John Carew???? - TalkSoccer

Thatslife · 28-07-2003, 03:10 PM

A new day, a new name linked with Chelsea, clearly on the lookout for a new striker. This time, the name from Spain seems fairly ridiculous: it's Valencia's Norwegian flop, John Carew. Yes, the one that Valencia couldn't even sell to Fulham. This, and other stories from Spain involving Chelsea.

Valencia are on the lookout for a new striker. They are said to be competing with Chelsea for Mallorca's Samuel Eto'o. Obviously to land the Cameroon international, they will need to sell. In those circumstances, what better way to raise cash than to offload one of their current strikers, who are mis-hitting. John Carew is one of them. It is said that Valencia are trying to sell Carew to Chelsea for €12 million, and that this money will allow them to buy Eto'o. In the background as a possible substitute for Valencia for Eto'o (if the negotiations with Mallorca collapse) is Espanyol's Spanish hitman (and previous target for Chelsea), Raul Tamudo, who's contract talks with Espanyol are stumbling at the moment.

'El Mundo Deportivo' are stating that Valencia have a €12 million offer on the table from Chelsea. Another version of events doing the rounds in Spain is that Espanyol are keen on Carew as well, so there could be some kind of swap between Carew and Tamudo. Valencia are said to have already tabled an offer for Tamudo.

Whatever happens, however, the money that Valencia rake in from selling the lanky Norwegian (one way or another) would help Valencia purchase Eto'o.

Although the story is published in two papers this morning, we have to cast great doubt upon it. We'll start with the fact that Carew has, in the past, been the subject of the career-killing interest from Tottenham. Why would Chelsea want a player that couldn't even get to the North London team that serves merely to make up the numbers?

In addition, €12 million seems an awful lot of money for a player who has not played a starring role last season. 11 goals were his total last season, of which 5 were scored in Valencia's Champions' League campaign. If we are to understand that Chelsea are looking for a world-class striker, what is clear is that John Carew, a reject from Valencia, is not such a striker. In addition, why should Chelsea purchase Carew to allow Valencia to go for Samuel Eto'o when Eto'o would be a better acquisition for Chelsea?

Elsewhere in Spain, the notion of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink ending up at Betis is gaining credence. Jimmy is said to be on a shortlist for Betis that contains also Giovanni Elber (at Bayern Munich), Samuel Eto'o (him again), and Madrid's Tote (the latter quite low down the list). Betis' President, Manuel Luiz de Lopera has promised two new signings. Chelsea are said to have offered Jimmy to Betis over the weekend and are apparently prepared to pay a considerable part of his salary as a sweetener. As a reminder, this is not the first time this summer that Hasselbaink has been offered to Betis: shortly after the season ended, Chelsea first touted the Dutchman. The operation was rejected out of hand, as there was no way that Betis could pay Jimmy's salary. The Sevilla club will obviously be considerably more open to the idea if Chelsea help out a little.

The other option for Betis, Giovanni Elber, will only come off if Bayern manage to land their particular striker target - Roy Makaay. In addition, the Eto'o possibility has become rather remote for Betis, as they simply don't have the cash. It is said that they would have to count on a major sale for that to be possible - their highly-prized winger Joaquín being one possible source of funds, with ManUre interested.

It is said that this week Betis wants to finalise this particular operation. The arrival, at Chelsea, of Samuel Eto'o would speed things up for Sevillans, as Chelsea would then push for Jimmy to leave.

On the subject of Roy Makaay, although Deportivo and Bayern Munich had hoped to tie up the Golden Boot's sale to Bavaria, he is still hanging around Deportivo. Deportivo had given Bayern an ultimatum to resolve this sale, and this is due to expire tonight. In the meantime, Makaay has been taken out of pre-season training with the rest of his Deportivo team-mates to avoid picking up any injuries.

Chelsea's interest, despite having made an attractive offer for a great forward, is absolutely dead.