£70 Million for Torres? Take it Hodgson.

Manchester City seem to be the only team making any transfer headlines this summer and it will probably be like that for the next few summers until the Arabs get bored and go and find something else to spend their money on. But for now, we will have to put up with endless rumours involving City and their millions, spending completely stupid amounts of money on average players, and even more stupid money on the better players.

There is no doubt that Fernando Torres is one of the best strikers in the world. He proved that time and time again at Liverpool by scoring goal after goal. But Liverpool bought him for about £20 million pounds. Apparently, City are prepared to smash the English transfer record by making Liverpool a £50 million profit for the striker. Thats £70 million. If that actually is the offer, Roy Hodgson should take it and run. Knowing City, he may even be able to squeeze another £10 million out of the Arabs, they'll just get it back in pocket money next week any way.

Torres has been picking up a lot of injuries, mainly because he is so difficult to tackle, and so defenders have no other alternative but to hack his legs off. But as a result of this dangerous tackle theme with Torres, he gets a few recurring injuries. Last season, when Torres was out, all Liverpool had was David N'gog. Thats the equivalent of Man United having Rooney injured and only having Danny Welbeck to replace him. Not good. But with £70 million, Hodgson could work wonders. It would change everything. He could bring in another 3 quality strikers. He did a great job at Fulham with only about £7 million - better, in fact than Liverpool in the Europa League.

So if I was Hodgson, I would take the amazing offer and give away a world class player and bring in two or three fresh faces which would in the long term strengthen the squad whilst stabalising the team. In addition, with Mascherano looking like he wants to go for £30 million, either buy a cheaper replacement or pay off some of that massive debt!

West Ham want Beckham & Owen

They have already audaciously attempted to sign Thierry Henry from Barcelona and re-sign Joe Cole from Chelsea, but now, maybe even more cheekily, are trying to persuade the England golden-oldies David Beckham and Michael Owen to East London.

The clubs interest in Owen is not yet confirmed, however, co-owner David Gold said that Beckham could play a big part in delivering West Ham the olympic stadium after the 2012 olympic games are over.

"For him to join a club like us and help us bring another dream to fruition would be perfect for everyone. "

Confirming that talks are or have been held, Gold said

"We've had conversations with his people and made it clear we want him aboard"

Michael Owen, under contract with Manchester United for one more year is recovering from a hamstring injury which ruled him out of the end of last season. Nevertheless, Owen's deadly finish is still in tact as he proved at United last season and would be a welcome addition to last seasons relegation survivors.

To re-unite the pair at West Ham would be a big success and a sign of intent. Both are still big names in the English game and I'm sure fans of West Ham would be excited to see them both playing at Upton Park. Their signings could also be a big commercial boost, with Beckham such a big world wide brand, shirt sales would boost dramtically and tickets would go even quicker as fans flock to see their heroes in person.

City's Brats Will be Hard to Control

Last season, an overwhelming amount of lies swept through the blue side of Manchester as City's new signings tried to fool us that they had joined Manchester City for it's bright and successful future and that alone. They tried very hard to persuade us that money had very little to do with their decision to join a club that had recently been taken over by Arab billionaires. These lies are set to continue, as Yaya Toure racked his brains for excuses and reasons why he should choose Manchester City over Barcelona and Manchester United.

I think we can all answer that question for you Yaya. £200k a week sounds pretty good. The simple fact is, Yaya Toure chose the desire for more money over the desire for guaranteed success with either Barcelona or Manchester United. He turned down Champions League football for money (and the Europa League of course!). He explained that:

"Manchester United is a big club, one of the biggest in the world, but I chose Manchester City because they had not won anything."

Read that again.

But to be fair, he goes on to say that it is a good feeling to go to a club that hasn't won anything and then see everything change for the better around you. I imagine it would probably feel even better if you were getting paid almost a quarter of a million pounds every week!

With all this money being paid to players at City, Roberto Mancini will have a tough job keeping all of their ego's in check. If things start going badly for the team and if a few players don't support the manager I can see a repeat of the the French horror at the World Cup. Players going on strike against the manager and refusing to follow the managers tactics. There was even a small hint of it last season when Carlos Tevez publicly stated that he didn't like the way Mancini had the team train. Don't be suprised if the City brats do something similar this season.

The New Premier League Kits 2010/11 Season