Berbatov is mine! Mine I tell you!
Article submitted to THBN by Terry Scott-Bryan
Since when do managers openly state that they are very interested in another teams player? This close season has brought about some astonishing events, with managers given a free ride when it comes to unsettling players.
Anyone not knowing that clubs make illegal approaches to players must be living somewhere other than Earth.
We've all read about players (or their agents) being approached by a club before their own club allows communication. It's a part of football. But never before have I witnessed a close season when its been okay to openly state the name of the player that you wish to buy!
Liverpool boss, Rafa Benitez, even announced on the official Liverpool site that he would be interested in signing Tottenham Hotspur's Robbie Keane.
"Keane is one of the other names and, okay, we are working on other names. We were in contact and we will see now."
WTF?!
"In contact"? In contact with whom? His agent, the player, or the club? I wouldn't say the latter, for as soon as the article was published on the Liverpool site, Tottenham Hotspur reacted angrily by stating that "Robbie Keane was not about to leave for Liverpool or any other team".
Liverpool have such a free ride with the media. When Tottenham Hotspur attempted to replace Martin Jol as manager, the media called Tottenham "scandalous".
Liverpool did the same thing in trying to replace Benitez with Jurgen Klinsmann, yet I can't recall Liverpool FC being called "scandalous"?
I don't want to dwindle on Liverpool too much, so I'll continue.
Prior to the news that penniless Liverpool wanted a £20 million rated player, Spanish giants, Real Madrid were up to their old tricks.
Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon, stated that Manchester United should be "happy and proud" to facilitate in the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo to the Santiago Bernabeu.
Talk about unsettling a player.
At this point, Manchester United filed an official complaint to both UEFA and FIFA. FIFA's response?
"If the player wants to play somewhere else, then a solution should be found because if he stays in a club where he does not feel comfortable to play then it's not good for the player and for the club. "
That was Sepp Blatter's (current President of FIFA) response. The crowned fool continued with the following comments;
"I think in football there's too much modern slavery in transferring players or buying players here and there, and putting them somewhere."
Genius!
Some would be forgiven for thinking Mr. Blatter was having a magic moment. But those of us who have read other comments made by the FIFA supremo, would know that comments such as the ones he made in relation to the Ronaldo saga, are not few and far between.
Instead of FIFA putting a stop to clubs openly stating that they want a contracted player, they condone these actions.
For me though, the ultimate prize has to go to Sir Alex Ferguson. After weeks of having to deal with the world's mass media in relation to Real Madrid signing Ronaldo, and accusing Real Madrid of unsettling one of his players, Fergie announced to the world that;
“We have made Tottenham an offer on Berbatov and we have good expectations that this deal will go through.
Since when do managers openly state that they are very interested in another teams player? This close season has brought about some astonishing events, with managers given a free ride when it comes to unsettling players.
Anyone not knowing that clubs make illegal approaches to players must be living somewhere other than Earth.
We've all read about players (or their agents) being approached by a club before their own club allows communication. It's a part of football. But never before have I witnessed a close season when its been okay to openly state the name of the player that you wish to buy!
Liverpool boss, Rafa Benitez, even announced on the official Liverpool site that he would be interested in signing Tottenham Hotspur's Robbie Keane.
"Keane is one of the other names and, okay, we are working on other names. We were in contact and we will see now."
WTF?!
"In contact"? In contact with whom? His agent, the player, or the club? I wouldn't say the latter, for as soon as the article was published on the Liverpool site, Tottenham Hotspur reacted angrily by stating that "Robbie Keane was not about to leave for Liverpool or any other team".
Liverpool have such a free ride with the media. When Tottenham Hotspur attempted to replace Martin Jol as manager, the media called Tottenham "scandalous".
Liverpool did the same thing in trying to replace Benitez with Jurgen Klinsmann, yet I can't recall Liverpool FC being called "scandalous"?
I don't want to dwindle on Liverpool too much, so I'll continue.
Prior to the news that penniless Liverpool wanted a £20 million rated player, Spanish giants, Real Madrid were up to their old tricks.
Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon, stated that Manchester United should be "happy and proud" to facilitate in the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo to the Santiago Bernabeu.
Talk about unsettling a player.
At this point, Manchester United filed an official complaint to both UEFA and FIFA. FIFA's response?
"If the player wants to play somewhere else, then a solution should be found because if he stays in a club where he does not feel comfortable to play then it's not good for the player and for the club. "
That was Sepp Blatter's (current President of FIFA) response. The crowned fool continued with the following comments;
"I think in football there's too much modern slavery in transferring players or buying players here and there, and putting them somewhere."
Genius!
Some would be forgiven for thinking Mr. Blatter was having a magic moment. But those of us who have read other comments made by the FIFA supremo, would know that comments such as the ones he made in relation to the Ronaldo saga, are not few and far between.
Instead of FIFA putting a stop to clubs openly stating that they want a contracted player, they condone these actions.
For me though, the ultimate prize has to go to Sir Alex Ferguson. After weeks of having to deal with the world's mass media in relation to Real Madrid signing Ronaldo, and accusing Real Madrid of unsettling one of his players, Fergie announced to the world that;
“We have made Tottenham an offer on Berbatov and we have good expectations that this deal will go through.
“Berbatov has been impressive during a long time and would be a great addition to our attack.”
Sensational!
When will this stop? Not in the near future.
PS. I support Bristol City
PS. I support Bristol City
13 comments
Fergie.. Believes that he has Ronaldo under contract and he will not sell... Well what is the diffreence ith Berba! hypocrit bastard. I think both are great clubs, but this stinks.
I was waiting to see if anyone was going to make a big hoo-haa about it. Im still waiting!!!
The BBC sort of mentioned something for about 30 seconds, but that was it. How obvious is it that they are all a bunch of Liverpool fans?
If levy has really made a complaint to the Prem, then I hope they do something about!
i say sell berb…
If they are gonna play silly f**kers and think that if they wait until close to the window closin in order to get the players at a lower price, then either the price should rise the closer we get, or we should refuse. The worst case scenario would be that we lose them both just before the window shuts and without the chance to replace them.
(1) Man Utd has tabled an offer but RM never.
(2) Man Utd has consistently stated their intention in not selling CR but Spurs has stated that if the right offer come in, they will consider.
(3) SAF has confessed that he did mentioned about their offer to unnamed player. And the press has assumed that the player is Berbatov.
Blame who?