Chelsea and Manchester City to prise Liverpool's Xabi Alonso from Real Madrid

By Telegraph staff
Published: 10:31AM BST 22 Jul 2009


Alonso joined up with the Liverpool squad this week for their Far East tour with his future at the club still uncertain and the two Premier League clubs are set to end weeks of speculation by making an offer for the £35 million-rated midfielder, according to the Express .

Alonso met manager Rafael Benitez and the Anfield squad in Vienna after flying from Spain - where he got married last weekend - following weeks of speculation that he was about to join Real Madrid
Alonso is flattered by the interest shown by Real Madrid, even if he has little say in where he ends up playing next season.

"The fact that Real wants you is always nice, above all, taking into account where I am in my career. But I've already said, at this point, what could happen is not my decision," Alonso said. "We will have to see what happens."

Alonso, however, said he was open to playing for the Spanish club, which has already spent more than £180 million on Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Karim Benzema.

Roma, meanwhile, say that Liverpool are on the move for midfielder Alberto Aquilani as a replacement for Alonso.

Benitez refused to take questions on the future of Spanish midfielder Alonso this week. Alonso arrived with the squad for an exhibition match against Thailand taking later today, and Liverpool's local supporters have left him in no doubt that they want him to remain at Anfield.

During a promotional event Tuesday at a Bangkok shopping mall, more than 250 fans chanted his name and waved banners reading "Alonso Please Stay". He acknowledged the fans but made no comment about the transfer talk.

Manchester City doggedly pursuing Chelsea's John Terry

Source: GRAHAME L. JONES / ON SOCCER (Los Angeles Times)

Manchester has offered England's top defender $330,000 a week, but Terry has not stated a decision. Chelsea has rebuffed offers.

Tampering apparently is perfectly acceptable in England.

Either that or the English have decidedly different rules about how and when soccer players under contract to one team can be approached by another team and asked to jump ship.

John Terry is a good case in point.

The captain of England's national side and of Chelsea in the English Premier League will be playing for the Blues against Inter Milan in a friendly international at 8 tonight at the Rose Bowl.

It is not too much of a stretch to say it might be one of his last games for Chelsea. Whether it will be, depends on who you believe.


Manchester City, flaunting the seemingly unlimited wealth of its oil-rich Middle Eastern owner, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates, has spent weeks trying to lure Terry out of London and north to the scenic wonders of Manchester.

It offered Chelsea $50 million for Terry, only to be rebuffed, and now is reported to be preparing a $66-millon bid.

It has offered Terry himself a staggering salary of $330,000 a week.

It has said he could pretty much write his own ticket.

It has suggested that after 14 years at Chelsea, Terry, who joined the Stamford Bridge club as a 14-year-old, might like to sample something different.

And all along Terry has said little to nothing. Even now, less than a month before the Premier League's 2009-10 season begins, England's top defender has not stated unequivocally which shade of blue he will be wearing in the upcoming season.

Other people, of course, have said much.

"I don't know what he will do," Chelsea and England teammate Frank Lampard told reporters after Chelsea had beaten Major League Soccer's Sounders, 2-0, in front of 65,289 in Seattle on Saturday night.

"This is not just about the money, and people shouldn't try to make it that black and white."

Mark Hughes, the former Manchester United and Wales player who is Manchester City's manager, has been relentless in his pursuit of Terry, but he has had to choose his words carefully.

"He's obviously the type and caliber of player we need if we are going to progress and compete at the top level," Hughes told the BBC on Sunday.

Manchester City has already landed four prizes this off-season in forwards Emmanuel Adebayor, Carlos Tevez and Roque Santa Cruz and midfielder Gareth Barry. But Terry would be the big prize.

As a result, Manchester City players have been enlisted in the cause.

"You can have the best attacking players in the world, but unless the defense compliments it, then you will not win anything," Brazilian forward Robinho told the Sunday Mirror. "I don't know anything about the John Terry deal apart from what I have read, but he is the sort of world-class player we need at the back."

Goalkeeper Shay Given echoed the thought.

"He is 'Mr. Chelsea,' so it would be amazing if we got him, and I hope that we do," Given said. "Sometimes a change is good for a player."

For its part, Chelsea has steadfastly said that Terry, 28, is not for sale. The defender still has three years left on his contract, which pays him $223,000 a week.

"I am sure he will remain at Chelsea," Chelsea's new manager, former AC Milan mentor Carlo Ancelotti, said Saturday. "I am sure 100%."

Peter Kenyon, Chelsea's chief executive, has dismissed Manchester City's approaches.

"John is a talisman," he told Britain's Sky Sports News last week. "He is the heart of Chelsea. . . . We are not going to sell John, so it is irrelevant what another club will offer. We are very confident he will be leading us in the years to come."

All the same, Chelsea has not filed a complaint with the Premier League about the way Manchester City has been nibbling around the edges. Under league rules, clubs are not allowed to express interest in a player under contract to another club without obtaining prior written permission from that club.

So the Terry saga goes on while the man himself remains silent.

Chelsea's owner, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, flies in to join the team Tuesday.

Stay tuned. As Chelsea and Germany national team midfielder Michael Ballack told Sky Sports News: "It's football, anything can happen."

Manchester City Ready To Bid £40million For Chelsea's John Terry

Sources: Arjun Miglani, Goal.com



The Citizens are not scared of Chelsea's legal threats, and are set to increase their bid...
Manchester City are set to continue raising their bid to land John Terry.

Chelsea are threatening to report City to the Premier League over their incessant pursuit of Terry, but this does not appear to be deterring the Citizens.

According to The Daily Mail, Mark Hughes is ready to table a mammoth £40million bid, having seen his earlier offer of £32million rejected. Terry is yet to publicly commit to Chelsea, and City are determined to keep bidding until he does.

