Thursday Transfer Talk: Part 1

Since Sunday's edition of Lazy Sunday Transfer was quite popular with our visitors we have decided to add another transfer talk feature, Transfer Talk Thursday. So let's have a look at what's making news this Thursday morning...
Real Madrid broke the World Record transfer fee on Tuesday when they signed Kaka for 56 million pounds but it seems that this was only the start for the Madrid giants, who are reportedly close to completing the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo for a whopping ₤82m! This is according to Spanish paper Marca, who splashed a picture of the United winger on their Thursday edition's frontpage along with the headline “CR7 Will Play In Madrid”.
La Razon reported on details of the contract and the agreement on their website. They believe that Ronaldo will pen a six-year contract with an annual salary of €9.5 million. Interesting times ahead at the Bernabue...

Moving along Chelsea are believed to be on red alert after AC Milan's midfield maestro Andrea Pirlo hinted that he may be interested in joining Carlo Ancelotti at Stamford Bridge. Speaking on Kaka's exit and questions regarding a possible move to Chelsea Pirlo said:

'Me at Chelsea? Let's see, Maybe not now but we will see. 'We took Kaka's move badly. Kaka is a really great player and a really great man. To cover his absence will take time. The Milan board wanted to bring in the money. Kaka was right to say this hasn't been his decision.'

Liverpool Manager Rafa Benitez has put to bed any possibilities of a Javier Mascherano sale by stating that the defensive midfielder 'has no price'. "Mascherano has no price. Barcelona could not afford to match his value. They can offer £40m or even £50m. We don't want to sell." said Benitez.
This comes after reports that Mascherano had besome unsettled at Anfield and would consider a move to Pep Guardiola's Barcelona. Doesn't look like a move will happen though.

Finally, it appears as if Manchester City's Brazilian star Robinho could be looking for an exit from The City of Manchester Stadium after professing his man-love to Barcelona in an interview. The striker denied that the Spanish and European Champions had made a bid for him but admitted that it would be a dream to play for Barca.

'So far, there have only been speculations,' he told Sport. 'There is nothing concrete and I haven’t received any offers.The only thing I can say is that Barcelona are a great team and everybody would love to play for them.'

Robinho did however concede that he remains comfortable with his decision to swap Madrid for Manchester.'I left because I was not happy. I do not regret the decision and I’m comfortable at Manchester City.'

That's it for the first editition Thursday Transfer Talk, join me tomorrow for Paper talk, our South African Soccer transfer column.

Till then...