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Auxerre have accepted our bid for Mexes and he was in Marseille today to discuss terms. Unfortunately, Auxerre also accepted a bid from Chelsea for the player and he’ll fly to England tomorrow to talk to them.
I think it’s given us a slight advantage by talking to him first and I took the opportunity to stress to him the club’s ambition and how I see him fit into our plans. We’ve offered him a five year deal which would see him become one of the highest earners at the club. He tells me that he was a Marseille fan as a boy and if he is to move to a French side then we are the only team he will consider. Hopefully that will be enough to swing the move in our favour.
Meanwhile, it was a case of one out and one in today with respect to left backs. Nineteen year old Alain Cantereil became the second player to leave us for Paris-SG as he signed for the club from the capital city in a deal worth €150k. He joins Aboulaye Soumah (who left yesterday) in Paris.
Meanwhile, Cantereil has been replaced by Belgian international Philippe Leonard, who has joined us for a two week trial. Leonard turned down contract offers from a few Belgian sides just to come here for two weeks so I admire his desire to play for the club. Hopefully his ability will be just as good as his attitude.
There was an interesting development today when we were offered the chance to sign one of the players we have been tracking since I joined the club. I’d originally crossed 22 year old Brazilian midfielder-cum-striker Edson Araujo off our list of possible signings, but the offer from his club Portuguesa to sign him for just €750k has renewed my interest in the player. He can play anywhere across the midfield or in attack, so his versatility could be a useful asset. I’ve told the chairman to make the bid.
08-05-2004, 09:42 PM
Let's try not to bribe our way to victory this time, eh? Post #22
With the Renato deal seemingly dead and buried I have turned my attention to another midfielder. We are a bit lacking in creative, attacking midfielders so I’ve decided to try and sign 20 year old Swede Kim Kallstrom. I know that a lot of big clubs are interested in him so I’m trying to snatch him from under their noses by getting our bid in first. He won’t be as expensive as Renato but I think he has the potential to be just as good, if not better than the Brazilian.
Meanwhile, 22 year old Camille Borios became the fourth player to leave us in as many days when he completed his move to the favourites for the French First League title, Lyon. As with all the departing players, he wasn’t going to figure much in the team and I decided to cash in on him. The €650k we’ll receive from Lyon will go straight into out transfer budget which is remains untouched thus far.
Our third trialist joined the squad today and this time it was another goalkeeper. Alexandr Filimonov is a 29 year old Russian who has 14 caps for his country. He’ll battle it out with Bosnich for a deal with the club, although there is a slight chance that I will sign both players if they impress me suitably.
08-06-2004, 03:34 PM
Let's try not to bribe our way to victory this time, eh? Post #23
We got him! Philippe Mexes signed on the dotted line this morning to become my first signing as Marseille manager. I’m absolutely delighted with the news. Mexes is one of the stars of the future for the French national team and the fact that he has chosen us ahead of Chelsea says a lot. I think the fact that he supported Marseille as a youngster swung the deal in our direction. He has everything that the modern day centre back needs in his game and more, and at just 21 he can only get better. We’ll pay Auxerre €5.25m for his services and that is nothing short of a bargain in my books.
In other news today, experienced Nigerian forward Mutiu became the fourth trialist to join up with the squad. The 32 year old striker, who can also play as a right winger, hasn’t played regular football for a few years, so I don’t know how fit he is. He’ll be with us for two weeks and hopefully that will be long enough to get a good look at him. As for the other three trialists already at the club; I’ve been fairly impressed with all of them.
Mark Bosnich has been with us the longest and I know that he wants to join the club. There are other teams interested in him so I will have to make a decision soon. The only possible query I have over him is whether he’d be willing to be a backup to Runje.
Filimonov on the other hand is very different. I don’t think he’d come knocking on my door asking for a game and he seems just as good a ‘keeper as Bosnich. However, as with a lot of goalkeepers, he is a little eccentric, and that’s putting it nicely. I’m a bit worried about that, but I think I’ll probably look to sign him rather than Bosnich.
It’s been a while since we made our bid for Celta’s transfer listed left back Manolo, and I’m starting to worry about that deal. It does open a door though for our third trialist Philippe Leonard. He has shown himself to be a useful player in training so we are making moves to sign him on a three year deal. If that goes through then we’ll end our interest in Manolo.
08-07-2004, 09:57 PM
Let's try not to bribe our way to victory this time, eh? Post #24
My plan to try and sign Kim Kallstrom quickly before the big European teams snap him up has failed. Our bid has been closely followed by offers from Arsenal and Newcastle. Somehow I don’t think we’ll be as lucky with him as we were with Mexes; I doubt Kallstrom supported Marseille as a boy!
Yet another trialist arrived today. This time it was another Nigerian: Garba Lawal. Lawal is a six feet three inches tall left winger, so he isn’t your ordinary wide man. He comes highly rated so hopefully things will work out for us.
