Blues after a pair of Hammers? |
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The Independent
"West Ham reject City's bold bid to sign Bellamy and Parker for £15m"
West
Ham United have rejected a £15m bid from Manchester City to sign both
Craig Bellamy and Scott Parker. The Premier League club insist that
neither player is for sale and have also moved to hold talks with
Matthew Upson's representatives to spell out their intention to hold on
to the England international who is also attracting intense interest
with the transfer window set to open.
Clubs assume that West
Ham are in a position where they need to sell their most valuable
assets but although a list of potential departures has been drawn up,
from one of the bigger squads in the league, it does not include the
likes of Parker, Bellamy, Upson, Robert Green, Valon Behrami or any
other first-team regular.
West Ham rejected a bid of £6m on
Christmas Eve from Tottenham Hotspur for Bellamy with the club's chief
executive, Scott Duxbury, telling The Independent that the Welsh
international was not for sale. If, however, an offer of £15m was made
for the 29-year-old, who has scored three times in his last three
matches after a barren spell, then it would be put to the manager,
Gianfranco Zola.
The same would apply to Upson and Parker with
the club, despite the financial crisis facing its owner, Bjorgolfur
Gudmundsson, adamant that they are self-sustaining, and can cover their
costs, and that they do not need to sell even if they could raise
significant funds by cashing in now. However, they admit that money
will only be made available to Zola in January through the departure of
fringe players or those who have disappointed such as Luis Boa Morte,
Julien Faubert or Jonathan Spector.
City, who tried to sign
Bellamy last summer and had an offer of £6m rejected, have now tested
West Ham's resolve again with the joint bid that also includes an
unexpected offer for Parker. The 28-year-old, like his team-mate, was
signed in the spending spree conducted by the club's former chairman
Eggert Magnusson. The bid from City has been dismissed by West Ham, who
signed Bellamy for £7.5m from Liverpoool last year, although it will be
interesting to see how the player himself reacts to attempts to sign
him being rejected. Bellamy has suggested it may be time to move on. A
further £7m was spent by West Ham to acquire Parker from Newcastle
United.
The City manager, Mark Hughes, is a long-time admirer
of Bellamy, having managed him for Wales and Blackburn Rovers, while he
is also keen to stiffen a midfield with a more aggressive, ball-winning
player such as Parker. The bids also suggest that City, at least at
present, are taking a more realistic approach to the transfer market
with targets that Hughes has earmarked rather than those demanded by
the wealthy owners from Abu Dhabi. They had indicated they preferred a
more ambitious, stellar wish-list of players such as Kaka, Gianluigi
Buffon and David Villa although offers for that trio cannot be ruled
out given the money available at Eastlands.
Upson, who was
bought from Birmingham City in January 2007 for an initial £6m, is also
in demand having impressed for club as well as country after cementing
his place in Fabio Capello's England squad and overcoming his own
history of injury problems. Newcastle United are believed to have made
an initial inquiry of around £8m. While City are monitoring the
situation Spurs have denied interest in the former Arsenal player
although his old club might just be in the hunt, but not at the price
likely to convince West Ham to sell.
The bid for Bellamy and
Parker suggests that some clubs may be keen to do their transfer
business earlier than expected in January, especially a club such as
City which has such great ambition. It will be interesting to see
whether they make an improved offer to test West Ham's determination to
hold on to the duo.
.......plus a view on Sunday's dramatics at Ewood Park.......
The Sun
"Sparky takes heart at last"
MARK HUGHES was delighted Manchester City proved they can play with heart and guts.
Daniel Sturridge and Robinho scored in the last three minutes to grab a dramatic 2-2 draw at Blackburn.
Boss
Sparky said: “We had a great 5-1 win against Hull but you need to have
other qualities as well as being able to play good football.
"You
need to be able to play different types of game. I was pleased with the
qualities we showed, as pleased with them as I was those we showed
against Hull.
“We have attack-minded players who try to play
the game in the right way but we don’t have a great physical presence
and teams can exploit that.
“We had to dig in and show the strength of character some people suspected we didn’t have.
“Those
are the qualities you need if you’re going to be a consistently good
Premier League team.” Benni McCarthy and Jason Roberts appeared to have
handed Hughes a miserable return to Ewood Park.
Ex-Blackburn chief Hughes admitted: “At 2-0 it looked like it wasn’t going to be our day.
“My players showed great courage to come back — they never felt they were beaten.”
Rovers boss Sam Allardyce said: “We had nine men behind the ball but no one on Robinho.
“I feel like I’ve had all my presents taken from the bottom of the tree on Christmas morning.”
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