June 23rd
Tonight is going to be a very loud night in Barcelona. It’s the Sant Joan festival which seems to be a festival to celebrate the loudness of fireworks and a competition to see who can make the loudest explosion most often. Oh joy.
The Alecksander Hleb transfer appears more and more likely as new Stuttgart coach Giovanni Trappatoni says he won’t stand in the player’s way if he wants to go. Arsenal’s interest is very real and reports of the move being held up because of a bid for Shaun Wright-Phillips are quite far from the mark indeed. That’s not to say there isn’t interest in WWW Jr, I’m told there almost certainly is, but it has nothing to do with the Hleb deal. It might be a case that Hleb is being bought to play on the left to replace Robert Pires who is again linked with a move to Spain, this time by the Mirror. They talk about Pires’ agent in the article though and as far as I’m aware Le Bob represents himself in all contract talks. Maybe it’s different if he’s actually looking for a move though. Chelsea have signed Asier del Horno from Spain meaning there’s no chance for Ashley Cole to escape his Highbury Hell, to West London at least. And what do Ashley and Sp*rs bloke Frank Arnesen have in common? Here’s a clue.
A couple of the young players we released earlier in the summer seem to have found clubs for the new season. Icelandic midfielder Oli Skulason moves all the way to Brentford while young striker Adam Birchall looks set to join Mansfield Town. Good luck to them both.
Nowt more this early in the day. Till tomorrow, if I survive the fireworks….
