KUMB.com
Filed: Thursday, 12th August 2010
By: Staff Writer
West Ham have been thwarted in their attempts to sign Miralem Sulejmani after a work permit application was rejected. Despite having commanded the Dutch record transfer fee - some €16million when moving from Heerenveen to Ajax in 2008 - an adjudicating panel refused to issue the permit as Sulejmani has played in just a handful of Serbia's recent games - less than double figures in the past two years. The club are expected to confirm the news shortly.
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Sulejmani denied permit
Hammers forced to abandon deal
Last updated: 12th August 2010
SSN
West Ham United have been forced to abandon their bid for Ajax's Miralem Sulejmani after he failed to secure a work permit, skysports.com understands.
The Hammers had agreed a deal with the Dutch giants to sign Sulejmani, who is Ajax's record signing after they paid Heerenveen more than £13million for his services just two years ago. However, Sulejmani - a Serbian international - has just eight caps to his name and they have been spread over two years, meaning he did not automatically qualify for a work permit under Premier League criteria. West Ham appealed the decision, but an independent football panel ruled against Avram Grant's side, who had been hoping to include Sulejmani in their squad ahead of their opening game at Aston Villa this weekend. Now Grant will turn elsewhere with deals in the pipeline for Manchester City's Felipe Caicedo and former Middlesbrough forward Jeremie Aliadiere.
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Hammers in Cheik chase
The Sun
Published: Today
WEST HAM boss Avram Grant is lining up a £4million bid for FC Twente star Cheik Tiote. Grant had scouts checking on the midfielder when he played in the Ivory Coast's 1-0 win over Italy at Upton Park on Tuesday. And Tiote, 24, said: "I want to move to England, my advisers have told me there is interest for me."
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Bumper new deal for Green
The Sun
By ANDREW DILLON
Published: Today
WEST HAM are ready to back World Cup blunder keeper Robert Green with a bumper new contract. Green, 30, apologised to the nation after his howler in England's opening game against the USA on June 12. But the ex-Three Lions No 1, who has two years left on his deal, has been in top form during pre-season.
And Hammers co-owner David Sullivan said: "He's an integral part of our team and, next summer, we'll sit down and offer him a new long-term contract. "I saw Robert on Sunday and he's very relaxed about the coming season." West Ham midfielder Scott Parker has agreed a new four-year deal following an £8million bid from Tottenham.
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Valon Behrami wants to leave West Ham, says chairman David Sullivan
Switzerland international midfielder Valon Behrami wants to leave West Ham United, according to chairman David Sullivan.
Telegraph.co.uk
By Jason Burt
Published: 6:31PM BST 12 Aug 2010
Valon Behrami has his sights set on the West Ham exit door according to the club's chairman. "We have not had a bid for him," Sullivan said. "He doesn't want to be here, his wife doesn't like London – but he cost us £6 million and his agent got more than £1 million to bring him to West Ham. He's actually a very decent player and I'm surprised we've not had a bid for him."
Behrami, 25, is one of several players West Ham would like to move on this summer – or whose future is in doubt – as Sullivan tries to balance the books.
It was expected, for example, that Matthew Upson, who has one year left on his contract, would leave.Sullivan said: "He's not indicated to us what he wants to do. He said he would after the World Cup. I think he probably thought a big club would come in for him but we've not had that. "Sunderland inquired but he didn't think he wanted to go there. "I hope this season he does prove he is worthy of playing Champions League. We have no choice if he wants to go into the last year of his contract. "We've bought some good new young centre-halves and I'm interested to see how he [Upson] performs. "If he does well we will bid against other clubs for his services, if not we will happily let him go next summer. We've got Winston Reid and James Tomkins and plenty of centre-halves so let's see what he does. He is a great player." West Ham still hope to sell Alessandro Diamanti, who was told he could leave at the end of last season. "We had one bidder but he didn't confirm. He [Diamanti] cost £6 million last summer," said Sullivan, who hopes to sell Radoslav Kovac to Stoke City.
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West Ham move for Miralem Sulejmani hit by red tape as Fulham denied chance to sign Chelsea starlet
By SPORTSMAIL REPORTER Last updated at 8:43 PM on 12th August 2010
Daily Mail
West Ham's attempts to sign Serb forward Miralem Sulejmani from Ajax have been thwarted after he was denied a work permit. Young Chelsea central defender Slobodan Rajkovic, 21, was also denied a work permit after agreeing a deal to join Fulham. Free agent Ricardo Rocha has been offered a chance to re-sign for Portsmouth so long as he takes a massive pay cut.
