Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Berra on his way to join Wolves
Saturday 31st January 2009, 11:32AM GMT.
Christophe Berra is on his way to Molineux after Wolves finally agreed a fee of around £2million with Hearts.
Berra, who turns 24 today, will have a medical tonight after contract talks following the game against Watford, which he is due to watch from the stands.
Sources north of the border reckon the fee is rising to £2.3million for the Scotland international, with an add-on if Wolves win promotion.
Wolves chief executive Jez Moxey said: “We have agreed a deal with Hearts and, on condition of Christophe passing a medical this evening, he will be signing for us.
“Should the medical be satisfactory, contract talks will proceed with a view to him signing for us tonight and a formal announcement on Monday morning.
“He’s a player we’ve looked at for a long time.”
Should everything go to plan, Berra will be available to make his debut in Tuesday’s home clash against Norwich.
Wolves have been rewarded for their patience in their pursuit of Berra. Hearts wanted £3million for him and there were reports the SPL club had rejected a £2million bid from Wolves – claims which later proved untrue.
But Wolves have refused to panic and stuck to their guns while refusing to raise the stakes and indeed, also actively pursued other targets before Hearts finally got in touch again on Thursday to thrash out a deal, amid rumours that financial difficulties had resurfaced at Tynecastle.
Two bids of £1million and £1.5million from Molineux for Berra were rejected in the summer, before Wolves returned with an increased bid of £2million when Hearts officials contacted boss Mick McCarthy nine days ago.
But, despite interest from Everton, Bolton, Portsmouth and Sheffield United, Wolves were the only club to make a bid.
Berra, who becomes Mick McCarthy’s most expensive signing for Wolves, joins two other Scotland internationals at Wolves – Chris Iwelumo and on-loan Nigel Quashie.
The signing of Berra will end Wolves’ pursuit of West Ham centre-back Calum Davenport – but not necessarily Michael Mancienne.
Wolves haven’t given up hope of re-signing the Chelsea defender on loan and are awaiting a decision from Stamford Bridge.
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Fantastic news!! If we could get Mancienne back on loan i’ll be in dreamland!!
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great news…………never seen him play but if he is any better than collins it has to be worth it.
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And judging from the picture of him (above) he is chuffed to be coming.
I do hope that this signing does not hinder Collin’s international progress, because I for one would love to see him playing for Scotland in their bid for World Cup glory.
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Good news indeed. So we have good forward ‘cover’ avery competitive midfield and defensive depth including the goalkeepers.
Now we need EB and chris to get scoring again and for us to start to win ‘pretty’. Winning ugly is fine but it doesn’t breed confidence and that is what we need as we approach the climax.
Reading could well lose today while Brum are not good against lowly teams. hence a win for us could mean our ‘cushion’ is restored.
Good on you Morgan and Mick – transfer negotiating dream team…
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very good business to get him at the right price, like him or loathe him jez is a top business man when it comes to the financial aspects of a football club
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Just let us hope that he proves to be better than MM’s history of ‘long chased after’ players such as D. Ward, Shackell and Keogh
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Good news!! This is very promising fingers crossed we can get on loan Mancienne and we will have the depth that we need to continue with the battle at the top, because it’s going to be a tough one!!
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Lets hope this does the trick, we certainly have a few centres to choose from, though only one who appears to be consistently up to the job. With luck this lad can fit in with Stearman and perform as well as Mancienne did.
It does seem he is as keen to join us as we have been to sign him so with luck only the medical can stand in the way. Let’s hope he doesn’t end up a Gow!
He does seem to be a bit more injury resistant than the other defensive target, Davenport. He seems to have been in just about every game since he broke into the Hearts side.
Still, it wouldn’t be bad to end up with Davenport too. We could clear a few off then, hopefully having enough quality at the back to make it to the Premiership and hang in there.
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At last some good news!!!!! Them down the road are looking for a centre half so can we off load Mr Collins??????? Should help them stay up LOL!!
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Let’s hope for Mancienne aswell! Come on boys lets put a decent run together starting today!!
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Great news! Mancienne on the mend I hope and would love to have a midfielder on board to. Marek Sapara at Rosenborg BK (Chec International) for a pretty low fee now before he moves to Besiktas. A passing game we’ve never had at the Mol.!
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a great signing for wolves berra and stearman centre half partnership…lets hope we keep a few more clean sheets…now if we can just get mancienne on loan….or even better as ive mentioned before try and sign him now offer £3.5+ that would put us in a strong position
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ME? I would be on cloud nine!lol
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well done boys..
Prem here we come as we wave to Sadwell as we replace them..lol
Kiwiwolfffffffffff
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Well played MM. 3 points today lads, cmon me babiees……………………………….
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He’d BERRA be a good signing! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WE NEED TO START WINNING AGAIN… STARTING TODAY…SO EVERYBODY GET BEHIND THE BOYS AND SING YER HEARTS OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Wonder how Shackell feels about this. Craddock must realistically know his time at Wolves is near the end.
