Jul 29

Harry Redknapp hits out at West Ham in Scott Parker dispute

• Spurs manager rebuts allegations of unsettling midfielder
• Redknapp no closer to resolution in bid for Bellamy

Harry Redknapp has hit back in the row over the future of West Ham’s Scott Parker. Redknapp and Spurs were this week accused of unsettling the player with their £7m bid, the Hammers co-chairman David Sullivan saying he was “very angry with Harry, Daniel [Levy, the Tottenham chairman] and Spurs”.

But Redknapp argued that any damage to the players’ peace of mind was the fault of West Ham. “Who made it public that we made an offer?” he said last night following Spurs’ 4-1 friendly defeat against Villarreal.

“You can make an offer for a player if you want to. You can make an offer for anybody. I’m sure the chairman must have got some encouragement or he wouldn’t have made an offer. So I’m not sure the full story has been told about that one. The chairman wouldn’t have made an offer unless he thought there was a chance that they wanted to do something.”

A deal for another target, Manchester City’s Craig Bellamy, also seems no closer to a resolution. “I like Craig Bellamy but I don’t know if they would sell him,” said Redknapp. “The chairman deals with all the transfers. He asks me what I want and I tell him. I don’t know where he’s at with Bellamy, if anywhere.”

Redknapp also revealed the motivation behind his attempts to sign two players with a combined age of 60, with the reigning European champions proving the inspiration. “If you’re going to be really successful you need a few men in your team, not lads that are learning,” he said.

“We’ve got a good group of players but two or three players with experience would make a massive difference to the team. You look at Inter Milan – they won the Champions League with a team of men, they were all experienced players. You need players with experience.”

Harry RedknappTottenham HotspurWest Ham UnitedTransfer windowJohn Ashdownguardian.co.uk

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Apr 19

Football transfer rumours: Matthew Upson to Liverpool?

Today’s fluff is a dormant volcano

The Mill made a brief stop at an airport yesterday, a strangely post-apocalyptic experience with shops abandoned, barely a person in sight and an eerie silence sitting like a duck-down duvet on the whole scene. It’s not dissimilar to the sight of this morning’s tabloids for anyone on the hunt for a decent bit of tittle-tattle, although fortunately the Mill’s European friends have come up trumps.

Italy’s Tuttosport, for example, reckons Juventus are preparing an audacious bid for Manchester United’s Nemanja Vidic. The Turin giants have forced Gianluigi Buffon into a spangly suit and told him to fan himself with £15m in used notes in an attempt to persuade United to part with their Serbian defender.

Meanwhile Spanish newspaper Sport reckon the Barcelona president, Joan Laporta, has met Arsenal’s Cesc Fábregas in Morocco to enjoy the sunshine, share a lamb tagine and thrash out a deal for the midfielder’s summer move to the Camp Nou. Arsenal will attempt to fill the diminutive-schemer-shaped hole by moving for Juve’s lanky roving midfield roadblock Felipe Melo.

The rest is as unlikely as it is scarce. Rafa Benítez will shore up his leaky Liverpool defence with the signing of West Ham’s Matthew Upson, while Manchester City are mulling over a double swoop for Benfica’s Oscar Cardozo and Angel Di María.

Steven Pienaar (lauded over the weekend by Paul Merson, by the way, who gushed: “This lad could play for Arsenal” as if that was the highest possible honour one could bestow on a player) is a £14m target for Harry Redknapp and Tottenham.

And in more mundane but at least vaguely realistic rumour news Sunderland want Sebastian Larsson from Birmingham and Ipswich fancy £1m-rated Scunthorpe striker Gary Hooper.

Manchester UnitedJuventusLiverpoolWest Ham UnitedArsenalBarcelonaTottenham HotspurEvertonJohn Ashdownguardian.co.uk

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