Gert & TheBoy's Official VNA Soccer... err Football Thread

[Gert-Jan]

Robin van Persie looks set to join Fenerbahce! He has agreed personal terms with the Turkish club regarding a 4-year contract, which is exceptionally long for a 31-year old player. As weird as this transfer may seem, it makes perfect sense. The reason that guys like him, Kuijt, Drogba and Sneijder, go to that country is because of the huge wages. You can get a shit ton of money there as football players only have to pay 15% income tax. Robin is gonna be treated like a God, put on a pedestal by fans and the weather climate is amazing too!

At first I thought Falcao didn't perform well at Man United because of Van Gaal's ideas about the game. However, I have seen him at the Copa America last month and Falcao has not scored any goal! Like we've mentioned before, it is likely that his recent injuries have messed him up physically. Diego Costa is the number one forward and Falcao will probably be his stand-in like Drogba was during last season. So, two Mancunians gone now. It wouldn't even surprise me if DiMaria were to be the third superstar leaving Old Trafford.

Drew, to be honest, I don't really get why Guardiola wants Douglas Costa. He's certainly a good player, though the only reason his price tag went up so high is because he has become part of Brazil's national team. He can play attacking midfielder as well as right winger, but Bayern already have quite a few players available to fill those positions, so why buy another one?! Especially since Pep hasn't even given Germany's biggest talent, Mario Gotze, a fair chance. I think Douglas Costa will probably sit on the bench a lot.

Shakhtar Donetsk forward Luiz Adriano, who scored 9 goals in the Champions League 2014/2015, is joining AC Milan. More news coming from one of the capital cities of the fashion industry as Colombia striker Carlos Bacca is also moving to Milan! The Italians pay Sevilla about €30m and Berlusconi is hoping that the combination of Bacca and Luiz Adriano will actually turn AC Milan into a title candidate again.

The situation of Shaqiri is similar to Bojan Krkic. Both started their career at the top (Barca/Bayern), moved elsewhere after a lack of playing time (Roma/Inter), to finally end up in Stoke-on-Trent of all places, lol. Bad move from Shaqiri as I think he's too short for the Premier League. A random mid-table team in Germany or Spain would be best for him. Oh well, guess we'll have to wait and see how things go....

Lastly, Sevilla have signed Dnipro star Konoplyanka, while Lukas Podolski is moving from Arsenal to Galatasaray.... in Turkey!

Copa America Final:
Chile 0-0 Argentina (Chile win after penalties)

[rokkerr]

Harry Kane to United?

[Gert-Jan]

There has been lots of speculation whether or not Kane is going to leave Tottenham. My gut says he's gonna stay at White Hart Lane, although the feeling is based on nothing, lol. He's young and talented, but it would be way too soon to go somewhere else. He needs to try to be important for Spurs throughout an entire season and claim the Premier League topscorer title. It will hopefully convince Hodgson that he's England's best option for the striker position, which could lead to a lot of goals at the European Championship 2016 and then he can move to a top 4 club. He still has so much to learn.

Here's one we didn't see coming.... Arda Turan will be going to Catalunya! From their official website: "FC Barcelona have reached an agreement with Atletico Madrid for the signing of Arda Turan for the next five seasons for the figure of €34m with a possible €7m in variables. The agreement includes the option of selling the player to Atletico Madrid for the fixed fee less 10% option costs. This option could be exercised by FC Barcelona up until midnight of July 20". That's a lot of money for a 28-year old player. Too much, perhaps? Keep in mind that Barca are only halfway of their 14-month transfer ban, so none of the newbies are even allowed to play until January. Crazy!

[TheBoy]

Not a chance in hell Kane will go to United! After the way United acted in signing both Carrick and in particular, Berbatov, Daniel Levy has made it pretty clear that he won't sell our players to English teams whom we are competing with. See Modric and Bale. Chelsea tried all the tricks in the book to get Modric, yet he stood firm with. United asked to be kept in the loop with regards to the Bale transfer but only Madrid stood a chance of signing him.

I'm pretty sure Levy would sell Kaboul, Adebayor or Chiriches to Manchester but as for players who distinctly improve a rival whilst simultaneously weakening ourselves, nope!

Yep, we were all caught by surprise with the Turan news! I didn't see Barcelona being his destination at all! It seems to go against their whole ethos and to me at least, seems questionable as to why they would really want him?

