Newsgroup: it.sport.calcio
Titolo: voci....

Nick Harper
Monday January 27, 2003
You'd think that if Alex Ferguson was contemplating adding an ageing Chilean
to his collection, he'd be considering perhaps a cheeky Merlot. But no, the
ageing Chilean being linked with Manchester United is Marcelo Salas, now
approaching 30, injured and unwanted of Juventus of Turin.
Readers with a memory may recall that United wanted the chubby striker in
1998, but was beaten to the signing by those free-spenders at Lazio. Now,
four long years on, Salas is trying to resurrect a move to a club he clearly
holds dear to his heart.
"Without doubt playing for Manchester United is a dream for me," he
dribbled, fiddling excitedly with his jewel-encrusted Alice band. "It's a
club that has won everything, with an immense tradition and is always in the
elite of the football world."
Not to mention a club guaranteed to keep topping up his Cash Saver account
and boosting his pension plan.
More appealing to Manchester United, however, is Southampton keeper Antti
Niemi. Fergie was beaten to the Finnish keeper's squiggly signature when
Niemi moved from Hearts to St Mary's for £2m last August, and he's prepared
to offer wee Gordon St Rachan a double-your-money carrot.
And while the Manchester United Plc chequebook's out, it would be churlish
not to throw a few blues Oldham's way in return for the man lazily dubbed
the "new Rio Ferdinand". He is Oldham defender Fitz Hall, 22, a man who has
also attracted admiring glances from Leeds United and Manchester City.
One man who won't be squeezing a penny money from United's bloated coffers,
however, is the ever-photogenic David May. The faux-defender, now
seventh-choice centre-back, has been begging United for another juicy
contract for some time now, but having seen him plod his way through six
games in the last 15 years, United have decided to kick him out. And while
that's undoubtedly good news for United, May's availability is bad news for
the fans of almost every other club in the Football League.
With Seth Johnson set to remain at Elland Road for the foreseeable future,
following Middlesbrough's mysterious change of heart this morning, the
bean-counters at Newcastle United now have the upper-hand in the chase for
Leeds United thug Jonathan Woodgate.
Leeds had been holding out stubbornly for a princely £9m for their prize
asset, but with their debts reaching Third-World proportions, Leeds will
accept significantly less. It may be in the form of a £7m pay-as-you-play
deal, though they could go as low as a dozen cream horns.
Arsenal were apparently set to put Jerzy Dudek out of his Anfield misery
with a move to the marbled marvel that is Highbury. He would have succeeded
David Seaman between the sticks, or so goes the rumour. But that was before
yesterday, and before poor Chris Kirkland damaged his scrawny frame at
Crystal Palace.
And though he's only just reduced the average age at Tottenham to 64 with
the sale of Sir Les Ferdinand, Glenn Hoddle now wants to bring it back up
again by signing Alen Boksic. Foiled in his bid to sign Bolton's Michael
Ricketts, Hoddle now sees the leggy Croatian as the perfect foil for Robbie
Keane, though his £60,000-a-week wages may proved tricky.

 Monday January 27, 2003
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