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Scott Parker to sign five-year deal and stay at West Ham United
David Sullivan hints he will have his say on the club's transfers
Avram Grant wants Manchester City's Felipe Caicedo on loan
Jamie Jackson
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 12 August 2010 23.13 BST
West Ham captain Scott Parker is set to pledge his future to the club by signing a new five-year-contract. Scott Parker is close to signing an improved deal at West Ham so ending speculation that he could move away from Upton Park, and potentially move across London to Tottenham Hotspur. David Sullivan, West Ham's joint owner, has hinted he may veto the manager Avram Grant's choice of new players in extreme circumstances, describing himself as "no mug" when it comes to recruitment.
With regard to Parker's new contract, Sullivan told the Evening Standard: "I have promised the fans I will not let Scott Parker go and I will not waver from that. If Scott came to me, said he wanted to move and was prepared to put in a transfer request, I would say, 'I'm terribly sorry, Scott, but I've made a promise to the fans'. I would remind him that it is too late to find a replacement now and ask him for one more year's commitment.
"Then I would let him go next summer if he still felt the same way. Scott has said nothing of the sort, though. Even if a club offered £10m I wouldn't sell him. If it was £30m though, I would have to think hard."
The club captain is expected to sign a new five-year deal within the next week. The club will offer the 29-year-old improved terms that will reportedly be worth up to £20m.
The 21-year-old Manchester City striker Felipe Caicedo is heading to West Ham on a season-long loan, having fallen out of favour under Roberto Mancini.Caicedo, an Ecuadorian, signed when Sven-Goran Eriksson was in charge in 2008.
Despite Sullivan's public criticism of Grant's predecessor, Gianfranco Zola, which led to the Italian's departure, the co-chairman did not completely rule out having a say in football matters.
He added: "We won't be interfering with Avram. Of the next 20 players we sign, 18 will be his choice. Maybe the 19th will be a player I like. I've been in football for almost 20 years now and I'm not a complete mug when it comes to picking a player. I think that's reasonable.
"The 20th will perhaps be a player Avram wants but I will veto. But having said all that, if Avram was still set on a player, he would probably veto my veto."
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Chewing the fat with Benni McCarthy: West Ham's chunky striker is on a mission to lose weight...
EXCLUSIVE By MATT BARLOW
Last updated at 1:29 AM on 13th August 2010
Daily Mail
Benni McCarthy is shrinking — and, for once, a tale of vanishing pounds at Upton Park will come as music to the ears of David Sullivan. It was Sullivan who 'outed' McCarthy in May, revealing how the striker's body fat had soared to 24.2 per cent. 'Benni McCarthy is nearly as fat as me,' claimed West Ham's 61-year-old co-chairman, frustrated by a poor return on a £2.5million signing. McCarthy had not arrived in great shape, due to lack of action at Blackburn, and then injured his knee on his debut. Things got worse when he failed to make the South Africa squad for the World Cup finals but the 32-year-old returned early for pre-season and is working hard to shift some of the bulk. 'I eat well but it doesn't matter,' says McCarthy as he takes a break between sessions at West Ham's training ground. 'Me, I'm the type of person who, if I don't train hard, I pick up weight. With my bone structure, body structure, if I don't train with intensity, I will get bigger. 'When you're injured, you can't train. For three weeks, I was told to stay off my feet, just come in for treatment. I couldn't go in the gym. If I was on my feet, my knee would just swell up. 'I started to get worried because I know I pick up weight quite easily. I was out for five weeks, just doing rehab on the knee. When I started training again, I could tell I was too heavy, two or three kilos too heavy, and I didn't train at the same intensity I normally would do. I didn't feel right.'
It wasn't the first time McCarthy had been admonished for piling on weight. Six months before Sullivan spoke out, Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce ordered him to slim down to win back his place in the team. 'I used to eat the wrong things at the wrong times,' admits McCarthy. 'Carbohydrates, you can't eat at night. You eat it during the day and burn it off when you train. If you eat it at night, you store it and get heavier. That was my problem.'
The Body Mass Index (BMI) of Benni McCarthy was measured in May, with his level of body fat recorded at 24.2 per cent. Here's how he shapes up:
Recommended body fat percentages:
5-12 — Healthy male athlete
20-25 — Desirable for most middleaged
males (less than 20 is deemed
underweight for middle-aged males)
27-30 — Overweight
30+ — Obese
There is still work to do. McCarthy accepts that himself. His latest body-fat measurements have been around 16 per cent, high for a professional athlete, but the striker is starting to feel sharper again, thanks to his programme of work with physio Andy Rolls and fitness coach Eamon Swift. He scored his first goal in West Ham colours during a pre-season friendly against Borussia Monchengladbach and is out to show new manager Avram Grant he has not lost the instinct which helped him become a European champion with Jose Mourinho's Porto in 2004. 'I feel much better,' says McCarthy. 'I'm training hard and sleeping a lot. People say, "You can sleep when you're dead", but if you don't sleep enough you'll pay the price. I've set certain targets for myself. By the start of the season I want to be down at 12 or 13 per cent. That's normal for me. 'I was taught from early ages at Ajax that you play how you train. You try to give 100 per cent in training and you take the good into a game. 'You always get players who don't train well but rise to the occasion in a match. (Ricardo) Carvalho was the worst trainer ever at Porto but he'd be the best player in a match. He was fortunate to have a manager like Mourinho who understood him. If he had someone else in his career he would not be where he is today. 'I want to come back and work my socks off because this is the club that employed me. They thought I was the player to get them out of the mess they were in last season and I thought I could do it. 'Then, unfortunately, I got injured. I've never been injured in my career and I was devastated when they said six to eight weeks.'
