Zoran Tosic

I don’t believe either, but B92 (pretty serious TV station, probably the most serious one at Balkan) just announced that Manchester United just bought Partizan 21 years old winger Zoran Tosic, for 3.5M Eur. Zoran Tosic already earned a couple of caps for Serbia. The European scouts could see him for the first time at 2007 U21 EURO at Belgium, where Serbia reached final and where he had a couple of solid displayes. That summer he was transferred from Banat Zrenjanin to Partizan, where he played in 57 matches, scoring 17 goals. In the meantime he earned 12 caps for the national team.

To be honest, even I am Manchester United fan, and one who will never ever doubt Fergies decisions, this one just can not be true. Don’t get me wrong. The kid is pretty good player, but not United class. In some Spanish mid-table club he could be good addition, but for the best team in the World (or at least one of the 5) I really doubt. He is leight-weight, pretty fast, with solid passing and excellent shot from the distance.  One-on-one he is not the world class and will never be.  Also, he is without any experience at the big stage. Playing for Partizan in Serbian league is not a remarkable achievement.

B92 is also saying that the part of the deal is transfer of Adem Ljajic to Manchester United, but they are saying that that is not confirmed yet. Tosic transfer is confirmed, at least they are saying that. News is saying that Ljajic will sign for United in the January, and then will be loened to some bigger stage to develop.

As I said before, I still do not believe in this stuff, but since it is B92 and since they did not publish any bullshit before, it could be true. I guess, in a couple of hours, we will see confirmation from some officials.

Crouch

Peter Crouch is certainly a very good player but he has made history playing for England not entirely by his own credit. Besides being the tallest footballer ever to play for England, he is now (not so) proud owner of the cheapest England cap ever. He came on as a substitute in the match against Germany and spent mere 28 seconds on the pitch, touching the ball once before the final whistle. Capello even had the nerve to congratulate him as the players were leaving the pitch. Regardless of the questions raised over whether this is enough time to earn an official cap, I will try to make a different point.

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Theo Walcott

This last midweek was all about international friendly games, where national team coaches should have had the chance to work with their best players for a couple of days. However, the timing of these friendlies wasn’t very good, as the clubs are facing crucial games in Europe and also very important period in domestic leagues. That is why some of the players have faked injuries and withdrew from the international duty but most of them will somehow recover in time for weekend games. This has become a common practice in almost all national teams and it is time to put an end to it.

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Michael Mancienne

Latest proof for that is the young cap, Michael Mancienne, who is absolutely brilliant with Championship top’s Wolverhampton Wanderers. Mancienne is a talented 20-year-old central defender, Chelsea player loaned to Wolves this autumn. He had spent last two seasons playing for QPR, having a fine spell with them. The beginning of this season saw him kicking off with his parent club but coach Scolari didn’t give him the right chance.

Having been dispensable with his club, he was loaned to Wolves where he was paired with Richard Stearman in the defense and the two of them are making a real, impenetrable back line wall. Stuart Pearce’s valuable asset in his U-21 squad, the lad got his chance to prove his worth playing with A team in the friendly Albion have played against Germany. Youngster is now given a great chance to set off the right way his teammate, Theo Walcott, did since he got the right chance at the right time and the boy is now one of the best young players in Europe.

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You surely remember the Stephen Hunt’s (Reading) wild start at Chelsea keeper, Petr Cech, which was almost fatal for the excellent Czech, one of the best keepers in Europe.  The incident happened two years ago in a Premiership match at Stamford Bridge and hundreds of questions arose about the better protection of keepers (and players) on the pitch.

After that, less than a year ago we witnessed a real horror when Martin Taylor from Birmingham City made a rough start at young Brazilian from Arsenal, Eduardo Da Silva. Millions of people all over the world saw the open fracture of Da Silva’s leg that almost crippled the talented striker who is not yet recovered.

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Vicarage Road

Watford are pathetic this season and everyone knows that. There is no sign of the magic Marlon King, Ashley Young, Dan Shittu and Darius Henderson spread. All of them have long ago continued their career in other, better clubs, and Watford is left only with the players that they couldn’t sell. Desperate transfer window took its toll; the club had to sell the best players like on the stock market in order to hold on in the first Championship season after losing the bonuses and good sponsorship contracts due to relegation from Premiership.

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