Defensive duo to Boro

[Tasslehoff]

Middlesbrough have completed the double signing of defenders Jonathan Woodgate and Robert Huth.
Real Madrid and England centre-half Woodgate, 26, has moved to the Riverside on a season's loan with the option of making the deal permanent.
German international Huth, 22, has signed a five-year contract after completing a £6m switch from Chelsea.
Boro boss Gareth Southgate told the club website: "This is a significant coup and a big boost."
He added: "Both players have a point to prove - and the great thing is that they want to do that with Middlesbrough. I'm absolutely delighted."
Woodgate, capped five times by England, was also a target for Newcastle as well as Bolton.
But the lure of getting his career back on track playing for his hometown club proved too strong.
The former Leeds and Newcastle defender has been plagued by injuries since moving to Spain in a £13.4m move in August 2004 and has only played 14 games for Real Madrid.
Southgate has been tracking Huth for most of the close season but the towering defender's move fell through because of an ankle injury picked up while on World Cup duty. Huth failed a medical in July but Southgate maintained his interest and promised to monitor the situation.

They'll be getting a mean team if they get these guys, they're already lethal up front (maybe not against Portsmouth, but they have the potential!
I think they'd be a hard nut to crack if they got those two guys!

 

[evzy]

Yep...Chelsea are shitting it

 

[Raven]

would be two very good signings for them.

i do find it funny that chelski have spent fuck loads of money and are barely turning in the goods this season, sure they are winning but with the amount of money they have spent you would expect it to be a hell of a lot more convincing.

 

[Vladamir]

olol Robert Huth chelsea reject etc

Really though Huth rox, charismatic guy on the pitch when he played ^^

At Raven: Yes they spent a lot of money over the summer, but you can't expect that by bringing in 2 definitive first team players (Ballack, Shevchenko) along with other signings (Kalou, Mikel, etc) for instant, perfect cohesion. Given the series of injuries picked up already (Ballack with an injury in the Charity Shield, J.Cole with a knee ligament injury in pre season, and Robben with a calf problem in a warm up last week against Boro), it removes a lot of the playing options chelsea had last year where width was a usual approach to a game.

Obviously with both capable wingers currently injured they're having to adapt and try new playstyles, hence the lack of 'attractive football' as it were.

However i still think in the Man City game they played very well, and in the second half against Blackburn they showed potential.

The cogs are turning, slowly, but surely

 

[Tasslehoff]

They have good wingers still in Geremi and SWP I think
And Kalou can be used there too!

 

[Vladamir]

I don't rate SWP anymore at Chelsea. J.Cole and Robben are excellent wingers and once they're back and in form they'll be firing in from all angles i'm hoping.

Geremi doesn't really have a first team place anymore imo, with Terry/Carvalho/Bridge (who i think is actually a better choice than A.Cole, given the asking price) and then Gallas if he stops tantruming, or Bouhlarouz.

Either way once the 'main' first team is back to full strength it will be interesting to see them vs Barcelona

 

[Tasslehoff]

Geremi used to be a winger, before he got schooled to fit in where they needed him
I still rate SWP, he just needs to hit form

 

[Tasslehoff]

And now West ham has grabbed Tevez apparently!
Dunno if the rumours are true though, seems it's a loan for the rest of the season with Mascherano joining them too!

 

[Vladamir]

And now West ham has grabbed Tevez apparently!
Dunno if the rumours are true though, seems it's a loan for the rest of the season with Mascherano joining them too!

That was seriously weird when i read that. I couldn't believe that, especially after Man U/Arsenal were after both of them.

And in other news, Andy Cole is off to Pompey. Harry Redknapp has been a genius this transfer window

 

[Tasslehoff]

That was seriously weird when i read that. I couldn't believe that, especially after Man U/Arsenal were after both of them.

And in other news, Andy Cole is off to Pompey. Harry Redknapp has been a genius this transfer window

Agree, had never imagined West Ham to get those two, but it's only on loan. Thought it was a real transfer at first

And couldn't agree more on pompey, I expect them to reach top-10 this season!

 

[Marc]

Here is a conspiracy theory Joor will be impressed with.

MSI own both players are have recently made moves to buy west ham. They did the exact same thing with Corinthians when they signed them from Boca. MSI were in the process of buying into Corinthians at the time and Teves and Mascherano were "presents" to Corinthians. Now, there is another twist. Abramovich owns 15% of MSI, so once MSI has taken over West Ham, he gets flogged to Chelsea

 

[Vladamir]

Here is a conspiracy theory Joor will be impressed with.

MSI own both players are have recently made moves to buy west ham. They did the exact same thing with Corinthians when they signed them from Boca. MSI were in the process of buying into Corinthians at the time and Teves and Mascherano were "presents" to Corinthians. Now, there is another twist. Abramovich owns 15% of MSI, so once MSI has taken over West Ham, he gets flogged to Chelsea

Even as a Chelsea fan i hope they don't sign anyone else for a good while unless something drastic changes at Stamford Bridge. Theres too many stars as it is without accomodating for even more.

