Scottish Mag 3 Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Mauro Zarate's brilliant double for Birmingham at the weekend did not go unnoticed, as a host of clubs were checking on the Argentine. The 21-year-old joined Birmingham on loan from Qatar-based outfit Al-Sadd in January. Zarate only moved to Qatar last year when he shocked Argentine football by accepting a lucrative switch to the Gulf state. But after just a dozen games, the lure of one of Europe's big leagues was just too much for Zarate to turn down as he moved to St Andrews. The youngster has since admitted that he regrets his move to Qatar and that he wants his long-term future to be in England. Zarate has taken time to settle but his double salvo against Manchester City really announced his arrival in the Premier League. Birmingham are now set to hold talks about his long-term future although Al-Sadd want big money as they paid $20million (£10million) for him less than 12 months ago. Blues boss Alex McLeish is now considering his options, but he will be aware of the rival interest which is now emerging. Newcastle, who made a late bid in January to land him, Tottenham, Liverpool, Manchester City and Sunderland are all believed to be keeping a very close eye on the situation. Zarate's Argentinean representative Christian Otero confirmed that talks would soon take place with Birmingham. "Mauro is loving life at Birmingham," Otero told skysports.com. "He is very impressed with everything at the club from the management down, he loves the fans and is very happy in the city. "Of course there is a lot of interest in Mauro, which is natural given how well he is playing. "But Birmingham are the club we want to talk with and we will be doing that shortly." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo 175 Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 FM-Tastic ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Manson 0 Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Looked an absolutely quality player against Reading, and two good goals against City. Don't know about £10million + though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isegrim 10017 Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 Newcastle, who made a late bid in January to land him, Tottenham, Liverpool, Manchester City and Sunderland are all believed to be keeping a very close eye on the situation. Did we? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 11080 Posted March 31, 2008 Share Posted March 31, 2008 not sure it's the right move for him, for us or for Birmingham. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottish Mag 3 Posted May 20, 2008 Author Share Posted May 20, 2008 Birmingham's on-loan striker Mauro Zarate is having discussions with Portsmouth over a possible move to Fratton Park, BBC Sport understands. However, the FA Cup winners have yet to agree a fee with the 21-year-old's parent club, Al-Saad of Qatar. Pompey boss Harry Redknapp is believed to be "very keen" to land Zarate who scored four goals for relegated Blues. The Argentine, who joined on loan in January until the end of the season, scored four goals for relegated Blues. Last week, Birmingham boss Alex McLeish paid tribute to the striker. "Mauro's going to be an attractive proposition to Premier League clubs, in fact I know he is," he told the Birmingham Mail. "I would like to thank him for his spell here, and he made an impact, which was never going to be easy. "It was a little bit of a risk bringing him in from a league where you can get away with things, be lazy and still look like a world class star, coming into the hurly-burly of the Premier League. "So I applaud his spirit, his heart and he will be a good asset to one of the big clubs, if not here then abroad." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Manson 0 Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 If he goes to a club like Pompey it'd be a fucking joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 71 Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 Whoever deals with these things needs to get on the blower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isegrim 10017 Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 Whoever deals with these things needs to get on the blower. It depends of our list of targets and its order, doesn't it. If there are other players who are higher on the wishlist then missing out on other players is bound to happen. But it's nonsense to start to switch to panik mode when it's not even June... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeazesMag 0 Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 Whoever deals with these things needs to get on the blower. It depends of our list of targets and its order, doesn't it. If there are other players who are higher on the wishlist then missing out on other players is bound to happen. But it's nonsense to start to switch to panik mode when it's not even June... I agree with parky that you have to move quickly when the good players are available....... < sigh > will they learn ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asprilla 96 Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 Whoever deals with these things needs to get on the blower. It depends of our list of targets and its order, doesn't it. If there are other players who are higher on the wishlist then missing out on other players is bound to happen. But it's nonsense to start to switch to panik mode when it's not even June... I agree with parky that you have to move quickly when the good players are available....... < sigh > will they learn ? yep.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isegrim 10017 Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 Whoever deals with these things needs to get on the blower. It depends of our list of targets and its order, doesn't it. If there are other players who are higher on the wishlist then missing out on other players is bound to happen. But it's nonsense to start to switch to panik mode when it's not even June... I agree with parky that you have to move quickly when the good players are available....... < sigh > will they learn ? And miss out on better players who they (Keegan) want to target first? Zarate looks a talented player but not a must buy player to me. We will know if the board still have to learn when the transfer dealing really can be described as a failure, which is still far too early (not for you obviously...). