West Brom Roy Hodgson has stated that should a top club come in for Peter Odemwingie he will not stand in the striker’s way of leaving the Hawthorns.
The Nigeria international has been in exemplary form of late after returning to fitness, and scored five goals in three games prior to West Brom’s 2-0 defeat to Manchester United on Sunday.
Arsenal are thought to be interested in the sprightly forward, and Hodgson is open to receiving offers for his star player.
“If we get one of those offers you can’t refuse, I’d be delighted to say, ‘Peter, you’ve shown what a great player you are — we can’t compete with this’,” he told The Sun.
“If one of the big four sides comes in, you can’t compete.
“You can earn huge money in Saudi Arabia or China, with no tax, but, no disrespect, these are not top leagues,” he concluded.
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It was another weekend to forget for Tottenham after their FA Cup final dreams were extinguished at the weekend. The Blues fired another shot to Spurs’ morale which continues to ebb away with every passing game. Even referee Martin Atkinson’s ghost goal blunder couldn’t mask the fact that Harry Redknapp’s men were comprehensively beaten by their London neighbours and knows his players require a lift if they are to fulfil their ambitions of Champions League football next season. Clinging onto fourth will be tough with Newcastle breathing down their neck and a run of two wins from their last eight but Redknapp is confident his side can hold on and secure qualification to Europe’s elite club competition. Anything less and their season will be considered a failure.
This week on FFC a certain Chelsea fringe player has been linked with a move to North London whilst the debate over referees lingers on instigated by the incident at Wembley on Sunday.
Best of FFC
The TEN ‘possible transfers’ that could turn Tottenham into contenders
The Curse Of The Loan Move
Referees Would Have A Better Reputation If Fans Knew The Rules
Caption Competition: Spurs and Chelsea enforcers don’t see eye to eye
Have Tottenham simply paid the price here?
Levy’s real transfer battle this summer?
Liverpool And Spurs on transfer alert as contract talks stall
Spurs on standby as Chelsea offer one last deal
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Best of WEB
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On The Defensive – Harry Hotspur
Siege mentality and smelling salts – Dear Mr Levy
Humpty Dumpty: Did he fall or was he pushed? – Spurs musings from Jimmy G2
Spurs and Wembley. Nice Day, Shame About The Football – Tottenham on my Mind
This drum has no beat- Dear Mr Levy
Check the bath water before you throw it out. – Spurs musings from Jimmy G2
Surely £30M Will Only Make Daniel Levy Chuckle? – Transfer Tavern
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Quote of the Week
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“The English league is by far the toughest in the world. I can judge that personally. The Premier League is stronger than Spain. In Spain, Barcelona
and Real Madrid could have a tough match when they visit the teams at the bottom of the table. But that’s because every Spanish club has a couple of good individual players.
“In England all the away games are difficult due to the pace, power and working spirit from the first minute until the last. At the away game at Stoke I thought about walking off the pitch after 25 minutes. They didn’t do anything but bashing, tackling and using the long ball. Totally not my style, but they are getting results with it.
“In Europe the Spanish and not the English clubs are ruling. But for me that just confirms what I said. The intensity in England is so big; they ask a lot of you.” Rafael Van Der Vaart admits the Premier League is the toughest in the world
Andy Carroll hasn’t enjoyed the best of starts to his Liverpool career since his record breaking move in Janaury 2011. Labelled an expensive flop, unprofessional and an all round failure had the potential to ruin a once promising young footballer. Well in the space of a week he’s stuck a huge custard pie into the face of his detractors with two goals that could herald a new beginning for him and the Reds. A late headed winner against Blackburn gifted Kenny Dalglish’s men a precious three points and a first win in four games. He repeated the feat five days later booking his side a place in the FA Cup final nodding in the deciding goal against their Merseyside rivals. In fact Liverpool haven’t lost in the last 10 matches Carroll has started and Dalglish will be hoping hit man has the desired effect against West Brom on Sunday as he comes face-to-face with Anfield predecessor Roy Hodgson.
This week on FFC a debate has arisen as to whether two cup wins would be enough to appease the clubs owners and why a brave decision from Dalglish is now paying dividends for Liverpool.
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Best of FFC
The TEN ‘positives and negatives’ to take from Liverpool’s season
One of the best decisions Kenny Dalglish’s can make as Liverpool manager?
Would two cup wins be Enough To Satisfy Liverpool’s Owners?
One in the eye for Chelsea and Liverpool fans
Liverpool join the transfer race for Colombian
The ideal way to fast-track Liverpool’s development?
Liverpool And Spurs on transfer alert as contract talks sta…
The Modern Way to conduct future transfers and club development?