Gert, anything coming out of the Netherlands with regards to Hiddink being in contention for the Leicester City job? It would be quite a surprise if he were to get it, but then stranger things have happened. I would have thought former player and fan favourite Neil Lennon would have been the hot favourite, but so far that one has stayed pretty quiet.

The curious case of Toby Alderweireld continues... Southampton as we know took the player on loan from Atletico Madrid last summer and had an agreed price of just £6.8m written into the deal. Fast forward 12 months and after a very successful season in the Premier League, Atletico realise they could get a lot more for him and Toby himself thinks he can aim higher. Enter Tottenham Hotspur.

Spurs offer closer to £11m and naturally Atletico accept. Alderweireld spends a few weeks talking about how he would love to join up with his BFF Jan Vertonghen and the other Belgians at the club.

Southampton, who dislike Spurs with a passion (a link going back to when we took Glenn Hoddle off them as manager - hardly crime of the century!), get the hump and turn on denial mode. Despite not owning the player, they threaten legal action and a case for £1.5m in compensation should Alderweireld sign for another club. Atletico in the meantime miss out on a deadline to 'buy out' the clause and Southampton think they have an ace up their sleeve.

Despite this, rumours run wild that Alderweireld has agreed personal terms and undergone his medical with Tottenham with the expectation that a deal could be announced some time today. However, this afternoon has taken yet another twist: Southampton upon looking into their deal realise that the buy it now price expired last week (curious timing for Levy to jump on a plane last week and start negotiations!). So the very latest is that Southampton have gone slightly mental and bid a staggering £16m for the player. So where this leaves everyone now, it very much remains to be seen.

My personal take on this is that if Toby wanted to or was happy to sign for Southampton, a deal would already have been signed by now. Thus bidding £16m seems like nothing more than to try and either start Madrid pushing us into a bidding war or at the very least slow down the deal and Southampton try to save a bit of face over their quite frankly amateurish handling of the whole deal.

[TheBoy]

Official: Toby Alderweireld joins Tottenham Hotspur! That was a fast conclusion lol. Apparently Atletico didn't even respond to the Southampton bid, so you have to wonder what muddied the waters between them so dramatically. Anyway, hopefully Toby will be worth all the drama and significantly improve our porous defence, although I still think that we will struggle until the central midfield situation is attended to. Sadly, I don't think we can count on Schneiderlin being an option anymore, even if his moves to Manchester United or Arsenal fall through lol.

In other Spurs news, the club made another announcement yesterday that eclipses that of any summer signings. Our long overdue stadium is now scheduled to be completed for the season starting in 2018 and comes with it many exciting stories. Not least is the ground breaking news that we have signed an agreement to take over from Wembley as the new home of NFL games in London for the subsequent 10 years. A minimum of two games per year will be played at Spurs with the NFL keen to take advantage of our retractable pitch that will allow them their own playing surface. For Tottenham to be known as the home of NFL in England should be massive as the popularity of the games at Wembley has been incredible.

Second biggest news is that our new capacity has been increased to 61,000 putting us as the second biggest ground in the league behind Manchester United and ahead of Arsenal. Along with this, the new design has incorporated what will be the biggest single tier stand in England with a whopping 17,000 seats. That should be a quite incredible sight and I can't wait to see it.

Other icing on the cake features include an airwalk that allows people to walk atop the roof of the stadium, the worlds biggest indoor rock climbing wall and facilities for other extreme sports. Affordable housing, hotel and many many others too long (and probably boring to neutral observers lol) to list make up a quite amazing package that Daniel Levy must take immense credit for. To go from losing out on the Olympic Stadium to West Ham, dust himself down, deal with a troublesome steel works (that ironically allowed us this extra time to do the NFL deal and thus add in the extra capacity - thanks whoever bankrolled Archway!) and come back with this... Roll on 2018!

[rokkerr]

Goodbye Robin Van Persie from United....

[Gert-Jan]

Guus Hiddink has retired.

Fenerbahce are building a brand new team and have bought LOTS of players. The Turkish club signed Nani for €6m on Monday and the Guardian had the exclusive story on Saturday that Van Persie will be next. Fenerbahce hope to complete the transfer within a week from now.

Andrea Pirlo has officially joined Lampard and David Villa at New York City. It's shocking to watch American soccer if you're used to European football. Saw the NY derby two weeks ago, but it was kinda boring to be honest, lol. American clubs know how to make money and some of their stadiums are gigantic, but most of the times the pitch is in bad shape and players don't have the tactical or technical skills to stand out. The Western Conference is slightly better with Seattle Sounders and LA Galaxy as best teams, IMO.