Heres an article from another forum i read, conspiracy or not?, decision is yours.

Something Fishy About Tevez And Mascherano To West Ham Deal
August 31st, 2006 by Alan Hylands

And I'm not talking about the year's supply of jellied eels they've got in front of them either. The deal to take Argentina stars Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano to West Ham United hasn't officially been confirmed yet but football discussion forums are white hot with the news and the potential implications, not only for West Ham but for the premiership at large.

What would attract two of the world's most sought after, young, talented international stars to Upton Park and the waiting arms of Alan Pardew? At first glance there is no logical explanation. West Ham had a great season last year after their promotion and surprised a lot of people (me included) with their classy football and solid defence that not only gave them a respectable league finish but also took them to the FA Cup Final.

I doubt that their Cup Final defeat in one of the liveliest and most enjoyable Cup Finals in many years will have been enough to tempt the two Argies though and despite having a foot in European competition with the UEFA Cup, I doubt that's the real pulling factor either.

My suspicions lead me to a somewhat shadier deal being cooked up between the players' club Corinthians, their owners MSI and another club with shady links to MSI and their owners. It's long been rumoured that Roman Abramovich is the money man behind MSI and the reason that a broke Brazilian club like Corinthians could afford players like Tevez and Mascherano in the first place. It leaves no doubt in my mind that Chelsea and Roman are behind this proposed season long loan deal for the two Argentinians to West Ham and it's only for one purpose - to acclimatise the players to London and the Premiership and see whether they are worth signing for Chelsea properly next summer.

There can be no other reason for this transfer to take place. Yes, West Ham are a good, homely club with some good players but for a club to sign Carlton Cole this summer and turn around and also get Carlos Tevez, it leaves me wondering what the motives are. I think I've worked out the obvious answer and it doesn't bode well for the rest of the Premiership.

We've seen Chelsea's strange buys and loan deals in the past with players like Smertin and Jarosik but this moves things to another level completely. Chelsea don't outright own these players or their club but their guiding hand can skew the transfer market that they can prevent any of their near rivals in the top five from having these players while they park them at a safe and respectable club, close but not too close, for a season to let them mature in the English game.

 

[evzy]

Ah well...seems Chelski realised how much of a force Boro were gonna be eh and pulled the plug on ole Huth...

Well thats what I heard on the news this morning driving to work...but now I read this : http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=413509&CPID=8&clid=8&lid=2&title=Boro+confirm+Huth+arrival

So who knows??

 

[soze]

I don't think the whole MSI thing gose that deep MSI still own both players if i have read it right, and have moved them to West Ham to show them off to the world stage. And when West Ham sell them the proffit gose to MSI.

I think thats right anyway

But they still did better than Arsenal we made our squad better by selling 2 defenders and buying 1

Huth is staying at chelski because arsenal got Gallas

 

[Dorimor1]

What surprises me is Tevez and Maschenaro moving to West Ham...

 

[Tasslehoff]

Dunno why I put this into spoilers, but the thread gets hard to read if everything's just directly quoted, but got this from another forum I post in(http://www.punterslounge.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33940)

Spoiler

THIS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH CHELSEA, get over this ****ing Chesea thing. While Corinthians still hold the contracts for these 2 players they will never be going to Stamford Bridge.
The following stuff was sent to me by a life long West Ham fan whos been watching this happen all week.

All of this makes perfect sense. This deal serves 2 purposes

1 It will serve as a sweetner possibly paving the way for the MSI takeover which could still happen.

2 If MSI dont get it they will have succeeded in showing off their 2 prized assets that they are already resigned to loosing on perhaps the best stage of all, increasing their market value.

The 2 mysterious investors in Corinthians are widely to believed to be none other than Boris Berezovsky who gave money to fix up the stadium and Badri Patarkatsishvili, Berezovsky who is a mortal enemy of Abromovich who he belives ****ed him in a big deal out of billions for a company he was forced to sell to Roman, he's still trying to sue him I believe in the british courts. This is why Corinthians will never sell to chelsea

Theres not really any need to read the stuff below as whats above is more or less a summary, but feel free, sorry couldnt provide links as this came to me as an e-mail

Badri Patarkatsishvili, owner of the Georgian champions Dinamo Tbilisi, is the wealthiest man in Georgia and is bankrolling his country's bid for the 2014 winter Olympics. Speaking exclusively to The Observer, Badri has revealed his links to Corinthians, the Brazilian club whose holding company have shown an interest in West Ham. When asked directly if he was behind a move for the London club, he refused to comment on or deny involvement.


