Off season rumours and transfers

[smithy]

This is the time the tabloids are at their craziest.
Post your football rumours here.

Manchester United have made the first move in an attempt to sign Michael Owen from Newcastle for £7m.
AC Milan have ruled out a move for Dimitar Berbatov, saying Tottenham's valuation of £30m is too high.
Barcelona and Chelsea, however, are prepared to meet Spurs' valuation of the Bulgarian striker.

Samuel Eto'o is the man manager Juande Ramos wants to replace Berbatov and Tottenham are seeking sponsors in a bid to meet the Cameroon striker's £100,000-a-week wage demands.

Arsene Wenger wants to sign Atletico Madrid's 18-year-old attacking midfielder Ignacio Camacho. He could cost Arsenal £15m, even though he only played 11 times for the Spanish club.
Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure, the younger brother of Kolo Toure, is also wanted by Wenger.

Villarreal say Sol Campbell will join the Spanish club when his Pompey contract expires next month.
Chelsea are prepared to sell striker Nicolas Anelka, just five months after paying £15m to Bolton for him.
Peter Crouch will buy out the remaining year of his Liverpool contract and move abroad, with Spanish club Villarreal reportedly interested in the striker.
If Chelsea lose out to Man Utd in the race for the title then Blues fans can console themselves that they have beaten their rivals to the signature of Porto right back Jose Bosingwa. The club have agreed a fee of £15.9m for the Portugal international.
The Stamford Bridge club are also eyeing a £20m move for Bosingwa's club and international team-mate, winger Ricardo Quaresma.
Arsenal could get Manchester City defender Richard Dunne for as little as £1m.

Stuttgart striker Mario Gomez is a £10m target for Arsenal.

Birmingham City goalkeeper Maik Taylor is a shock target for Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez.

Tottenham are lining up a bid for Espanyol centre-half Marc Torrejon.

Newcastle have had a £9m bid rejected by St Etienne for striker Bafetimbi Gomis and the French club are holding out for £17m.
Portsmouth are hoping to land Tottenham defender Younes Kaboul in a cut-price deal.

Spurs boss Juande Ramos will offer Tom Huddlestone in exchange for Middlesbrough winger Adam Johnson.

Roy Keane is planning a £10m double swoop for Reading duo Kevin Doyle and Stephen Hunt.

Edgar Davids could be in line for a shock move back to the Premier League with Kevin Keegan's Newcastle.

Celtic striker Scott McDonald is poised to be given a new four-year contract despite a potential £6m bid from Newcastle.
Rangers could make an approach for Blackpool central defender Kaspars Gorkss.
Thomas Buffel has rejected reports he is poised to leave Rangers and join Feyenoord.
Hearts have placed an £8m release clause on troubled Chile striker Mauricio Pinilla.

Hearts are keen to bring defender Patrick Kisnorbo back to Tynecastle from Leicester City.

Plymouth are keen on Aberdeen's Barry Nicholson, Rangers' Alan Gow and St Mirren's Andy Dorman.
Stephen Ireland is a target for Bolton and the Manchester City midfielder would cost in the region of £4m.
Leeds are set to sign Liechtenstein captain Martin Stocklasa, who is available on a free transfer from Dynamo Dresden.
Nottingham Forest will renew their efforts to sign Coventry's Leon Best after missing out on him last summer.
Michael Owen will run down his contract and leave Newcastle on a free rather than take a pay cut.
Everton chairman Bill Kenright is seething after claims the club are dragging their heels over a new contract for manager David Moyes.
The news has alerted Celtic who are likely to part company with Gordan Strachan and Moyes will be a popular choice to take over at Parkhead.
Manchester City owner Thaksin Shinawatra wants axed Barcelona boss Frank Rijkaard to succeed Sven-Goran Eriksson at Eastlands.
While City could offer Jose Mourinho a way back into management as a move to Italy or Spain appears unlikely.
Benfica are confident that Eriksson will be become their new manager next season.

Fabio Capello wants Paul Scholes and Jamie Carragher to come out of international retirement to join England's World Cup qualifying campaign.
Rangers will stage an open-top bus parade through the south side streets of Glasgow on Thursday win or lose the Uefa Cup final.
SPL chief executive Lex Gold fears being given the blame should Rangers lose the Uefa Cup final because of its fixtures decisions.
Ian Holloway will be sacked as manager of Leicester City when he meets with chairman Milan Mandaric tomorrow.
Sheffield United want to appoint former England manager Steve McLaren as their director of football.

[MightyEagles]

Sydney FC to get Harry Kewell.

[Dirko]

Sydney FC to get Harry Kewell.

Can't happen as Aloisi is their marquee player....

[RoosterMarty]

Kewell won't come to Australia yet...

Where did you hear that Manchester United were after Owen? Surely they wouldn't sign him!! I hope your source wasn't News of the World!

[smithy]

Kewell won't come to Australia yet...

Where did you hear that Manchester United were after Owen? Surely they wouldn't sign him!! I hope your source wasn't News of the World!

NOTW are crap, those listed above are certainly not my rumours, they are taken from the BBC site who have taken them from the countries papers.
99% of them are rubbish, but it creates a talking point during the off season.

[smithy]

Manchester United are set to step up their bid to sign £20m-rated defender Micah Richards from local rivals Manchester City.

