Monday's B*ll*x (updated)

[Chinners]

Manchester City set to test Everton nerve with £20 million Baines offer
According to reports Manchester City are ready to move for Everton full-back Leighton Baines.
The Daily Star Sunday claims City are intensifying their interest in the Toffees left-back.
The Merseysiders boss David Moyes is need of funds to bring in new players and knows he has to sell to raise them.
He may not be able to resist what is understood to be an impending £20 million bid from the Eastlands club.
City have been keen on the 26-year-old and sources claim a deal is near. (Click Manchester)

City eye triple transfer coup

... Romero, Savic and Cerci
ROBERTO MANCINI is lining up a dramatic triple swoop for Manchester City.
The Eastlands boss has targeted 23-year-old Fiorentina midfielder Alessio Cerci.
Italian sources claim he is also trying to sign Partizan Belgrade's £7m-rated 20-year-old defender Stefan Savic, a Montenegro international.
And 24-year-old Argentina international keeper Sergio Romero is also on City's radar.
Romero played in all of Argentina's World Cup ties in South Africa and the AZ Alkmaar keeper would be an ideal replacement if Shay Given moves on. It would also create serious competition for current No 1 Joe Hart.
Mancini is leaning heavily on two trusted agents to help pull off the raids - Sergio Berti, who represents Cerci and Savic, and Mino Raiola, who looks after Romero.
Both have helped him in the past with Raiola playing a part in Robinho's £18m sale to AC Milan. Sun

Manchester City in Eto'o swoop .. yawn
Manchester City could make Samuel Eto'o their first close-season signing, according to reports in Italy.
The Blues are currently preparing a £38m offer for Udinese's Alexis Sanchez to see off interest from Barcelona and new bidders Chelsea.
They also want Everton's Leighton Baines and Partizan's £7m-rated Stefan Savic to boost their defence - but are now turning their attentions to Eto'o, say Il Corriere dello Sport.
Eto'o is unhappy at San Siro and has recently been linked with newly-rich Paris St Germain.
City are already close to tying up one striker - Caen youngster M’Baye Niang.
The FA Cup holders are believed to be targeting three marquee signings this summer, plus four or five squad players.Mirror



OTHER BOLLOX
Manchester United have made a shock bid for Barcelona's Spanish Euro Under-21 Championships star Thiago Alcantara. Daily Mirror

Arsenal have made Valencia midfielder Juan Mata, another star of Spain's U21 side, their top summer transfer target. The Gunners have offered £18m for the 23-year-old. Daily Mail

Robbie Keane's career at Spurs looks set to be coming to an end, with Blackburn keen on signing the 30-year-old. Metro

Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas will make a double raid on Tottenham with a £60m bid for midfielder Luka Modric and the left-sided Gareth Bale. Caught Offside

Spurs boss Harry Redknapp hopes to offload Mexican midfielder Giovani Dos Santos to Seville, but the Spanish club have yet to meet the £6.5m asking price. The Sun

Chelsea are set to offer Didier Drogba - and £7m - in exchange for Galatasaray winger Arda Turan, 24. Daily Express

Meanwhile, Chelsea defender Jose Bosingwa could move to Besiktas after he was only given a one-year contract extension by the Blues. The Sun

Aston Villa will buy Birmingham keeper Ben Foster after a 'cooling-off period' with boss Alex McLeish and they will also sign Charles N'Zogbia from Wigan. Daily Mirror

Aston Villa are also interested in signing Stoke winger Matthew Etherington as a replacement for Ashley Young. Daily Mail

West Brom have joined the race to sign Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge, who scored eight goals on loan at Bolton last season.
The Sun

Stoke, Blackburn and West Brom are keen on Monaco centre-half Cedric Mongongu, 22, who has also been watched by Arsenal and Aston Villa in recent seasons. Daily Mail

Manchester United are confident of being able to sign Arsenal midfielder Samir Nasri, 23, for £20m. Caught Offside

