What do you think on this

[CHRed]

Right, i've received the email. I made sure it would be sent to my work and personal email addy, so i'd be able to access it either way...

 

Copied and pasted:

 

-------------------------------------------------

Good afternoon Sid

 

Sorry about the delay - there's quite a lot to digest.

 

Basically as everyone knows the gaffer is on the lookout for strikers and a right midfielder.

 

Ideally he was intending to sign two strikers and get rid of Morientes and Cisse. Morientes has gone now of course and Cisse was due to go as well until he got injured.

 

There have been several targets identified for up front and the manager feels the club can afford to be picky when it comes to fees as if they cant get one there is another few they can get instead. However with the right midfield position they have only identified one realistic option and that is as you know the lad from Sevilla, Alves. Due to our desperation to get him the club are willing to pay more than the £7m that they had initially intended. This fee was agreed in principle but Sevilla then rejected the formal bid of £7m after reports of interest from Milan. They looked as though they were keen to start a bidding war and were asking for £12m but we have increased the formal bid to £8m and are awaiting their response with optimism. It is fully expected that they will accept this bid as we believe Milan's alleged interest has cooled and the deal will then be a formality as the player has agreed initial terms after being given permission to discuss a move to us, subject to an agreement being reached with the fee. He will be the right midfielder, with the manager seeing Luis Garcia and Gerrard as the other options in this area.

 

As for strikers. Well the manager wants Owen only on the condition that the signing will not use funds from his original budget. The intention was to fully use the Cisse fee to fund the purchase of Owen who has once again confirmed that he can leave Newcastle if we put £12m on the table. The manager was disappointed that Cisse's injury has ruined this plan. Consequently it looks unlikely that he will move for Owen unless additional funds are made available from above. He has earmarked his original budget elsewhere and does not want to allocate money from this to Owen due to fitness doubts.

 

Defoe is wanted by the manager but the hopes of signing him on the cheap seem to have been dashed after the player expressed little desire to leave. It is thought that if they decide to sell him he will walk away but Spurs wont pay off the remainder of his contract and he wont put in a transfer request. Therefore the deal looks unlikely now unless Spurs receive a big offer, hence their fabrication of the so called Pompey bid, which we understand was not genuine.

 

If neither side is willing to move from their stance Liverpool will have to pay around £12m and the manager does not want to do that.

 

Kuyt IS a target but again, the problem is money.

Feyenoord apparently want £12m and we are not prepared to pay that. However the manager is considering offering them THREE players plus cash and it is thought that they would seriously consider this. Krompkamp and Dudek are in the frame but I am not sure who the third player would be.

 

The alternative that is now seeming more likely is Craig Bellamy who would be available to us for under £7m and if there is no progress on the situation with Defoe or Kuyt, we will make a formal bid for him. As I understand it we have enquired but have yet to make a firm offer.

 

Finally it is generally accepted that Torres is out of our reach, he is certainly the first choice striker target but we cannot afford him. We have enquired and he is available, however Atletico are looking for upwards of £20m depending on the World Cup and are not interested in player makeweights in the deal. Either way, it goes without saying that they will make the player publicly available for transfer after Spain's involvement in the World Cup ends and they are obviously looking to start a bidding war, as the player himself seems keen to move on.

 

That is basically what has come to my attention in the past few days and if anything else develops I will let you know.

[CarraLegend]

Looks like stuff we already know and a load of s****

[Benitez]

so basically just the usual speculation and confirmed target(s) that have appeared on various forums and news sites over the last few months, set out neatly into letter form.

[McBain]

If only they'd faxed it. I'd have given it a lot more credence