Tottenham could be beaten to the signing of Samuel Eto'o after Inter Milan launched a £32m bid for the Barcelona striker.

West Ham midfielder Freddie Ljungberg has been offered £3m to leave the club.

Wigan manager Steve Bruce is to launch a £4m bid for Greek defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos who plays for AEK Athens.

Sunderland are ready to bid £2.5m for Wolves and Republic of Ireland right back Kevin Foley.

Jordan Stewart is set to join Derby on a free transfer from Watford.

Former Rangers star John Brown thinks it would take more than £10m for English Premier League clubs to prise Carlos Cuellar away from Ibrox.

Reading manager Steve Coppell will quit the relegated club today after a meeting with chairman John Madejski.

Former Ajax, PSV and Werder Bremen manager Aad De Mos has set his sights on succeeding Alan Curbishley at West Ham.

Birmingham City co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold have vowed to quit the club following protests from fans after the club were relegated.

Manchester City manager Sven-Goran Eriksson will learn his fate in the next 24 hours and will pocket a £3m pay-off when he is sacked.

Relegation to the Championship will cost Derby, Reading and Birmingham £42m each.

John Terry insists he will be ready to face Manchester United in the Champions League final, despite dislocating his elbow against Bolton on Sunday.

Chelsea and Man Utd are struggling to sell-out their allocation of tickets for the 21 May final as the price of travel and accommodation is putting fans off.

Ally McCoist is praying that troubled former team-mate Paul Gascoigne can attend the UEFA Cup Final on Wednesday and inspire Rangers to victory.

Dutch coaching legend Louis Van Gaal has branded Rangers' playing style "boring" and "bad for football

[MightyEagles]

Sydney FC to get Harry Kewell.

Can't happen as Aloisi is their marquee player....

But he will be in the next season or two, I can tell you that now.

[MST]

Chelsea and Man Utd are struggling to sell-out their allocation of tickets for the 21 May final as the price of travel and accommodation is putting fans off.

That is my favourite rumour

[The Dutchman]

Owen a possible target for Japan's Chiba

TOKYO, May 13 (Reuters) - Japan's JEF United Chiba are planning an audacious swoop for England striker Michael Owen, Japanese media reported on Tuesday.


The J-League club have just unveiled former Liverpool first-team coach Alex Miller as their new manager and believe Owen can solve the team's current goal-scoring problems.


Japan's Nikkan Sports reported that Chiba officials were preparing an initial approach and that contact had been made with Owen's agent Tony Stephens.

Owen has yet to agree a new contract with Newcastle United and the former Liverpool and Real Madrid striker has been linked with a move to Premier League champions Manchester United.

A move to Japan could prove detrimental to Owen's England career, although JEF United have transfer funds available after selling several top players before the 2008 J-League season.

"The reports are not 100 percent off the mark," Chiba's Kentaro Shiga told Reuters.

"Owen's name was one of those being talked about when the team were looking at possible targets."

The club insisted new boss Miller and was not behind any potential swoop for the 28-year-old former European Footballer of the Year, who he worked with at Liverpool.

"The club were discussing options needed for individual positions before the new manager came in," Shiga said.

"The coach didn't tell the club to move for Owen."

Struggling Chiba are rooted to the bottom of the J-League first division, only winning their first game in 12 matches this season at the weekend with Miller watching from the stands

[johntheclaret]

JTC to renew season ticket for the Clarets next year

Just thought I would add to the rumour market

[smithy]

Apparently Chelski have bid 50 million euros for Fernando Torres.

[Dirko]

JTC to renew season ticket for the Clarets next year

Just thought I would add to the rumour market

No factitious innuendo please john.

Heard a massive rumour that jtc is going to take photo's when the Clarets lose to Derby at Pride Park

[smithy]

Bruce Djite has been sold to an un-named European club for an undisclosed fee.

[johntheclaret]

Bruce Djite has been sold to an un-named European club for an undisclosed fee.

Too much details there smiffy

[Jayne]

Bruce Djite has been sold to an un-named European club for an undisclosed fee.

Who is the club? Cmon you guys hear the rumours! What country at least????

[Dirko]

I have heard he''s heading to Turkey
Gençlerbirligi is the rumoured club...

It is the same club where Nicky Carle went to.

Carle is now at Bristol City and in the plans for a Wembley Trip and possible
promotion to the EPL.

Could be a good stepping stone for Bruce, but IMO, France or Holland would
have been better....

[smithy]

Bruce Djite has been sold to an un-named European club for an undisclosed fee.

Who is the club? Cmon you guys hear the rumours! What country at least????

Sorry Jayne, that one wasn't a rumour, it was reported exactly like I said it.
He's definitely been sold, but Adelaide hadn't released the final details, I assume because of finalising the contract or a medical.

[Magpiespower]

Chelsea and Man Utd are struggling to sell-out their allocation of tickets for the 21 May final as the price of travel and accommodation is putting fans off.

That is my favourite rumour

Ha!

My mate lands in Moscow the very day of the Champions League Final.

It's $1000 a night for a hovel...

[Dirko]

And they say the Russians are stupid...

Bloody capitalist commies

[Pidge]

Seydou Keita from Sevilla to Barcelona