As the summer continues and we fans are stuck in football cold turkey, desperately trying to get whatever footballing fix we can through transfer gossip and Copa America games, today has brought us some interesting news involving 2 of the biggest clubs in England.
Manchester United have unveiled the worst kept secret in England...the signing of Owen Hargreaves from Bayern Munich for around 17 million pounds. It has been a long time coming but now it has finally happened, we can take a step back and admire the midfield that Ferguson has at his disposal next season. Battling for 4 positions you have, Hargreaves, Carrick, Scholes, Giggs, Nani, Anderson, Ronaldo, Park and the support of Fletcher and O'Shea. In fairness, Nani and Anderson will be used sparingly this season as they get used to the pace of the Premiership but their midfield does look formidable. Hargreaves brings a protection to the back 4 that United haven't really had since Keane, and if you look at all the teams that have won the Champions League recently, the defensive midfielder has really become a key position and Hargreaves has really grown into the role and has the potential to become one of the best midfielders in Europe.
Over at Chelsea, things aren't looking so rosy with Frank lampard apparently rejecting a huge contract offer to stay at Chelsea. I'm not sure what to make of the situation, he's 29 and it may be that he's not sure about comitting his future to one club for the remainder of his playing career. I don't think it is as big a deal as people are making it out to be, contract details often take a while to sort out and Frank has given his all for Chelsea in the past few seasons and deserves a bit of time to work out what he thinks is best for him. He has two years left on his contract and there's a long time till the start of the season so let's not jump to any conclusions yet and wait to see what the Chelsea Board do next.
It also appears that Jurgen Klinsmann rejected the possibility of managing Chelsea this summer. I'm a big admirer of Klinsmann and what he did for Germany during the last World Cup but I am not sure just what he's trying to do here. There's no need for him to come out and tell us about a situation that has now been resolved, I suppose it's a good way of keeping your name in the press but if he didn't want to leave California to manage Chelsea then I doubt any other big clubs will want him as manager. We all know about the situation at the end of last season between Mourinho and Abramovich, and we all know that Mourinho will be manager at Chelsea in the coming season, so it's just a nothing story designed to give the press a way to create more furore around a story that has already been resolved.
Saying that, if Klinsmann was willing to leave California then I do think he would be a very good manager, and considering some of the recent managerial appointments, his lack of experience at club management would not count against him.
Copa America round-up, Venezuela recorded their first win in the Copa for 40 years with a 2-0 victory over Peru. Pretty dirty game with Peru playing with 10 men for most of the game Venezuela finishing the game with 10 men, but congratulations to the hosts, and Peru not really showing what they are capable of. But it does spell good news for Chelsea fans because if peru go out early then their new signing, Pizarro, will be able to get a good rest before the start of the Premiership. The other game saw Uruguay beating Bolivia 1-0, with Vicente Sanchez grabbing the only goal of a game where Uruguay continued to struggle despite getting the victory. For a team with their class, they really are not playing very well and will need to raise their game against Venezuela who will be on a high after their first victory.
Right, I'm off, hope there's some sun wherever you are and that your football cravings have been sufficently satisfied, au revoir.
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