Showing posts with label transfer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label transfer. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT THE ROBINHO SAGA



It's too hard to digest what happened. Citie outbid Chelsea? Kenyon couldn't increase his bid by a mere (acc. to Chelsea's standards) 4 million pounds. It's too absurd. Why? Cause that's not what happened.

The truth about the summer saga of Robinho involves 6 people and 1 Dubai-based entity. To get to the root of what transpired we have to go back to late April/ early May.



Luiz Felipe Scolari had 3 players on his wishlist, not 2. One was Deco, the other was Robinho and the third was........Bosingwa. What does this suggest? It suggests that Roman and Kenyon had already decided the next Chelsea coach, even before the Champions League final. Is there anything that insinuates this claim. Two points:

1. Bosingwa was swooped by Chelsea on May 11, 2008 in a 15.9 million pound switch, even before ManU could say 'Jose'. The rush in signing the lad did seem a bit rash.

2. John Terry kinda spilled the beans when he was quoted in an interview on Chelsea TV, conducted on 9th July, 2008, as saying the following:

'I (first) met him (Scolari) a few months ago at one of our games. I was quite surprised to see him.' (REPORT)

Why was it kept under wraps? Cause Scolari didn't want the news to spoil his Euro 2008 campaign.



Well Scolari got his first man early. The next target was Deco. With the imminent ousting of Frank Rijkaard, Kenyon and Co. waited for the change, which eventually happened on June 5, 2008, with the official signing of Pep Guardiola. But even before Kenyon can make a proposition, Pep showed his stupidity by declaring to the world that Ronaldinho, Eto'o and DECO are surplus to his requirements.

Lucky Kenyon. Pep just devalued Deco, and the rest was easy. A cutthroat price of 8 million pounds. Two down, one to go.

Now, the saga starts. Kenyon met up with Robinho's agent Wagner Ribeiro. Kenyon convinced Wagner to goad Robinho into signing for Chelsea. Kenyon offered Robinho 6 million euros per season, which was enough to make Robinho greedy, but the only thing that Robinho wanted was an improved contract from Real. His real intentions were never to leave Spain. Wagner, on the other hand, wanted to benefit from a huge transfer fee.



Calderon, who didn't want to sell Robinho, and wasn't worried, thanks to the 150 million euro buyout clause, didn't pay heed to Robinho's wage increase proposition.

Wagner, then, convinced Robinho that he was going to be a makeweight in the CR7 saga. This story was not leaked by the infamous Marca newspaper or any such media. It was Robinho who came out and told the media about Real's supposed plans. (REPORT)

Subsequently, Robinho was denied to go to the Olympics, and this hurt Robinho's hubris even more. No wage increase, potential use as a makeweight, and denying permission to go to the Olympics was enough to disillusion Robinho into signing for Chelsea.

Everything was going according to plan for the mastermind Kenyon. Wagner advised Robinho to go public with his wish to sign for Chelsea, which he did, by telling EFE news agency about his wish to join Chelsea. (REPORT)

Calderon became infurious, especially with Kenyon, who instigated the whole process. But, Calderon was undermined by Robinho's declaration and had to sell Robinho. So, within a few days reports were out that the transfer of Robinho to Chelsea is imminent. Kenyon stayed at Madrid to finalise the deal. He told Chelsea that the transfer will be completed "within the next 48 hours" on 27 August. Shaun Wright-Phillips was then sold to Citie for a meagre 8.5 million pounds on the 28 of August. Then hours before the transfer, Ramon did a u-turn. He declared that Robinho won't leave. Real gave Chelsea's unethical approach and their Robinho shirt selling as a sorry excuse.

But, why the drastic u-turn? Because Ramon was informed about Citie. He found out, probably through Thaksin Shinawatra himself, that Dubai was going to invest in Citie and that they wanted Robinho. Any thing to suggest this. 4 points:

1. The immediate u-turn suggested that Calderon did not want to sell to Chelsea.

2. But, since Robinho made those comments, Real had to sell Robinho, but Calderon wanted to sell to another team.

3. If Calderon had to sell to another team, and was not aware of Citie's interest, he wouldn't have been quoted in Marca as saying 'There will be no player coming in and no player leaving.' By saying that, he would have fended off other suitors, unless he already had talks with Citie.