Today, let’s hope Iwulemo starts. It’s no coincidence that our poor run has coincided with Keogh being preferred up front. Unless he’s injured, Jones should play as well. Play the team that was winning Mick! This situation that if you have a bad game or make a mistake you are dropped can’t breed much confidence (and after Tuesday’s miss Keogh shouldn’t start!!)
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mancienne arrives in three weeks!
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excellent signing will be a good back up for collins
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Yes, happy now.
Happier still if Mancienne comes.
Clean sheets are what we are in great need of.
#3 George Berry’s Yead
Wonderful irony well done you have raised the bar!p The Wolves
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No. 18 mancienne arrives in three weeks!
Pardon? Is this a wind up?
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I hope Berra is as good as people think he is!
For sure, we know Mancienne is good enough, I pray we could get him too, even for LB slot!
Foley, Stearman, Berra, Mancienne would look very promising to get us a few clean sheets. (not knocking Stephen Ward either!)
Can’t make the match today unfortunately, but all the best, we need the 3 points bad!!!!!
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Berra and Collins sounds like a good combo for the rest of the season.
Stearman moving to a full back position?
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FANTASTIC NEWS now for mancienne to return NOW that would be the iceing on the cake.
ho TAXI FOR MR COLLINS
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What I find interesting is everyone is going great signing (me included) without ever having see him play!
I just hope he is quick!
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will prob fail his medical like MR Gow !!
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This is what my Hearts fan friend said this morning via email from Edinburgh: Yeah you’ve been after him for ages. He’s a very good player; reads the game well and very professional. He’s 3 inches short of being a really good player but he’s still very good in the air.
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Just out of interest has ANYONE actually seen this guy play?
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George Berry’s Yead you are a comedy genius!
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After Ward, Collins and Shackell, let’s hope MM has got this one right!
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Brilliant news watched him many times when living in Scotland. Always thought he was a player in Scotland that could possibly play in the English Premiership. Hopefully find that out next season.
Up the Wolves!!
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Although Wolves fans have good reasons to be pleased with progress and transfers on one issue, Collins, I do wonder just who MM thinks he fools with his ranting.
During the recent poor run the player has been directly implicated in the loss of at least seven points. McCarthy’s actions might just be to boost morale, if Collins is eventually shipped out like Elliott it will be no surprise.
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One things for shure he will be ‘Berra’ then Collins
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Sounds like good news,
Amazed at MM’s comments re Collins ! However he played he cost us the game, and it was not the first time. The defence without Collins today was much better, and hopefully the signing of Berra will only strengthen us and push us back to the premiership !
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Only seen this guy play once in the Edinburgh derby 2 weeks ago didn’t look bad, hopefully we’ll get Mancienne. Don’t know why we signed Shackell maybe a panic buy.
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Hi Guys
I am scottish and support hearts but wolves ar my english team so glad if he’s going anywhere he’s going to wolves.
Berra looked a bit shaky last season when he took the captaincy for us but this season has been a revelation and seriously guys if he gels with Wolves’ players then Wolves have got one of the best defences in England.
Berra has pace, super tackling ability and a good header and also super at marking.
Good luck Christophe!
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this is taking the mick i thought it wud be done by now
i think he might hv failed his medical lyk mr alan gow
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Thought Berra was 6ft 1, would have thought average height for a centre back.Hope this is the Mark Davies Money well spent.
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Well, Mick has done nearly everything we asked:
-cover for the wingers
-centre back
-strong mid-fielder?
On a personal basis, I would welcome Mancienne back here where he belongs. It just looked so right with him playing in the old gold!
The choices that Mick has now got available mean that, used correctly, we have the resources for the sprint to the finishing line.
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Sounds like a pretty good deal, will hopefully bring some physical presence and leadership that we have been so sorely missing. Looking forward to his partnership with Stearman. Feel we still need a quailty striker alongside SEB – would offer £2 million plus Iwelumo to Leicester for Fryatt.
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Just had a look at berras profile he is a quick athletic imposing stopper which if the profile is true sounds like just what we need it also says hes a very good professional so fingers crossed with the medical.
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this is great news and urgently needed, love to get mancienne too,it seems mcarthy isn’t impressed with shackell either (agreed)as he plays craddock ahead of him,good choice though played well got some good blocks in and shored up the defence.think i’d keep craddock untill the end of the season and loan out shackell,d.ward and if we get mancienne in, collins aswell.just need a good attacking midfielder now and we’ll be there.UP THE WOLVES!
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great piece of business jez and sm.a good attacking midfielder would be great now (someone like j.koumas would be nice)and would see us over the finishing line,if we could get mancienne in on loan also that would be great.up the wolves!
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A bit of humble pie on my part,never thought we would get someone like him.Now lets get a decent midfielder
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It appears Mick has done the business again for us… Let him do his job because he’s actually quite good at it!
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Mr Moxey there is still one player we need back at Molineux and that is Mancienne, he is perfect in our young team and will be in the Premiership so don’t let him get away.
We all should be making every effort to secure him on a permanent basic every club have their price even Chelsea, they could even lose him when his contract ends.
Just keep the pressure on; I’m sure he wants to come to Wolves.
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