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<p>What the hell is going on at Portsmouth? Despite Sulaiman Al Fayed passing the fit and proper persons test that the Premier League subjected him to, he’s still not completed the takeover at Fratton Park. The fans of Pompey deserve better than this, it’s not fair and it’s getting beyond a joke. The club has had no additional finances for over 9 months now from current owner Alexandre Gaydamak, so desperate is he to recoup his overall investment.</p>
<p>Perhaps someone should point out to him that you get a lot less for a team that is either in the Championship or nothing for a team in administration. Portsmouth are clinging to the cliff edge by their fingernails and unless the deal gets sorted immediately, they are in serious trouble of lasting until the transfer window shuts.</p>
<p>On May 17th 2008, Portsmouth fielded the following side in the F.A. Cup final; James, Johnson, Hreidarsson, Distin, Campbell, Utaka, Mendes, Diarra, Kranjcar, Muntari, Kanu. Subs: Ashdown, Paramot, Diop, Nugent, Baros. Of that match day squad, 10 still remain at the club with another 8 who were either not at the club or unable to play that day, which swells the ranks to 18 first team players.</p>
<p>The Premiership season starts in 11 days and at this moment in time, it has now become clear that there is no guarentee that how many more of the remaining squad members will still be there come 3pm on the 15th when they face Fulham. That is unacceptable for Portsmouth’s fans, who always seem to be the last to know anything these days.</p>
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<p>The protracted takeover for the club by Sulaiman Al Fayed has still not been completed and today the club inadvertently revealed the financial woes that the club faces. There’s nothing worse than sending a confidential e-mail to suddenly realise it’s become major sporting news.&nbsp; <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/p/portsmouth/8183075.stm" target="_blank">Portsmouth’s Chief Executive Peter Storrie has opened a can of worms this evening</a> after such a scenario revealed the state of Pompey’s financial woes. Storrie’s e-mail stated that <em>“The business has debts to pay and the banks are not releasing funds, so this leaves the club with no option but to sell to keep going.”</em></p>
<div style="border: medium none;overflow: hidden;color: #000000;background-color: transparent;text-align: left;text-decoration: none">Since the F.A. Cup final, Portsmouth have raised over £70 million pounds in transfer revenue and spent around £10 million. Where on earth has the other money gone? Storrie claims that the club simply cannot function without selling further players, so where has the TV revenue gone? Each club receives on average £45 million a season in the Premiership, so add that to transfer revenues and you are looking at £115 million coming in to the club.</div>
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<div style="border: medium none;overflow: hidden;color: #000000;background-color: transparent;text-align: left;text-decoration: none">Even if the the transfer deals are paid in installments, it is still a revenue stream that the club can include in its accounts.Don’t forget the club received £5 million from Tottenham for Harry Redknapp to take charge back in October too!What is happening at Fratton Park? How did it get to this point that they are so close to the wall that even £115&nbsp; million can’t keep them functioning?</div>
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<div style="border: medium none;overflow: hidden;color: #000000;background-color: transparent;text-align: left;text-decoration: none">Is Sulaiman Al Fayed banking on them going to the wall? By entering administration, Portsmouth will automatically be docked 10 points. Not an insurmountable deficit in the Premiership, but only if you have a team that you can put out. At this rate, Paul Hart may have to register himself as a player just to top up the subs bench.</div>
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<div style="border: medium none;overflow: hidden;color: #000000;background-color: transparent;text-align: left;text-decoration: none">With Storrie’s admission of the state of Portsmouth’s finances, the Premiership vultures are circling. Other clubs know now that they can pick off the best of the rest, with Niko Kranjcar and Sylvain Distin at the top of few clubs shopping list. Hot prospect Martin Cranie is another player that several managers will have already earmarked and Younes Kaboul will have several suitors, no doubt with Ajax and Lyon leading the field.</div>
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<div style="border: medium none;overflow: hidden;color: #000000;background-color: transparent;text-align: left;text-decoration: none">Yet, when you’re paid £1.3 million a year, you’d think that e-mailing a national newspaper would make Storrie think about what you discuss with them. What a mess, what a shame. Can Portsmouth keep going until the protracted takeover is complete? I hope so, otherwise the pebbles on Southsea beach may be coloured blue when the sharks come to finish off the club. I hope it doesn’t come to that.</div>

Portsmouth On The Brink Again?

