Transfer SpeculationRafa Benitez may need to sell players in order to bring in the ones he needs reports today’s Telegraph. It is believed that he has been given a transfer kitty of £20 million by owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett. The article speculates that Benitez may offload Ryan Babel, Andrea Dossena, Sami Hyypia, Philipp Degen and Andriy Voronin to boost his kitty. Not entirely sure why Sami Hyypia has been included in this list as he’s out of contract at the end of the season. Benitez said: “More or less I have an idea of how much we will have to spend. I think we’d have to sell players to increase the money we’ll need, but at the moment we’re not talking about names and money. We are working on targets and we will try to do things as quickly and cheaply as possible.” The article speculates that Rafa hopes to land “long time target Gareth Barry after failing to land him last summer, while Valencia centre-back Raul Albiol would replace Daniel Agger should the Dane not sign a new contract. Despite Benitez’s denials, the Spain international David Silva remains a possibility should cash-strapped Valencia accept a price well below the £30 million they are believed to want. While the lack of funds is likely to price Benitez out of any move for Carlos Tevez, he is believed to be tracking Portsmouth’s Glen Johnson and Tottenham’s Aaron Lennon.”
It think Hyypia will be in there as it means freeing up some of the wage bill, hopefully to get some top class players in. No problem for me of getting rid of any of the others mentioned.
ReplyDeleteWhy Glen Johnson? Never really been that impressed with him tbh, looked out of his depth at Chelski, we have Arbeloa as first choice who has improved beyond recognition since gaining confidence in the Euros last summer, plus Stephen Darby who looks extremely promising despite the disappointing league position for the reserves this year. Would welcome Lennon though as long as he doesn't turn out to be another Pennant.
Totally agree. Arbeloa has had a great season and it would be great to see Stephen Darby get more games in the first team. Although I think possibly his small stature has possibly hindered a more regular placement in the first team.
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