I am trying to remember the last time we had so much Tottenham news, lol... all are good stories though. Alderweireld and Vertonghen were an excellent duo at Ajax, so this is definitely a step forward regarding the Spurs defense. That new stadium will lift up Spurs' budget significantly as of 2018. Tottenham already finish 5th or 6th every season, just image what might happen when Levy can spend even more money on players! The only reason Chelsea are able to compete with the big boys is because of Russian Roman. If he ever decides to move on, Stamford Bridge's capacity of 42.000 won't be enough to stay in the rat race for a top four spot. Anyway, glad to hear so much positivity about your club. Don't do a 180 and be all negative when they end up losing the first match at Old Trafford, lol.

[rokkerr]

Schweinsteiger to MUFC? Didn't see that coming....

[TheBoy]

Schweinsteiger to United has been on the cards for a few weeks now, which is the reason poor Morgan Schneiderlin is still anxiously watching the days tick by waiting for a Champions League club to come in for him. I know that recent years has shown the classy 'experienced' midfielder can still have plenty to offer - Pirlo, Alonso, Gerrard, Lampard but for a 30 year old coming into the Premier League from the relative comfort of Bayern Munich... It's going to be very interesting to see how he copes. Especially as United will almost certainly see him as a key figure. I see it as a bit of gamble.

I'm not sure if it's been mentioned previously but Man U will also soon announce the signing of 25 year old Torino right back Matteo Darmian for around £13m.

Other signings in and out of the Premier League:

Stoke sell midfielder Steven N'Zonzi to Sevilla for just £7m. At that price, I'm very surprised other Premier League teams did not come in for him and also questionable as to why Stoke would accept such a relatively low fee.

Manchester City bolster their homegrown quota with their now customary token English signing to bulk out the bench by snapping up Fabian Delph from Aston Villa for, again, a relatively reasonable £8m. The curious part of this transfer is that Delph would have been a free agent this summer but instead chose to sign a new deal back in January. Thus it's surprising that Villa have accepted a fee that wasn't far from the one being touted for him in January when clubs were thinking of trying to sneak in a deal. As for Delph, well I'm sure he'll enjoy his free time, automatic England call ups and bags full of cash as he watches his team mates play ;)

Crystal Palace make me jealous by signing former Newcastle star Yohann Cabaye from PSG in a deal reported to be worth £11m rising to £14m. Again I'm very surprised other clubs have not come in for him and I think he will be a great addition to Pardew's Palace side who were already showing signs of promise last season.

Leicester are now reported to be looking at former manager Martin O'Neil. The link is obvious, but I don't know, I'd be surprised if he did go back. Although I don't think international management is working out for him and he would possibly jump at getting back into club management, he seems a far too intelligent man to go back to a former club where his reputation is still impeccable. But this is football and quite frankly anything can happen lol so expect him back in the Foxes dugout any day now :-p

[TheBoy]

Seems that everyone was duped by the Delph move to Man City... He's now staying at Villa and issued the following statement on their official club website:

He said: "I'm aware there has been intense media speculation surrounding my future in the last 24 hours and I want to set the record straight. I'm not leaving. I'm staying at the football club and I can't wait for the start of the season and captaining this great football club."

Fair play to him for thinking things through and valuing playing a key part for Villa vs keeping a seat warm on City's bench.

So, who now for City to bolster their home grown quota? Morgan Schneiderlin qualifies and whilst being more expensive, I'm sure City can scrape together the extra cash.

[TheBoy]

So, City have decided to get over the crushing disappointment of losing Fabian Delph by this afternoon agreeing a quite frankly stupid fee of £49m for Liverpool's want away Raheem Sterling. Honestly, I'm just shaking my head at the whole thing really. Sterling is a good player, but worth fifty million? Don't make me laugh. If he wasn't English and wasn't playing for Liverpool, he would be worth less than twenty - and that's with inflated prices of today's market.