Portsmouth On The Brink Again? - World Soccer Talk

<div><figure class="external-image"><img src="/files/2008/08/reyes.jpg" alt="reyes.jpg"></figure></div>
<p>Benfica have completed their fourth signing of the summer by agreeing a one-year loan deal for Spanish winger Jose Antonio Reyes. The 24-year-old makes the move from Atletico Madrid, with the Lisbon club also having the option to buy the player at the end of his loan spell. Benfica coach Quique Sanchez Flores continues to overhaul his squad as The Eagles look to soar once again after a poor season by their standards.</p>
<p>For the first time in a few season, Benfica failed to gain a top three finish in the Portuguese Liga and will play in the UEFA Cup this year. Reyes, combined with one of the other new signings — Pablo Aimar, should inject some creativity into the Benfica midfield and provide stronger service to striker Óscar Cardozo.</p>
<p>One player who has left Benfica is Cristian Rodríguez, who had been on loan from Paris Saint-Germain but has now made a 7m Euro permanent move to link up with rivals FC Porto.</p>
<p><div><figure class="external-image"><img src="/files/2008/08/crosas-celtic.jpg" alt="crosas-celtic.jpg" align="right" hspace="10"></figure></div>Celtic FC have signed midfielder Marc Crosas from FC Barcelona in a deal which could rise to 1.4m Euros. The 20-year-old defensive midfielder joins the Scottish champions through a complex deal. Celtic will pay an initial £415,000 fee that could rise to as much as £1.6m depending on appearances. that allows Barcelona to buy back the player for £1.6m  at the end of the 2009/10 season. Barcelona will also receive 25% of any transfer fee if Crosas is sold to another club. The 20-year-old was introduced to the fans at Celtic Park this past Sunday prior to Celtic’s season opening 1-0 win over St Mirren. Celtic fought off competition from Sevilla, Sporting Gijon and Sampdoria for Crosas’ signature.</p>
<p>Crosas made his first-team debut for Barcelona two seasons ago but has only made one appearance since. He went on loan to French champions Lyon in January and played eight times for the club before the end of the season. Crosas was not the first player Celtic targeted under this complex system.&nbsp; Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell revealed to the Sunday Herald that Argentina forward Javier Saviola and Portugal winger Ricardo Quaresma earlier refused the opportunity to join the club.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Julio Baptista’s switch to Roma could fall through due to the price tag Real Madrid have put on his head, according to the player’s agent. Roma were keen on a loan deal similar to that which took Baptista to Arsenal in 2006, whereby they would pay three million euros now with the option to shell out another 10 million to secure his services permanently next year.</p>
<p>After a long frustrating summer, Everton look to close some deals in the coming days. Everton have bid £6 million for Rennes midfielder Stéphane M’Bia who is being targeted as a replacement for defensive midfielder Lee Carsley. M’Bia is currently on duty with Cameroon at the Olympics Newcastle striker Alan Smith was being targeted in a £2 million transfer. Moyes has failed to bring in any new players since guiding Everton to fifth place last season and his squad was further depleted by the sale of Andrew Johnson to Fulham. Everton have had some turmoil in the boardroom after chief executive Keith Wyness resigned his position at the club. Chairman Bill Kenwright, who has come under fire from Everton fans who were angry at the lack of progress in the transfer market, has reiterated he would welcome new investment to strengthen the club’s financial firepower.</p>
<p>Two potential targets have dried up as Sporting Lisbon president Filipe Soares Franco insists midfielder Joao Moutinho will not be leaving the club this summer and CSKA have rubbished reports of a move for Vagner Love. Roman Babaev, the director general of the club, has reportedly stated “It isn’t true that we have loaned Vagner Love to Everton, there are no negotiations about that.”</p>
<p><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" src="/files/2008/08/carloscuellar.jpg" alt="carloscuellar.jpg" align="left" width="234" height="315" hspace="10"></figure></div>UEFA Cup hopefuls Aston Villa have made another splash into the transfer market after agreeing a £7.8m fee with Rangers for their highly-rated Spanish defender Carlos Cuellar. Villa invoked an exit clause in the player’s contract after the 26-year-old had made it known that he wanted to play in the English Premier League.</p>
<p>Cuellar moved to Ibrox from Spanish side Osasuna last summer and enjoyed a terrific debut season for the club, helping them to the UEFA Cup final and winning both the Clydesdale Bank SPL and Scottish Football Writers’ Association player of the year awards.</p>
<p>Cuellar will be Villa’s seventh signing of the summer following the transfers of Curtis Davies (loan deal made permanent), Steve Sidwell, Brad Friedel, Brad Guzan, as well as defenders Nicky Shorey and Luke Young. Shorey and Young joined in recent days on seperate transfers from Reading and Middlesbrough respectively. Both have been on the fringes of the England squad and will add much needed depth to the Villa squad.</p>
<p>Sticking with the theme of defenders on the move, Monaco have reached an agreement with AC Milan to sign defender Dario Simic. Simic, 32, had spent the past six years at the Rossoneri after moving over from rivals Internazionale. Milan won two Champions League trophies during his stay at the club.</p>
<p>Lastly, Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp has made French defender Younes Kaboul his newest recruit after agreeing a £6million deal with Tottenham. The ex-Auxerre man was recruited by former Tottenham boss Martin Jol but he saw his playing time diminish under Jol’s successor Juande Ramos, who preferred to play midfielder Didier Zokora at centre-back rather than Kaboul.</p>
<p>The 22-year-old centre-back should be available for next Sunday’s Premier League opener against Chelsea but will have to work hard to break into the Pompey defence as the regular centre-back pairing Sylvain Distin and Sol Campbell is quite solid. It is unlikely though that Campbell will be able to play all of the fixtures in the domestic league and UEFA Cup so Kaboul will be a valuable depth signing.</p>


Transfer Update: Reyes to Benfica, Crosas to Celtic, Cuellar to Villa

Transfer Update: Reyes to Benfica, Crosas to Celtic, Cuellar to Villa - World Soccer Talk

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Portsmouth On The Brink Again?

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Transfer Update: Reyes to Benfica, Crosas to Celtic, Cuellar to Villa