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Best of WEB
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Forget Dalglish – FSG should *sack* Luis Suarez for this shocking statement… – Liverpool Kop
Clinical Carroll! Is He Beginning To Answer His Critics? – Live 4 Liverpool
*Top Boss* admits: ‘Exceptional challenge’ could entice me. Future LFC manager? – Liverpool Kop
Au Revoir Damien Comolli, In FSG I trust – This is Anfield
Getting the Best out of Jordan Henderson – The Tomkins Times
Do We Really Need Another Comolli? – Live 4 Liverpool
What next for Liverpool Football Club?- This is Anfield
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Quote of the Week
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“I think it’s great for us to have a player of his ability and style.His height and his ability in the air and to bring the ball down makes it easy for us smaller forwards in the side to link up with him.
“You only have to be running alongside him and you find the ball at your feet.
“I think he’s showing that his technique on the ground has really come on and I think in the games where he has featured recently we are now seeing the Andy that we’ve all been wanting to see and he’s really contributing, which is important.” Luis Suarez lauds £35 million strike partner Andy Carroll after his goals secured two wins a week for Liverpool
Arsenal’s attempts to get Robin van Persie to sign a new contract are hanging in the balance, and The Sun even suggest that initial negotiations have not been fruitful.
The Netherlands striker is out of contract next summer, and the Emirates Stadium outfit are nervous that they may lose their main man for nothing in a year’s time.
Arsene Wenger’s men are believed to have offered the skipper a bumper deal worth £130,000 a week, which would break the club’s wage structure, in a bid to keep the marksman in north London.
However, with Manchester City circling and prepared to offer Van Persie as much as £250,00 a week, the negotiations are at a tense stage.
Meanwhile, Mirror Football indicate that Van Persie is frustrated at the lack of silverware claimed by Arsenal in recent years, and that Manchester United are also in the running for Van Persie – and will match City’s wages offer.
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Denmark produced the first surprise result of Euro 2012 after Michael Krohn-Dehli’s first half goal proved enough to see off Group B favourites Holland in Kharkiv.
The Bronby midfielder’s struck mid-way through the first half against the run of play to hand Moten Olsen’s side a dream start in what has been dubbed ‘the group of death’. It proved to be a frustrating evening for the Dutch as they monopolised possession but lacked a ruthless edge in the final third failing to convert any of the 28 attempts despite their attacking lineup boasting glittering array of talent. Robin Van Persie and Arjen Robben were the main culprits passing up a host of gilt edged chances to salvage a point for Bert van Marwijk’s men and they face an uphill struggle to make it to the knockout phase with games against Germany and Portugal to come.
In fact the Dutch should have been home and dry before Krohn-Dehli decisive and should have taken the lead with just seven minutes on the clock as they flew out of the traps. Robben caused mayhem in the early stages and drove past Lars Jacobsen on the left and teed up Van Persie to tamely shoot wide from 12-yards. The Bayern Munich winger then passed up a golden opportunity to give Oranje the lead after being played in by Van Persie but his decision to cross instead of shoot proved to be the wrong one as Daniel Agger did superbly to inadvertently deflect the ball into the goalkeeper Stephane Andersen’s arms.
They were made to pay for their profligacy as the Danes snatched the lead in the 25th minute courtesy of Krohn-Dehli after he pounced on a loose ball and tore past Johnny Heitinga into the penalty before smashing the ball through Maarten Steklenberg’s legs. Holland came within inches of an equaliser ten minutes before half time after Anderson’s careless pass found Robben but could saw his effort strike the post. The Dutch continued to press and Van Persie will be cursing his touch after he mis-controlled Wesley Sneijder’s pass after drifting into space in penalty area.
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It was a similar story for the Arsenal striker after the break as Sneijder picked him out only this time he lost his footing on the slick surface. The orange onslaught continued with Anderson at full stretch to palm away Mark Van Bommel’s rasping long-range strike before diving at the feet of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar as the substitute tried to flick the ball over the onrushing keeper after being found by Sneijder with a exquisite pass with the outside of his boot only. A late penalty appeal also fell on deaf ears as Jacobsen appeared to handle in the area as Denmark held on to record a famous victory and give themselves a massive confidence boost ahead of their next two games.
As the new Premier League season dawns upon us, so does with it the stream of newly designed kits.
For some supporters, the release of a new kit is a time of salvation, as a new, shiny American sports brand wheels out a classy design. For others, the notion of spending £40 plus on recycled polyester is simply far too much to bear.
But it is when a team like Fulham release a number as truly hideous and God-awful as their latest away kit, that fans from all clubs come together and rejoice at their misfortune. Knowing that however bad things get next season, they know they’ll never have to go to the terraces looking like an 80’s roadside mechanic.
Although every team has a dark closet full of football kit horrors. Those who have adorned the likes of Pony, Airness and Ribero over the years will have sore wounds opened up by events at Craven Cottage. So whilst we’re here, we may as well appreciate ten of the worst efforts in Premier League history.
