Stoney79

Just to rub it in Sunderland's American owner is giving Bruce about £50m to spend this summer. Titus Bramble is his main target.

Can't see pompey selling as sol Campbell is leaving on a free. They'd therefore be left with just Kaboul who is fairly shit.

Apparently he wants to stay in Spain. Next!............ Santi Cazorla would be a pretty good alternative although I still think Rafa could pull this one off.

Sounds like Lavezzi is becoming one of Europe's most wanted. Along with us Juve, Manure, AC Milan and of course Man City have been linked in the last few days. Come on Rafa please get Siva, please! Hopefully we'll pinch him while Real are messing around with their galacicos like when we got Alonso.

Would be a good deal for £2m and the Echo are also reporting it so there may be some truth in it. Could actually benefit San Jose and Kelly. They'll get more from going out on loan for a year or two than sitting in the reserves and playing the odd first team game. I don't think either are ready for the first team yet and CB is a position where you can't afford risks.

I'm a bit concerned as well. It looks unlikely that we'll get any of the players we've been lead to believe are our main targets. Barry may well be joined by Tevez at City, Madrid apparently want Silva as well as Kaka and G Johnson may now be too expensive for us. It looks like Rafa has got his work cut out this summer but there's plenty of decent players out there. Rafa knows more than anyone that if he has a good transfer window we could win the league next year and move into a new era of greatness. If he gets it wrong we may well go backwards and find the likes of City overtaking in a few years. The pressure's on but I'm sure he'll get it right this summer.

Someone who seems to know what they're talking about told me it was Ian Ayre. I guess the new CEO will take over when appointed although I'm sure Rafa is well involved.

Hope so. He was the best player on the pitch in the u17 euro final. If he's always as good as that then he'd be the best player in our youth team by a distance and probably the ressies as well. Can see Rafa spending a few quid on youngsters this summer.

Anyone watching England u19 v Scotland? I haven't got Setanta but was wondering how Martin Kelly is doing. Is he playing CB? Cheers

Cheers for the info. Nice to see Pacheco in the goals. Hopefully the little magician will get plenty of pre season action.

I thought I read last week that the reserves were in another tournament this weekend. Anyone got any news? Cheers

Looks like Rafa has got his work cut out if he wants to sign his main targets this summer. Lavezzi will stay at Napoli if he gets a wage increase, Tevez looks too expensive, Madrid are in for Silva, G Johnson now has a multi-billionaire as boss, Downing (!!) is injured, Wheater wants to stay at Boro, and Man City want Barry. Looks like it could be a long summer for he boss! Hopefully things are progressing behind the scenes but it doesn't sound like we're that close to signing anyone yet. Anyone heard any positive news?

I've heard lots of rumours today about Owen coming back. Just seen someone else saying it on RAWK. The talk is a pay per play deal. God we must be skint!! Could work out to be a masterstroke but I doubt it. I guess he'll act as experienced cover which is what we need while the likes of N'gog, Nemeth, LDV get more experience. Plus he's English which will help with the CL quota.

He's always done pretty well for the u21s. He reminds me a bit of Damien Duff and within a year or two may well be as good as Duff in his prime. Could be ok as a squad player maybe in place of Riera if we sign a new first choice left winger.

I'm sure he is using us and if Napoli offer him a decent new contract I'm sure he'll stay. However, Rafa may be using the stories to help with his Silva negotiations.

Rafa said in January that he's not interested in Owen. I still think Keirrison is high on Rafa's list although Mlan might go for him now as Leonardo has become their new manager and he's praised him in the past.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Barry deal is pretty much done but Rafa is waiting to sell before he confirms it. He'll need all his transfer kity to bring in Silva/Lavezzi. By tonight domestic seasons will have finished around Europe and everyone will know their finishing positions and transfer budgets, etc so I expect things to pick up in the next couple of weeks. There's also more Alonso to Madrid reports this morning and I'm sure Barry will be the first choice replacement if/when that happens.

Yeah but did he look as if he meant it. I think we'd all like Babel to come good here but surely he'll be sold his summer to help finance tevez, lavezzi or silva.

Give it half an hour an there's bound to be another NOTW story on him.

If Napoli increase Lavezzi's wages then i'm sure he'll sign a new contract there so we'll be down to Tevez or Tevez.

Another Italian Lavezzi story. Tutte le notizie - Lavezzi ad un passo dal Liverpool (20:19 del 29 maggio) | Calciomercato.com Like the earlier story it seems to say he's having problems with Napoli and moving closer to us. Not sure whether it's just a way of getting him a wage increase or if he's really interested in coming here. I'm sure he'd be talking more if he really wanted a move but I guess we'll find out over the next week or two.

..........but lavezzi could be.

Cheers for the translation. Sounds like €20m plus our quarterback Dossena which I guess would add up to about £23m which sounds a lot but would be worth it if he provides the missing link. Not sure how good a source that webiste was as there was a section called "sexy gossip" so may well be a daily star type. Hopefully we'll hear more soon.

Anyone speak Italian? There's a story on Calciomercato | Notizie di Calcio-mercato, Italiano e Estero | Calciomercatonews.com about Lavezzi coming to us. From what I can make out Dossena will be going the other way. Could someone post a google translation on here please (I can't as on iPhone). Cheers. Great news if true.

Anyone got the line up? Cheers