Moments such as the West Ham star refusing to play are when people in other team sports must wonder why footballers find it so hard to maintain professional decencyThere is a passage in one of Sir Alex Ferguson’s latest books that seems deliberately designed to chop West Ham down to size and no doubt, as intended, would have pricked a few egos in the way he does better than anyone. What, Ferguson wanted to know, was “the West Ham way” and why did the club persist in applying this label when in all his years at Manchester United he had never come against a team from Upton Park that he was afraid of. West Ham, he pointed out, had not...
Today’s fluff glows white on the mountain tonightWest Ham have given the world license to gossip after printing an anonymous article on their website, bylined “The Insider”, which reveals that “the board … have allocated significant funds to bolstering the squad. To that end, a bid of £20m was submitted for a player from Scotland. Meanwhile, an £8m bid was made for a player who currently plies his trade in the Championship, and a £6m bid for a current Premier League player. It is my understanding that the board will do their best to bring their selected targets to London Stadium, if at all possible.” Related: Mikel John Obi announces he is joining Chinese Super League from Chelsea Related: Transfer...
From Christophe Dugarry’s arrival in Birmingham to Peter Odemwingie’s drive, 14 years of transfer windows have given us many memorable momentsAnd so it begins … again. A rolling, meandering soap opera that never really stops started in earnest on Sunday as the new year heralded the opening of the January transfer window. An often tedious month-long orgy of will-they won’t-they drama, whisper and counter-whisper, unhappy Arsenal fans and sightings of Robert Snodgrass, it slowly builds to a climactic all-singing, all-dancing Sky Sports show-stopper hosted by an enthusiastic Scotsman who wears a yellow tie.We have been here before, many times. Fourteen, to be precise. Made compulsory by Fifa for the 2002-03 season, the January transfer window is one of two registration...
Some got roughed up by Gary Neville, others had an obsession with Twitter, but from Michael Ricketts to Oumar Niasse, these players all have a dismal January transfer in commonAt 11.30pm on the first ever January transfer deadline day, Middlesbrough sealed the signing of the striker who was intended to revolutionise their team. “I was stuck in a rut at Bolton, training was the same all the time, things weren’t going the way I planned,” he revealed. “Hopefully that’s going to change here.” It didn’t change there: at the end of the following season, 18 months, 12 league starts and three goals after his arrival, he left for Leeds on a free transfer. Related: Premier League’s fear of the drop...
As the January transfer window is about to open, we pick 10 players from around Europe who could be the subject of big-money deals Related: Liverpool prepared to let Lucas Leiva join Internazionale on loan Related: Julian Draxler agrees move to PSG from Wolfsburg in reported £40m deal Related: Liverpool will use progress not money to attract players – Jürgen Klopp Continue reading...