[tobitrice]

Originally Posted by safetyblitz

On another topic Babel needs to be developed. Loan him to us next year Arsene will develop him and hen after we win a title you can have him back. That kid just oozes talent, but I do not think that he will be developed there.

i just had to take note of what you said just there concerning babel. I fully agree that babel developing his already amazing talent at arsenal would probably be explosive. I dont know what it is about the 'footballing school of arsene wenger' but it really has turned raw talents into world class as well as very stylish players. babel's raw talent is a treat. his style of play allows him to penetrate past his marker when there's space or even in tight areas. when there's space he can simply destroy his marker for pace. even in tight areas his simple but effective technique of close control where the ball is glued to his feet allows him to dribble past opposition defenders. but he still needs development because despite his amazing ability, he is still prone to some donkey performances. i reckon wenger would sharpen him up in a jiffy.
it's a shame he's injured for the euro's especially if he was to have the same kind of display he had at the under 21s last year.

[safetyblitz]

If you look at him, his build, his speed, his flair/talent, he looks like the second coming of Henry.....

[tobitrice]

Ok fellow kopites....

Strong sources suggest that robbie keane deal to liverpool should be finalised by tomorrow. Im not one for wind up rumours, so if im wrong on this one feel free to jump me.

[Le Moor]

Originally Posted by tobitrice

Ok fellow kopites....

Strong sources suggest that robbie keane deal to liverpool should be finalised by tomorrow. Im not one for wind up rumours, so if im wrong on this one feel free to jump me.

Thing is Tee, it wouldnt surprise me if he uses him the say way he did Crouch ie waste his talent.

That means the Barry deal must be off then as he was the alternative apparently.

[safetyblitz]

Considering all the poaching he had to do at Spurs, he would probably benefit there. The 'Pool needs a guy who can score the ugly goal. Keane's goals will never make the highlights, but he finishes.

Come to think of it we could use him at Arsenal

[tobitrice]

Originally Posted by Le Moor

Thing is Tee, it wouldnt surprise me if he uses him the say way he did Crouch ie waste his talent.

That means the Barry deal must be off then as he was the alternative apparently.

Actually le moor, im going to give rafa the benefit of the doubt on this one. Keane is too good to waste. I know rafa has wasted some good talents previously like cisse, crouch and maybe even pongolle (has done well in spain the past two seasons), but the thing is about the players he has mis-used is that their quality was suspect sometimes. Keane is a player of undisputed quality, title winning quality, he fits into the class of 'untouchables.' Never have i seen rafa misuse his untouchable class of players. Ok, he has had his wierd moments such as benching torres at portsmouth, but he doesnt tamper with his best players to the point where you can say that rafa wasted them.

The barry deal has stalled but it's not off, O'neill says talks are still going on. On one hand i give rafa thumbs down for allowing the alonso transfer to juve fall through, which would have generated cash for barry. Rafa was asking too much for a player that has been out of form for 12 months, juve are no mugs.
On the other hand i give rafa credit for not allowing o'neill to rinse us completely.

[Le Moor]

Originally Posted by tobitrice

Actually le moor, im going to give rafa the benefit of the doubt on this one. Keane is too good to waste. I know rafa has wasted some good talents previously like cisse, crouch and maybe even pongolle (has done well in spain the past two seasons), but the thing is about the players he has mis-used is that their quality was suspect sometimes. Keane is a player of undisputed quality, title winning quality, he fits into the class of 'untouchables.' Never have i seen rafa misuse his untouchable class of players. Ok, he has had his wierd moments such as benching torres at portsmouth, but he doesnt tamper with his best players to the point where you can say that rafa wasted them.

The barry deal has stalled but it's not off, O'neill says talks are still going on. On one hand i give rafa thumbs down for allowing the alonso transfer to juve fall through, which would have generated cash for barry. Rafa was asking too much for a player that has been out of form for 12 months, juve are no mugs.
On the other hand i give rafa credit for not allowing o'neill to rinse us completely.

If we get both Keane and Barry what a coo that would be.

Re Barry, thing is he wants to go and O'neil obviously doesnt want to lose him, and is not bending at'll. This is unusual. We are talking about the difference of £1.5 to £2 mill which is nothing in football, but Oneil wont budge from £18, mill. Normally clubs meet somewhere in the middle.

[tobitrice]

Originally Posted by Le Moor

If we get both Keane and Barry what a coo that would be.

Re Barry, thing is he wants to go and O'neil obviously doesnt want to lose him, and is not bending at'll. This is unusual. We are talking about the difference of £1.5 to £2 mill which is nothing in football, but Oneil wont budge from £18, mill. Normally clubs meet somewhere in the middle.

Apparently that £18 million figure is oneil meeting in the middle. Before barry went public about his desire to move, reports suggested that oneil was holding out for £20 million. And even us with our bid of £15-16 million is stretching it, since we have made previous bids of £12 million and £14 million.


Liverpool and Manchester United have been reported to the Premier League by Tottenham Hotspur following their respective interest in Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov.

Spurs are unhappy with the conduct of their top-flight rivals following speculation linking Keane with a move to Anfield, and Berbatov with a switch to Old Trafford.

Reds boss Rafa Benitez has expressed his interest in Keane, while United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has spoken of his optimism of concluding a deal for Berbatov.

However, Spurs have criticised the two clubs, with chairman Daniel Levy feeling they have to take the matter up with the Premier League.

Sheer arrogance
"Today's public comments by Manchester United's manager, announcing that he has made an offer for Dimitar and is confident that the deal will go through with time working in their favour, is a blatant example of sheer arrogance and interference with one of our players," said Levy in a statement on the club's official website.

"It is also probably one of the worst offences by any manager in the Premier League to date and is unbelievably hypocritical given his recent comments in respect of Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid.

"This comes after a series of events, dating back to last summer, which have shown Manchester United to be in breach of Premier League (PL) rules. As a result, we have today made an official complaint to the PL about the conduct of Manchester United.

"Benitez made similar comments in respect of Robbie recently and we made an official complaint to the PL about the conduct of Liverpool earlier this week.

"The behaviour of both clubs has been disgraceful. We told both clubs very early on that we had no interest in selling Robbie or Dimitar, respectively, and that they should refrain from pursuing the player. Both clubs arrogantly chose to ignore this request and we now have evidence that both clubs have systematically been working to prise the players away from us, outside of PL rules of conduct.


Negative influence
"Our subsequent position has been severely compromised by both clubs making their intentions widely known and indeed making contact with the players and their agents, without the club's permission.

"I have absolutely no wish to sell either player and to date we have not accepted any offer for either. However, when a player's head is turned and their commitment is absent, particularly when they occupy key positions such as that of striker, they become a negative influence in a team dressing room in which they were once a positive addition and influence.

"This is the situation we now have on our hands, with both Dimitar and Robbie having made it clear that they wish to leave for Manchester Utd and Liverpool respectively.

"Irrespective of the outcome and futures of Robbie and Dimitar, we are continuing to seek to bring in quality, talented players for the future, who want to play in a Spurs shirt."

Why do i find this article very ironic? Levy does have a point about ferguson's hypocrisy and complaints against real madrid.
However it's funny how Levy isnt throwing spurs into the mix here. How do you publicly accuse a club of wrongful approach when a few weeks ago they did the same thing. John Bostock anyone?
Anyway i cant see what rafa did wrong. Reporters asked rafa about keane in a press conference and rafa just said along the lines of 'robbie keane we are considering.'