When MSI head Kia Joorabchian met the West Ham chairman Terence Brown in May to discuss a £70m takeover of the club with a further £200m promised for investment, Berezovsky was reported to be involved.
Last week Badri seemed to concede as much when he said: 'We have invested in a wonderful football club in Brazil, Corinthians. We have invested in the Brazil team with Boris Berezovsky.'
He added: 'I have a couple of [football] investments that I am reluctant to mention - they are in the process of being finalised. I think money has a wonderful habit of flowing where it feels comfortable. I invest in these football clubs with friends.' When pressed if one of them was West Ham, Lord Bell of the London PR consultancy, Bell Pottinger, called The Observer on Friday to say that he represented both Berezovsky and Badri and that neither is an investor directly in MSI.
'They've put investment in the stadium. Both have been approached by MSI to invest both in Corinthians and potentially West Ham - not that any bid has yet been made or put together. But neither has participated.
he declined to comment.


Berezovsky was the mentor of Abramovich before he accused the Chelsea owner in 2000 of acting for the Russian president Vladimir Putin and forcing him and Badri to sell their shares in Sibneft, the Russian aluminium company, and a TV station to Abramovich for a reduced price of $1 billion. He and Badri were placed on the international wanted list in 2003 by the Russian government and Berezovsky, who has lived in London since 2000, was granted political shelter in the capital last September.

Badri is wanted in Moscow for fraud and embezzlement, and rarely leaves Tbilisi, while Berezovsky and Abramovich have fallen out.

Oligarch Boris Berezovsky determined to sue his former business partner, Roman Abramovich
Russian oligarch in disgrace, Boris Berezovsky, continues setting claims against his fatherland. The oligarch stated recently that his former partners had robbed him according to the instructions from the Kremlin administration.
Boris Berezovsky said in an interview with the Vedomosti newspaper that he was going to file a lawsuit against well-known oligarch Roman Abramovich at one of London courts during this summer. "Abramovich made me sell assets in Russia at low prices," Berezovsky said. According to the exiled oligarch, Berezovsky sold 50 percent of Russia's oil company Sibneft in 2000-2003 for $1.3 billion and 49 percent of Russia's central TV channel, ORT, for $150-170 million. Furthermore, in 2003-2004 Berezovsky sold 25 percent of shares of the Russian aluminium giant, Rusal, for $500 million. "I was told in all of those occasions that they would take the shares away from me, if I was not going to sell them," Boris Berezovsky said. As soon as the oligarch is through with calculating the financial damage, he will sue Roman Abramovich seeking multi-billion-dollar compensations.
"According to my preliminary estimates, Abramovich owes me a half of the current cost of Sibneft assets, which he owns nowadays (about $4.5 billion). I was forced to sell 25 percent of Rusal shares for $500 million, although Abramovich sold the same shareholding for $1.8 billion," Boris Berezovsky said.
Berezovksky does not exclude that President Putin may act a defendant on the case as well, in addition to Chelsea club owner, Roman Abramovich.
Specialists say, however, that the disgraced Russian oligarch did not lose anything. Berezovsky was paid the market value of Sibneft's shares in 2000: the shares of the oil company were evaluated at the total of $1.5 billion five years ago.
The most interesting aspect in the story is absolutely different, though. Berezovsky's current intentions stir up dark moments of his previous activities in the post-Soviet Russia.
Sibneft, a Russian oil giant, was originally a state-run enterprise. The company was formed on 24 August 1995: it became the last oil jewel of the Kremlin. Boris Berezovsky established control over the company with the help of pawn auctions, the legitimacy of which has been called into question nowadays. The oligarch's bid for the company was evaluated at only $100 million, although the enterprise received a six-billion-dollar profit last year. When the oligarch sold 50 percent of Sibneft's shares for $1.3 billion, he struck an extremely profitable transaction: 1,000 percent of income in only five years.
The criminal case against Boris Berezovsky in Russia is based on fraud charges in connection with the theft of 2,033 cars from the Russian car giant, AvtoVAZ. Russia's largest car-making enterprise was experiencing an economic crisis in the beginning of the 1990s and accumulated huge debts to regional budgets. The enterprise was offered to pay the debts with its ready-made products. About 30,000 brand new Russian cars were sold through Berezovsky's firms. The funds were partially transferred to offshore zones. The budget of the Samara region of Russia, where AvtoVAZ is based, suffered the damage, the cost of which was equal to 2,033 cars.
According to the Office of the Prosecutor General, the money, which was received from the transaction, was spent on elite class real estate and media assets.
Latest statements from the disgraced oligarch are based on the public opinion in Europe, which supposedly takes his side in his disputes with Russia. According to Berezovsky, the West is turning its back on the Russian administration. However, the British justice may turn its back on Boris Berezovsky himself, if they look into the matter of the oligarch's shady financial activities in Russia.

 

[Calaen]

From football to mafia wars