Still, I doff my cap to Liverpool for rinsing City like this. Although you have to think that Brendan is running the risk of 'doing a Tottenham' for a second year running in selling a pretty key player for big money and then spending like a drunken yuppie on several replacements rather than going after a bona fide star. As we have seen in recent seasons, the plan on paper of selling one player for big money and using it (plus a whole lot more in Liverpool's case) to buy over half a new team, it's very hard to make work. You can go by the theory that if out of 6-7 signings that 3-4 work out then you've done ok, but really the time it takes to find out who those 3-4 are and the constant focus on all the new signings makes it almost a moot point when come the end of the season you're in a lower league position.

As for City, the signing does make sense. Navas is the only player with real pace in the squad and of course home grown quotas are always a key point, so Sterling ticks those boxes handily. He should work out quite well for them but again coming back to the huge transfer fee, for that much money you want more than someone who runs really fast and gets a few goals and assists. You should be expecting someone who will be up there as player of the season and represent a real coup of a signing that makes the rest of the league envious.

In other transfer news that could have some intriguing kick on effects, Real Madrid legend Iker Casillas has left the club to join up with Porto. It represents the end of an era and the start of a new one as Madrid look to sign a new number one. David De Gea will almost certainly be the main target and if they prove successful, then the threat of United looking for a new keeper looms large. And despite my staunch assurance that Spurs would no longer sell players to United, Lloris is the one that has me very worried in testing Levy's resolve. And on top of that, if De Gea does stay at Old Trafford, I would think Hugo will be quite high on the Real shortlist. And we know how much Daniel Levy enjoys a good deal with Madrid...

[Gert-Jan]

Yep, Schweini's transfer had been buzzing around for quite some time. As I have said before, the value of Carrick on their midfield shouldn't be underestimated. When he was unable to play due to suspension or injury, Man United sucked even more. Now they finally have a back-up in case such situation occurs again. Pep Guardiola has Thiago Alcantara and Schweinsteiger had to endure severe injuries recently. Van Gaal has succesfully worked with him in Germany, so I understand why he would want this experienced player. You could even say it's a bargain given the large amounts being spent nowadays. On the other hand, he is 30 years old and will not be fit enough to play the entire season. A gamble indeed.

Darmian impressed me last season and it's good to see the Mancunians finally buying a real defender. An Italian international in the English competition, now that's something to worry about. How many Italians have succeeded in the EPL last couple of years? Osvaldo is an example of how difficult it can be for south-Europeans to adjust to the English style as well as living standards. Depay (€32m), Schweinsteiger (€20m), Darmian (€18m). Three new signings so far for a total of roughly €70m. What are the chances of their spendings being doubled or tripled by the end of August?

The noisy neighbors, Man City, were very quiet up till now. Pellegrini still in charge and an incredible fee for Sterling. Call me crazy, but I do think he's gonna be spectacular at City this upcoming season. He has the unique quality to penetrate any defense in a way only very few players can, though I agree he's not worth THAT much, lol.

Newcastle United announced on Saturday the signing of PSV player Georginio Wijnaldum. The box-to-box player moves to northern England for €20m and becomes one of their most expensive players! Why Ashley and McClaren spend so much money on him is beyond me. Then again, McClaren has made several questionable decisions in the past, lol. Wijnaldum is pretty good, however, I can assure you that he's not the guy to safe Newcastle from another fear-filled season. Thanks to the British shopping spree, PSV have now collected over €50m, which is an incredible amount for any Dutch club.

Iker Casillas is leaving Real Madrid to join Porto on a 3-year deal, which had been in the making for two weeks and was finalized on Saturday evening. Iker debuted at the age of 17 and has won every prize he could possibly win. Things went downhill pretty fast after he got benched and declared persona non grata by Jose Mourinho. Everyone remembers some of the horrible matches for Spain at the World Cup in Brazil. Casillas is gonna finish his career in Portugal and I am keeping my fingers crossed for Porto vs Real in the Champions League, so he can get his revenge. Despite Casillas not being as good anymore as he used to be, I still think this is a terrific signing for Porto! It's a matter of time before Real are going after DeGea again. If they want something, they'll get it, whatever the cost. I haven't found a link between Van Gaal and Lloris. Wanna have a good laugh? How about Atletico goalkeeper Oblak to Old Trafford?

Sevilla sign striker Immobile on loan. He had a succesful season in the Serie A two years ago, but completely failed at Borussia Dortmund, which kinda proves my point regarding Italians in foreign competitions.

