If you think Emmanuel Adebayor and Cristiano Ronaldo look mighty friendly in this picture, just imagine if they were teammates.
They nearly were. Ronaldo revealed on Friday that he was set to join Arsenal when Manchester United came in with an offer three times larger, an offer Sporting Lisbon pounced on back in the summer of 2003.
Can you imagine a lineup with Ronaldo and Cesc Fabregas? You have to wonder how many titles Arsenal might have won if Manchester United hadn't swooped in and landed the Portuguese winger.
Here are some other stories to get your day started:
Allardyce poised to grab Sunderland post
Former Bolton and Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce has emerged as the favorite to take over as Sunderland manager for Roy Keane, who stepped down on Thursday.
Allardyce enjoyed success at Bolton, but his move to Newcastle resulted in a brief and unsuccessful tenure that ended with him being fired last winter.
Alan Curbishley and Gordon Strachan have also been linked to the job.
Eduardo nearing return for Arsenal
One of the ugliest moments of 2008 was the image of Arsenal striker Eduardo Da Silva having his leg snapped in two by a clumsy tackle by Birmingham's Martin Taylor last February. Less than a year later, Eduardo is poised to make a miraculous recovery.
Eduardo has been training with Arsenal's first team and is now set to start playing first-team games again, a development that few could have imagined when he first suffered the horric injury.
Santos ties Toluca in Mexican playoffs
Taking a cue from his MLS exploits, Chicago Fire playmaker and Santos Laguna rent-a-play Cuauhtemoc Blanco could not help his club record a victory in a playoff league semifinal as Santos was held to a scoreless draw at home by Toluca in the first-leg of their Mexican Apertura semifinal series on Thursday night.
Toluca out-shot Santos 13-6 and will be considered a heavy favorite heading into their second leg at home.
For those unaware, this series also boasts a battle of the home-land turncoats. American-born Mexican national team defender Edgar Castillo plays for Santos Laguna while Toluca's Diego De la Torre is a Mexican born midfielder who is interested in playing for the United States (who he qualifies to play for through his American grandmother). Castillo started and played 90 minutes while De La Torre came off the bench and played two minutes.
Blanco played 86 minutes.
What do you think of the above stories? Do you think Arsenal would have won multiple titles with Ronaldo? Is Allardyce the right man for the Sunderland job? Can you believe that Eduardo is ready to come back? Do you see Blanco stepping up in the second leg to lead his team to the Apertura final?
Share your thoughts below.
start at the 5:30 mark unless you are also just a fan of the whites.
http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2008/December/ManCityVideoPreview.aspx
hodgson speaks on dempsey v gera
i did. 🙂
Zach, I’m thinking that you finally figured out that it wasn’t a spam filter but a language filter that was blocking your posts.
http://www.londoninformer.co.uk/london-sport/london-football/2008/12/05/led-lining-for-whites-113489-22412551/
It looks like British football fans do the whole theatre thing and call the left wing the right wing (stage) and the right wing the left wing (stage)…. poop on hodgson. Dempsey has been great and is the only one making opposing keepers sweat. The goals will come if he stays playing. He’s done a good job!
If Hodgson pulls in someone else, then I really hope when that player comes, Dempsey is traded to a place that will start him at the same time come January. That way everyone is happy, and I’ll shift my fandom elsewhere from Fulham.
your spam filter sucks ives
Hey, Ives… Does MLS do loans… as in are players loaned to MLS and not just out of MLS?
How was Blanco able to go on loan immediately to Santos while others have to wait until the transfer window opens? Could
Donovan have gone to Bayern Munchen earlier but he decided to take time off?
Beasley has been linked with a move away from Rangers. Espanyol, Osasuna and Wolfsburg reportedly interested.
Ronaldo would be in Real Madrid today if he had signed with Arsenal. You can count on it.
However, I do agree that Ronaldo is the player he is now because of ManU.
I’m glad Eduardo is coming back. That was an awful tackle on him.
Ronaldo would have already been gone from Arsenal if had signed. He never would have gotten the money that was available elsewhere from Arsenal.
Arsenal would have had the goofy step-over version of Ronaldo rather than the effective version. So the net effect is no additional titles for the Gunners.
Lots of “what if’s” with Ronaldo. However, do you think he would have developed into the player today if he were in Arsenal’s system?
no, I think Ronaldo needed a place with the resources, depth and leadership of ManU, especially a manager like Ferguson to reach his potential (same with Rooney, funny enough) having to fight for a place and having a manager with the chops of Sir Alex made them grow up, refine their games and get some more discipline. What’s a multimillion pound starlet to Sir Alex? If you are young, precocious and obscenely talented and arrogant, I can’t really think of a better place than Old Trafford. Wegner is a great developer of young talent, and they play pretty football, but the club doesn’t have the resources to sit someone that expensive until they follow instructions. Young prodigious talent can be coach killers, people want to know why the future isn’t playing, without serious financial resources and an entrenched manager, that pressure can kill careers on both sides. But who in Manchest is second-guessing Sir Alex in the past decade? Plus, since the British press thought Rooney was the messiah (and don’t get me wrong, he may well be more valuable than Ronaldo to that club) the pressure was off Ronaldo.
That’s great news about Eduardo. I remember being horrified by that tackle.
turn coats.
Arsenal would not have won multiple titles if Ronaldo joined them. They would win only the one the got in 03/04 season. Man United and chelsea would better prepared themselves and would still preserves their titles. In
Answering your questions:
1) We’ll never know about Ronaldo at Arsenal because Arsenal is not a player in that kind of market, and appears never will be.
2) I’m not convinced “Big Sam” is the answer anywhere. He didn’t do squat for Newcastle.
3) As a Gooner I can’t tell you how excited I am that Eduardo is coming back. The guy was on great form last year, a real find, when his career was nearly stolen from him by that vicious (not clumsy) tackle. It will be great to see him back.
4) Blanco is a pretty amazing athlete for his age. I’m sure he is helping Santos. He is a top 5 player in MLS, that’s for sure.
Arsenal can’t afford to have any more players who shave their legs.