Click on Wigan’s illumination to unveil the top 10
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Have I missed a horror show out or are you dismayed your favourite shirt has made the final cut? Get on Twitter and tell me, follow @samuel_antrobus
Football, and in particularly the Premier League, often suffer from more than a touch of amnesia from time to time. When a striker such as Robin van Persie notches up 30 league goals in a season, the legacy of such a feat will remain for quite some time. But as Arsenal are rumored to be seeking anything from £20-£30million for a player in the last year of his contract, it would appear his recent achievements have erased elements of his past from the memories of his suitors.
The term watershed season probably doesn’t do Robin van Persie’s 2011-12 effort enough justice. His 30 league goals in 38 league games saw him emerge as one of Europe’s best strikers, if not the best out-and-out marksman. Arsenal fans may well be wryly smiling at those who have been saddled with surprise at the Dutchman’s efforts last season.
But even after Van Persie hit an incredible run of form on the back end of the 2010-11 season, surely even they didn’t expect the season that came.
Robin van Persie has always been an outrageously gifted technical footballer and his ability was never in any doubt during his career. Although the holy grail of the striking classes, and indeed the trait that has always evaded Van Persie, is that of consistency. Last season saw the final piece of puzzle put into place; the effect was nothing short of spectacular.
And it isn’t any surprise why he is craved by just about every top club on the continent. It’s hard to pick out any genuine flaws in his striking game- his movement’s truly world class; he can score headers as aptly as he can bury scorching volleys and his finishing is as good as any in the game. He bestows a superb and consistent set-piece delivery and Arsenal have benefitted as much from his link up play as they have from his goal scoring exploits; he bagged 13 assists in the Barclays Premier League last season.
Although after reading a passage like that, there feels as if there are some uneasy blanks to fill in. If Robin van Persie beholds a level of talent as exquisite as what’s just been described, then how come he is rapidly approaching his 29th birthday with only an FA Cup winner’s medal to show for it? One can ridicule the fortunes of Arsenal as much as they want in recent years, although the answer owes as much to Van Persie himself as it does to the underachievement of the club he plays for.
There was one statistic that seemed to stand out more prominently than anything else on the Van Persie résumé from last season- and it wasn’t his goal tally, either. The Dutchman featured in all 38 of Arsenal’s Premier League games last season. It was the first term that he’d ever broken the 30 game barrier in terms of appearances. Before last season, Van Persie averaged about 22 league appearances a season for the Gunners during seven years in England. That is a statistic that simply isn’t good enough.
And this is where it feels like you reach something of a crossroads in the evaluation of Robin van Persie. No one is claiming he has some intrinsic desire to spend time on the treatment table. But the facts are as clear to see as his superb goal scoring exploits of the last 18 months. Perhaps it is unwise and also a little macabre to take a punt on injury misfortune hitting any footballer. But if last season was the first he has completed over 30 games, what is more likely to be the one off- his 100% record last season or the previous seven in which he failed to appear more than 28 times in the red of Arsenal?
It’s this point that seems to have more than a bit of the sticking factor about it. Arsenal have stuck by Van Persie through thick and thin- some may argue that he more than paid his club back by carrying them on his back for large portions of last season. But last season has been a long time coming for Van Persie and it feels as though the weight of Arsenal’s commitment still weighs heavier on the scales than one blockbuster RVP season last term.
Yet it is within a protracted transfer that the real truth may hit home- for all parties involved. The contractual situation of Robin van Persie seems to be echoing an uncomfortable pattern for Arsenal and the club cannot allow it to go on any longer at the Emirates. But as the near on £24million that the club gained for Samir Nasri shows, the stigma of players entering the final year of their contract doesn’t necessarily denote the sort of apocalyptic slash in transfer fee that many predict.
But Nasri was 24 when he moved away from the Emirates last summer. There were no lingering concerns over the Frenchman’s ability to go the distance in the season and even if there was, he is of an adequate age in which such a reputation can be consigned to history. Robin van Persie has only played more than 28 league games once in his entire professional career- that was last season. He is turning 29 in a fortnight’s time and will have little to no resale value. This will be his last major contract.
Such a question may well be rendered academic if the petromillions of Manchester City come calling. But even if such a fee has been grossly exaggerated, can you justify spending near on £30million on Robin van Persie? As football enters an era of Financial Fair Play, splashing out a massive transfer fee and gargantuan wages on Robin van Persie offers a substantial risk. The efforts of last season have somewhat masked what feels to be a legitimate question mark over the Dutchman.
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Scoring goals has never been the problem. The problem is you can’t score goals if you don’t’ regularly play, as blindingly obvious as that may sound. But it’s not the long-term injury that has been Van Persie’s problem. It is the six-week or the eight-week stints out with persistent ankle or knee knocks. The subsequent time taken to regain form and fitness can be painstaking. It seems absurd to critique a man who has scored 132 in all competitions for Arsenal. But such is the talent of the man, it should be (or should have been) so much more.