Another €1.5m was added to the kitty this afternoon when Fernandao left for Montpellier. I’ve wished him well because he’s a good lad with the right attitude for the game, but he just doesn’t quite have what it takes to succeed at club like Marseille.
There is still no progress on the Manolo deal and it is really beginning to frustrate me. I’ve set a deadline of Tuesday for things to start moving before I pull the plug on the deal.
08-09-2004, 01:23 PM
Let's try not to bribe our way to victory this time, eh? Post #25
Portuguesa’s Edson Araujo arrived today to discuss terms. As I said, his versatility would be an asset to the club and he won’t be an expensive player to sign; or at least that was what we thought until we heard his wage demands. There is a lot of interest in signing him, both in France and in his home country of Brazil, so he (or his agent anyway) obviously thinks he can use that to his advantage. We won’t be held to ransom by anyone though, and we’ve only offered him what we think he’s worth. Besides, there are a few other midfielders that we can go for if the deal falls through.
One midfielder that we won’t be signing is Garba Lawal. The big Nigerian was recommended to me by a friend in the game and, to be honest, I think he was taking the ****! I’ve never seen a big man so scared to head the ball in my life; no wonder he plays on the wing. Suffice to say we won’t be following up our interest in him.
As for our other Nigerian trialist Mutiu, I’m still not sure. He’s just about the opposite of his compatriot; by no means a giant, but he is excellent in the air. He is also pretty quick, brave and determined. However, at 32 I’m not sure we can offer him more than a one year deal. Also, I can’t see him displacing Mido or Drogba out of the starting line-up, so is he worth signing?
08-09-2004, 08:54 PM
Let's try not to bribe our way to victory this time, eh? Post #26
Kim Kallstrom was at Stade Velodrome this morning after Djurgarden accepted our bid for the 20 year old midfielder. We face some very stiff competition to sign him (from Arsenal, Newcastle and Lens), but hopefully he’ll see what we’re trying to build here at Marseille. The signing of Mexes impressed him, but will it be enough to persuade him to turn down a move to Highbury?
Meanwhile, we’ve received a few bids for our Belgian defender Daniel Van Buyten. I had been planning to pair him with Mexes in the centre of defence, but the offers are very tempting and we do have other defenders at the club. I think it may be a good idea to let him go.
I’ve also moved to strengthen our squad with a couple of loan signings today. I’ve approached Glasgow Rangers about the possibility of bringing Mikel Arteta to Marseille for the season. The Spanish midfielder is reportedly unhappy at Ibrox, so if he comes here and does well then a more permanent deal could be in the offing. An added bonus is his experience in French football which he gained during a loan spell at PSG a couple of years ago.
The other player that I want to bring here on loan is Atletico Paranaense youngster Dagoberto. The 19 year old striker is someone I’ve heard a lot of positive things about, but some of the fees that have been mentioned are pretty high. Nevertheless, it hasn’t put me off trying to bring him here on loan; if he’s a big hit then maybe we’ll find the cash from somewhere.
I still haven’t heard anything about Manolo so I’ve told the chairman to withdraw our offer. It’s not too disappointing because it looks like Philippe Leonard is going to sign a deal. We were further boosted by news that another left back, Victor Manuel Torres Mestre has agree to come here on trial as well. The 32 year old ex-Espanyol player will arrive tomorrow for a two week spell.
08-12-2004, 11:15 AM
Let's try not to bribe our way to victory this time, eh? Post #27
It’s been a very busy day today, especially in the transfer market.
I suppose I’d better start with the bad news: Real Madrid have entered the race to sign Kim Kallstrom. I’m getting less and less optimistic about our chances of signing him as the days go by. Is it really too much to ask for us to sign a player without one of Europe’s “big teams” interfering?!? Oh well, at least it shows that we’re going for good players!
Despite only seeing him in training once, I’ve decided that Torres Mestre is a better player than Philippe Leonard. From what I’ve seen he’s a superior player in all areas, so I’ll be looking to sign him rather than Leonard. It’s a bit of a blow for the Belgian because all indications were that we’d offer him a deal. Unfortunately these things happen in football. He didn’t take it very well when I told him. Ooops!
After much deliberation I’ve told Mutiu that we won’t be offering him a permanent deal with the club. It was touch and go, but in the end I decided that he wouldn’t see enough first team action to justify signing him.
One trialist that is much happier is Alexandr Filimonov who signed a three year contract today which will see him become our second choice goalkeeper behind Vedran Runje. It also means that we’ve ended our interest in fellow goalkeeper Mark Bosnich. I’m sure he’ll have no trouble finding a club because he’s a decent keeper.
Meanwhile, some clubs are beginning to show an interest in a couple of our players that I had expected to keep.
We’ve had a few bids this week for Brahim Hemdani, but none of them really match our valuation of the player. Having said that, I could be persuaded to sell him if they increase their offers just slightly. The same can be said for Johnny Ecker. The 30 year old defender has been the subject of a few enquires and we’re just waiting for teams to come back to us with improved bids.