City are also reportedly in the hunt for Joleon Lescott and Kolo Toure, as they seek to re-enforce their back line.

Adebayor Tries To Engineer Chelsea Move

Souce: Graham Lister, Goal.com

Manchester City are reportedly furious with Emmanuel Adebayor after the Arsenal striker allegedly tried to engineer a move to Chelsea.

In a development that may not surprise Arsenal fans - but may frustrate those who had been looking forward to his exit from the Emirates - the Togolese international may have sabotaged his proposed big-money move to Eastlands.

According to The Daily Mail, Adebayor's advisers tried to line up a move to Chelsea on Friday night. They had, according to the paper, also offered the player to City's rivals Manchester United when talks with the Eastlands outfit over personal terms of £170,000 a week seemed to be stalling.

However, later in the week, Adebayor had appeared ready to agree a move to City and go to Manchester for a medical.

Now City officials are annoyed to have learned that Adebayor has also been offered to Chelsea.

Apparently he even met Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger to discuss the possibility of remaining at the Emirates for another season - but the French tactician has made it clear he does not want him back. Arsenal would like to honour the deal they have agreed with City.

The Mail claims that City will not pull the plug on the deal just yet, and will hold further talks over the weekend to salvage the transfer.

John Terry should win Champions League with Chelsea before Manchester City move

Sources: Brian Moore
Published: 7:30AM BST 16 Jul 2009



A few seasons ago, with Chelsea flush with the millions Roman Abramovich pumped into the club, the Matthew Harding Stand taunted Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard, telling him he would never play for Chelsea. To rub it in they followed this by singing: “We’ll buy him anyway.” All that was missing was the waving of bundles of £20 notes.

Gerrard’s refusal to join Chelsea, which was closer than some think, was down to loyalty to Liverpool or if you are a conspiracy theorist, the result of an orchestrated campaign of abuse towards Gerrard and his family. The anger of Liverpool fans was drowned out with cries about the freedom of choice and the like.

Recent approaches from the new moneybags club, Manchester City, for Chelsea captain John Terry has shown the Stamford Bridge faithful the reality of being on the wrong end of an economic mismatch. It isn’t a pleasant feeling and they don’t like it. Nobody should be pleased at a smash-and-grab attempt for a player that came through a club’s ranks and climbed to the rarefied heights of leading his country; but doesn’t it say: do unto others?

In a sane world the signing of a five-year contract, which includes the ludicrous stipulation that a player will remain the club’s highest earner even in times of injury and poor form, should be a reliable indication of a player’s long-term plans. Clubs should be safe in the knowledge that a player who is a multi-millionaire and makes a decision will not have his head turned by money alone.

When that player says his commitment has been shown by signing such a document, we should be able to take him at face value.

Two strands of thought emerge from those Chelsea fans who believe Terry can do no wrong and will stay. The first is that this is another episode of Terry renegotiating his contract. If it is, it is becoming increasingly tedious. Having signed a magnificently rewarding contract only recently, it is distasteful for this to be in play again. At some point a club has to say enough is enough, whoever the player. If, as others claim, this is just Terry seeking reassurances over the direction of the club, there are a number of points raised by this. It is a dangerous precedent to allow any player to be the judge of whether a club is, or is not, planning properly.

He is unlikely to be privy to the right information to make such a call and it is facile to argue that players know which other players are the most talented. That is an entirely different issue. Unless Terry has his own short, medium and long-term strategy, one that accounts for the multiple competitions, player fitness and form and so on, he is above himself in believing he knows best.

A final aside on this point; given that Terry would be 34 at the end of his contract, there is more than a slim possibility that with his injury record and fantastically committed style of play, the time will come when a manager should consider whether playing Terry or a younger player is the best choice. This is unavoidable, but how much faith would you have in any player being sufficiently objective to step aside for a player that shows promise but no medals?

Accepting, for argument’s sake, that clubs should allow a player this largesse, Terry’s method of seeking reassurance is hardly the right way. As captain of the club and a player expressly lauded by his incoming manager, Terry, if he has genuine concerns, should air them in private. He can be as forceful behind closed doors as he wishes, but to create uncertainty and risk alienating supporters is hardly in the club’s best interests. If this really is Terry’s motivation, why could he not tell Chelsea that unless he heard the right things he would then talk to City? To do this while asking for assurances is to put a gun to the head of his employers, who will now have to slap him down or swallow the public embarrassment of having it known that Terry has ultimate control over their club. Whatever explanations are offered, this is a simple test of loyalty; similar to the one that faced Frank Lampard about a year ago.

Another player that brought success to Chelsea, and without Abramovich’s cash, was Gianluca Vialli. Terry could do no better than consider the interview he gave to Radio Five Live recently, when Vialli set out the issue in a quiet and dignified way, showing common sense and that he had considered the point from the correct perspective. “I ask myself, when I finish playing does it matter whether I have in the bank £50 million or £61 million?” the Italian said.

If the answer to the above is affirmative then that shows a warped set of values and not one of a true competitor.

You may argue that in moving to City, Terry would be proving the reverse because he is taking on a challenge to thrust City into the top echelon of English and European football. This would hold water, had Terry delivered to his adoring Chelsea faithful everything they sought, but he has not. It is not fair to lay at Terry’s feet Chelsea’s failure to beat Manchester United in the 2008 Champions League final. Had Didier Drogba demonstrated possession of a brain or Nicolas Anelka shown courage, Terry would not have had to take the penalty in the first place.

Terry owes Chelsea that trophy before he can say his work is done and that he needs a new challenge. Deliver that holy grail and no Chelsea fan would have cause for complaint. Go now and it can only be about cash; no, sorry, even more cash, and that is not the player that Chelsea fans love.