Some very difficult answers are set to be answered very soon indeed for Arsenal, Van Persie and his potential suitors. But the brutal reality must be that however much Wenger craves for his star striker, the chances are he may go for far less- however right or wrong that may seem.
Can Arsenal really command such a colossal transfer fee for Robin van Persie? Are his goals last season enough to make you forget about his previous fitness worries? Arsenal fan or City supporter, tell me how you view it- follow @samuel_antrobus on Twitter and bat us your views
New Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers is set to bring Wolves ‘keeper Dorus De Vries to Anfield before swooping for Swansea midfielder Joe Allen, announced The Daily Mail today.
De Vries worked under Rodgers at Swansea before being sold to Wolves on a free transfer last summer, and his move as well as the proposed signing of Joe Allen would see Rodger’s becoming reunited with two former players.
Having already signed Roma forward Fabio Borini, the new Anfield manger will be eager to see his side break into the top four once again, and having a back up goalkeeper of De Vries’ standard will not only provide such stability, but will be a bargain.
It is believed the arrival of De Vries will see stand by ‘keepers Alexander Doni and Brad Jones shown the door at Anfield, as the Reds also look to reduce their wage bill.
Swansea City however, remain unimpressed with speculation linking Joe Allen with a move to Merseyside, and a statement from the Welsh side read: ‘the club are extremely disappointed that speculation regarding aspects of his contract have been released by parties outside the club’
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Allen is believed to cost around £15 million, with the deal to be carried out after the Olympics, whilst De Vries would cost the Reds £750,000.
Brendan Rodgers looks set to carry on the spending at Anfield, and is planning a double swoop for Nuri Sahin of Real Madrid and Cristian Tello of Barcelona, according to The Metro.
Rodgers took his spending up to £26 million last week, as he finally landed Joe Allen for £15 million from former club Swansea, having splashed £9 million on striker Fabio Borini earlier in the transfer window.
It now seems Rodgers is looking to La Liga for his latest recruits, having seemingly been priced out of moves for Fulham’s Clint Dempsey and Bologna’s Gaston Ramirez.
Rodgers hopes to tie up the deals this week, and has sent managing director Ian Ayre out to Spain in an attempt to complete the negotiations.
The pair are seen as cheaper alternatives for Rodgers, who admitted earlier in the week that the lack of Champions league football at Anfield is having an effect on his transfer budget.
He explained: “When you’re not in the Champions League there is a restriction in terms of what you can spend, and I know that. I was fully understanding of that before I came in.
“There’s no doubt I want to get the best players I possibly can and that costs money. I am very much conscious of the value and worth of players.”
Rodgers is hoping to sign Tello for around £5 million, and is confident the 21-year-old will fit well into his new look 4-3-3 formation, able to operate on either flank.
Tello is also seen as a far cheaper alternative to Gaston Ramirez who has a £20 million price tag. As his bid to cut costs continues, Rodgers will look to snap up Sahin on a season long loan.
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That deal may prove harder to conclude however, with Sahin desperate to join a club offering Champions League football, with Arsenal reportedly interested.
Rodgers is hopeful his close relationship with Jose Mourinho could prove a decisive factor in securing the deal.
Florent Malouda will see out the final year of his contract with Chelsea training and playing with the club’s under-21 development squad after failing to secure a move away from the club during the summer transfer window.
The France international revealed he had effectively been excluded from the first-team squad on his Twitter account on Wednesday, attaching a photograph of the entrance to Chelsea’s academy building alongside the message: “This is where I’ll train for my last season with the Blues!!” The move prompts parallels with the treatment of Nicolas Anelka and Alex last season, two senior players who were told to train with the reserves and then sold in mid-season while Andre Villas-Boas was manager.
Chelsea have privately suggested Malouda’s situation is slightly different in as much as he had indicated to the club a desire to leave over the summer, only for his wage demands – he is on £80,000 a week – to prove prohibitive for prospective new employers. The 32-year-old, a £13.5m signing from Lyon in 2007, had been close to rejoining the French club on a free transfer and had held talks with Santos in Brazil only for the finances involved to scupper any potential deal.
The club’s hierarchy have now argued that the player’s clear desire to leave makes it inappropriate for him to be in and around the senior set-up, though Malouda has been granted a place in Chelsea’s 25-man Premier League squad place, if only because the likes of Eden Hazard and Oscar do not have to be registered as they are included on the under-21 list.
Malouda, who has made 229 appearances for Chelsea scoring 45 goals, will not play any part in the defence of the Champions League at the group stage having been excluded from Roberto Di Matteo’s 22-man senior party.
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