Not satisfied with selling Portsmouth down the river for a second time, Spurs manager Harry Redknapp wants to ‘raid’ his former club for Jermain Defoe. One should be careful using words like ‘raid’ in connection with Redknapp, who has apparently had an initial bid rejected by Grumpy Adams. The Independent say that the bid will be increased to a teasing £15million later this week.
If all that were not bad enough for Adams
he also finds himself fending off Aston Villa’s interest in Peter Crouch, according to The Guardian. O’Neill is also thought to be monitoring Emile Heskey in what appears to be a crazed bid to fill his team with failed Liverpool
strikers. Sean Dundee is thought to be monitoring the situation.
Remember Lauren? He’s that Cameroon
guy who used to be quite good, particularly when Arsenal went through an entire Premier League season undefeated. His form for Portsmouth
hasn’t been quite so impressive, a fact which could see him offloaded to Greek outfit AEK Athens, so say the Daily Mirror. They also have Pompey losing another full-back, with Richard Duffy set to be on his way.
The sale of midfielder Lassana Diarra to Real Madrid for £20million is confirmed, though with rumoured debts of around £32million it is unlikely that all if any of that fee will be put into Adams
’ transfer kitty.
All bad news so far, but mercy arrives in the possible acquisition of former midfielder Gary O’Neill. O’Neill has failed to find his goalscoring touch for Middlesbrough
and could be on his way back south if The Independent are to be believed. However Bristol
City
’s Marvin Elliot may choose to join Wolverhampton Wanderers’ bid for promotion ahead of a move to Fratton
Park
in the considered opinion of the Daily Mirror.
To January 2 now and it is still Defoe making most of the Portsmouth-related headlines. The England
striker misses training with a ‘cold’ bless him, but still finds the energy to make it clear to all and indeed sundry that he would like a move away from the Fratton
Park
club. Tottenham remain the obvious link, with Harry’s boys apparently set to pay £15million for the man they let go for half that just one year ago according to the Daily Telegraph. Harry wasn’t fibbing when he recently referred to Spurs transfer policy as ‘a joke’ before he arrived. They’re still rolling in the aisles.
The Sun put some meat on the bones of the rumours surrounding O’Neill’s potential move from Middlesbrough
. They say that the midfielder will return to Pompey for a fee of around £2.5million, which is only half what they received for him and represents another piece of financial mastery on the part of the Portsmouth
board. If only book-balancing kept a club in the top flight.
Confirmation of Diarra’s move prompts the Daily Mirror to suggest a replacement. They have Lyon
midfielder Sydney Govou arriving on the south coast, although it has to be said that Govou has been linked with a move to a Premier League club since Les Dawson presented Blankety Blank. The Sun inevitably disagree with their great tabloid rival, insisting instead that Celtic’s Scott Brown will be the man to come in and fill the void. Just to give their story that extra touch of authenticity, they claim that Brown will join for around £9million. Debt? What debt?
Brown then joins Port Vale on a free transfer from Cheltenham
Town
to the surprise of everyone concerned until they figure out that there is more than one Scott Brown in the ranks of UK
professional footballers.
Portsmouth
strike back on January 3, trying to scare that nasty Harry away from Defoe by ‘slapping’ a £20million price tag on his head. Redknapp recoils at the prospect, explaining how he once signed Kanu for a four-year-old Vauxhall Vectra and a second hand set of golf clubs. Does he know he is the Spurs manager now, and that part of his job description is to flutter away cash?
The Times takes this on board and reminds us once more that Defoe has other options. Namely these are Aston Villa and Manchester
City
, although the latter might have other names above Defoe’s on their wish list.
The Sun offer more on their Scott Brown story, now telling us that Celtic manager Gordon Strachan will ‘resist’ Pompey’s £9million bid. However if they throw in a few bunches of bananas and a free cut and blow at Toni and Guys he might think again.
If Brown is to cost £9million then maybe he will be paid for by the money thought to be coming in from Liverpool
for Glen Johnson. The People (January 4) claim that Johnson was given a tour of the Reds’ training complex before Christmas, which if we’re not mistaken constitutes an illegal approach. Oh hang on, it’s a top four club. Forget it. More pressing for Pompey fans is the question of who will play right-back should deals for Johnson and Lauren go through. Get your boots on Tony.
And while you’re at it get your head screwed back on properly. Talk in the same paper that Joey Barton will arrive from Newcastle United is just plain barmy. For a man who insists he just wants a quite life and for everyone to leave him alone, Adams
is offering a passable impression of someone desiring the exact opposite.
While The Sun suggest Juventus will swoop for Michael Owen, the Daily Mirror pooh-pooh that by claiming that it will in fact be Pompey’s Jermain Defoe who heads to the Serie A club. Surely they are not planning on signing both? FIFA would have to bring in a rule forbidding any head-height passes if Juve were to be a world force with those two lined up together in attack.
Anyway Juve’s interest will allegedly spark a ‘bidding war’ for Defoe, culminating in Manchester City landing the former Spurs man in a deal which will also see several hundred established Premier League stars arrive at Eastlands for more money than even Roman has ever seen.
David James is getting on a bit isn’t he? With that in mind Pompey are said (by The Sunday Express) to be in contention to sign Sheffield
Wednesday goalkeeper Lee Grant for £5million. Competition for the stopper arrives in the shape of happy shoppers Tottenham aswell as Bolton Wanderers. Bolton
Wanderers? Goalkeeper is just about the only position that they ARE strong in. It’ll probably happen, then.
By Stephen Orford
4 January 2009
