£9m for a Scottish goalkeeper - are you sure, Roy?
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Sunderland were last night poised to smash the record fee paid by a British club for a goalkeeper after tabling a £9million offer for Hearts' Craig Gordon. Roy Keane raised his bid after an £8.5m offer for the 24-year-old Scotland international was turned down. The previous record for a goalkeeper was the £7.8m Manchester United paid for Fabien Barthez in 2000.
Scottish goalkeepers — Jim Leighton, Andy Goram and Alan Rough among them — have been the butt of jokes, even ridicule, over the years. But Gordon is seen as a potential great in the Scottish game. He impressed Arsenal's Arsene Wenger in Scotland's dramatic victory over France in the European Championship qualifiers and has been a regular at Tynecastle for five years.
At 6ft 4in, he has the presence to make a major impact in English football, according to Keane, who has chased him all summer. But his improved offer of £9m is still raising eyebrows, given that the highest fee paid for a British goalkeeper is £6m — the sum Arsenal paid for Richard Wright and Liverpool for Chris Kirkland in 2001.
Coincidentally, the bid for Gordon was tabled on the day Blackburn manager Mark Hughes criticised the inflated prices being paid by his Premiership colleagues in the wake of the £2.2billion TV rights bonanza. He said: 'There are a lot of players moving around at the moment and the value that has been put on those players is totally out of sync with what they are actually worth.
"I think it's just people looking around to see what's available, and who they can get into their club, and they are having to pay top dollar — over and above top dollar on occasions. "There's a lot of players going for five, six, seven and eight million, and I look at some of the players that have moved and I then look at my squad and think they wouldn't improve it."
Keane landed his fifth player of the summer yesterday with the £1.5m capture of Norwich midfielder Dickson Etuhu, taking his spending past £15m. Should he land Gordon and successfully complete his long-running pursuit of Wigan full back Leighton Baines, Sunderland will have spent £30m since gaining promotion to the Premiership.
That is unprecedented in the club's history. They spent £4.25m in 2005 when Mick McCarthy prepared them for their last ill-fated return to the top flight. Keane still believes he can tempt Baines to the Stadium of Light, despite the resistance of Wigan manager Chris Hutchings, who only wants to sell to a top-four Premiership side. He said: "Just because a club says a player is not for sale — if that was the case, nobody would ever move club. "I am sure Everton told Manchester United Wayne Rooney was not for sale but they got him, so we will see." -
Don't anyhow spend sia. woah 9mil.
isn't that what chelsea paid for cech?
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surely gordon played a role for Scotland's recent run of matches for the Euro qualifiers.
I recall Man U oso interested hence he must be something. Its rare nowadays to find good UK (Scotland / Wales) goalies...Gordon is still young and many years for development - I think he is going to be a good buy and the 9m will be insignificant if they can stay on top after this season. moreover, after this season, if Gordon can put in a good performance, doors will open for him to go Europe & Sunderland can surely recoup their spending. -
I think one of the most important player in the team is the goalkeeper... Cos without a good keeper, even a team with top stars strikers or top star midfielders... or even great defenders will concede during difficult periods of the game... Chelsea is a good example...
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Craig Gordon is a future great in FM.
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how come they got so much money???
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He's 1 of the best GKs ard in Britain i feel
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From the Premier League..Originally posted by used:how come they got so much money??? -
9m is abit too much for him when you're managing Sunderland.
Remember, you've just spend 5.5m on a dud. Guess who?
Cheers.
CK -
why dun keane go for ben foster??
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Ya true..heard they only have like 25 million as a transfer budget.Liddat 15 million wiped up on 2 players liaoOriginally posted by CKeer:9m is abit too much for him when you're managing Sunderland.
Remember, you've just spend 5.5m on a dud. Guess who?
Cheers.
CK -
Agent: Cats haven't flashed Gordon cash
Craig Gordon's agent has dismissed reports that Sunderland have submitted an increased bid of £9million for the highly-rated Hearts goalkeeper.
The Premier League side had an offer for the Scotland keeper rejected last week and reports have claimed they have increased their offer to a potential £9million.
But Gordon trained with his Hearts team-mates on Wednesday morning and the club insisted it was "business as usual ".
And the 24-year-old's agent Andy Evans said: "There are absolutely no developments. "
When asked if he had been informed of an increased offer from the Stadium of Light, he said: "No, but that's because there isn't one."
The Hearts skipper has two years left on his contract and has repeatedly stated he is in no rush to leave Tynecastle.
However, at the weekend he admitted he could leave before the start of the season and said he would have given any Sunderland offer "serious consideration ". -
cech 6mil onliOriginally posted by stellazio:Don't anyhow spend sia. woah 9mil.
isn't that what chelsea paid for cech? -
wow i wonder who... Confirm he isn't one of that england's ace hotshot, is heOriginally posted by CKeer:9m is abit too much for him when you're managing Sunderland.
Remember, you've just spend 5.5m on a dud. Guess who?
Cheers.
CK -
every premiership team get around 50 million each.Originally posted by used:how come they got so much money??? -
hey.. it he's good, why not?
heck! a goalie was one of the lynchpins of the defence of MUFC.. remember? -
I think it could be because At the beginning of the 2006-07 season, Sunderland was sold very cheap to an Irish consortium. They were not expected to do well and probably follow Leeds down to the lower league. But their luck changed when Roy Keane too over, They became champions unexpectedly of course with average or lowly paid players.Originally posted by used:how come they got so much money???
Today i guess they don't have much liabilities or high salary players to their concern. The Tv money that they got this year is probably seen as a bonus.
The new Sunderland directors probably see spending this year's money and staying up where you will be getting another Tv bonus money as more important cos Sunderland has a history of coming up and going straight down the following year a few time already... -
I thought it was $30 million each...Originally posted by dragg:every premiership team get around 50 million each.
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I don't think Cech was that famous back then... maybe that was why he didn't cost much?Originally posted by stellazio:Don't anyhow spend sia. woah 9mil.
isn't that what chelsea paid for cech?
On the otherhand, there have been repeated reports about Craig Gordon nowadays, and he's in a closer approximity to observe than Cech.
If Keane's going to spend that much money, I hope that Craig Gordon will live up to the hype. That is, if Keane managed to get his man. -
You all will be surprise, I actually think Richardson could do very well next season. I think he may even get between 5 to 10 goals...
The guy has a good left foot, and he is a rather good free-kick taker too. His long range is also pretty decent i would say. Given a few games continuously, i belief he will improve his game. -
i feel criag gordan is a great gk. even in football manager games hes realli highly rated as next buffon or casillas. in future, clubs who want to buy him would be more than 9 mil, dats 4 sure. y dont just buy him