There’s no market
I went away on holiday for 15 days and came back and nothing had happened.
I was baffled for a day. Then I realised there’s no market.
It’s amazing.
Where’s the market gone ?
Every club has refuseniks.
But very few have been sold yet.
If Hleb is sold today to Barcelona, Arsenal are the first big club to unload a refusenik for good money.
Flamini and Hleb have gone and Adebayor can’t wait to go. The clown had one good season, a season he will never have again, and he wants £80,000 a week. Flogging him now for £20 million would be a coup.
Berbatov wants to leave Spurs, and Spurs want David Bentley, but they apparently can’t sign Bentley till Berbatov goes to Man United for £25 million. But will Berbatov only join United if Ronaldo leaves ?
But where is the market? Is there a market? When, at any time in the last five years, could you have bought players as gifted as Eto’o or Berbatov or Arshavin?
Clubs really want to sell some big-name players now. But they can’t. And it’s very frustrating, not being able to unload stars. It’s also expensive. Barcelona are still paying Ronaldinho’s astronomical wages.
Laporta said Deco has been poor for the last two years.I heard that since Paris 2006, when that Barcelona team peaked, their players have been partying and 10 of their squad got divorced last season, after all that partying.
When will the transfer action start?
Will it explode this week? Will some big names be signed by big clubs for big money?
Clearly, Arsene hasn’t got any money. He’s potless. He’s penniless. All Arsenal’s cash has gone into the flats at Highbury Square and something happened that we don’t know about.
Something that probably contributed to the sacking of MD Keith Edelman. Arsenal still have no CEO, no finance guy either. The fact that Danny Fizsman now wants two people to do the work that Edelman was doing suggests AFC should have employed a CFO a year ago, or two years ago, as well as an MD. There is an executive vacuum at London’s biggest club. As Ian Grant noted on ANR, Arsenal was not represented at that meeting of 103 clubs in Geneva, which is pathetic.
Now, Arsene has to sell to buy. And a lot of big clubs have to sell to buy. That’s why the market seems to have vanished.
A month ago I heard that Thaksin Shinawatra, the new owner of Manchester City, has been shocked by how much it costs to run a football club. That reminds me of chairman John Madjeski, who wants to sell Reading. Madjeski said, “I’m looking for a billionaire. A millionaire couldn’t afford it.”
And get this : billionaire Mike Ashley of Newcastle said last week : I’ m looking for an investor. A billionaire is looking for an investor ! That says it all .