Happy New Year - and a look at 2009

Welcome to 2009.

First change is I will no longer update the Google Calendar previously found below these posts and through iCal. Because someone has awaken to the present and an official calendar is now available at FCK.dk: use fck.dk/ics/. Subscribe in your preferred calendar software.

I'm still not delivering the obnoxious stream of transfer rumors. But the signing of 23 years old Senegalese offensive player Dame N'Doye [Wikipedia, Transfermarkt] appears to be practically finished. We know him a bit too well because he scored when his former club, Panathinaikos FC, beat us November 2007 [match stats at bold.dk]:



A look at our next UEFA Cup opponent could be in place but right now it's simply too much work for a lazy blogger as Manchester City could upgrade half their team. Last rumor I saw was they are talking to the Italian coach Mancini. I'm looking forward to see Robinho in Copenhagen, though.

On a final note a team of youth players were eliminated in the group stage of the indoor Danish championship today. Good performances by Danni Jensen and Kevin Bechmann Timm.

Oscar Wendt at IMScouting.com

Just found two interesting things: an article featuring one of my favourite players right now and the site the article is on. Check out 10 young players to watch:

6) Oscar Wendt (22), Left defender, FC Copenhagen (Denmark)

The Swedish international defender is one of the best defensive players in the Danish league, and is already being tracked by Borussia Monchengladbach and Italian clubs Juventus and Siena.

The fact that Wendt was part of the Swedish 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign has given him experience and confidence. Wendt is a very strong defender who combines a physical game with good pace and technique which allows him to provide good scoring opportunities. Definitely a player to keep an eye on.
(my emphasises)

Another semi-user-generated content site this one claims to be a valuable tool for agents, managers and fans. At the very least it's another must have link for my right hand column list of FC København relevant web pages. I personally couldn't resist signing up for a free account to see how much it rocks. Here is what they promise so far:

As a FREE member of IMScouting you can access a huge amount of features from the largest football player database in existence, including a basic search tool, player information, results, match events, fixtures and league information for more than 500 competitions around the world including Europe, Africa, South America, North America and Asia. [...] The database has been completed, and is constantly updated by a network of football experts based locally across the globe, with the sole focus to provide you with a genuine global grassroots insight into the world of professional football.

So what my little Google helper found for me was some type of blog post or news article that included information about one of FC København's players. But what else does the site tell me as a free account user? At Oscar's profile I'm quickly disappointed all I get is the "Overview" part - tabs General, Career, Media, Medical and Skills are all premium content for paying users. Current contract details are hidden for me too.

Oscar Wendt at IMScouting.com

However, if the site is really being used by agents, I'd guess it's info in general being relatively trustworthy. I like the position map bottom right. I'll try and see if they post more interesting articles and if it's useful for getting info on semi-obsure teams... such as Club Brugge we'll be facing in the UEFA Cup. With the free account. Which after browsing the site for a few minutes I fear isn't that usefull at all. But at 1,200 € a year the premium account is not something I'll try out anytime too soon I'm afraid. The FC København team profile shows a pretty dope nationality break down though:

I'm sure more usefull and/or funny features will entertain me. But for now just let it be known Oscar rules :-)

Wendt in 3 m€ transfer to Genoa?

We have received a offer from Serie A's Genoa Cricket and Football Club [Wikipedia] for our extraordinarily talented left back Oscar Wendt bold.dk reports. Oscar has firmly established himself in the starting 11 this season, relegating Denmark national veteran Niclas Jensen to the reserves. He is also making his mark as a Sweden national.

Personally I'd hate to see him leave. He's one of my favorites right now. Great speed, hard work, killer precise crossing, good ball control and just getting better for every match. Did some center back and left wing duty too. And did good. Luckily, FC København management is reported to have informed the Italians no players are leaving Copenhagen right now. Whew!

(Sources: bold.dk / Italienere vil lægge 20 mio. for Wendt | reuters.com / Lagerback names Sweden squad against Albania and Hungary)

Zanka for Liverpool?

