All New Summer 2008 Transfer Merry Go Round/Rumour Mill

[FrankJH]

With Keane's season of experience of the Premiership, plus a few of the buys he has managed this summer - I can only see them being well clear of the relegation zone at the business end of the season

There will be a clear margin between those relegated and Sunderland's final position with places in the final table 6 to 15 being much closer

 

[red11]

The only thing I would say on Keane is that he needs to expand his scouting network. I know he is still a relative new kid on the managerial block but he does seem to look to the Emerald isle for a lot of his signings.

I don't think they are that far away from being a pretty strong and secure mid table side. The last thing they need is getting players in who will bust the wage structure and take them a step past like 'Boro and Newcastle did in the 90's. What they are missing is a half decent centre mid who can play a bit of football or put his foot on it whilst it's all going at a 100mph around him.

Completely agree, as much as I love Keane, in the transfer market I think he's been quite poor. Then again he is new to it, and he has achieved the results he was after. When he started at Sunderland, he didn't really have a whole summer to make transfers so he gave everyone a chance, the following January transfer window, he made his first cull. And brought in some very promising young players on loan and bought some players who would fight for him. And damn did it work. Finishing top of the league.

His first season in the Premiership, I thought his signings were incredibly poor overall, at the time I felt that he should be signing the likes of the players he has this summer. Premiership standard players. But they did survive in the Premiership...just. He really needs to look outside the emerald isle and scotland and generally out of his comfort zone for players. Although when you really look at it, most managers stick to their comfort zone.

I guess building a scouting network comes with experience, and the existing network at Sunderland was poor to begin with. One of the first things Keane did when he took over at Sunderland was to bring one of our chief scouts from Old Trafford. I'm probably being over critical of him, especially when he's only started his third year in management, but the true test of any manager is how well they do in the transfer market and how they use those players. So far it has worked for him, achieving promotion in his first season, avoiding relegation in his second, who knows what is in store for his third season. But good luck to him.

 

[daz.wallace]

from the BBC:

West Ham defender Anton Ferdinand will complete an £8m move to Sunderland on Friday. (The Sun)

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has refused to rule out a move for Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry. (Daily Mirror)

Juventus midfield man Tiago is the latest player to reject Everton after insisting he will not make a loan move to Goodison Park. (The Sun)

Chelsea have increased their bid for Real Madrid forward Robinho to £28.4m in an attempt to finally clinch a deal. (The Sun)

Manchester City defender Vedran Corluka could finally make his move to Tottenham after the Eastlands club agreed to sign Hamburg's Vincent Kompany. (Daily Mail)

Everton will make a £7m bid for Switzerland midfield man Goekhan Inler in an attempt to finally clinch their first signing of the summer. (Daily Mirror)

Wigan have warned Liverpool off a move for midfielder Wilson Palacios by insisting he is worth as much as £18m-rated Gareth Barry. (Daily Mirror)

Manchester City are investigating the possibility of making Barcelona's Thierry Henry a "box office" signing in January. (The Guardian)

Blackburn are looking at former Real Madrid winger Jordi Lopez to fill the gap left by David Bentley's move to Tottenham. (Various)

Midfielder Shaun Maloney will complete his return to Celtic from Aston Villa in time to make his debut against Falkirk on Saturday. (Daily Record)

Bolton are ready to make an official £4m for Fulham midfielder Jimmy Bullard after scrapping a move for Reading's James Harper. (Daily Star)


Crystal Palace boss Neil Warnock is ready to raid former club Sheffield United to sign Derek Geary and Danny Webber in a £1m deal. (Daily Star)

 

[Cob]

West Ham defender Anton Ferdinand will complete an £8m move to Sunderland on Friday. (The Sun)

No offence to Sunderland, but surely that's a step backwards for Ferdinand.

 

[Loki]

No offence to Sunderland, but surely that's a step backwards for Ferdinand.

Not sure about that. His career has kind of stagnated at West 'Am so it may not be a bad move for what appears to be a very ambitious Sudnerland team

 

[lemonkettaz]

What happened to newcastle getting Tiago on loan?

