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Barzagli who we were linked with earlier this week and who Sam said he thought was a top player. Sam said he would prefer prem experience but seeing as he claims in tomorrows Times that we have beeen frustrated in our recent pursuits then I would guess the prem experience players didn't work out for us. Hopefully, we will have then bid for Barzagli. By the way why is he not on the list?

Tomas Ujfalusi is likely to reject a new contract with Fiorentina as Sevilla look to sign the Czech Republic international. The defender joined Fiorentina from Hamburg three years ago and has 12 months remaining on his present deal. The Viola are hoping to persuade Ujfalusi to stay at the club and sporting director Pantaleo Corvino stated the player is not for sale earlier in the summer. Bayern Munich had been linked with a bid to take the stopper back to Germany, while Sevilla have renewed a long-standing interest. The Uefa Cup winners' quest to sign Ujfalusi could be a given boost by his intention to turn down a contract extension with Fiorentina. "I will meet with Corvino to explain to him the player's intention to not renew his contract," Ujfalusi's agent Dalibor Lacina told Gazzetta dello Sport. Fiorentina must now decide whether to secure a fee for Ujfalusi this summer or wait until he leaves on a free transfer in a year's time.

Agreed. He will always pick up these type of injuries as his career to date has shown, if it isn't his hamstrings it's his groin or something else. He's not quite in the same league as Woodgate but his body doesn't seem fully capable of holding up to the rigours of football. Since he broke onto the scene he has increasingly been beset with injuries and it isn't going to suddenly stop, if anything it will get worse. Instead of twisted knees and ripped hamstrings he'll get thigh strains, pull his groin or get a hernia. Injuries that will restrict his ability to perform to a high level on a consistent basis. It is this and his rather limited game that has put off all the so-called top clubs from buying this world-class finisher. We should honestly look to sell. I'm sure we could find a more all-round player with less injury concerns who would be fully committed and able to score 15 + goals a season for the same price. I'm not a big fan of Yakubu but someone like that would represent far better value for money, or even a Defoe. Owen's career is on the downward spiral and has been for a number of years, and I've seen nothing yet to suggest he can recover from that, not for any sustained period anyway. Just remember with every injury and passing month his value decreases while his wages remain the same. Waste of money he's been and will probably go down as one of the biggest flops in the club's history in relation to his price and wages which would be kind of sad given his ability to finish. But that's what you get when you sign such a player. Too late ... no one would touch him. He just isn't worth the risk. There are always younger, better players comin through (e.g. Tevez, Torres, Villa, Huntelaar etc) and he has well and truly been forgotten. Our last chance to sell him was last summer. The only way anyone would touch him now was if he was on a free. Considering no team in the top four would ever want him again in my opinion, he is unlikely to ever leave. Even the likes of Tottenham might turn their noses up at him at this point.

Lahm is a midget at 5 foot 7 and we all know how Sam feels about midgets ...

Lamb or Beef ... even tougher.

A left-back who is right-footed. Not sexy.

I see what you're saying, but it is still irritating as it is still going to cost him two games. If the season had started these would be two games we would be without our top striker. It's definitely frustrating. It's funny because when I saw his interview on Sky Sports yesterday and he was talking about not feeling guilty because he has only played 13 games for us in two years, it all made me feel a bit nervous. It's like he was tempting fate with that kind of talk. See NSG's post. Yeah but hasn't Owen been constantly working on his lower body all through his rehabilitation and since he has been back. Wasn't he just recently talking about how he hasn't really had a break and he is as fit and strong as he has ever been? I'm not trying to wind anyone up or be a pain but I honestly think he is just one of those guys that will always pick up injuries. Even when they are not major ones, it will always be little ones here and there adding up to around 10 odd games a season being missed.

I see what you're saying, but it is still irritating as it is still going to cost him two games. If the season had started these would be two games we would be without our top striker. It's definitely frustrating. It's funny because when I saw his interview on Sky Sports yesterday and he was talking about not feeling guilty because he has only played 13 games for us in two years, it all made me feel a bit nervous. It's like he was tempting fate with that kind of talk.