Scout Jakob Friis-Hansen who also tipped Liverpool about Daniel Agger has now told them about our amazing yougster Zanka [info at FCK.dk | Wikipedia | this blog]. According to him they like what they see but would also prefer to let him mature a bit where he is. Phew! Please stay a while, Zanka!

(Source: Liverpool holder øje med Zanka)

Transfer rumors: Gravgaard and Løvenkrands

Out: Michael Gravgaard to FC Nantes or Sunderland AFC

Danish media reports FC Nantes have pretty much already signed center defense Michael Gravgaard (FC Nantes vil have Gravgaard). Then I just saw this:

Sunderland have also been credited with an interest in FC Copenhagen defender Michael Gravgaard, Porto midfielder Paulo Assunção and Real Zaragoza midfielder Peter Luccin, among others, in recent days.

(Happier fans is target for Quinn)

In: Peter Løvenkrands
Danish football newspaper Tipsbladet is quoted in several media linking the winger to Copenhagen. Both Schalke 04 management and player agent suggests otherwise. (Løvenkrands tæt på FCK, Shalke vil ikke give danskere væk)

Transfer rumors

A couple of early rumors for you.

"In the absence of truth.
Nothing is true. Everything is permitted."

Michael Silberbauer to Utrecht

A Bosman transfer for the man with the power. Agent Karsten Aabrink confirms several offers has been received from both the Netherlands and England and that Utrecht is one of the interested clubs. Sad to see you leave, Michael.
(Silberbauer synes tæt på skifte til Holland, FCK'er på vej til hollandsk fodbold)

Atiba Hutchinson

Atiba has been outstanding recently and has received some offers to consider. He also reiterates his belief he's ready for a bigger league.
(Atiba klar til udlandet)

Rasmus Würtz back to AaB

Würtz has had a slow season and injury trouble. The rumor he was buying a house in Jylland grew out of proportion. The man himself says he's staying.
(Avis: AaB køber Würtz tilbage)

Jesper Christiansen to West Bromwich Albion FC

"I have always said that I would only move abroad again if a club better than FCK made an offer."
- Jesper Christiansen

(West Brom set to sign great Dane)

Incoming: Espen Ruud of Norwegian Odd Greenland

Personally, I don't see the need for yet another defender. Given we keep the ones we already got. But let us just watch a goal of his:

(Avis: AaB og FCK ser på nordmand)

Atiba Hutchinson: Recovered and on his way out

We got some mixed news about Canadian midfielder Atiba Hutchinson recently: his below par performances during fall 2007 was due to illness and now he's looking for another club.

The illness issue was revealed by coach Ståle Solbakken. Atiba has been suffering from mononucleosis (AKA "the kissing disease" AKA "Pfeiffer's disease" AKA "glandular fever"). Now I haven't had the thing myself but judging from the list of possible symptoms (fever, Enlarged spleen (!!!), Dizziness or disorientation, Depression etc.) it's just not something that works out with the typical schedule of a professional athlete.
Sources: bold.dk / Hutchinson havde verdens værste sygdom and Wikipedia / mononucleosis.


When I visited a training session last summer Atiba was doing light exercises only due to his illness.

Now he and his agent says he's on his way out of here!

"I don't see myself stay very long. It's a possibility to follow Hangeland because I'd like to play in the Premier League. But Germany, Spain, Italy or France could be fun too."
- Atiba Hutchinson

"A lot of clubs have scouted him and we had interest from England, Germany and France but the price tag has been a problem."
- Andreas Kirsch (Hutch's agent)

(My own not too accurate translations.)
Sources: bold.dk / Atiba Hutchinson klar til større liga, bold.dk / Agent: FCK bremser Hutchinson.

New team, new season

The transfer window has closed and the first friendly been played. Meaning we get a quality peek at what's in wait for the spring 2008 season.

Last minute transfers

Obviously, most transfer rumors were just rumors and probably little else. Hangeland left for England and Albäck probably just decided to stay the remainder of his contract to pick up another Danish title.

Besides right back Zdeněk Pospěch, central defender Ulrik Laursen (OB, Hibernian, Celtic; three matches for Denmark) and Brazilian striker José Luiz Guimarães Sanabio Júnior (OB, Malmö) were signed.

