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Friday, September 01, 2006

Transfer deadline shockers!

Well, there is a stunned calm of pure awe at the TDH compound tonight. How, how, HOW did West Ham manage to sign Carlitos Tevez and Javier Mascherano from Corinthians??!?! It defies belief. Not to Chelsea, not even to one of the top clubs, but to WEST HAM??!?! These guys were two of the best players at the World Cup. They could have gone to any team in Europe. TDH is dumbfounded. Explanations and conspiracy theories, please.

In Argentina, to answer Mara (hey Mara, shouldn't you already know what's going on in Argentina?), they're saying that Kia Joorabchian of Corinthians is actually buying West Ham, and the alleged $58 million transfer fee (or $45 million, depending on whom you ask) may be paid to himself. This certainly puts the Abramovich Hypothesis, first formulated by a Russian mathematician known to his colleagues only as Grishka, in a different light - he'd never be stupid enough to involve his money in two clubs in the Premier League, would he?

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TDH would like to be more generous, but really Roeder and Shepherd only deserve a 6 out of 10 for the transfer window. TDH's big beef is that they failed to sign a central defender... like Huth. Oba looks promising, but it's a shame that they only got Rossi for four months. (And it's a double shame that the New Jersey boy decided to play internationally for Italy - what was he thinking?) TDH was somewhat relieved that Milner wasn't sold to Villa, but Sibierski is a bit of a conundrum. Sure, he's a hard man, but TDH could never figure out how he fit into City's setup - now Roeder will have to answer the same question.

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Gooners are probably crowing about switching Ashley for Gallas, but for TDH the bigger coup is unloading Reyes - whom TDH never, ever liked - for Julio Baptista. Baptista is a horse and always has a great attitude, which is why TDH coveted him for the Toon for so long. At least we'll get to see him play in England. He can't possibly be more useless than Reyes. If Real get goals out of the latter, it'll show once and for all that Spain is a pretty boy league.

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Lastly, TDH is excited that DaMarcus is coming to DaMoonies. Long may he prosper under Psycho's psuper tutelage, except when he plays against Newcastle.

EXTRA: Soccernet is reporting that Newcastle obtained old boy Olivier Bernard on a free on September 1. Two questions: 1) how is that possible - is it because he was technically without a club? and 2) can he play in the center?

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

TDH: nufc.com, who I think we can trust to nail these sort of details, have said that since Bernard was a free agent, the transfer deadline didn't apply. They're giving a guarded welcome to the return of our once-errant left-back. I'd second that, and agree that any move designed to administer that floundering pretty boy Babayaro a kick up the arse (or perhaps nudge him in the direction of the Iberian peninsula; does the Spanish league operate a transfer deadline at all?) cannot be bad business.

Notwithstanding the virtue of the Bernard deal, it seems that the influential fans' site would judge a mark of 6/10 for our eleventh-hour dealings to be a trifle generous. As a recent season ticket holder at the Commonwealth stadium (don't ask, it was just the one season, honest) I can quite appreciate how Blues fans are falling over themselves to congratulate us on taking the hapless misfit Sibierski off their hands. And hey- when Manchester City fans feel free to make fun of your transfer market misjudgements, you really do feel you have cause to worry....

12:11 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Righto.

without wishing to be rude, gallas s**ts all over Cole, both as a left back and a centreback. Remember his goal against tottenham? unusual, but still. superb defender. I'm gutted Milan didn't sign him. Not sure what to make of Ricardo Oliveira - certainly a come down after Sheva.

Speaking of which, I'd earlier suggested Carlitos as the man for milan. but obviously, the glamour of the East End made it difficult for him to accept the shabbiness of the san siro.

I think he's been bought with an eye on a transfer next season. Probably with Masche, they'll go fro about 35-40 million pounds together. I've heard the deal was struck for almost no fee, but a 95% sell-on for MSI. Fifa needs to demand more transparency.

3:53 PM  
Blogger the Maradona of Malawi said...

to clarify, the comment above is from me, the Mara.

For some reason this computer is remembering the information typed in by a colleague.

4:17 PM  

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