I don't know why but this just threw me into a fit of laughter. I guess it is so unbelievable yet so typical and so predictable that all you can do is laugh. We better not let Martins out of our sight because Owen just cannot be relied upon. This is just chocking ... I feel quite sad now guess its sinking in. During a freakin' shooting exercise for goodness sake. Is the man made of paper or what? freakin' Johnny Wilkinson of football or is Wilkinson the Owen of rugby. Aaaaaaaargh!!! Now I'm just pissed off

Now he would probably command around £7 million considering Bakary Sagna cost about that amount. Taiwo is a good shout and is indeed a top class prospect.

The article says a top class defender so I think we can rule out Baines and Shorey who might be decent players but are by no means top class. Of the people who we have been linked with I would guess Barzagli. Oliver seems to rule out Heinze just as Sam did a few days ago saying he was more likely to go abroad. If it is a left back I can't imagine which left back would cost £7 million especially whne you consider Grosso moved for about £4 million! The only £7 million left backs are in the premiership (due to their Britishness) and only Bridge would be close to being top class. Would we bid for Bridge considering he appears to have a pretty serious injury though? I would hope not.

Rather £7 million on Riise than Baines or Shorey though! nah baines is better than riise. i still don't rate shorey atall tho. watching him last night in that friendly he was outdone by unknown korean players time and time again. I'm not surprised Reading are in no hurry to extend Shorey's contract. Once he made the England team and they realised they could get at least £5 million for him they must have been ecstatic. I hope we aren't the ones who get suckered into paying anywhere near that amount for him. My money is on West Ham to go that route. Hmmmm Baines over Riise ... nope. Sorry. Can't agree with you on that one. Riise's size and experience tips the scales for me.

Rather £7 million on Riise than Baines or Shorey though!

A glimmer of hope that things are still pushing on. Thank goodness for that as it has been eerily quiet in the last few days. Good stuff from Sam putting his point accross in the way he has done this week. Let Ashley and Mort know we needed to pick up the pace a bit without being obnoxious about it. Roeder should be taking notes tbh.

I think people might have misread the article ... I thought the idea was that we would be paid £2 million upfront with additional payments based on how much he played. I don't think the pay as you play was in reference to Dyer's earnings. It was in reference to us getting more money on top of the £2 million.

Lord have mercy ... I think it is now official. The curse that has been hanging over our heads has now taken residence at West Ham. Dean Ashton's season long injury, all the injuries to almost every player they signed in January and now this. Along with the fact they are buying our old players (Bellamy and Bowyer). They have also become a bit of a joke as far as throwing money around which we have been accussed of for ages. I really think that there might be some truth to the Dyer rumours now this news has come through. Seeing as it is now official that Faubert is out for so long they better show us some money if they want Dyer. At the very least £7 million. I'm sure they are desperate enough. I have to say though, I am really dissapointed in Curbs. He really does seem to be absolutely rubbish. He apprently doesn't have a clue about any other players outside of England and so far has just been paying over the odds for premiership journey men. I might put some money down on him being the first manager to get the boot. West Ham would have been far better off with Sven, who is already showing that he has great contacts with the players he has brought in so far. Wow ... West Ham are struggling right now.

Weren't some people saying how Lee Ryder was worse than Oliver and they couldn't wait for Oliver to get back. Nice one guys!

Apparently a Spurs ITK has said we are competing with them for Wright-Philips. If the Dyer thing is true then I guess SWP would make sense.

It will get really interesting when Drogba decides he is due a new contract which he should feel entitled too when you consider how much is being given to players who are not as good or as important to the team as he is. How the hell is Terry earning £40,000 more then Drogba in a week? Chelsea without Drogba would be far worse off then Chelsea without Terry.

