The Usual Suspects

Welcome to the blog as I start off with news that Mr. Joey Barton has undergone a medical at Newcastle but that West Ham have also had a bid for him accepted. 5.5 million is the apparent price that Man City have accepted from both clubs and it remains to be seen where he will end up. Both teams are undergoing their respective facelifts with Curbishley looking to form an interesting central midfield partnership of Barton and Parker, and Big Sam looking to bring in a man who will make sure that any Newcastle underachievers won't hang around if they know that Barton is after them on the training pitch! God knows what night happen with Barton and Butt training together, there's an accident waiting to happen. Saying that, I've always been a fan of Barton on the pitch, a decent box-to-box midfielder who always brought a bit of quality to their side, as well as some decent arse-cheeks, and i reckon that he'd fit in more with the Toon army then the Hammers as Big Sam might be the man to mellow him out and get the best out of him whereas Curbishley does not strike me as a man who handles conflict particularly well, but then again he has more money to offer then Sam which will probably mean that Joey's already polishing his new Bentley for the journey down south.

West Ham has also hit the headlines with the possible departures of Harewood and Reo-Coker. Personally I've never liked either player who both flatter to deceive but if pushed, would probably bid for Reo-Coker over Harewood, and this is what has happened. Aston Villa have come in for Reo-Coker with a 7 Million bid and....no-one has come in for Harewood yet, but don't worry Marlon, I hear that Charlton might be interested. As for Reo-Coker, I hope that O'Neill gives him a good talking to if Villa get him because he obviously has talent but seems to have this entire season moaning rather then playing. Admittedly he was made a scapegoat for the decline of West Ham but instead of trying to play his way out of this role, he just chucked his toys out of the pram instead, not the world's greatest move and something that O'Neill will not tolerate.

In other news: Henry continues to be linked with Barcelona (yawn) but if anyone actually read Cesc Fabregas's quotes then they'd realise that the press are making a mountain out of a mole-hill. Viduka has agreed to sign for Newcastle in principle, which means that a strike force of Owen, Martins and Viduka sounds bloody good as long as Owen stays at Newcastle and stays fit but it seems to me that Big Sam should spend more time looking for a couple of centre-backs then for strikers and midfielders.

And finally a quick note on Shevchenko, it seems that he shall be staying with Chelsea as Milan have admitted defeat in trying to re-sign him, this may not be a fashionable point of view but I think this is brilliant news. He is a class player that has had a difficult season adjusting to tactics that don't suit him and a manager who did not seem to want him around. He may not have scored a lot of goals this season but Drogba wouldn't have scored nearly as many goals without him in the team this season, his running and presence took a lot of defensive pressure off Drogba and allowed him to thrive. People have short memories but as long as Chelsea keep him, I think we'll see the best of him next year.

The usual suspects involved and I think we’ll be hearing a lot more from West Ham, Newcastle and Aston Villa during the summer…and I don’t even get paid for these gems of wisdom!