Thursday football
13 September 2007
by Jerrad Peters
Real Madrid manager Bernd Schuster has admitted that he will make an attempt to sign Michael Ballack in January. The 47-year-old former Barcelona and Germany midfielder made an initial overture for Ballack in the summer and is set to make another offer when the transfer window re-opens in January. Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has omitted the 30-year-old Germany captain from his Champions' League squad -- paving the way for the player's exit to a big, European club after Christmas. The Blues claim that Ballack will not be fully fit until the end of the Group Phase in December. Germany coach Joachim Low and his staff, however, believe that the ex-Bayern Munich star will be ready to take his place in the national squad by next month. And while Schuster is an admirer of Ballack's, he acknowledges that the player's 130,000-pounds per-week salary would be too rich for Madrid's comfort. "Ballack has an excellent contract with Chelsea that would bust Real's salary structure," stated Schuster. He continued, "No player here is in that range." If Mourinho is as desperate to off-load Ballack as he is believed to be, Chelsea might be persuaded to compensate Real for a portion of his wages going forward.
Pascal Chimbonda was arrested, Monday, on charges of conspiracy to defraud. The 28-year-old Tottenham Hotspur right-back posted bail and will appear in court next month. While the Frenchman's move to Spurs is not under suspicion, the same cannot be said for his 500,000-pound transfer from Bastia to Wigan in 2005. Willie McKay, the agent who arranged the transaction, was also involved in deals which are currently under investigation at Newcastle, Portsmouth, and Rangers. McKay's clients, and many French players, are believed to have undeclared offshore bank accounts which they use to evade tax laws in England.
American businessman Daniel Williams insists that he is proceeding with his plans to take over Blackburn Rovers. "People are assuming that the deal is dead," stated the Lancashire-born Williams, yesterday. "But that is not the case at all. My personal plan is to try and get something done before January." If he were to be successful, he would immediately pump financial resources into the club's coffers to be used by manager Mark Hughes in the winter transfer market.
Queens Park Rangers manager John Gregory is feeling a bit like Martin Jol these days. His board of directors at Loftus Road has approached Italian legend Alessandro Costacurta about taking the reigns of the Championship side. After an illustrious playing career with AC Milan and the Italian national team, Costacurta is eager to try his hand at management.
Jose Mourinho believes that he has uncovered the next Nani. Seventeen-year-old Kaby, born in Guinea Bissau and the son of a current staff member of Boavista, is believed to have approved a 5M-pound move from Boavista to Chelsea. An exact timeline for the transaction has not been set.
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