Scott Carson moved to West Bromwich Albion today for £3.25million. Carson had been close to signing with Stoke, but once teams got wind of his price tag there was a scramble for his signature. Rafa's original valuation of £10 million had scared off Aston Villa, but while that seemed to high a price tag his final fee seems a bit low. Carson looked great for Villa last season, and it seems that goalkeepers are the only position to have escaped transfer inflation. It will be hard for any of the newly promoted teams(West Brom, Stoke, Hull) to stay up, but Albion has to be the most likely of the three. Carson wants to stay in the Prem, and his life will probably be easier at West Brom than it would have been at Stoke. This should be only a temporary move for him, as another good year combined with some ageing(bloody old) keepers should see him move to a team in the top half of the table.
There are rumblings coming from other keepers throughout the league. Brad Friedel has declared he wants out of Blackburn. Friedel has been a wall for Blackburn, but it seems that he's ready to leave after seeing Mark Hughes jump ship. Hughes has expressed his admiration for the player and it's very likely that Friedel will join him at Manchester City. Villa are also interested because their current number one, Stuart Taylor, has only nine Premiership starts in three years. They were one of the strongest teams defensively last year, and the loss of Carson and Mellberg will have to be made up for. Robert Green is also making some noise at West Ham. Green is currently unhappy with his pay packet and is letting everyone know. Green was supposed to be England's number two for the World Cup, but injured his groin in a game right before that cost him his spot. He is one of the better domestic keepers, but seems stuck with teams on the lower half of the table. He beat out Roy Carroll, who had been a starter at Man U, but it will be interesting to see if his whinging will see him leave London. With Van der Sar, Cech, Reina, Howard the Premiership is flush with world class keepers, and woe be the team who has a question mark between the sticks.
One Liners
- Tottenham make formal complaint about interest in strike duo, hope they used recycled paper because it's going straight to the bin
- Cech to sign new contract with Chelsea, I would make a check joke but I'm sure he gets direct deposit
- Somebody offers a lot of money for Kaka and AC Milan says no, surprised?
- New England Revolution subdue man on airplane, first save that was covered by media this year
