Jun 19
Benzema ‘Prefers’ Madrid but United better sporting brand than Madrid
Jean Michael Aulas, Lyon’s chairman, who’s allegedly charismatic according to reports has revealed that whilst Karim Benzema will most likely stay with Lyon for another year, if he decides to depart, it would be for Madrid.
Don’t trust me? Well, here’s the quote:
“No-one is intransferable, but knowing Karim, if he did leave, it would be to Real Madrid. For the moment, we are not talking about transferring Karim.”
Of course, the obvious question will be, Fergie, are you still interested in him? Why are we still hearing incessant rumours linking us with this player — who, despite his obvious talents, has questionable taste in clubs — yet not even a murmur on cheaper strikers like Huntelaar? Also, he’s erm, French.
Today is Friday, which means another week whizzes past us, with Valencia still looking the most likely signing — assuming Real Madrid agree to add the requested one year supply of hair gel, sun tan, Iberian escorts, into Ronaldo’s contract, by the end of this month. In fact the number of eligible transfer candidates have dwindled over the past week. The under-26 age policy might have ruled out a few targets right away. We mused, a couple of days ago, if United were being naive about it, whilst, Penguin United came up with a theory that it may just be a smokescreen for driving the price for United targets down.
All that said, it sort of rules us out of reckoning for Villa (Spain Lover), Ribery (Madr!d lover), Eto’o (Dirham-lover, City-bound perhaps?) and possibly Benzema. But if we still are in the hunt for Benzema, there’s only one theory that can possibly explain it: We might want to buy him for about £25m and hope Madrid are still foolish to come back and buy him off us for £100m in three years’ time, just two months after Fergie would have said, he wouldn’t sell them a tadpole.
Nothing else explains why Fergie might still want Benzema.
Meanwhile, Manchester United is the 8th best Sporting Brand in the world, according to SportsPro magazine. Predictably American sports brands NFL, MLB, NBA and Nascar grabbed top four spots. But the most interesting entry in that list was the Indian Premier League, a cricket league that is now just two seasons old but is valued just $100m lower than the world cup, according to the Guardian article. From United’s perspective, we are valued at about $1.5bn.
The list also includes Ferrari, Formula One, and the Dallas Cowboys.
The whole list is as below:
1 NFL ($4.5b)
2 MLB ($3.9b)
3 NBA (2.35b)
4 Nascar ($1.9b)
5 FIFA World Cup ($1.7n)
6 Indian Premier League ($1.6b)
7 Ferrari F1 team ($1.55b)
8 Manchester United Football Club ($1.495b)
9 Formula one ($1.45b)
10 Dallas Cowboys ($1.278b)
[via]
And finally, we’ve been mentioned in the EPLTalk website as among the 10 English football bloggers you must follow on Twitter. For those who aren’t aware or are cynical about twitter, think of it as a microblogging service that you can use for a myriad of things. Some use it for PR, companies use it for customer service, some use it to follow breaking news. Quite recently it has received enormous praise when the Iranian government banned complete coverage from foreign media. So Iranian citizens used twitter to send updates to the outside world, breaking barriers etc.
Anyway, we are happy to see ourselves on the list, and since we usually don’t win awards, we’ll lap up any credit that comes our way. Those interested can follow us on twitter, here. If I’m not on the blog, you will see me put up some small questions/thoughts on United and football in general over there for you to reply to/discuss. Plus, I may put up some interesting links to articles I encounter during the day since it’s far easier to do it there than on the main blog. So do follow us there, if you please. Oh, and do follow those 10 other folks mentioned in the post referenced above.
Enough about us, over to you…
Related items from Red Rants:
- Breaking News: United accept 80m Ronaldo bid
- Manchester United’s 08/09 Champions’ League Opponents
- How’s the latest episode of the Ronaldo-Madrid soap opera an ‘exclusive’?
- Benzema, Benzema and more Benzema. But it’s only talk.
- Why Becks and van “the man†were sold so cheaply to Real
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
Stephen (487)
RedDevilEddy (461)
Craig Mc (348)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
@Karl: Don’t know about the roadmap, but I do know about the other thing. Also, Joorabchian is freely speaking to all the media outlets, and he said that until 10 days ago he NEVER discussed money with Man United. That 10 days ago United made a take it or leave it offer, and didn’t give the Tevez team enough time to decide in the 10 days, and United pulled the plug. That came from Joorabchian, unless he is blowing smoke out his arse mate, because the story seems to change with each mouthing.
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@Rd: “he wanted to play most games, not possible at United.”
Then how come it is possible with Rooney, Berbatov, Ronaldo,Park???
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@Karl: No what is quite obvious mate, is that THEY DIDN’T WANT HIM! That is Tevez main complaint, that United didn’t want him!
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@Craig Mc: What lies about Ronaldo not leaving? The last time Fergie spoke about that was when he said something about not selling them a virus. Which was true, he sold Perez’s mob a virus and not Calderon’s mob. Also the club statement said Ronaldo handed in a request, maybe the club did intend him to stay but that was the last straw? I still don’t get by “not giving him enough time”. How long does he really need, Kia himself alluded that United have him nine days, Fergie probably needed to know quickly where United stood with the Tevez transfer so he knows how to plan his summer spending. This is business not trading cards, how you could think United could make a mock bid of £25m to save face is beyond me.
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@Craig Mc: That puts even more fuel to my fire. Was there then not a roadmap from the OT hierarchy as to ‘where we are going’?
I think I will start responding on the other thread.
