Coco

i hope not On his way to Sevilla apparently...

Who the hell is Lucas Leiva?! Liverpool signed him for £8m...

Fatal mistake Tell me about it, could have won a fortune if I'd kept in it. Lost my internet connection at work and never got the time to keep track of my team. Won't be making that mistake again...

I'd say you'd need more than that this time round. I got over 2000 in my works league, and only finished mid-table. Stopped paying attention after January...

Nice piece. I agree with the sentiments, hopefully Zoggy will get his head down and do the business for us. All signs coming from the Austria thread seem to point to this being the case, which can only be good news. I have high hopes for the lad, and think he'll be integral to our revival in the coming seasons...

£5 says that despite that, Owen will still be at Newcastle come September but Anelka won't be at Bolton. Who's going to come in for Anelka now though? The big 4 have all bought their strikers, as have us, Spurs and West Ham. Only really leaves Everton (bit cash-strapped apparently), Villa, Man City or a foreign club. Why?! Do clubs outside the Premiership not buy players anymore?

Just set up me team. GK - Howard DF - Lescott, Ferdinand, Taylor Mid - Barton, Zog, Ronaldo, Gerrard Att - Tevez, Eduardo, Ashton Subs - Niemi, Shorey, Ingimarsson, De Ridder

If that is who Arsenal intend to go into the season with, then Spurs will finish 4th. Eduardo scored 34 times in 32 games last season. Spurs aren't strong enoughin squad depth to make 4th place. Spurs shuffle the pack too much every summer, and have no real stability in the squad. Whereas, I think a lot of Arsenals young lads will come on a lot next season and grow into a team...

Just on SSN there, their man in Spain, Graham Hunter I think his name is, can't really see this happening. I know it's just conjecture, but this guy's usually pretty close when it comes to these things. He also reckons Feyenoord are trying to do a deal for him.

What a surprise, Sanchez buys a n.i. player. If he gets all the players he is after, they're going down for certain.

We need another midfielder tbh, someone to compete with Butt for the DM position. True, I think someone in the typical Big Sam mould. i.e. a big strong tackler who will win the ball in the middle of the park. I think defence is the key area we need to strengthen, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be looking at other positions too...

The club seems to come out ok from this, all things considered. Seems to point the finger at McKay, Souness and Shepherd Jr. Beat me to it...

Aye, 2nd July mate. Hopefully we will have a few more bodies in by then, but I very much doubt that most of our dealings will be done before pre-season training starts...

Tough start I reckon... But the good thing is Sam knows exactly how they'll operate, and should have us set-up to get 3 points.

He's right though... blueyes.gif Seriously, look at some of Man U's recent buys. Rooney £18m Ronaldo £18m Carrick £16m Ferdinand £30m Saha £13m (I think?!) Van Nistelrooy £19m Veron £28m Plus loads of others which I can't remember (i.e. Kleberson, Heinze, Park etc.) Plus now £20m on Hargreaves and £30m for Nani and Anderson?!?! And all this as well as poaching young players from around the world, much like Chelsea are doing now too. It's just ridiculous. You need to buy the title. It's been that way almost since the Premiership began... I rest my case...

They have a very solid core to the team though, Yobo, Lescott, Arteta, Cahill would walk into our side, Neville and Johnson would put up a very good fight and the two young strikers look to have a hell of a lot of talent. Oh and Valente would surely be a better bet than Babayaro or Carr at left back. Agreed. Our team has no heart. Every good side needs a solid core to build on. Hopefully Sam has recognised this and is targetting players who will fill this capacity. I mean, realistically, we need a whole new defence (probably 4/5 bodies in), at least one CM (even if Barton deal goes through), and possibly cover for wingers (i.e. Duff-injured, N'Zogbia-immature, Solano-old). So in all seriousness, you're looking at us needing upwards of 6/7 players in just to cover our squad. And bear in mind, this is before considering the potential of Owen, Martins, Dyer etc. leaving. So I'm looking at this being a massive season of upheaval and one in which everyone from MA to the fans needs to understand what Sam's trying to achieve. If we can start looking like a team, with passion and belief, in the next 6-12 months, I'd be happy. Basically, look at Villa for instance. O'Neill came in last summer under the whole billionaire takeover cloud, much like Sam has had in recent weeks. What he's done is stabilised the team, removed the deadwood and built on their strengths. I think Sam will do much the same (as he has started doing already with the releases of Bramble etc.). And likewise, we as fans shouldn't be getting carried away. That's my thoughts anyway... 8) But anyway, enough tempered opinions, bring on the crazy rumours!

Fuck me, if Chelski sign Ben Haim, and finally get Alex as well, then they'll have 4 really good centre halves. If only we could get one... Ah well, if this is true, better we know now and Sam moves on to another target. Agree that MA may need to splash some cash if we want to get serious quality at the back, which everyone agrees is a must...

Disappointed with this news, if true. :'( But, on the other hand... Good job Souness isn't still in charge, or we'd wait till January and sign him for £8m.

That Barca one reminds me when Ronaldo ruled the world. Is this a new home or away?

Aye, maybe he scored a hat-trick aganist a shite Man U team, but that doesn't discredit the lad. There are plenty of 'good players' who would fail to do that. I still think he's worth a punt. As many have already said, he's not much of a gamble. Bring him in, if he doesn't fit, or can't cut it, he'll probably have takers back in Turkey or elsewhere. I would've thought this would be a typical Sam move...

A few problems with your source here mate. Not least the part which says "Alan Oliver is reporting that he believes our offer is less than what Chelsea have made". Nuff said...

Hope we're still in for him, reckon he'd be a good option to have, especially on a free.

Buy Dean Ashton? Yes, he's a quality player, would compliment Owen and Martins. Doubt we'd go for him though, and I have concerns about his fitness level and potential injuries. Sell Martins? He's a very promising young talent, who has chipped in with a fair few goals in his first season in English football, under shite management. He'll only improve next season, would be stupid to sell him now....

Dunno much about him tbh. Don't think he's as good as a few on here make out, but on a free transfer, worth a punt surely?

He's second rate. There are several players at Man U who are made look a lot better than they actually are (i.e. Brown, O'Shea, Silvestre, Fletcher etc.). I would think that with the money that we may have in the near future, we should be looking a little higher than a Man U cast off. I rate Ben Haim highly and think he would be a good addition to our team. Even if we do sign Tal, we'll still need more quality at CB, and I don't think Wes Brown would be anything more than cover for RB or CB in emergencies. That being the case, why would he leave the Man U bench for ours?