i reckon it's going to be an interesting summer

[heartscollidex.livejournal.com]

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez ready to risk wrath of Everton with move for Steven Pienaar

Liverpool are ready to risk the wrath of neighbours Everton with a move for influential midfielder Steven Pienaar.

The skilful South African has emerged as one of the best players in the Premier League but his contract runs out in 14 months and Everton are yet to tie him down to a new deal.

Sportsmail revealed in January that Tottenham and Chelsea were interested in the 28-year-old, valued at about £10million.

Now Liverpool have emerged as strong admirers, despite Everton's reluctance to sell to their fiercest rivals. The Anfield club have been encouraged by news of the unresolved contract talks, although Everton are preparing a new offer that would put Pienaar on a par with their top earners at about £50,000 per week.

Pienaar's agent Ivan Modia said: 'Steven's future will be sorted before the World Cup.'

Everton manager David Moyes warned: 'Pienaar is at a club that really suits him and sometimes a player has to decide what is best for him. Everton has been good for Steven. If anybody wanted to leave, they'd be poorer for it.'

Daily Mail

Milan plan £20m bid for Berba

DIMITAR BERBATOV could end his Manchester United hell this summer - with AC Milan planning a £20million bid.

The Sun revealed last week that Old Trafford boss Alex Ferguson has lost faith in the Bulgarian hitman and is ready to offload him.

Fergie accepts he must take a loss on Berbatov, 29, who cost £30.75m but has scored just 12 goals this season, and will be tempted if Milan move in.

An AC Milan insider said: "No contact has been made yet but we admire Berbatov.

"He is a strong player who would do very well in Italy. Whether something can be arranged remains to be seen. It has been difficult for Berbatov in Manchester but he is a good player who has a lot to offer."

Serbian winger ZORAN TOSIC, who cost United £10m last year, wants to turn his loan spell at Cologne into a permanent move.

The Sun

Jamo stays in the real world

DAVID JAMES is ready to snub a move to West Brom to stay at Pompey for the Championship's "real football".

The England goalkeeper, 39, will be offered the chance to extend his Premier League career by Baggies boss Roberto di Matteo.

But James wants a guaranteed first-team place and said: "I refer to the Championship as real football.

"People aren't as interested. So in that sense you're playing a more realistic and less glamorous game."

The Sun

Portsmouth expected to announce £119 million debt

Portsmouth are expected to announce debts of £119 million when their accounts for the last financial year are released later today.

The figure far exceeds earlier estimates of £85 million, but Andrew Andronikou, the club’s administrator, has attempted to play down the seriousness of the debts.

"I do not believe that the figures will come as a surprise to anyone who has been interested in buying the club," Andronikou said. "When they do due diligence it is there for them to see. So, for that reason, it is not unexpected, although, of course, the figures are vastly different from what has been reported. The size of the debt involved won't scare off potential buyers, far from it."

However, his latest estimate that the club could come out of administration by “the last week in May or the first week in June” makes it unlikely that the FA will approve Portsmouth’s delayed application for a Uefa licence by the May 31 deadline. So they will be unable to take up the Europa League place they have earned by reaching the FA Cup Final.

As more information about the debts comes to light under administration, it has emerged that 15 football agents, including Pini Zahavi, are owed a total of £9 million – one is owed £2.3 million for one deal alone - and that £14 million is owed to various lenders who financed the purchases of Sulley Muntari, Glen Johnson and Jermain Defoe during the 2007-08 season.

£38m is due to three previous owners in the form of loans and £5 million to trade creditors. Balram Chainrai, the present owner, is owed £14 million, but his loan is understood to be secured on Fratton Park.

“We now have a business plan in place that is a projected target over the next three to five years to pay back the creditors," Andronikou said. "The creditors will get a percentage of their debts back over a number of years, rather than all in one go.”

Andronikou is to meet creditors on May 6, hoping to secure their agreement to a creditors’ voluntary arrangement [CVA], which is essential if the club is to exit administration. The FA are also expected to insist on this before they will put Portsmouth’s name on the list of clubs requiring a Uefa Licence.

75 per cent of the creditors must agree on the amount they are to recoup from the business, and it is expected that Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs will be especially hard-headed in negotiations.

If a CVA is not agreed then the club faces the prospect of further points reductions next season in the Championship, apart from losing their chance of a European place.

The Times

Juventus give Liverpool boss Benitez more time to decide on future

Juventus are ready to give Rafa Benitez until the end of the season to finalise his move to Italy after a personal intervention from the new president of FIAT.

