The Real Deals
‘THE Mirror says that, although Patrick Vieira is not for sale, should Real Madrid offer Arsenal, say, £35m for his services, he might be.
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But Real are only offering £15m for the Frenchman, which even by our most basic maths falls well short of what might be an acceptable fee.
So the ongoing saga of Vieiras move to Spain goes on for another week – and given the storys track record, probably another season.
One thing more certain at the Bernabeu is that Reals last big midfield signing will not let them down.
David Beckham today tells the Mail that he is out to prove his critics wrong and will make his time in Madrid a successful period.
On a personal level, says Day-vid, some people have said I havent done so well. [Only some people?] I aim to prove them wrong.
(We hope his aim is truer than, say, from a Portuguese penalty spot.)
Hes also keen to learn the local language, which is a funny form of English, a kind of Spanglish.
Another challenge is Spanish, says old No. 23. Obviously, I havent conquered it yet, but Im learning and I understand whats said during training. Im progressing little by little.
And as soon as his nonsense-talking wife arrives in Spain, were sure his Spanish will come on in leaps and bounds.
After all, if you are going to send text messages you dont want your wife to see, best do it in a language she cant understand.
Helping him in his language course is the Sun, which lists a few phrases the England captain might like to try out.
No. Dejame lanzar la penalty. (No, let me take the penalty). And Sven, puedo ayudarte con sus problemas matrimoniales. (Ill help you with your relationship problems, Sven.)
And staying with the Madrid theme, one other player who just might, or might not, move to the Spanish capital is Wayne Rooney.
The Express (The Agony Goes On) says that the young tyro is stalling on signing a new £13m five-year contract at Everton.
Given that this offer represents a 500 per cent pay rise and will make Rooney very rich, his inability or reluctance to make a decision tells us much about how much money still washes around the game.
But beyond footballs hype and cash, the Sun reports that Lance Armstrong is on the brink of a sixth Tour de France win.
Not only did the American have to put up with a tough mountain climb on yesterdays time trial, but also with fans taking exception to his being there and spitting at him.
There were lots of fans, and it was a little scary, says the Texan. Its over now, but a lot of Germans fans were just disgusting.
Oh, come on, Lance, spitting is not nice, but leather shorts and massive sausages never hurt anyone…’
Posted: 22nd, July 2004 | In: Back pages Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