 

[[DOD]Asprilla]

What happened to newcastle getting Tiago on loan?

All I've heard was ther Everton were in pole position for that one, but now I hear he's turned them down.

 

[medley]

Palacios for 18m? He looks good but 18m good? I'm not so sure

 

[da_mic_1530]

He has bought crap though.

indeed, most of the transfers from the last 2 seasons, which don't forget he spent a lot of money on, he is now looking to offload

 

[ScottehBotteh]

indeed, most of the transfers from the last 2 seasons, which don't forget he spent a lot of money on, he is now looking to offload

No new Premiership side can sign decent experienced players after just coming up from the championship, in the same way that a lot of big names are rejecting Newcastle as they have no chance of winning anything.

 

[semi-pro waster]

indeed, most of the transfers from the last 2 seasons, which don't forget he spent a lot of money on, he is now looking to offload

But he got Sunderland promoted and kept them up, that is what the players were bought for, the problem is that he is now looking for better so that the team progresses. If he just wanted to tread water then he could probably stick with the same players and achieve roughly the same position as last year or maybe slip a little. Even if he ends up selling the players for a loss he'll have done what he set out to do with them.

With no disrespect intended to Sunderland, a couple of years ago, even a year ago they weren't in a position to attract the calibre of player to take them from just surviving in the Premiership to what you'd hope would be comfortable mid-table which is what they should be aiming at now, perhaps with a run in one of the cups as well.

 

[The_Judge]

Feel sorry for anyone who has to move to Sunderland

 

[G|mp]

Thats the thing see, everyone else thinks Keano is doing the right thing and buying decent enough players to keep his team in mid table

Its only the Barcodes that are slagging him off

 

[marscay]

Feel sorry for anyone who has to move to Sunderland

i wouldn't have a problem with £40k/week anywhere

amazing the calibre of player keane is attracting though

 

[marscay]

Flamini was a DM, did immense donkey work for the team. I'm still gutted we let him go. Hleb I'm totally happy with now, Flamini is still a sore point. :/

Hleb was incredible at times, he might not have had an eye for goal but he definitely did a great job in other areas .....granted he had a poor finish to the season but he wasn't alone there either.

both of them are going to cost us quite big, you could see it in the emirates cup and the first league game ....i fear this season lol.

 

[The_Judge]

i wouldn't have a problem with £40k/week anywhere

amazing the calibre of player keane is attracting though

Id rather earn 40k/week in Afghanistan than Sunderland.

 

[Loki]

Id rather earn 40k/week in Afghanistan than Sunderland.

Not one for being bitter are you

 

[jakeke]

Hleb was incredible at times, he might not have had an eye for goal but he definitely did a great job in other areas .....granted he had a poor finish to the season but he wasn't alone there either.

both of them are going to cost us quite big, you could see it in the emirates cup and the first league game ....i fear this season lol.

In those games you quoted there was never a full strength squad out. With Fabregas, Nasri, Rosicky, RvP, new CM all linking up it might not be as bad as we all initially thought.

 

[BaZ87]

The problem i see with what Keane's doing is that he's spending big money on players who can only take them so far. If all they're aiming to do is stay in the league then fair enough but considering how much they've spent, they could have signed better players who could have taken them further imo.

In other news, we've turned down a £2.5m bid from Stoke for Hyypia. Great offer for somebody of his age and with only a 1 year deal but we're right to turn it down. Last season proved we need 4 cb's and to get somebody in to replace Sami would cost us far more than £2.5m.

 

[Visionary]

Diouf, Malbranque, Chimbonda, Cisse, Tainho are good enough to be starting in any team outside the top 6 so he has improved the squad massively this year.
.

That really is rubbish, they wouldn't get in Spurs' team for a start. Hardly any would get into Villa, Portsmouth, hell even Middlesborough.

As for my own team I don't think any would make the starting line up.

Diouf or Martins?
Malbranque or Gutierrez?
Chimbonda or Beye?
Cisse or Owen?
Taino or Guthrie/Butt? (haven't really seen that much of Taino, probably because he only played about ten games last season in a team that finished 11th)