sweet waffle

City have made an official bid of £15m for Lescott (Guardian), I reckon Everton will resist for a while and sell once the offer goes over £20m.

I rate Young but £25m is far too much.

If this situation turns out to have been engineered by JT into getting a better contract he will have gone down in my estimations no end and will forever taint his reputation.

D6.

If I had the cash I'd have some of that action, JT on there at 1/3 to stay with us, another tempter if you ask me.

Classic.

I'm in and this season I'm going to see it through to the end.

B4.

Anyone who thinks our new kits are bad should be thankful we haven't gone down the Everton route... All it's missing is a blue bow tie!!!

A bit of healthy competition will hopefully drive Di Santo on and raise his game, either that or he'll be out on loan for a season.

Or as worried as Capello, if he has to back track on his damning indictment of Mr Owen, which would be a little bit embarrassing for him I'm sure.

I reckon if Ferguson played an orthodox 4-4-2 with Rooney up front alongside Berbatov he'd bag 20+ goals a season no worries.

It's a gamble no doubt about it and personally I don't think it will pay off.

Ramos got the boot at the end of the season, Madrid's current manager is Manuel Pellegrini who previously managed Villarreal, so not a bad appointment. Personally, I think they'll win La Liga this coming season, the Champions League? I don't think so, seeing as we're winning it this time. :D

Looks like he's got his heart set on joining Madrid. :( PARIS, July 2 (Reuters) - Franck Ribery wants to leave Bayern Munich and join Real Madrid, sports daily L'Equipe quoted the France midfielder as saying on Thursday. Ribery's compatriot Karim Benzema has already agreed to join the Spanish side from Olympique Lyon and become Real's third major signing after Brazil's Kaka and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo. "I have made up my mind, I want to leave," Ribery told Thursday's issue of L'Equipe. "It will be Real (Madrid) or nothing." Real Madrid or nothing (Guardian)

Suppose that's one way to keep him out of Man Utd's hands. If they get him, Real will have one scary looking forward line that's for sure.

You're right, it does sound weird. :D

Don't forget Evans, Benjani, Elano and Petrov!!! The way Man City are going they'll have more strikers than an 80s coal mine.

He's 28.

City's 'monster' offer fails to lure Samuel Eto'o (Guardian) Manchester City have been given a painful reminder that their huge financial riches may still not be enough to lure all their ambitious targets after Samuel Eto'o's representatives informed the club today he had chosen not to accept their offer to become the best-paid player in the Premier League. His agent will explain his motives at a press conference at the AC Diplomatic hotel in Barcelona tomorrow, uppermost among them being that Eto'o wants to continue playing at the highest level rather than at a club who are still in an early phase of a money-driven attempt to become, ultimately, potential Champions League winners. Well done Eto'o, you've gone up in my estimations after this, let's hope others (Tevez) follow your example.

Looks like he'll be signing on tomorrow. Chelsea secure Zhirkov for £18m (Guardian) Very happy with this signing, a quality player in a position we needed strengthening.

Max Payne 3 (due out Oct 09) looks promising, I just hope it's as good as the first two which were classics.

You know nothing will happen, they'll just get a slap on the wrist. On the other hand if it was us, it would be a different story altogether.

Nope, the Ronaldo penalty and the topless Geordie pictures were featured in the Tom Jenkins's best pictures of the football season 08/09 thread but the rest are new.

E10