Manchester United and Spurs – £25m for Berbatov

It looks like United will get Berbatov for approximately £25 million.

United have officially started negotiations with Spurs about the Bulgarian striker, although Spurs have apparantly said they will hold out for £28 million.

Ferguson has followed and made enquiries about Berbatov for the past 2 seasons and now appears to be the right time to make an official approach.

I think that Berbatov would be an amazing signing for United, the service he would receive from that team would surely see him hit the 30 goal mark and I see him as the key to deciding whether Ronaldo can go or not.

If they sign Berbatov expect to see Nani start making more appearances as they test the set up for Ronaldo’s departure, and if I am to be totally honest, with Dimitar on the books and Nani maturing into a top player in his own right, I think United can more than survive without Ronaldo.

I think they will have it more their own way this year than they did last year. They got off to a slow start last year, this year I expect to see them come flying out of the blocks and with Chelsea and Arsenal going through quite big changes at the moment I really can’t see Manchester United having much trouble defending their crown as Premier League champions.

And as an Everton supporter that’s not an easy thing to say!!

What do you think about the proposed signing of Berbatov?
Please leave a comment below.

Management – How important is a number 2?

Fergie has announced that there is no rush to find a replacement number 2 at Man Utd, following the departure of Carlos Queiroz.

Queiroz has left to take on the Portugal job, a job I wish him well in. His last appointment at Real Madrid was always a step too far, too soon in my opinion but I do feel he is capable of doing a good job for the Portuguese.

I must say though that I’m not convinced being a good number two automatically means you can go on to be the top man at a club.

We’ve seen this with Queiroz’s first attempt and with other people like Brian Kidd and Steve McClaren.
People who all make superb number two’s, because they are good at relaying information, taking instruction and knowledgable of their opponents. Unfortunately the minute they have not got a good football brain like Fergie’s around to tell them who to sign, when to make a sub or change it around when they go a goal or two behind they stall in the blocks and are just left with an angry mob of fans shouting abuse at them.

I’m not convinced that a number two can automatically go on to be a number one man but I am convinced it’s good for a number one to have a sidekick to help the day to day running of things.

I must say that the fact Fergie is saying he is no rush to take on a replacement to Queiroz, makes me think he may be looking at this as his last season. Leaving the decks clear for a new man to come in next year with his own staff.

Time will tell, one thing for sure though, whether he has help or not Fergie will again be pulling out all the stops to ensure United are the team to beat this year.

Chelsea Fc – Managerless, who will touch them?

With the departure of Avram Grant this week I can’t help but think that the Chelsea managers job, although probably one of the most financially rewarding jobs in world football, is going to be harder to fill than people might think.

When Mourinho left the club and Avram Grant was given the position of Chelsea Manager, I was quite shocked.
I knew about his background in football, his domestic success in Israel proved he was an intelligent manager, but still to suddenly be instilled as manager of Chelsea in their position at the time raised my eyebrows more than a little.

After a couple of months in the job Avram had quietly stamped his own feel to the squad, continued to grind out decent results and more importantly and remarkably began to win over the Chelsea faithful who still pined for their maestro Jose.

There was none of the controversy from Grant that Jose had following him around. In fact from what I saw over the last season Avram Grant conducted himself impeccably, he finally got Ballack playing football again, something he hadn’t done so far in his time at Chelsea, and more remarkably he dragged Chelsea in the final weeks to compete point for point with what I believe to be the best Manchester United team Sir Alex Ferguson has ever assembled.

Add to that a first ever champions league final appearance that went down to the lottery that is penalties and I’d say it was a remarkable season for Chelsea and Avram Grant. I’m not even going to mention the carling cup final!!

But Mr Abrahomivich wants more, he wants all those trophies and more and unfortunatley he seems to surround himself with people who will say anything to keep him happy. I am absolutely positive Roman has not got to where he is in life through being easily led by hangers on but football is a million miles away from the oil business and he needs to identify an asset when he has it.

So there are a few names in the hat for the job but there’s certainly nobody banging on the Chelsea door shouting “Give it to me!” which has got to be a worry for the Chelsea fans. Rikjaard has been mentioned which I think is ridiculous, he’s just pulled apart the spirit of a great Barcelona team much as he did in the Holland camps when he was a player. Mark Hughes?? well I am a massive fan of Sparky but would he really allow the Chelsea board to control him as much as they like to control a man, he didn’t let it happen for Wales!

So whilst I’m sure there will be plenty of people knocking on Mr Grants door offering him lucrative contracts I’m not too sure there will be as big a queue knocking at the bridge.

So I guess it’s true money can’t buy everything……yet!