4. A report ran in The Sun that Citie wanted to sign the Brazilian Ronaldo. (REPORT) But, it's a possibility that the information leak misrepresented Robinho for Ronaldo.

So the question arises: Why did Calderon sell Robinho at the last minute? 3 points:

1. It wouldn't give Kenyon time to find a replacement signing, especially after losing SWP. It would be Calderon's way of exacting revenge on Kenyon.

2. The last minute deal would act as a 'last minute ultimatum' which would force Robinho to sign for Citie. He would have had two choices: Sign for Citie or warm the bench for the rest of the season. By undoubtedly destroying his relations with the fans and the club through his 'press conference', Robinho was left with no choice. Wagner, on the other hand, would get his payday.

3. It would bode well for the Dubai investors, and would act as a big entry into the EPL. Think about the headlines: Dubai invest in Citie, 20 hours later they land Robinho. Would make a great statement of intent.

In the end, Calderon lost a player but got compensation through 32.5 million pounds. Kenyon, on the other hand, lost his reputation and SWP. And Robinho learnt his lesson...'Don't be too greedy.'

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

REAL DREAMS: SOME LIVE THEM, SOME DON'T



"I am proud to be playing for the best club in the world."

That's gotta hurt, Cristiano.

Rafael van der Vaart was quoted the aforementioned line during his first press conference after being unveiled by Real Madrid on the 5th of August. Add that with Los Merengues president Ramon Calderon's "Van der Vaart is the first signing and probably the only one" plus Fergie's "The matter is closed now, he is a Manchester United player, it's finished." and you can easily imagine CR7 with a few empty boxes of Kleenex surrounding him at his swish Beverley Hills Hotel suite.



Real Madrid have been courting Cristiano throughout the summer after he revealed his dream of playing for the Blancos. But, things haven't quite worked out for CR7 and his dream, and with van der Vaart's signing, it seemed as if this case was closed, at least for next season.

So, it came as no surprise on August 6th when Spanish newspaper Publico quoted CR7 saying, 'Ferguson heard my arguments, I heard his and, in fact, it was settled that the best for both parties would be for me to stay. Therefore, I can confirm that, next season, I will play for Manchester United.'

Part of the blame for CR7's predicament goes to his agent, Jorge Mendes, who is also responsible for Anderson and Nani's transfer to ManU. Jorge Mendes, at the behest of ManU, allegedly advised CR7 from making too many noises and this helped in diminishing Real's confidence, and ultimately their interest, in landing the midfielder.

Although the newest comments from the coveted midfielder have done enough to douse the transfer rumours for now, it still is highly likely that CR7 will ultimately become a Los Blancos player before the commencement of the 2009-2010 season. But, till then, he'll have to spend one more season with an unforgiving manager and, more importantly, unforgiving ManU fans.

THE RUN UP TO THE NEW SEASON



The best thing about football is that the season never ends. Just when one nerve-racking season ends, the transfer window opens, with rumours so abound and the media deliberately mistranslating every single word that it becomes difficult for Cristiano to even speak. The prospective transfers are as exciting as the 'the most beautiful game in the world' and helps build up the commencement of the new season.

We've already seen Deco's attraction to the Russian ruble materialize, Mancini's new school master Mourinho, the 'next Zidane' (yeah wutever) Samir Nasri landing in the emigrant stadium, Ronaldinho's weight-loss program shift to Milan, Modric's departure to 'top four wannabe' Tottenham, Hleb's Spanish speaking career commence in Barca and (undoubtedly the transfer of the window) Flamini's as-free-as-it-gets transfer to Milan.

Who knows what other surprises await till August 31. The new season's about to start so lets hear from all football fans. I wonder what ManU fans have to say about CR7 :)