The other shoe has finally dropped.

Real Madrid have put up nine players for sale, including their whole Dutch contingent. Joining Heinze, Saviola and Mahamadou Diarra on the transfer list are Ruud van Nistelrooy, Rosten Drenthe, Rafael Van der Vaart and perhaps most surprisingly, the young trio of Arjen Robben, Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Wesley Sneijder.

According to Sid Lowe, Real Madrid have faxed a list of players for sale to several Premier League clubs and are desperately looking to reduce their wage bill, reduce the number of non-Spanish players in the squad and to bring in funds to supplement their transfer strategy. Robben, Huntelaar and Sneijder are all expected to net Madrid handsome transfer revenue, even if they are unlikely to recover the full amount spent on these players.

After spending nearly £150m on Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka in the space of 7 days, a massive deal already planned for David Villa (£40m) and with Madrid still needing a central defender, left back and central midfielder, Perez is, in his own words, condensing a 3-year plan into 1 year. If the past is any indication, Perez will not only bring more Galaticos to Real Madrid this summer but he will also load the club under massive debt and clear out the squad to make space for his Galacticos.

According to Sid, Madrid remain determined to sell players, even if they do not recuperate their original fees, and would also consider loans. Together, Sneijder, Drenthe, Robben and Van Nistelrooy account for almost 10m a year in wages, while Diarra is on 2.8m, Saviola 2.5m and Heinze 2m. So effectively speaking getting these 7 players out makes way for Ronaldo and Kaka at the club. The price one must pay for making the same mistakes twice.

I expect Manchester United to consider a bid for Huntelaar, Sneijder and possibly Mahamadou Diarra, considering that they were interested in signing Diarra at one point and both Sneijder and Huntelaar will add quality in the right areas at the club.

Then again, when it comes to Huntelaar, Robben, Diarra and Sneijder, they will have no shortage of suitors this summer, and you can expect Liverpool and Chelsea to be in the mix as well, not to mention Tottenham and Manchester City.

Fans of Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester City, Aston Villa, Everton and even Portsmouth (if the takeover goes through before Madrid sells all the players) – who do you think your club will sign from Real Madrid?

“Real Madrid Firesale: Sneijder, Huntelaar, Robben, Diarra, Van der Vaart and Ruud for sale” was originally published at footballlens.com – football news.

Today’s groundless gossip bets you look good on the dancefloor. Especially if you’re a parrot

You know how it is when there’s something you’ve wanted for ages, really really wanted for a very very long time, or at least fancied a bit for quite a while, until finally the moment comes when you might actually be able to get it and you think, “Actually I’m not that fussed, let’s go to the pub”.

Well that is how football works too.

Take, for example, Roque Santa Cruz. Having just looked it up on our newspaper archive search tool, the Mill can reveal that the Paraguayan hitman was first linked with Manchester City in 2007, before he even signed for Blackburn. Just this January City bid £20m for him and were told it wasn’t enough. This summer Rovers are likely to drop their asking price but City don’t care – they’re not interested any more. But they’ve rather taken a fancy to Valencia’s David Villa, whose £35m price tag shouldn’t be too much of a problem, and they might pop over to Madrid and snap up Arjen Robben while they’re in Spain.

Arsenal, on the other hand, will be very interested indeed. With Emanuel Adebayor’s move to Milan likely to be resurrected Arsène Wenger will be in the market for a striker and Santa Cruz is top of their hitlist. According to various media sources this morning, Arsenal will sign him for £10m or for £12m, and they may or may not offer Nicklas Bendtner as some kind of sweetener. They also may face competition from “Tottenham and possibly Liverpool”, or maybe they won’t.

Liverpool might have already splashed their cash on Carlos Tevez, who is no longer wanted at Manchester United. Sir Alex Ferguson, you see, wants to spend the £30m the Argentinian would cost on Karim Benzema instead. Chelsea, Real Madrid and Barcelona are also sniffing round the French ace.

While in France, they might have bumped into David Moyes. The Everton manager popped across the Channel this week to cast his lazy eye over Rennes full-back Rod Fanni, with a £6m summer switch in the pipeline. Moyes may be buoyed by news that Stoke and Wolves are both interested in taking the permanently-injured, dog-loving winger Andy van der Meyde on a free transfer.

Another popular French defender is Newcastle’s Sébastien Bassong, linked with a £9m move to Arsenal. Cheaper, younger, but less likely to play in anyone’s first team for a few years is Liverpool’s 16-year-old centre-back Andre Wisdom, who might get a tasty offer from Chelsea, Arsenal again or Manchester City again before he’s old enough to sign a long-term deal at Anfield.