[TheBoy]

You can add another £25m to that total, Gert! United have signed Morgan Schneiderlin. Not bad for a morning's work to splash roughly £40m on two players! I know it sounds like sour grapes from a rival supporter, but it's quite frankly ridiculous how United are spending and hoarding players. Carrick, Herrera, Blind, Di Maria, Fellaini, Mata, Januzaj, Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger (plus Young, Valencia). Even with a switch to 4-3-3, that's a stupid number of players for the positions. Normally, you would fully expect 2, 3 maybe even 4 of those to be sold and strong links to be in the news. But so far, I've heard nothing. United's net spend over the past handful of years is shameful quite frankly. We bemoan City and Chelsea for spending their way to success, but United's spending with no outgoing sales of note now dwarfs them all.

This table shows the net spend of all Premier League clubs from 2003 (this data is before the recent transfers of Sterling, etc.)

Net Transfer Spend.jpg (222.25 KiB) Viewed 61 times

Laughably, Spurs have actually made a profit of around £7m per season. We're currently in profit so far this season too... But that's seriously impressive to have finished so high up the table for so many years. We don't get nearly enough credit!

Maybe United expect to make up the deficit in shirt sales... at a few pound a letter with Schneiderlin and Scweinsteiger, they will soon have their money back lol.

[TheBoy]

Just a quick extra bit of breaking info: Claudio Ranieri has been appointed as the new Leicester City manager! You can colour me very surprised on that one, totally come out of the blue. Last night there was the equally as eyebrow raising story that Peter Schmeichel had thrown his hat into the ring, which quite frankly would have been a ridiculous appointment. Ranieri is a curious one though and I suppose could work out if he gets some luck. But it kind of smells like the time they appointed Sven Goran-Eriksson - and could wield similar results. I hope not for my mum's sake as she's a Leicester fan!

[Gert-Jan]

I knew Man United were still interested in Schneiderlin and I even expected them to buy him anyway, but not this soon and for that much! I hadn't heard the news about it being a done deal until I read your post, so thanks for making me spill my drink, lol. What an astonishing amount of money again. There really isn't any logic in all of this. I suggest we just go with the flow, cause I sense their shop-till-you-drop attitude has not come to an end yet. Nobody knows what the future holds. If Angel Di Maria is not being given enough playing time in the first couple of EPL games, then his agent will be contacting other big spenders (PSG?) and Louis could go really crazy with the money collected from Di Maria's transfer, lol. Still six weeks to go until August 31.

Southampton are in talks with Feyenoord to replace Schneiderlin with midfielder Jordy Clasie. Feyenoord demand a fee that varies between €10m - €15m.

Ajax have signed winger Amin Younes on a 3-year deal. The German player showed his talent at last month's European Under 21 tournament. He started his career at Borussia M'Gladbach, moved to Kaiserslautern on loan last year, and is now headed to Amsterdam. There's more! Ajax and Arsenal have reached an agreement regarding a transfer of Sanogo. He'll join Ajax on a season-long loan, which puts the total of new players at 5 after previously welcoming Heitinga (Hertha), Gudelj (AZ Alkmaar) and Dijks (Willem II). To me, it's not impressive enough as current champions PSV Eindhoven have a better squad and still millions to spend.....

Ranieri and Leicester?!?!

[AussieSteve]

Drew & Gert, I'm wondering from afar whether Manchester United's extraordinary spending spree is good for the game of football overall

Coming from a United supporter that feels the Club needs stability on & off the field I think not as it's hard to generate team structures with so many players coming & going from one year to the next

[TheBoy]

What is your opinion of Clasie, Gert? I've heard good things about him and suggestions that Southampton have plucked another gem to replace Schneiderlin with a player of similar quality for half the price. But as is the usual question for players coming from abroad, will he fit into the Premier League with it's break-neck pace and physical nature?

Just to confirm that Raheem Sterling has indeed now joined Manchester City for an absurd £49m. I'll admit this picture was not how the poll ended, but the big Sports tv channel over here did a Twitter poll to ask who was getting the better deal - Liverpool or Man City. The early result was this:

As for the United spending and if it's good or bad in general for the game, I think the main issue is the amount they are allowed to spend without any particular consequences that pretty much all other teams (and I include City and Chelsea in this) would not get away with. Despite the large debts placed onto them by the Glazers and them making huge losses on player trading, the fact is United bring in tremendous amounts of money. Not enough to turn profits, but when they can sell sponsorship of their training kits for a sum that the rest of the Premier League clubs would be thrilled to get for their main playing kits, it means they can spend and not have to worry about a call from the bank, or UEFA about keeping within the FFP rules. City and Chelsea may have richer owners, but with the FFP rules in place, they simply cannot bring in the same amounts of revenue that United do (at least, not without dodgy personal sponsorship deals). And of course, let's not forget that it's convenient for the league itself and the national press for United to be on top - after all it's much easier to promote the league with United as champions than City, just as it's easier to sell papers with United on the back page than it is Chelsea.

