june 22nd
13.46 – The usual Sunday round-up for you then. Too hot to do anything else.
The tabloids are pulling names out of hats at this stage. The Sunday People has us linked with Barcelona and Holland midfielder Philip Cocu. He’s been linked in the past, but this was just after Petit left and we didn’t have the depth of talent in central-midfield like we do now. Cocu would add nothing to a midfield that already contains Vieira, Gilberto, Edu, van Bronckhorst and Parlour.
We’ll end up signing Cocu now. Wait and see.
The News of the World has us linked with a Brazilian striker called Ilan. No, me neither. Apparently AW has been watching him at the Confederations Cup (just him, he’s been closing his eyes when other players have the ball) and is set to battle with Manchester United, of all teams, for his signature. This story has the foul stench of agent all over it. And here it is. Mel Goldberg (you just couldn’t make it up), a sports lawyer working with Ilan’s representatives, says ”He’s the hottest property in Brazil and I expect him to be at a top Premiership club soon.”
Apart from going to the Confederations Cup just to watch Ilan, TribalFootball.com say Arsene Wenger has also gone to keep an eye on French striker Djibril Cisse and Arsenal could pip those cheeky scousers to the signing. This story stinks of TribalFootball.com.
Oh.
David Dein and Ken Bates war of words continues. I think the fairest way to settle this dispute would be some kind deathmatch. The two men in a ring, Dein with a baseball bat, Bates with the balsa-wood baseball bat. We could run a book…
Some Portuguese bankers could save Ashburton Grove.
Leeds Chairman Professor J.McSpeakalot on Harry Kewell, “The Kewell situation is out of our hands. It’s not Harry’s fault because Arsenal are apparently in no rush. But we can’t restructure the team until the Kewell situation is settled. It’s a cat and mouse game. It’s now between Harry and Arsenal, or whichever other club he wants to go to – as long as we can get a reasonable price.”
That’s it. Go play outside. And don’t come back till dinner-time.