Liverpool are close to completing the signing of Charlie Adam, the Blackpool midfielder, with Jonjo Shelvey moving in the opposite direction on a season-long loan. The Anfield club are also set to sign Aston Villa winger Stewart Downing. The Independent

Stoke will make a joint bid for Birmingham duo Scott Dann and Cameron Jerome. Daily Mirror

West Brom defender Gabriel Tamas could leave the Hawthorns for Lazio. The Times

Norwich will bid £2m for Newcastle keeper Fraser Forster, who was loaned to the Canaries in 2009-10. The Sun

Aaron Lennon has joined the long list of players Liverpool are hoping to sign, with the Reds rumoured to be planning a £20m bid for the Spurs winger. Metro

Mirko Vucinic's agent has ruled out a move to Blackburn, saying the Roma striker deserves a "more prestigious" club. Daily Express

Celtic manager Neil Lennon is confident of holding on to Premier League targets Emilio Izaguirre (Manchester United) and Beram Kayal (Liverpool). talkSPORT

Birmingham City acting chairman Peter Pannu has denied claims he interfered with team affairs when Alex McLeish was manager, and said the club only signed players with the former manager's written authorisation. Daily Express

While Sir Geoff Hurst took his place in the Royal Box at Wimbledon on Saturday, former Chelsea player Gary Chivers, who played under Hurst when he was manager at Stamford Bridge, has been helping out spectators queuing for shared taxis at the All England Club. Daily Express

[lets all have a disco]

Updated bollox by 9.11 am.

Top bombing.

[Chinners]

Updated bollox by 8.11 am.

Top bombing.

Sorted

[Ted Hughes]

I think the Savic story has a lot of truth in it but could be put off for a while due to work permit problems & us not being Utd. Be surprised if Romero would be happy to sit on City's bench. Looked pretty good when I've seen him.

[bobby brows]

Monday's Mill

Bright, noisy, dripping in gold and not afraid to shake their booty at passing strangers, it can be hard sometimes to tell the difference between Manchester United's summer transfer policy and Glastonbury headliner Beyoncé. United's summer of rampant spending looks set to continue with a £6.5m deal for Celtic left-back Emilio Izaguirre — "100% true", says the player — followed by a £10m move for Barcelona's European-Under-21-final-free-kick-scoring Thiago Alcântara.

Barcelona are happy to sell him to a Premier League club, the Mirror reports, but only if they can have a buy-back clause inserted into the deal. United aren't keen on that and as a result look set to lose the player, possibly to Bolton. Well if they liked him they shoulda put a ring on him. Alcântara may in fact end up at Arsenal as a makeweight in the Cesc Fábregas deal, though the Telegraph reckons that Barça are preparing a £31m straight-cash offer for the midfielder that should land on a desk in north London sometime today.

Did anyone else notice, by the way, that Beyoncé's final words at the end of her Glastonbury set were "drive home safely"? Was that the least rock'n'roll moment in the entire history of rock'n'roll? Other, that is, than the moment Saturday headliners Coldplay submitted a rider rumoured to have included "an assortment of vegetarian, gluten-free dips". Anyway, we digress. More relevant Glasto talk: Wayne Rooney apparently spent three hours in a drum'n'bass tent and is reported to have been "chuffed" after meeting Mumford & Sons.

Spanish winger Juan Mata has leapt to the top of Arsenal's transfer wish-list. The 23-year-old has also been linked with Liverpool, but Kenny Dalglish has apparently shifted his focus to Tottenham's Aaron Lennon, though they'll have to stump up £18m either way. Talking of Arsenal, their other main target, the Vélez Sársfield midfielder Ricardo Alvarez, might now go to the equally interested Internazionale instead.

Talking of Spurs, it looks like Giovani dos Santos is heading to Spain, though Tottenham want a fairly ambitious £6.5m for the man who has started just nine games for the club in three years and can't find anyone who wants to pay it – it might help if they show potential bidders his goal in Saturday's Gold Cup final.