McCarthy returned to action before the end of the season but his poor physical condition was a problem. He accepts Sullivan's comments about his weight, saying: 'If you can't take the pressure, you shouldn't make football your profession.' And he also understands why South Africa manager Carlos Alberto Parreira left him out. 'I wasn't angry,' says McCarthy, his country's all-time record scorer with 35 goals. 'In six months leading up to the World Cup, I never really played. I was surprised to be called into the 30-player squad. Then, when you get there, you think, "Maybe, with the experience you've got, you might make the 23". But it didn't happen like that. I wasn't devastated.'
McCarthy may be shrinking but his personality is large. 'I don't need to prove anything to anyone but I do want to show people what I can do,' he says. 'Winners go home and they get the prom queens. You get nothing when you're a loser. Winners, you see their missus, top class. All the best-looking women want winners.' Then it's back to the training pitch for the second part of another double session.
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STOKE GAFFER TONY PULIS POTS WALTERS AND KOVAC FOR £5M
Daily Star
13th August 2010 By John Percy
TONY PULIS is set to take his spending to £13m in 24 hours after clinching deals for Jon Walters and Radoslav Kovac. Stoke boss Pulis expects to complete a £3m swoop for Ipswich striker Walters before tomorrow's clash at Wolves. Walters, 26, has been a long-term target for the Potters and the Tractor Boys have accepted an improved bid. West Ham's Czech Republic ace Kovac, 30, is poised to agree a £2m move. The Hammers have been battling to sell players this summer and have allowed the midfielder to leave London. Walters and Kovac will join £8m record signing Kenwyne Jones at the Britannia Stadium after his switch from Sunderland. Pulis is ready to end James Beattie's Stoke nightmare by lining up a £1.5m move to Rangers and will now increase his efforts to sign another striker.
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Gold: Bids for the stars were all real
East London Recorder
12 August 2010
By Dave Evans
WEST HAM have defended their pursuit of Thierry Henry and David Beckham during the summer and suggested that it was not financially imprudent to look at players of that sort of calibre. Rumours have been everywhere that the Hammers were keen to add a superstar to their ranks with Ronaldinho and last January Ruud van Nistelrooy on their radar, as well as Henry and Beckham. But for co-chairman David Gold there was never any question that their acquisition would have put West Ham's financial recovery in doubt. "They were all genuine and I think they were financially prudent propositions," insisted Gold in an exclusive interview with the Recorder. "People say how can you bring someone in on £80,000 a week and then say that you are running a prudent business? "Well, if you have got players that are leaving that you know are coming to the end of their contract, like for example Ilan, that takes £40,000 a week off the wage bill straight away. "That is what you do in desperate times. Consider, if you bring in a player like Henry who we were going to try and sign for four months. "Normally players come on a year's contract and you have to pay for them and you have to pay for them in the summer. "If you bring in somebody on £100,000 a week, but it is just for a short period of time. Although it sounds expensive, for a short period it is viable. "You do these things, you go the extra mile, when you are fighting for your life and that is exactly what we were doing. "You can be more prudent once stability arrives and the squad is balanced."
West Ham are certainly not out of the financial mire yet. When Gold and David Sullivan took over, it was revealed that the club owed around £110million. That figure has dipped below the £100m mark now, but Gold stressed that they still needed to be economically prudent. "It has been difficult to sign players this summer, because we don't have the money to spend as a club. The money for the players that have signed has come out of mine and David Sullivan's pocket," he revealed. "When we arrived the aim was to keep our best players which we did; we needed a few to help us survive, that was our next priority and we did that by the skin of our teeth. Now we go into a new era with new opportunites, but at all times we are looking at maintaining a financial strength. "We don't want to take risks and we can't gamble with this football club." He continued: "You start the rebuilding process from a stable, reliable base and I think that is here now. "Time will tell, I will tell you in a couple of months, but if we have still not got it right, then we can go again in the window, whereas last time round we only had six or seven days to do anything and we nearly failed. "Despite the fact that we did everything we could, we were very close to relegation, but now we start the new season with great optimism." With optimism, but without a world star, which may be a blessing in disguise.
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