The Serie A giants had wanted a definite answer from the Liverpool manager by the end of this week.

But John Elkann, who took over the running of Juventus’ parent company yesterday, now believes a deal is so close they are ready to give the Spaniard more time.

Elkann, the New York-born heir to the Agnelli fortune, is not directly involved in the day-to-day running of his family’s club.
Click here to find out more!

But the 34-year-old has instructed Carlo Sant’Albano, his director on the Juventus board, to conclude the signing of Benitez to relaunch his ailing club.

Sant’Albano and Juventus president Jean Claude Blanc are continuing talks with Benitez’s agent Manuel Garcia Quilon after their meeting in Milan last week.

The Italian club have offered the Spaniard a four-year deal and £175m to invest in the transfer market with the promised signings of Javier Mascherano and Edin Dzeko.

Benitez has asked to bring eight of his staff from Anfield to Turin and overhaul the management structure of the club.

While talks first began in January, the biggest obstacle to the deal remains Benitez’s reluctance to resign from Liverpool without a payoff from his contract. Juventus are so far unwilling to buy out his deal and all his staff.

The lack of Champions League football will also be a deterrent with the Bianconeri currently lying seventh in Serie A, six points behind fourth-placed Sampdoria with just four games remaining this season.

Elkann, who was raised in the UK, Brazil, France and Italy, was left with control of the family’s business assets when his grandfather Giovanni Agnelli died in 2003.

The Mirror

Other stuff:

Celtic are considering a move to make Nottingham Forest boss Billy Davies their next manager after the former Rangers player intimated he would be interested in returning to Scotland. The Times

Striker Eidur Gudjohnsen wants to stay at Tottenham next season. The Icelander is currently on loan from French side Monaco. The Sun

Manchester City are planning to swoop for Aston Villa winger Ashley Young, with Craig Bellamy, Martin Petrov and Shaun Wright-Phillips all set to depart Eastlands this summer. The Mirror

Chelsea risk losing several of their biggest names for nothing this summer after being instructed by Roman Abramovich to suspend all contract talks until the end of the season. The Russian owner believes the likes of Joe Cole, Michael Ballack and Deco must earn new deals through their performances during the remainder of the season. The Times

England goalkeeping legend Peter Shilton says keeper Ben Foster must leave champions Manchester United if he wants to save his international career. "Foster was on a par with [West Ham's Robert] Green a while back but he is not playing first-team football anymore and that is going to count against him," said Shilton. Daily Mail

Comments

[siobhanwashere.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this, its really handy to have it all in one place :D. I really really hope the Berba stuff is true, he's just not a united player. a lot of the other stories are quite new and interesting....

[heartscollidex.livejournal.com]

np :D i need something to keep me occupied being off college ill haha.

[siobhanwashere.livejournal.com]

hehe. hope you get better soon :)

[arooj.livejournal.com]

20 mill for Berba sounds too good to be true..

Lol Pienaar is nothing special.

Thanks Shilton for stating the obvious.

[heartscollidex.livejournal.com]

basically all this

[lovettex.livejournal.com]

I think that the Berba move is a good idea.

Pienaar? We can't have two midfielders named Steven! That's just silly.

I'm sorry, I can't recall, but didn't Rafa just extend his contract for like another FIVE years or something at Liverpool?

[heartscollidex.livejournal.com]

contracts mean nothing now a days

[oui-janine.livejournal.com]

Basically now contracts only mean shit if they sack you. If Liverpool sacked Benitez they would have to give him ££££££££££££ because he just signed a new contract, if he was to leave, it wouldn't really make any difference.

[problematique.livejournal.com]

this post needs more Balotelli drama
I should make a post about it but I don't want to

[oui-janine.livejournal.com]

Was he reacting to racial slurs from the Ultras? I think I heard that somewhere but wasn't sure if it was true...

[epouvante.livejournal.com]

balotelli drama makes me so D-:

he really ought to leave italy

[dothebadthing.livejournal.com]

dnw Pienaar

[ipomoea.livejournal.com]

ahahaha this.

I doubt we're going for him anyway.

[julialonso.livejournal.com]

Clubs thinking big...

[epouvante.livejournal.com]

excuse u, the gossip says ~~spurs~ are getting pienaar.

lol berba

i would love it if eidur stayed. i thought it was a bit ridic when the rumors started in january but he's been great for the team.

[ultra-obscene84.livejournal.com]

I hope Pienaar isn't going to the Spurs. Ick nast. But I hope Eidur will stay, tho.

[c0rrine.livejournal.com]

can't we get arteta instead??!?!?! we can easily pretend he is xabier