Talking of £18m-rated left wingers, Chelsea have been told they can have Arda Turan from Galatasaray, but only if the Turks get £7m and Didier Drogba in return. If Drogba does go the Blues might hang on to Daniel Sturridge, which would disappoint West Bromwich Albion, Bolton, Newcastle and Stoke.

Stoke's Matthew Etherington has jumped to the top of Aston Villa's list of replacements for the departing Stewart Downing, though with James Milner, Charles N'Zogbia, Matt Jarvis and Den Haag's Wesley Verhoek also there, it's a pretty chunky list. Downing, incidentally, will hand in a transfer request this week to force through a move to Liverpool, for whom Charlie Adam could sign today (with Jonjo Shelvey heading to Blackpool for a season-long loan).

Bolton are ready to lavish a combined £6m on Benfica winger Rodrigo and Middlesbrough defender Rhys Williams.

Stoke — three mentions in one Mill: what are the odds? — whose back-up keeper Thomas Sorensen could be on his way to West Ham, want £4m-rated Monaco defender Cédric Mongongu. They have also made a complicated double bid for Birmingham duo Scott Dann and Cameron Jerome. Tony Pulis has proposed an £8m initial fee, with all sorts of bonus clauses meaning the fee might so much as double before the Potters have finished paying out. For that to happen, however, both players would have to earn international recognition, Stoke would have to break into the Premier League's top six and Andy Murray's collection of Percy Pig sweets would have to sprout wings and fly to the moon.

Craig Gardner is also likely to leave Birmingham, with Sunderland — who are also preparing a £7m bid for Reading's Shane Long — Wolves and Newcastle — who also want the Paris St-Germain striker Mevlüt Erdinc — scrapping over the goalscoring midfielder. Possibly coming to the Blues is Hibernian manager Colin Calderwood, who Chris Hughton wants to make his assistant (though he might end up taking Dann's place in defence at this rate).

Manchester City's megabucks transfer targets of the day are Fiorentina midfielder Alessio Cerci, Partizan Belgrade defender Stefan Savic and the Argentina goalkeeper Sergio Romero. But trumping them all is Porto's comedy-named striker Hulk, upon whom a £36m price tag has just been slapped.

And most likely recipient of QPR's squillions of the day is 37-year-old World Cup winning Italian centre-back legend Fabio Cannavaro.

[Esky]

I think the Savic story has a lot of truth in it but could be put off for a while due to work permit problems & us not being Utd. Be surprised if Romero would be happy to sit on City's bench. Looked pretty good when I've seen him.

Only saw him at the WC - must be decent if he's the number one for Argentina.
Isn't Cerci the one who barely made the Roma squad for years and years? Can't be any truth in that.

[Hazy2]

Did not want to start a thread, Good luck to Scott Kay, released and signed for Mac Town. Top top youngster and I wish him well.

[CityFanFromRome]

Isn't Cerci the one who barely made the Roma squad for years and years? Can't be any truth in that.

That's him indeed. I have to say this was the first season he played in the serie A in a decent team and he didn't do bad, Roma could and maybe should have given him more space when they had him. But he didn't set the league on fire either, so I don't think he would be a success in the Prem; he could be a good backup player for a top Italian team but not for an English one imho.

[BlueinBosnia]

I think the Savic story has a lot of truth in it but could be put off for a while due to work permit problems & us not being Utd.

Montenegro currently ranked 24th in the world (not bad for a country barely bigger than Luxembourg). He shouldn't have a problem unless he's been injured/excused from the last few internationals.

[Sideshow Bob]

Thiago to Bolton...yes that seems likely.

[CityFanFromRome]

Thiago to Bolton...yes that seems likely.

Especially when he can choose the rags or Roma, which is also reportely interested and where he would reunite with his coach at Barca B, Luis Enrique.