La Manga Friendly: Legia Warszawa - FC København 2-2

Allbäck - Ailton

Grønkjær/Hutchinson - Kvist - Würtz - Sionko

Wendt - Antonsson - Gravgaard/Zanka - Pospech

Coe

Lineup (with subs) as according to FCK.dk.

Goals by Ailton Almeida and Jesper Grønkjær.

Transfers Update: Second Czech international under way

FC København have left a bid at about 1.2 m€ for 29 years old Czech Zdeněk Pospěch of AC Sparta Praha. Zdeněk Pospěch is a right back which is just what we need. He has played five games with the Czech national team and will travel to Cyprus for their friendly World Cup European Championship warm-up tournament with Greece and Poland.

Sources: Politiken / FCK jagter tjekkisk landsholdsspiller, Bruckner selects 4 uncapped players for European Championship warmups, Zdeněk Pospěch entry at de.Wikipedia.org.

Transfer: Brede Hangeland to Fulham

Norwegian defender reportedly having Craven Cottage medical.

This story is on most Danish newspaper sites as well.

Obviously a weakening of our central defensive line but not too bad considering we still have Gravgaard, Antonsson, Zanga and no international games.

Transfer rumors

ru·mor /ˈrumər/
–noun

1. a story or statement in general circulation without confirmation or certainty as to facts: a rumor of war.


2. gossip; hearsay: Don't listen to rumor.


3. Archaic. a continuous, confused noise; clamor; din.

–verb (used with object)

4. to circulate, report, or assert by a rumor: It is rumored that the king is dead.

- dictionary.com

Fansites around Europe are over-heating in unrealistic entries. Our sports director says he's not in any kind of panic (TIPS-Bladet / Ingen transferpanik i FCK) while one of our scouts have been spending some time in the Czech Republic lately.

Incoming?

Søren Larsen

Current employer: Schalke 04 (German 1. Bundesliga).
Price: 1 million €.
Other offers: Eintracht Frankfurt, Wolfsburg, Nürnberg plus a British club.
Sources: Bild / Die Hau-ab!-Liste der Bundesliga, bold.dk / Avis: FCK vil have Søren Larsen.

Martin Laursen

Current employer: Aston Villa (English Premier League).
Price: ?.
Other offers: ?.
Source: bold.dk / Martin Laursen åben for FCK, Berlingeren / Aldrig mere Italien.

Yoav Ziv

Current employer: Beitar Jerusalem (Israel).
Price: ~½ million €.
Other offers: Club Brugge (Belgium).
Source:
Ekstra Bladet / FCK lun på israelsk landsholdsspiller, Politiken / Israeler meldes på vej til FCK, bold.dk / Israeler koster FCK 3,7 millioner kroner, Haaretz / Beitar facing 'January sales' crisis.

Tommy Bechmann

Current employer: Bochum (German 1. Bundesliga).
Price: ?.
Other offers: ?.
Source: bold.dk / FCK jagter Tommy Bechmann.

Kasper Bøgelund

Current employer: Borussia Mönchengladbach (German 2. Bundesliga).
Price: ?.
Other offers: ? (quite possibly not even us).
Source: TIPS-Bladet / Bøgelund vil væk.

Thomas Kristensen

Current employer: FC Nordsjælland (Danish Superliga).
Price: ?.
Other offers: ? (quite possibly not even us).
Source: TIPS-Bladet / FCN-profil vil gerne til FCK.

Outgoing?

Marcus Allbäck

Offers: Elfsborg (Sweden).
Price: ~2 million €.
Source: Expressen / Elfsborg redo att köpa Allbäck - för 15 miljoner, Expressen / Öis: "Vi ska inte värva Allbäck".

Brede Hangeland
Offers: Newcastle (English Premier League) a.o.
Price: ~2½ million €.
Source: TIPS-Bladet / Newcastle vil igen byde på Hangeland.

Other possible transfers include Morten Bertolt and Michael Silberbauer.

New defender offensive?

