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Thursday Kickoff: Man United line up Lewandowski bid, Sneijder shoots down Spurs link, and more

 

Manchester United already boasts a loaded stable of forwards, but they appear ready to add yet another star striker to the mix.

German publication Bild is reporting that Manchester United is lining up a 22 million euro transfer offer for Borussia Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski. The 24-year-old Polish forward is a key figure for Borussia Dortmund, but his wage demands and the fact that he only has a year left on his current Dortmund contract after this season makes him expendable.

If Lewandowski signs with Manchester United, he will join former Dortmund teammate Shinji Kagawa, who made the move from the Bundesliga to Premier League last summer.

Here are some other stories to get your Thursday going:

SNEIJDER SHOOTS DOWN SPURS REPORTS

Reports out of Italy had Wesley Sneijder heading to Tottenham from Inter Milan, but a Dutch report has shot those down, with Sneijder’s camp insisting there is no truth to a move to Tottenham.

Sneijder was cited in the report directly, stating there have been no talks with Tottenham, and pointing out that his high salary means he is only likely to leave Inter Milan for one of Europe’s top teams, or one of the big-spending teams in Russia.

MAN UNITED WINS, CITY FALLS ON BOXING DAY

Javier Hernandez’s 90th-minute winner capped a dramatic, goal-filled match as Manchester United battled back from deficits on three occasions to post a 4-3 Boxing Day victory against Newcastle.

United’s victory, coupled with Manchester City’s 1-0 loss to Sunderland, extended the Red Devils’ lead atop the English Premier League to seven points. City fell at the hands of a former City player, with Adam Johnson scoring the winner for the Black Cats.

Stoke City posted one of the day’s more impressive results, handing Liverpool a 3-1 loss to push the Potters unbeaten streak to nine matches.

Clint Dempsey sat out his second straight match due to a groin injury, but Tottenham didn’t miss a beat, handing Aston Villa a 4-0 thumping at Villa Park. Gareth Bale’s hat-trick led the way for Spurs.

Here is a rundown of Wednesday’s English Premier League scores:

Manchester United 4, Newcastle 3

Sunderland 1, Manchester City 0

Everton 2, Wigan 1

Stoke City 3, Liverpool 1

Fulham 1, Southampton 1

Norwich City 0, Chelsea 1

Queens Park Rangers 1, West Bromwich Albion

Reading 0, Swansea 0

Aston Villa 0, Tottenham 4

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BLACKBURN BOUNCES BERG

Beleaguered League Championship side Blackburn has fired manager Henning Berg after less than two months in charge.

The same club that took so long to finally dump Steve Kean wasted little time getting rid of Berg, who managed just one victory during his time in charge of the club, which had lost five of its past six matches.

Former Blackburn manager Mark Hughes is rumored to be in the running for the top spot. Hughes was recently fired as Queens Park Rangers manager.

QUICK KICKS

Riquelme nearing Boca Juniors return. (REPORT)

Manchester United’s Bebe joins Rio Ave on loan. (REPORT)

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What do you think of these reports? Surprised Man United would go after Lewandowski? Think Chicharito’s days in Manchester are numbered? Where do you see Sneijder winding up?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. You gotta wonder if Sir Alex sees Rooney falling into the 10-spot that Scholes has filled for so long?

    I also wonder how Chicharito will look in a different team. I can’t imagine he’ll be as effective without other players to draw attention as he has in United.

    This year it’s as if SAF has just said, “Screw it…we’re gonna outscore em”

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  2. 22 million? Doesn’t sound like enough. Torres was worth 50, and Lewandowski looks to be a far more effective striker, regardless of league. I would think Dortmund would only accept 35-40 million. Would be very surprised if Dortmund sell for so little.

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    • 22 million euros for a player with one year left on a deal is pretty high. Torres had multiple years left on his Liverpool deal when he signed with Chelsea. Also, the transfer market isn’t as cash-rich as it was just a few years ago (with obvious exceptions like PSG and Russian clubs).

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    • Torres had 3 great scoring seasons at Liverpool and 5 solid La LIga seasond at AM. He was a known quantity in the 06 WC and Euro 08. plud Chelsea over pays for everything. At the time Torres was probably worth no more than 35million, 40 tops. Lewandowski has had 2 solid seasons so far. No wonder 20-25 would be enough to lure him away

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  3. I am hoping so bad that Lewandoski will change his mind and sign a 2- to 3-year extension at Dortmund and keep playing with the great Marco Reus and the great Mario Gotze and the rest of that great team, not to mention Jurgen Klopp, one of the top coaches in the world and, in my opinion, much better than the overrated Jose Mourinho who has budget several times bigger than Dortmund…

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      • ^ Never has a one word reply made me laugh so hard. Classic. That said Man U needs help from the GK to def mids. Young and Valencia on the wings is tough to beat and Rooney and Van Peirse it almost a over kill of attack but their back four is awful. They need to crash the transfer market hard for def from right to left. Its amazing and a joke that they are winning the PL and pulling away with a def that bad.

  4. What formation does Man U play? Some Polish analysts expect that Lewy would pair with RVP in front of a withdrawn Rooney. Does that sound plausible?

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  5. Really Man U! I can think of 7 other positions you need improvement on and striker is not one of them. Rio is probably done, Vidic is injury prone, Evra is getting old and Evans is shite. Carrick is not good enough and won’t get any better, Giggs is ready for retirement, Scholes had to be talked out of retirement because MF was such mess, Fletcher has barely played in 2 years due to injury and your young goalie from Spain is just not ready to be the starter at United.

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    • Carrick is one of the best deep lying central midfielders in the Prem. Your point is well taken though. Man U are stocked at wing and striker but could use a center back (Johnny Evans is garbage and another central player (how long can Giggs and Scholes stay on?).

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  6. This is shaping up as a big transfer window for Polish players. Bayer Leverkusen just acquired 18-year-old forward Arkadiusz Milik to be Kiessling’s understudy.

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  7. I have to feel bad for Chicharito. He thrives, then Man U brings in every attacker they can in an attempt to upgrade and he still continues to thrive against the new competition. Now they have another premier player coming in hopefully to unseat him. If my boss pulled that on me I’d tell him to eat a bag of d–ks, steal something, and slash his tires on the way out.

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  8. Lewandoski. Dont go to Man U. Go to an Italian club say AC or Inter Milan. Man U has too many amazing strikers. Besides what is he on? 60-70 K a week? Seems the Germans pay reasonable wages whereas the English pay over the top

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    • Agreed. He would thrive at one of the top Italian clubs. If he goes to Man U, he’ll probably follow in the footsteps of, say, Berbatov or Bendtner and eventually transfer to a lesser PL club.

      He has a pretty good thing going at Dortmund right now, especially with Kuba and Piszczek teaming up with him to make Team Poland in the Bundesliga.

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  9. Supporting Fulham is so frustrating. Just when you think they’re going to get to the next level…they start playing. Good thing I’m a Cubs fan, I know how to handle this.

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      • This is such an accurate comment about pretty much every team in the EPL outside the big four spenders. It would be so frustrating to be a fan of outside those top 4-6 teams(I’m being generous too to say up to 6) when you know you have a 5-10% chance of winning a trophy every season. What do you get excited for every season? Maybe we can stay in the EPL this season. YIPPEE (-;

        Don’t get me wrong…I enjoy watching the EPL but this is why the Bundesliga or even MLS is so much more fun to follow than the predictable EPL from a competition stand point. A new season brings hope every year that almost any team can win it.

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