[Ted Hughes]

I think the Savic story has a lot of truth in it but could be put off for a while due to work permit problems & us not being Utd.

Montenegro currently ranked 24th in the world (not bad for a country barely bigger than Luxembourg). He shouldn't have a problem unless he's been injured/excused from the last few internationals.

Hasn't played enough internationals yet according to folk with Balkan connections on BM. It looks like we are after him though, so poss sign him but may leave him there until he meets the criteria.

[BlueinBosnia]

I think the Savic story has a lot of truth in it but could be put off for a while due to work permit problems & us not being Utd.

Montenegro currently ranked 24th in the world (not bad for a country barely bigger than Luxembourg). He shouldn't have a problem unless he's been injured/excused from the last few internationals.

Hasn't played enough internationals yet according to folk with Balkan connections on BM. It looks like we are after him though, so poss sign him but may leave him there until he meets the criteria.

Yep, just checked and he's only played 6 games. Isn't it something like 70% of matches in the last 2 years to qualify (if the team is in the top 75 of the World Rankings), with occasional exceptions made? At a quick count, they've played about 18 games in that time.

I don't check on BM ever. Are there many people over there from the former Yugoslavia? I know at one point one of their regular posters was a Bosnian Australian, and they had 2 or 3 Serbians. Has there been a big influx since the Kolarov & Dzeko signings?

[Chinners]

EVENING BOLLOX
City Deny Aston Villa for Milner
Thought it was just yesterday that Aston Villa attempted to reclaim possession of midfielder James Milner from Manchester City, Manchester Evening News says the Blues have fired back today by denying Villa's recapture.
The England international left Villa for City last summer on a reported £23 million fee. And after a very forgettable campaign at Eastlands, Villa offered up £14 million for Milner. A quick response for a club that is trying to land one of Europe's top wingers in Alexis Sanchez.

Garry Cook Opens Groundbreaking New City Store
Despite the rain, eager City fans turned out in force to witness the club's chief executive, Garry Cook, officially re-open Eastlands' CityStore after a one million pound refurbishment. Incidentally, the other chap in the picture is Steven Roberts, a Blue who won a recent CityStore competition.

The store at the stadium has undergone a major overhaul, which has seen it become the most digitally advanced football retail store in the UK.
A £1m investment by retail partner Kitbag has resulted in the store being transformed into an innovative experience for fans. Increasing the retail area by 25 percent, the interior of the existing store has been completely overhauled to offer a massive 10,000 square foot of shopping space.
Sophisticated Green Screen technology has been implemented to offer fans the chance to be pictured in a variety of settings; for example lifting the FA Cup along with their heroes. The backgrounds available with the technology will constantly be changed and updated so that fans can enjoy new experiences each time they visit the store.
The new City Store at the stadium is open Monday to Saturday 9 am to 5.30pm and Sunday 11am to 5pm.

CRAIG'S THREAD OF THE WEEK BOLLOX
viewtopic.php?f=119&t=39161

I DON'T KNOW WHAT BORES ME MORE SANCHEZ OR CROCKY'S BOLLOX
New Chelsea boss makes direct call to Manchester City and Manchester United target Sanchez
According to reports Chelsea are rivalling Manchester City for the signature of Udinese star Alexis Sanchez.
Saudi media outlet The National claims new Chelsea Andre Villas-Boas has personally sounded out Chile international on the possibility of joining him at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea hope that the intervention of Villas-Boas will be the key factor in persuading Sanchez to choose them over Barcelona, Manchester United and Manchester City.
Roman Abramovich is understood to be backing the move and is prepared to match whatever City are prepared to offer, the bid currently standing at £31.2 million plus £8.9 million in bonuses.