Another player also left the club today, albeit on a loan deal (but with a view to a permanent move). Christain Santos has gone to Brive-la-Gaillarde for the season.
All of this movement has convinced me to make a bid for Aston Villa’s Olof Mellberg. I was originally only going to go for the Swede if we couldn’t sign Mexes, but the more I think about it, the more I realise that they could have a good partnership in the centre of defence. I’ve told the chairman to offer around €5m for the 25 year old.
Should that bid be turned down, we do have a contingency plan in the shape of Metz defender Stephane Borbiconi. The 24 year old can play anywhere along the back four and should cost less than €1m.
And we aren’t stopping there either. We’ve made a bid of €350k for Tromso’s Hungarian striker Peter Kovacs. The 25 year old scored 14 goals in 14 games last year in Norway and we think he may have what it takes to score here in France as well. On the other hand, if we can get Dagoberto on loan, we won’t be needing Kovacs.
08-13-2004, 02:08 PM
Let's try not to bribe our way to victory this time, eh? Post #28
Today saw two new players join the Marseille ranks.
The first of the two signings came as a bit of a surprise. I thought that Portuguesa’s Edson Araujo had priced himself out of a move here, but he has accepted our offer of a four year deal. The 22 year old will cost us €750k, which I see as good value. He may not start too many games this season, but he’ll be very useful to have on the bench.
The second signing of the day – and our fourth since I took over – was Spanish left back Victor Manuel Torres Mestre who has been on trial for the last few days. Of all the trialists that we’ve had, Torres Mestre has been the most impressive and I expect him to fit well into our defence.
The chairman has been talking to Tromso striker Peter Kovacs today to try to thrash out a deal, but it’s still far from certain whether we’ll sign him. Right now, he’s only third on the list of strikers that I want to bring to the club.
Without doubt the striker that is top of my list is Robinho who plays for Santos. Whether we’ll actually get him is a whole different story. He’s probably one of the top three talents to come out of Brazil in recent years and there is bound to be a huge amount of competition for his signature. Before any of that though, we have to make a bid that is acceptable to Santos. I’m working hard on that just now.
Second choice on the list of strikers is young Dagoberto. Atletico Paranaense have accepted our loan offer for the youngster, but Nantes and Southampton are attempting to buy him outright, so it’ll probably come down to the player’s personal preference over a loan or a permanent deal. Hopefully he’ll come here, do well and enjoy his time, and then we’ll look at buying him next year.
Another player that could come here on loan is Rangers’ Mikel Arteta. The Scottish club have accepted our loan offer so things are looking promising on that front.
Unfortunately, things are looking less promising in the Olof Mellberg deal. I’ve heard that Valencia have bid €6.75m for him, that’s €1.75m more than we have. I don’t want to go any higher either, so that looks doomed to failure.
There has been some progress on players leaving the club and we have now accepted bids for Van Buyten, Hemdani and Ecker. The players just need to accept terms and we’ll be freeing up space in the squad nicely.
08-13-2004, 03:24 PM
Let's try not to bribe our way to victory this time, eh? Post #29
The first player to leave Stade Velodrome was Daniel Van Buyten who completed his €3.7m (rising to €4.2m with appearances) move to Lyon. I think the fee reflects his value pretty well and with the (hopefully) imminent arrival of Stephane Borbiconi from Metz, I thought we could afford to let him leave.
I also decided to let Brahim Hamdani join Bordeaux for a similar fee, pretty much for the same reasons.
The final player to leave today was Camel Meriem, who returned to Bordeaux after I cancelled his loan agreement with the club. I don’t want to go too deeply into the reasons for that, so let’s just say we had a little disagreement and I thought it would be best for all concerned if he went back to Bordeaux. Admittedly, it does leave us a little short on the right hand side of midfield, but I am looking to solve that problem as soon as possible.
It could easily have been four players leaving the club today had Johnny Ecker not rejected a move to Le Mans. He felt that the deal they offered him was unacceptable, so he’ll remain here for the time being.
Rather surprisingly, Aston Villa have accepted our offer for Olof Mellberg on the condition that we give them 10% of any future fee we receive for him. We have no problems with that so he arrived this morning to discuss terms with the club. Whether he’ll come here or go to Valencia, I don’t know. I won’t say that he is more likely to join Valencia than us though, because I said that I thought Mexes would go to Chelsea, but we got him. Then I said it about Kim Kallstrom and guess what…he signed a five year deal for us this afternoon!
I’m still in a state of shock to be honest. I told the chairman to offer him everything we could and he must have done a magnificent job because I really thought Kallstrom would go to Real Madrid or Arsenal. I’m not complaining though; I think it’s a marvellous coup for the club to get someone of Kallstrom’s quality and potential, especially for a fee of just €2.8m.
I think we now have a decent backbone to the side, and a young one at that. Players like Mexes and Kallstrom give us a solid base to build upon.
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