebook so someone could ask him If it`s not him I can only think it`s Mario Silva (ex Porto, Nantes). Since Boavista got relegated he`s tried to have his contract rescinded.

Yep, I suggested Juan Arango as a possible/realistic target to fill the attacking midfielder role ages ago. Typical playmaker but doesn`t get the recongnition because he plays for a lesser South American country. I didnt see the Mallorca-Toon game but did anyone impress from their side when we played them?

Here`s an article from the Guardian by an Argie with references to Gutierrez. It`s from last month but has some interesting things nevertheless and I don`t remember it being mentioned on the thread. Will paste article incase link expires anytime soon http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/07/10/argentinas_exporters_sweat_on.html -------------------------- Argentina's exporters sweat on the price of The Greyhound Jonas Gutierrez's move to Newcastle has left his co-owners with grave concerns over the way players' values are established Marcela Mora y Araujo While researching an article about polo many years ago I asked a horse breeder how the value of a horse was established. "Very simple," he told me. "If you want to sell it's quite cheap and if you don't want to sell it's very expensive.'' He grinned and added with a sure sense of truth: "Pretty much like anything else.'' And so it is with footballers. Through the hustle and bustle of the transfer window, headlines tend to be hogged by star players. More often than not, though, true drama and intrigue is to be found further away from the celebrity trail - among the squad players who are being offered, inquired about, bargained over and loaned all over the globe. Establishing their true value seems to be the challenge. Take Jonas Gutierrez, who celebrated his 25th birthday last Saturday. A lanky midfielder nicknamed "The Greyhound" (El Galgo), he left his club in Argentina, Vélez Sársfield, in 2005 having made a substantial contribution to the club's domestic championship win that season. Jonas went to Real Mallorca in Spain under a contract which stipulated that he would be owned 50% by Vélez and 50% by Mallorca, and that after three years Mallorca would have an option to buy him outright. Failing that, he would return to Vélez - "unless there was a sale to a third club", as Vélez president Alvaro Balestrini told the Argentinian press a month ago. Last week The Greyhound joined Newcastle United on a five-year contract for an undisclosed fee. Real Mallorca, though, are claiming breach of contract on Jonas' part and are demanding €15m (£12m) in compensation. Vélez, for their part, are now facing the prospect of losing out on Jonas' "market value increase" and it is understood that their legal team has been in Mallorca planning a joint strategy to present to Fifa. Both clubs want a piece of the action, but the player has cited Article 17 of Fifa's statutes, which states that a player aged between 23 and 28 who has fulfilled three years of his contract can move to another club for "footballing reasons". The relatively recent Andy Webster ruling provides the precedent which suggests the pay-out to Mallorca could be substantially less than the €15m requested. Hearts demanded what they saw as Webster's full market value when he moved to Wigan, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled the club should be paid the equivalent of the player's salary for the remainder of his contract. "The transfer market is in a state of transition at the moment, partly because of the Webster ruling,'' says Rory Miller, a football finance expert at the University of Liverpool. "It's very interesting from an academic point of view, because no one really knows what the value of a player in the transfer market is. Because of the Webster case it's very hard to determine the price of a player." There are additional complications to the Jonas case, says Miller, stemming from the fact that Spanish clubs have recently invoked a buyout clause and that ownership of the player is split between Mallorca and Vélez. According to a source close to Jonas, who wishes to remain unnamed, the agreement between Vélez and Mallorca is a private matter between both clubs. The relevant point here is who holds the player's federative rights (the right to register the player as theirs with football's governing bodies) which in Jonas's case is Mallorca. But back in Argentina, where clubs rely on international sales to an enormous degree, the difference between 50% of €15m and a fraction of Jonas' remaining salary could hurt. A lot. "Jonas' case is not the only one," says La Nacion editor Daniel Arcucci. "It's like an epidemic here at the moment; [sebastián] Nayar's move from Boca to Recreativo in Spain is a case in point, to name but one example." Argentina's football economy is extremely dependent on the sale of players, and it is increasingly common to find that players are not owned entirely by one club. Subsequent sales are therefore regarded as much-needed income, as players gain value while they progress from club to club. Since 2003 Argentina has exported 145 forwards to foreign pitches and each of these sales represents a lifeline for the selling clubs. Last Saturday, Hernán Crespo also celebrated his birthday. Unlike Jonas, Crespo indisputably became a free agent when his contract with Chelsea came to an end. A tabloid estimated that Crespo cost Chelsea £1.3m per goal - a novel way of determining market value perhaps. Although on first glance this would appear quite expensive, the real test would be to assess the goals themselves. A championship-winning goal might well be worth twice that much. Other data to be factored in should include how much clubs are paying for other strikers' goals, something this blogger has taken upon himself to work out. Jonas, nine years to the day Crespo's junior, is not a forward whose value can be determined through a simple division over goals scored. He is not an iconic international, although he did start for Argentina in their recent World Cup qualifier against Brazil. Joining the Premier League is a long-held ambition: in 2003 he spent a week in Liverpool on an unofficial trial, and was left wide-eyed after sharing a dressing room with Michael Owen. Last January there were also rumours linking him to Portsmouth, but again nothing came of them. Now he is set to join Newcastle in time for a pre-season friendly tournament set to take place from August 1-3 in ... Mallorca. Two German clubs, plus Newcastle and Real Mallorca will compete for the delight of tourists on the Mediterranean island, most of whom are either German or English. Among them, no doubt, will be Freddy Shepherd as he prepares his takeover bid for Real Mallorca. "All of these added dramas have come as a complete surprise to us," says Manu Martin, handling the PR for the event. "But it's all good publicity," he adds, reminding me that tickets are already being lapped up by tour operators. The Greyhound may well find his first appearance for his new club taking place at his old home. While his true market value is grappled over by lawyers and agents, Jonas can only dream of a time when he, like Crespo, can reap the fruits of his labour and truly own his destiny. Perhaps by retreating to Patagonia and investing in a horse breeding business?

Thaksin has apparently sold/selling Corluka and Stephen Ireland behind Hughes` back. might as well stick in a bid for Johnson to make it 3rd time lucky