Big, strong defender with premierhsip experience ... Didn't one of those Austrian guys say they heard a conversation taking place about Paul Scharner? He might indeed be a possibility I completely forgot about him. He's pretty versatile too as he plays in midfield quite a bit as well. How would people feel about Paul Scharner?

We were linked with some French left-back at Nantes last week also. Franck Signorino or something ... anyone know if he's any good?

That would be great if it was us. He plays for marseille which is where Beye is isn't it? Hopefully maybe we diecussed Taiwo at the same time. Been a fan of his for a while now. Can be a bit raw at times from what I remember but he is as dynamic as they come. Very powerful and has a ridiculous level of stamina. Like you said his left foot can be lethal too.

Agreed Zog could definitely do with having a better agent.

From The TimesJuly 18, 2007 Agent says he has nothing to hide Kaveh Solhekol The agent at the centre of inquiries into allegations of corruption in football has denied any wrongdoing and vowed to clear his name. Willie McKay became the focus of attention after it emerged that he had been involved in transfer deals between the three clubs – Newcastle United, Portsmouth and Rangers – whose offices were raided by City of London Police on Monday. “It’s not me,” McKay, 47, said yesterday. “I have no idea what they are doing. All I can do is carry on doing my job of selling players. I think you will probably find that when it all comes out, it will be nothing. I was in Newcastle yesterday with Charles N’Zogbia [the Newcastle midfield player]. I don’t know whose homes police went to, but it wasn’t mine.” McKay represented Jean Alain Boumsong in his £8 million transfer from Rangers to Newcastle and Amdy Faye in his £2 million move from Portsmouth to St James’ Park, both in January 2005. The transfers were two of the 17 that were not cleared last month by the inquiry into alleged irregular payments from transfer dealings, conducted by Quest and headed by Lord Stevens of Kirkwhelpington. “I have been involved in many, many transfers,” McKay said. “The FA have got all the paperwork. Go there and see if they have any problems with the paperwork.” An FA spokesman declined to comment on McKay’s claim yesterday. “There are no simple answers in this case,” he said. Eyebrows were raised when Newcastle, who were managed at the time by Graeme Souness, agreed to pay £8 million for Boumsong only six months after he had joined Rangers on a free transfer from Auxerre. Souness, who has been cleared of any wrongdoing by Stevens’s inquiry, expected the France centre back to be as good as Rio Ferdinand or John Terry, but Boumsong was held in low regard by Newcastle supporters and he endured a nightmare 18-month spell on Tyneside before he was sold to Juventus for £3.3 million. “Jean Alain Boumsong played for France,” McKay said. “How many members of the France squad can you buy for less than £10 million? Ask Martin O’Neill what a good player he is. He tried to sign him when he was at Celtic. Ask Gérard Houllier, who wanted to buy him when he was at Liverpool. Ask Inter Milan, ask Barcelona. I rest my case.” McKay has denied that his home in the North East was one of two houses raided by police on Monday and the family of Freddy Shepherd, the Newcastle chairman, have insisted that they are not involved in the investigation. “Photographers have been circling Freddy’s house, but he has nothing to do with what has happened,” a family spokesman said. “Nobody knows anything about what is alleged to have gone on. But I can tell you one thing: everyone at Newcastle would love to find out, so action could be taken by the club if necessary.” While City of London Police officers sifted through the evidence that they had gathered, the chairman of a Football League club contacted by The Times suggested yesterday that the police investigation centred on allegations of VAT fraud and money-laundering. “I don’t think this is just about bungs,” he said. “It could be wider than that.” A spokesman for Quest, an independent company specialising in security investigations, refused to confirm whether McKay had complied with the request made by Stevens last month to provide more information about the transfers of Boumsong and Faye. “Investigations are ongoing and there is a lot of work still to do,” the spokesman said. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article2093757.ece

Yeah just seen them. Dyer was flying past people in the highlights. Troisi set up the last two goals, with some good unselfish play.