Anything but Lampard and Inter

You may have a thousand arguments quoting a dozen newspapers to prove Frank has not been loyal to the club, that he went too far by dreaming to become the highest paid footballer in England, that he is showing lack of respect to the badge he kisses so often as a mark of respect. It's not fair to comment on something when you don't know what exactly is happening. So I will restrain from saying anything unless something happens in the Lampard transfer saga. Regardless of whether he moves to Milan, I consider Lampard as a true blue legend.

So lets look around and see what else is happening. We may be missing a lot of other transfer news (read as rumors) because we are concentrating on Lampard alone. Reuters runs a story about how Chelsea inadvertently inflicted an early blow on United before the start of the season.Carlos Queiroz’s departure from Old Trafford to replace Scolari as Os Magricos coach might not be the result of a dark plan that was born in West London to unsettle the enemy before the war, but it certainly set the chain of events into motion and replacing someone like Queiroz won't be easy.

"The only Chenko I love is Sheva". Was the sweet reply by Milan Vice President Galliani when asked about Pavlyuchenko. Galliani can't be blamed for loving Sheva, and for aspiring to bring back the legend to San Siro. Afterall, Sheva is a Milan legend, lost in an unknown country, an unknown game, where money has never been a problem, but goals certainly are. But I doubt Sheva will move this summer. I would certainly be happy if it was Pizzaro and not Sheva.

Moving to transfer rumors, Tal Ben Haim is liked with Manchester City and reports say City are closing in on the £5million transfer of Chelsea's Israel international. Ben Haim had voiced his anger about not getting enough playing chances after the Moscow final. With Alex to cover Terry and Carvalho, and also the young Branislav Ivanovic looking for some starts this season, Ben Haim's chances are slim. Richard Dunne has signed a new deal with City and Ben Haim might be his partner next season. 

Paul Ince is intent on strengthening his Blackburn squad, and Belletti might be a possible target for the Rovers. The Chelsea squad has 32 members now, and Scolari said he wants a squad of around 24 only so he has the oppurtunity to bring in talented youngsters from the youth side. This means 67-8 players might be on their way out as Scolari shapes the team according to his ideas. Brazilian daily O Globo writes that Chelsea are offered Adriano plus €15m for Lampard by the Inter chief. If the news is true, Inter should know Pizzaro and Anelka are better than Adriano and still they might be on their way out of Stamford Bridge. Or maybe Moratti himself is a better striker that Adriano in his present form. 

Joan Laporta, who is still Baraclona president thanks to the narrow win in the 'vote of confidence', has said that Deco has been an underachiever for the past two years and that selling him was good business. He should be bothered more about eight members of his board resigning after his win, and not about a player's form who is already playing elsewhere. He fears Milan will beat them to sign Adebayor and that would certainly be bad business then. Deco played excellent football in European championships which makes it clear that there is nothing wrong with the player, but something was seriosuly wrong with the man-management skills of Barca.

Even though I tried, I know names 'Lampard' and "Inter' crept into this post. That's how it is nowadays. Lampard and Inter and Mourinho appear everywhere. I hope the Lampard transfer saga is settled soon and also feel for the United fans who have been through a longer 'Ronaldo Madrid saga'.