Danish media are reporting we're buying Israeli defender Yoav David Ziv from Beitar Jerusalem, the club we eliminated to play European football this year. Price is supposedly around 500,000€. [Danish sources: forza.dk / FCK lun på israeler, bold.k / Israeler koster FCK 3,7 millioner kroner] As far as I remember from our games against the Israelis, he's pretty good.

I have tried to find an English language source for the story with no luck. What I did find however, was a Jerusalem Post story about Zionist settlers doing illegal construction work on "historic Israel" territory aka Palestinian territory occupied by Israel. As the land is the subject of ongoing peace negotiations the Israeli authorities work to stop these activities. And here is what - quite frankly - stuns me:

According to Yitzhaki, the settlement drive also has the support of seven players from the Betar Jerusalem soccer team.

Strikers Totu Tamuz and Amit Ben-Shushan, defenders Arik Benado, Yoav Ziv and David Amsalem, and midfielders Aviram Bruchian and Idan Tal did not plan to participate in Sunday's events, but had signed pledges of support, Yitzhaki said.

Hmmm... that's pretty extreme. Gee, I'm happy they don't "plan to participate"! Looks like we're getting a Zionist on the offense for our defense. I wonder if we'd buy a public Hamas-supporter? I guess we would.

But someone needs to scholar this guy about the only West Bank he's allowed to attack as long as he's with us: Brøndby IF aka "Vestegnen" ;-)

Hangeland thought he'd be playing with Newcastle

Norwegian newspaper VG Nett says Brede Hangeland was Man of the Match in Moldova - Norway yesterday. And Brede talks about how he had his bags packed for a move to Newcastle when FC København turned down the offer of about 4 million €. Enjoy if you can read Norwegian.
Source: VG Nett / Hangeland: - Følte jeg var nær en overgang

Possible transfers: Wamberto and Hysen

Swedish Tobias Hysén [Wikipedia | Transfermarkt] is leaving Sunderland for IFK Göteborg or FC København or a Norwegian club.

Brazilian Wamberto [Wikipedia | Transfermarkt] is training with the team next week.

Incoming: Czech national team winger

Rangers winger Libor Sionko is poised to move to Danish outfit FC Copenhagen after the clubs agreed a transfer fee.

Elsewhere: Setana Sports, Sportinglife.com.

According to his Wikipedia entry...

Sionko plays on the right of an attacking three which supports the main forward but frequently swaps position with his opposite number.

21 matches played with the Czech Republic national team; 3 goals, 6 assists. Unreliable sources says the fee is 3.5 million € and the contract is for 2009.

Yes, please!

Two national team periphery players signed

København complete double swoop

Aalborg BK midfielder Rasmus Würtz described FC København as "the perfect place to play" after joining the Superligaen champions along with FC Nordsjælland striker Morten Nordstrand on Friday.

West Ham AND Newcastle bidding for Hutch!?

West Ham and Newcastle are set for a $6 million battle to land FC Copenhagen's Canadian utility player Atiba Hutchinson.

According to AHN Transfer Central.

Dear West Ham and Newcastle: Please go away. Thank you!

Newcastle interested in Brede

Official Newcastle homepage

One new name to emerge is that of FC Copenhagen centre-back Brede Hangeland. The 26-year-old Norway international is said to be available for a fee in the region of £2m, according to The Sun and The Times.

Elsewhere: BBC, Times Online.

Mikael Antonsson signed

Here's an English note on what today's Danish TV sports news has been all about:

FC Copenhagen have signed Sweden defender Mikael Antonsson [Wikipedia] on a four-year contract from Greek club Panathinaikos, the Danish champions said on Thursday.

The 26-year-old, who has three caps, will join his new team mates on July 1. The clubs did not disclose financial details.

The Rommedahl non-story

Dennis Rommedahl plans Charlton Athletic exit - FC Copenhagen target Addicks winger

Copenhagen reject Charlton's Rommedahl

...FC Copenhagen owner Fleming Ostergaard said: "Who the hell says we're interested? Come down to earth, little Dennis. If you can't even get into the team at Charlton, then where can you get in?"