[Gert-Jan]

I hate starting off with Man United again. Nah, who am I kiddin, I like it, lol. They are doing a pretty good job themselves to stay in the spotlight. Van Gaal said on Wednesday at a press conference in Seattle that goalkeeper Victor Valdes will be sold after he refused to play for the reserves. You obey Louis, if not, you're out! Anybody with a bit of transfer knowledge can tell with 99% certainty David DeGea will leave the club as well. Real Madrid could care less how much they need to pay and just turn to a Spanish bank to ask for a new loan, lol. So, where does that leave the Mancunians and how much will the Red Devils be spending on keepers? I mentioned Jan Oblak (Atletico) in a previous post. There's a rumour floating around about Van Gaal's desire to sign Ajax goalkeeper Cillessen and the fee could go all the way up to €20m - €30m. Still gossip, although this move is not an entirely unlikely scenario. To be continued.

Anyone as short as Jordy Clasie needs to have incredible technical skills to stand out in a physical competition like the Premier League. Koeman knows him well and he bought several other Eredivisie stars last year. Clasie was Feyenoord's best player, he's good, it's just really difficult to predict whether or not he's gonna succeed at Southampton. Let's keep it 50-50 for now. Oh, another Dutch manager has bought one of his favorites, cause Sunderland announced the signing of Jermain Lens, whom Advocaat has worked with at two previous clubs...

Did you hear the news about an upcoming deal of Arturo Vidal going from Juventus to Bayern Munich?

[TheBoy]

I did hear about the news that Vidal could be going to Bayern. Hopefully it happens as we know that Arsenal were strongly linked with him earlier in the summer. He would make a lot of sense to Bayern though, especially after selling Sweinsteiger.

Liverpool continue to spend like it's going out of fashion with an expected bid of £32.5m to Aston Villa for Belgian powerhouse striker Benteke. The fee represents the buy out clause in his contract and Sherwood has been very vocal in assuring fans that only the full bid will be accepted. Personally, I'm on the fence with this one. There is no doubting his talents and his strength will always give defenders problems. The thing that leaves doubts in my mind about his move to Liverpool is that they play a totally different way to Aston Villa. Benteke strives on balls into the box, headers, etc. Whereas Liverpool play a much more technical game. Still, with a pretty much assured starting position up front, injury doubts over Sturridge and Ings probably playing second fiddle, he will get games and should grab his fair share of goals.

One other striker on the move looks to be Charlie Austin from relegated QPR as Newcastle have big around £10m. I think that's a great deal for all concerned.

Finally some more moves out of Spurs, firstly with the slightly curious one of Stambouli heading back to France at Champions PSG. I feel a bit sorry for him really as he never got a decent chance at Spurs. When he did play, he always looked fairly solid and I can't think of too many times where I cursed his name. The fee is rumoured to be around €8.5m, which I believe is close to what we paid last summer for him (I'm sure Levy has worked in at least a £1 profit lol). I wish him well. The second transfer is that of former club captain Younes Kaboul who has signed for Sunderland in a deal worth £3m. Kaboul is a sad story for me. In his early days, he looked on his way to being a world beater - big, powerful, quick. However injuries have taken their toll on him and with a person of his size, it's always going to be hard getting back to full fitness without causing another one. Over the course of the past couple of seasons, it's obvious he has lost pace and with it his positional sense, being at fault for far too many goals especially in the high defensive lines of AVB's formation. Last year his mental attitude was shown to be less than stellar too, with him beginning the season as club captain and within just a few weeks being essentially banished from the Spurs squad along with other troublemakers Adebayor, Capoue and Aaron Lennon.

[AussieSteve]

On the subject of Liverpool they were here in Brisbane yesterday playing a friendly pre-season game against A-League team Brisbane Roar & had a 2-1 win. Tonight at the Melbourne Cricket Ground there is the International Champions Cup opener down under with AC Roma up against Real Madrid. Manchester City are the 3rd team here & they will play the other 2 next week also at the MCG.