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeazesMag 0 Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 (edited) Whoever deals with these things needs to get on the blower. It depends of our list of targets and its order, doesn't it. If there are other players who are higher on the wishlist then missing out on other players is bound to happen. But it's nonsense to start to switch to panik mode when it's not even June... I agree with parky that you have to move quickly when the good players are available....... < sigh > will they learn ? And miss out on better players who they (Keegan) want to target first? Zarate looks a talented player but not a must buy player to me. We will know if the board still have to learn when the transfer dealing really can be described as a failure, which is still far too early (not for you obviously...). maybe. See Icegrim, I just think that - while applying standards - he's better than what we have, and looks a good prospect. So we should get him. I'm just not too concerned about the money [its not as if he's going to cost 30m quid or anything] because if someone better DOES come along, then buy him as well. Then ship someobody out of the club ie Emre for instance. It is possible that we could miss out or not get bigger targets too,then we would have nobody. Although that would be worrying and disappointing. Edited May 20, 2008 by LeazesMag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isegrim 10017 Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 (edited) Whoever deals with these things needs to get on the blower. It depends of our list of targets and its order, doesn't it. If there are other players who are higher on the wishlist then missing out on other players is bound to happen. But it's nonsense to start to switch to panik mode when it's not even June... I agree with parky that you have to move quickly when the good players are available....... < sigh > will they learn ? And miss out on better players who they (Keegan) want to target first? Zarate looks a talented player but not a must buy player to me. We will know if the board still have to learn when the transfer dealing really can be described as a failure, which is still far too early (not for you obviously...). maybe. See Icegrim, I just think that - while applying standards - he's better than what we have, and looks a good prospect. So we should get him. I'm just not too concerned about the money [its not as if he's going to cost 30m quid or anything] because if someone better DOES come along, then buy him as well. Then ship someobody out of the club ie Emre for instance. It is possible that we could miss out or not get bigger targets too,then we would have nobody. Although that would be worrying and disappointing. But it's not about who you or I would like to sign, but who the manager wants. And iirc it was you (or maybe it was HTL?) who in these cases, i.e. missing out on a player, used to say that it's not possible to sign every player on the planet. And it was definitely you who used to moan about people who complained about lack of transfers and late transfers when the transfer deadline loomed, saying that it doesn't matter when but who we sign. So I think especially for you it should be a case of wait and see who Keegan brings in and if he got the necessary backing of the board for the players he wanted to bring in. If we then don't have a squad capable of competing in the league for a higher league position then you'll have every right to moan. Though the day to judge this should be September 1st, maybe already early August, but definitely not May 20th. Edited May 20, 2008 by Isegrim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam_cann 0 Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 I like what I've seen of Zarate, seems to have something about him and he's only 21. Plus he's already had 6 months over here, so less of a settling in period that another foreign import would need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Gloom 22536 Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 is this kid so good that we need to be worried about him going to pompey? he looked a bit light weight to me when i've seen him on the telly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 71 Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 is this kid so good that we need to be worried about him going to pompey? he looked a bit light weight to me when i've seen him on the telly Harry is cunning that's all we need to know. For a million reasons he would be better than the Turk we're linked with for instance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luckyluke 2 Posted May 20, 2008 Share Posted May 20, 2008 Whoever deals with these things needs to get on the blower. It depends of our list of targets and its order, doesn't it. If there are other players who are higher on the wishlist then missing out on other players is bound to happen. But it's nonsense to start to switch to panik mode when it's not even June... I agree with parky that you have to move quickly when the good players are available....... < sigh > will they learn ? And miss out on better players who they (Keegan) want to target first? Zarate looks a talented player but not a must buy player to me. We will know if the board still have to learn when the transfer dealing really can be described as a failure, which is still far too early (not for you obviously...). maybe. See Icegrim, I just think that - while applying standards - he's better than what we have, and looks a good prospect. So we should get him. I'm just not too concerned about the money [its not as if he's going to cost 30m quid or anything] because if someone better DOES come along, then buy him as well. Then ship someobody out of the club ie Emre for instance. It is possible that we could miss out or not get bigger targets too,then we would have nobody. Although that would be worrying and disappointing. But it's not about who you or I would like to sign, but who the manager wants. And iirc it was you (or maybe it was HTL?) who in these cases, i.e. missing out on a player, used to say that it's not possible to sign every player on the planet. And it was definitely you who used to moan about people who complained about lack of transfers and late transfers when the transfer deadline loomed, saying that it doesn't matter when but who we sign. So I think especially for you it should be a case of wait and see who Keegan brings in and if he got the necessary backing of the board for the players he wanted to bring in. If we then don't have a squad capable of competing in the league for a higher league position then you'll have every right to moan. Though the day to judge this should be September 1st, maybe already early August, but definitely not May 20th. It's funny how Leazes and most other people have swapped arguments since the owners have changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottish Mag 3 Posted June 29, 2008 Author Share Posted June 29, 2008 Lazio are closing in on the signing of Mauro Zarate, although president Claudio Lotito insists it is not yet a done deal. Zarate impressed in the Premier League during the second half of last season after joining Birmingham City on loan from Al Sadd. His performances raised the possibility of a return to England for next season, with Portsmouth having been linked with a bid for the youngster. Boca Juniors are keen to take the striker back to Argentina, but reports now suggest Lazio will secure Zarate on a five-year contract. Zarate has been quoted in the Argentinian media as saying a move to the Italian club will be 'a dream come true'. The Serie A side's president Lotito has intimated a deal is in the pipeline, but will not make an announcement until a transfer has been finalised. "I am accustomed to only announcing a signing after I have deposited the contract with the authorities and this has not happened yet," Lotito told the Italian media. "Therefore it is not true that we have already captured Zarate. "We are working on three top-class objectives and hope to land at least one." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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