Viewing Thread:
"Purse (but no handbag) for Arsenal"

Strong rumours have surfaced again around St Andrews that Birmingham City central defender Darren Purse has all but put pen to paper for Arsenal in a deal worth £9 million to go ahead when the transfer window re-opens.

Whilst this is a sad loss to Birmingham we have apparently lined up out of favour Ferdinand Coly from lens (as a replacement for Purse) for a fee of £650-000 and with the remaining funds Shevchenko of Milan and Di Canio of West Ham are said to be on there way too.

Other (strongly rumoured) major January signings include...

Barry from Villa to Blackburn/Tottenham
Hargreaves from Munich to Villa/Arsenal
Kaladze from AC milan to Arsenal
Gudjohnsen from Chelsea to Arsenal
Ronaldinho from PSG to Man Utd
Quaresma from Sporting to Man Utd
Duff from Blackburn to Liverpool
Milito from Independiente to Leeds
Les Ferdinand from Tottenham to Portsmouth
Rebrov from Tottenham to Fulham/Birmingham

Whilst the above are not carved in stone i understand that 'deals' for the above players are either complete or are very close to completion. We will see in 4 weeks time i guess.

*Inter Milan have apparently offered Man Utd £17 million for Giggs but im not sure of the source regarding this so i didnt include it with the others.

No idea, personally i think its Ronaldinho's subtle way of saying 'its hot here, it rains in Manchester, if the monies right i might consider it' hence the lenghy talks his agent has had this last week with Man Utd.

Tradition tells me that Man Utd will not be held to ransom as far as transfers go, so unless Ronaldinho is prepared to get his hair wet from time to time the deal may not happen, im still fairly sure he is headed to Old Trafford tho despite being strongly linked with Juve too (i think Juve are being linked to pressure Fergie to pay more but i doubt it will have the desired effect)

Probabaly because he can earn a lot more money in Italy than by staying in Brazil - makes sense really. Many South American players like to stay away from English football because of the weather and the fast paced style football, so I can see it from his point of view - he'd be a major assest to any team.

so he's playing football in italy solely because he likes the weather? Why the hell didn't the damn fool just stay in Brazil?

Just touching on the Ronaldinho transfer again... Ronaldinho was quoted as saying 'the Italian weather is better than the English weather' so that kinda contradicts what his agent recently said when he spoke to Man Utd on the players behalf (fact).

Batistuta has all but stated that the only place he'll be playing football next seaosn is england. So I imagine all the mid-level prem teams will be after his signature.

On the subject of Batistuta i heard that Fulham, Sunderland and middlesboro are all fighting to sign him, nothing concrete here so i didnt include it before.

Actually, Veron has been quick to hail England as a great place to play football. "Less tactics, more game" I believe he has stated.

He's been a big factor in Batistutas decision making processes recently.

I agree with what you say about Veron but... Lazio still owe Man Utd in the region of £8 million following the sale of Jaap Stam and the deal i heard entails Veron to Lazio (Inter are linked in here too) and Crespo coming to Old Trafford in return. The deal would wipe out Laio's debt, its a forced sale by the Italian club and Man Utd desperately want another striker, this deal would get them one and for free too. Veron has made no secret of his wish to go to Italy, Lazio need the deal - Man Utd need a striker.

Argentinian source 'Ole' seem to be very confident of this deal, time will tell.

Veron won't be goig anywhere. He's been the key to success in the Champion's League, and that's what Fergie is really after. The Premiership can go to hell as far as he's concerned, he wants to win the CL, at Old Trafford no less.

What a way to cap his time in charge of the club.

No, for as long as Veron's form hold in europe, he will be staying.

I dont know what the circumstances are surrounding any of the transfers ie: Part exchanges but im told Veron (and others) are on their way out of Old Trafford so that would generate a few quid.

I should say that Shevchenko being linked to Birmingham City made me laugh, i know we have alot of money available but its questionable if we have £20 million (which is what AC are asking) even with £9 million we get from Darren Purse.

Latest news is that Cuducini is heading to Roma in a part-ex deal worth over £12 million. And Jaap Stam looks to be coming back to England to bolster the Newcastle defence.

Like i said before these are rumours, BUT they are strong rumours. I havnt included the many other 'whispers' that are circulating, these are the strong rumours only.