Blackburn Rovers chasing permanent deal for Manchester City ace Santa Cruz
According to reports Blackburn Rovers are in talks with Manchester City over striker Roque Santa Cruz.
The Daily Star Sunday claims Rovers boss Steve Kean is eager to bring the Paraguayan back to Ewood Park on a permanent deal.
Santa Cruz joined Rovers on a temporary basis back in January and it is understood he would welcome a return to his former club.
However, the 29-year-old is currently on a £90,000-a-week contract at City.
City want £6 million for the striker and it is unclear at this stage whether Rovers have the financial wherewithal to meet that price.

BRIDGE IN OFFICIAL WAG BOLLOX
***Frankie Sandford on Wayne Bridge: I love dating an older man - I want marriage and babies!***
Frankie Sandford's looking to the future. Sandford's relationship with West Ham footballer Wayne Bridge is still going strong.
The Saturdays singer knows she can trust her man, despite the reputations of other bad boy footballers.
'Wayne's different,' says Frankie, 22. 'We don't hang out with other players, and I'm not really interested in being a WAG.
'We've both had past relationships that were in the public eye. This is more private, and so much nicer.'
Frankie, who's been dating 30-year-old Wayne for 6 months, admits she 'loves' going out with an older man and is very keen to get married and have children one day.
'Work and everything is amazing,' she says, 'but family will be with you forever.'

TOP 10 FA CUP COMEBACK BOLLOX
Some classics amongst this lot with of course our FA CUP against Spurs.
http://www.footballfancast.com/2011/06/ ... f-all-time

enjoy ...

[youtube]e58rdYk1rPE[/youtube]

EXCLUSIVE Jeff Stelling Interview: Balotelli, Tévez, Soccer Saturday and Champions League B*ll*x
Jeff Stelling is the hugely popular host of Soccer Saturday, Countdown and, from the coming season, Sky Sports’ Champions League Football. Here, on the Viewfromablue website, they spoke to him about his career in the media, thoughts on Soccer Saturday and his views on all things Manchester City:
http://viewfromablue.com/2011/06/27/exc ... ns-league/

[Chinners]

HA HA BOLLOX
At the time of this post there were 7 topics with B*ll*x in the title on the first page ... just thought I'd share that with you!

[JonnyAsh]

Aah! love a good nip slip picture!

[1950]

I think the Savic story has a lot of truth in it but could be put off for a while due to work permit problems & us not being Utd.

Montenegro currently ranked 24th in the world (not bad for a country barely bigger than Luxembourg). He shouldn't have a problem unless he's been injured/excused from the last few internationals.

Hasn't played enough internationals yet according to folk with Balkan connections on BM. It looks like we are after him though, so poss sign him but may leave him there until he meets the criteria.

Yep, just checked and he's only played 6 games. Isn't it something like 70% of matches in the last 2 years to qualify (if the team is in the top 75 of the World Rankings), with occasional exceptions made? At a quick count, they've played about 18 games in that time.

I don't check on BM ever. Are there many people over there from the former Yugoslavia? I know at one point one of their regular posters was a Bosnian Australian, and they had 2 or 3 Serbians. Has there been a big influx since the Kolarov & Dzeko signings?

Don't they make exceptions though, for err... exceptional talents?

He's 20 & since his debut a year ago he's featured in 6 out of 8 possible games. I'm sure Bernstein can sort it out.

[BlueinBosnia]

Yep, just checked and he's only played 6 games. Isn't it something like 70% of matches in the last 2 years to qualify (if the team is in the top 75 of the World Rankings), with occasional exceptions made? At a quick count, they've played about 18 games in that time.

Don't they make exceptions though, for err... exceptional talents?

He's 20 & since his debut a year ago he's featured in 6 out of 8 possible games. I'm sure Bernstein can sort it out.

Exceptions are made, but I think there's extra paperwork/processes to go through at a governmental level, rather than an FA one.

Edit: an article's been written today clarifying the situation. Don't know how trustworthy the source is- the writer looks like he's on work experience. http://sport.stv.tv/football/scottish-p ... otballers/