Wigan have given up on the overpriced Ecuadorian Christian “Chucho” Benítez, who plays in Mexico for Santos Laguna. So they might buy Fraizer Campbell from Manchester United instead.

Derby are going to sell lots of players, either because they’re not good enough or because their name is Przemysław Kazmierczak, which is clearly ridiculous, while Leicester want to keep on-loan Arsenal full-back Kerrea Gilbert for good.

And there is a cockatoo called Snowball, living in a bird shelter in Indiana, who can dance. The ability to boogie has so far been identified in 14 species of parrot, but no mammals other than the human. “We found strong evidence that these birds were synchronising with the beat,” a boffin said.

]]> http://www.latestfootballnews.net/football-transfer-rumours-roque-santa-cruz-to-arsenal/feed/ 0 http://www.latestfootballnews.net/city-to-swoop-for-reals-robben/ http://www.latestfootballnews.net/city-to-swoop-for-reals-robben/#comments Sun, 10 May 2009 23:05:30 +0000 admin http://www.latestfootballnews.net/city-to-swoop-for-reals-robben/ Having been publicly snubbed by Brazilian playmaker Kaka and Italy’s World Cup winner Fabio Cannavaro, nouveau riche Premier League club Manchester City, who, we’re told, weren’t rejected by Samuel Eto’o because their meeting with Barcelona boss Joan Laporta had nothing to do with a bid for the striker, have now set their sights on Arjen Robben.

Despite being described by interim Real Madrid president Vicente Boluda as “more electric” than Lionel Messi the Daily Mirror claim that the Dutch winger is something of a misfit at the Bernabeu and does not feature in the plans of presidential election favourite Florentino Perez.

The 25-year-old joined Madrid from Chelsea for £24m two years ago but the Spanish club would accept an £18m bid to get rid of the player. Inter Milan are also reported to be interested but money-bags City are leading the chase for Robben, who had a difficult relationship with Inter boss Jose Mourinho when he was at Chelsea.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger will be hoping City are successful with their attempt to land Robben so that the Citizens drop out of the bidding for Roque Santa Cruz, according to the Daily Express.

Although Emmanuel Adebayor recently committed to the Gunners, after having his head turned by AC Milan in the summer, the Togo striker’s career at the Emirates could be cut short if Wenger can sign Blackburn Rovers’ want-away forward Santa Cruz for a cut-price £12million.

And Wenger’s hopes will be boosted by the news that City are back in the hunt for the £35m-rated Valencia striker David Villa, at least that is the opinion of The Independent.

Valencia, who are in a difficult financial position, have indicated that they are prepared to sell one of Villa or attacking midfielder David Silva.

Meanwhile, The Sun have transformed Carlos Tevez’s admission that he is likely to leave Manchester United at the end of the season into an imminent bid for Lyon striker Karim Benzema.

Although all the quotes in the story are from the United striker the paper claim the Red Devils will bid £30million for Benzema to replace Tevez. Apparently manager Sir Alex Ferguson sent his brother Martin to watch the 21-year-old striker play for Lyon last week.

The Daily Mail report that United’s arch-rivals Liverpool are preparing to snatch the unhappy Tevez from Old Trafford with a £30m bid. The Reds attempted to do a similar thing with Gabriel Heinze a few years ago and the two clubs entered a bitter battle; the Argentine defender’s move to Anfield was eventually blocked by Ferguson.

The difference with this bid is that the cash for on-loan Tevez would go to agent Kia Joorabchian’s investment company, who hold the players rights, and United would have little say in the deal.

The move would also give Tevez a chance to join Argentina team-mate Javier Mascherano, who came to England at the same time as his countryman when they both joined West Ham United.

Although if Cristiano Ronaldo has his way Tevez will be going nowhere. United’s World Player of the Year told The Times that he “definitely” hoped the Argentina would remain at the club, adding: “Manchester United have to keep their best players and Carlos is one of the best.”

There are mixed reports over the severity of Rio Ferdinand’s rib injury, with the Daily Mail and Daily Mirror insisting the United skipper will be out of action for at least three weeks and has started coughing up blood.

But The Guardian and the Daily Star are more optimistic saying Ferdinand’s injury is not as bad as first feared and the 30-year-old could be fit to face Arsenal in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final on Tuesday.