Follow up

By: Chris | August 29th, 2008

Atouba has mucked it up again.

A transfer to Newcastle United of the EPL had been negotiated and Atouba was to fly to Newcastle for his medical exam before signing a new contract. Except that he turned up for training in Hamburg this morning. Consequently, he has been left of the roster for the match tomorrow with Bielefeld.

The saga of the Thiago Neves continues to chug along, with rumors that Atlético Madrid are about to hijack his transfer. The whole situation is complicated by the fact that Neves rights are owned by a third party. The most definitive story I’ve read comes from a pretty credible source, the Hamburger Abendblatt. The story says that Neves’ “owner” rejected HSV’s original offer of €7.2m for 80% of his transfer rights (meaning that if Neves is sold, HSV get 80% of his transfer fee and the third-party manager gets the remaining 20%). The offer has been increased to €9.2m and reportedly accepted, and the only detail left to work out is his arrival date and time in Hamburg. A story on Goal.com this morning supports this, with Atleti Sporting Director quoted as saying, “I’m also not sure if he has already signed for Hamburg. I have spoken with his agent but because the player is also owned by an investor, often you do not know what is going on.” (DID YOU KNOW: Neves was the Player of the Year in Brazil in 2007? Neither did I.)

Alex Silva is signed and sealed, but will not be in Hamburg until 11 September, as he is getting married and going on his honeymoon, then playing for Brazil in World Cup qualifying versus Bolivia and Chile. So without Atouba and without Alex Silva, we would be stretched pretty thin at the back this week. The good news is that Marcell Jansen is set to make his debut (at left back, where Atouba normally would have played) on Saturday.

Now that Hamburg have gone on an unprecedented spending spree, expectations have risen as well and fourth place is no longer acceptable.

And lastly, The Kaiser now tips Hamburg as his favorite to push Bayern for the title, and of the four (OK-3, until Neves is signed and sealed) recent acquisitions, his favorite was Marcell Jansen.