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@Red Ranter: TOUCHE RR
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@Karl: The other thread ????????
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@Craig Mc: Mate, if we put in a bid of 25.5m it is for real. We may have things to say about United telling lies etc, but a bid for that much money can’t be a joke. Which is what really bothers me — that United really valued Tevez to be worth 25.5m!
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@Karl: Not gonna do your homework for you, check your stats and tell me if any of the players you mentioned played every game? Berbatov was dropped towards the end of the season just in case you’ve forgotten.
@Craig Mc: I mean this in the politest of ways, are you related to Kia or Tevez? Everything United says are lies and made up propaganda, but everything Kia says is truth in your eyes. Seriously, some people.
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@Red Ranter: Agreed mate, it makes me question SAFs vision for the team.
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@Rd: What do you understand about internal politics Rd? Also in a good few interviews on MUTV Fergie and Ronaldo insisted he was happy at UNited. United denied that a pre contract agreement did not exist, yet United agreed last summer to the transfer this summer. The players have all known, so please don’t tell me that United don’t feed the press and media outlets a load of bullshit. Fergie was saying on MUTV 2 to 3 weeks before Ronaldo went, that Ronnie was settled. Ronnie was keeping up the lie, his interview to the Daily Mail, that United was his heart, and his home, and he didn’t care about Madrid, that he was staying, and SAF agreeing with him. Please, why folk can’t see it, amazes me.
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By the way, they were reporting on Setants that Ronnie has spoken to the press, and said that he decided to leave last summer, and everyone knew inside the club. Lord what is it going to take to realise, that most things said by clubs and players is bullshit!
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@Rd: That is bullshit mate, read back thru my posts. I have said what United have been saying, and what Joorabchian has been saying. United did lie about the Ronnie saga, and they what makes you think we are getting the truth about the Tevez case. Anyway, they are both gone now, so what the fuck does it matter
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@Karl: The management fucking up has become a trend of late I think.
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@Craig Mc: to say that people lie some of the time is not the same as saying that people lie all of the time.
As RR said, the bid was made, if things are as you say it would have been one of the craziest games of transfer brinkmanship ever, I would seriously doubt it mate.
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@Red Ranter: Whatever then RR, you believe what you want!
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@Rd: Yes will Julio needs to know that Red Ranter also has a life and Red Rants is not his main source of income or his main job. Like he is expected to troll the tabloids and news services 24/7 to appease the addicts. Nonsense isn’t it?
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@Fred The Red: Whatever Fred, whatever!
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@Karl: I say give #7 to Nani and tell him he is the answer and to go out and prove it. Otherwise I would wait for a new player to come in and get it or wait for Llajic to inherit when he is ready.
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@Rd: It seems like an act of desperation from United to all of a sudden throw in the towel and offer Tevez 25 million after stating for so long they had no intention of even offering him the original 22 million. This sends red flags up for me that they may indeed be having a Hell of a time trying to nail down any of their major targets and actually tried to settle by signing Tevez. Not a good sign at all and further more, it makes them look as stupid as a bag of nails and as slow as a blond stripper. Which is what I have said about Fergie and Gill regarding player purchases for a while now
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@Red Ranter: He didn’t say Nani was leaving, the players missus said he was leaving this summer. This is true, because Nani told Portuguese tv recently, that he has offers from Italy, and if he leaves United it will be for Italy, not to go back to Portugal.
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@Craig Mc: Like Fred the Red said, they lied once so they lie all the time? Not exactly sure what is BS about my post. I have read through everything you’ve said concerning the Tevez issue and all I can see is that you believe what Kia says and think United are the ones lying about what they say.
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@Craig Mc: If Fergie never wanted him to stay, why make such an absurd last minute offer of 25 million? Just say goodbye to him and slam the door in his face. Christ, what if he had a change of heart and accepted the offer? That would be 25 million oplus his salary that we would be kissing goodbye and 10 goals we would have to look forward too. Total lunacy.
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@Grognard: How would you know how slow a blonde stripper is??? You don’t like blondes, your a brunette lover
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@Grognard: When did United say all along they had no intention of meeting the offer. Fergie and Gill have been saying all along that they wanted Tevez, I don’t think they ever said they didn’t wanna meet it. Gill had already said in May that his future would be sorted early June, so there was nothing sudden or “throwing in the towel” about it.
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@Grognard: Good point. Problem is, then he will always be playing in Ronaldo’s shadow, and everything he does will be compared to Ronaldo. Berbatov brings something different. He is not comparable. He is different. He is class.
@Grognard: Tha is exactly what bothers me. Not the fact that we didn’t sign him as such, but the message it sends out.
CAN WE TAKE THIS TO THE OTHER THREAD, PLEASE?
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@Grognard: Well maybe total lunacy is the name of the game. Never heard of finding a snag in the contract final negotiations, and calling things off! Maybe they made an offer because of all the fan fuss, and then had 2nd thought about it. Who the fuck cares?
I don’t believe they ever wanted Tevez, he would have been signed long ago.
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FFS, come to Red Rants, and follow the nightly SOAP OPERA!
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@Craig Mc: I can see what your driving at mate and think there is elements of logic to your theory, I think they wanted him, but not enough to pay 25 million until Ronaldo left, which worries me mate, coz in my opinion it was clear that we would have been better letting him go and replacing him with quality.
I honestly thoughtbthat Tevez was a better player than he turned out for us.
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@Craig Mc: doesn’t mean they won’t try….
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@despicable: you male or female?
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