Baros to Lyon

[Shaggy]

Anyone else think this is a reeaaaaaaally weird move, given the history between these two? Although Ged bought Milan and gave him his debut, he hardly ever picked the bloke.

Also, why didn’t he move straight to Lyon from us?! We’d have got more money for him.




French champions Lyon say they are close to completing the signing of Aston Villa striker Milan Baros.

Coach Gerard Houllier confirmed on Friday he had made an inquiry for the Czech Republic international.

President Jean-Michel Aulas was quoted in L'Equipe as saying his arrival "is imminent and will be nothing more than a matter of hours".

The 25-year-old, who played for Houllier at Liverpool, has one goal in 17 league appearances this season.

Bernard Lacombe, a special advisor to Aulas at the club, said over the weekend: "Without being able to say with precision, I think in the next 72 hours, Baros should be at Lyon, without doubt on Monday or Tuesday."

Baros was top scorer in Euro 2004 but has since struggled to rekindle that form.

But Ligue One leaders Lyon are desperate to add some firepower to their squad, with Karim Benzema and Sylvain Wiltord expected to be out for some time with injuries.

There are also question marks over the future of John Carew, with the Norway international believed to have held talks with Werder Bremen regarding a move to Germany.

Baros was still at Anfield when he turned down a Lyon offer in 2005.

Houllier said then he wouldn't bid again for the player but he has now reconsidered, saying: "Only idiots never change their minds."

And Houllier, who signed Baros to Liverpool in December 2001 said: "We need to recruit and I'm glad the club is now working in that direction."

[Rich]

Very strange one this, I always thought Baros and Houllier never got on.

[El Diego]

Same here very very weird move, also Wiltord cause he's mate's with that ****** Diouf didn't want Houllier as manager but now I think they get on alright.

[Maestro]

Aye - a very strange one alright. The rumour that Chelsea were after him was even stranger, mind.
The French league might suit him though, who knows.

[lfc4ever]

Todays Guardian Fiver:

Guardian Unlimited's tea-time take on the world of football

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Les Liasions Dangereuse, and La Curee


Paul Doyle and Barry Glendenning
Monday January 22, 2007
Guardian Unlimited


CZECH YO' HEAD

Unless Gerry Adams joins the Pope's O'Rangers or Pedro Mendes announces Jimi Hendrix will be his best man during a lavish ceremony to mark his engagement to Ben Thatcher, the news that Aston Villa waster Milan Baros has signed for Gérard Houllier's Lyon is the most astonishing football story you will hear today. For the pair aren't so much chalk and cheese, as dud Czech and cheese-eating grudge monkey.

They first fell out at Liverpool, where Houllier would routinely reward a good Baros performance by dropping him for the next 10 games. Baros would be left pulling his hairband out in frustration as fans wondered if the seemingly promising striker had been omitted for disciplinary reasons or simply because Houllier was madder than a bucket of penguins. Soon after Houllier left Anfield it became apparent that not putting any faith in the blank-shooting Czech was one of the few things he'd been right about all along.

But in August 2005, the Frenchman then baffled everyone by making a £6.5m bid to bring Baros to Lyon. "We were all amazed," said an Anfield insider at the time. "I mean, those two really, really don't get on." After Baros turned down a lift in Lyon's well-oiled Citroen in order to take a ride in the broken wheelbarrow that is Aston Villa, Houllier vowed never again to work with him. "Only idiots never change their minds," he said today by way of explanation for his volte face, which comes in the wake of Baros being booed off the pitch against Watford after another in a series of diabolical performances for the Villans this season.

True, Lyon desperately need to increase their firepower as Sylvain Wiltord and Karim Benzema are injured and the club is trying to maintain challenges on four fronts; and perhaps there would be method to Houllier's apparent madness if he planned to alter his team's usual 4-5-1 formation to twin Baros with the towering John Carew. After all, the only team for whom Baros has consistently scored is the Czech Republic when partnering the enormous Jan Koller. So yes, that might make some sense. Which is possibly why the deal to bring Baros to Lyon will apparently mean Carew going to Villa Park.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"I have my hair cut by either Coleen or her mum. I never go to a hairdresser, can't be bothered" - Tabloid Wayne stuns the world with the news that his flowing mane is not professionally cropped.

*********************

NOTHING'S GONNA STOP US NOW

With its myriad Super Sundays, Splendid Saturdays, Worthwhile Wednesdays, Terrific Tuesdays and Magnificent Mondays, it's no surprise that the Premiership is the most exciting league in the world. Unlike it's Spanish equivalent, for example, where three points separate the top five teams and players can do things like pass the ball around without giving it away. But if the Premiership really is as wonderful as carefully programmed Sky Sports drones would have us believe, it seems odd that so few teams this season are showing any great desire to win it.

Chelsea could have made up ground on Saturday but put in a performance so comically inept that Liverpool beat them without breaking sweat, while the MU Rowdies should have catapulted themselves into an unassailable lead, only to be thwarted by a side so unimpressive that a perfunctory header was enough to win a renowned big game bottler a big game bottle of bubbly by default. "When will Henry be hailed as the best player in the world?" enquired one of the in-no-way excitable occupants of a certain satellite channel's studio as Arsenal celebrated their win. "Imagine how much sunshine they'd be blowing up his hole if anyone had been marking him?" enquired one of the cynics sprawled across the sofa in front of the Fiver Towers plasma screen.

But while the MU Rowdies and Chelsea may have less stomach than a chippy Scottish tennis player when it comes to a scrap, yesterday's victory has certainly fired up Arsenal like a blacksmith's bellows. "We lost 1-0 at Sheffield and there were a lot of things to improve and think about," trumpeted Cesc Fabregas in Lahn's Lahn E'ning Stannah this afternoon. "We had a talk in the dressing room after that game and said something had to change. Since then we've shown everyone we've changed. Right now we're really, really good. Nobody can stop us if we carry on playing the way we are playing." Nobody, that is, except the Rowdies, who remain 12 points ahead of them.

*********************

THE RUMOUR MILL

Fiorentina suits have started schmoozing Marseille's Franck Ribery, but that might just be a ploy to distract Arsenal Wenger's attention while they smuggle Arturo Lupoli out of the Emirates.

Ronaldinho could soon be joining David Beckham in the MLS, if his agent-brother is to be believed.

And a mystery purple-faced individual has been seen lurking around Southampton, jabbing pins into a Thierry Henry voodoo doll while lodging a £10m bid for Gareth Bale.

* * * * * * * * * * *

STILL WANT MORE?

"[MU Rowdies] were given a taste of their own philosophy by opponents who deserved no more than a point but managed to remember that a goal scored in the fourth minute of added time is worth as much as any other, and sometimes more" - Richard Williams takes in Arsenal's win over the Rowdies.

Sid Lowe watches an untouchable superstar midfielder edge towards an increasingly bitter exit from the Spanish team who were once his dream club. And no, it's not Beckham.

And in tomorrow's all-singing, all-dancing, award-winning £0.70 Big Paper: Steve Bierley analyses Andy Murray's defeat to Rafael Nadal; Colin Jackson talks life as an unpaid coach; and get your tropical fish wallcharts while they're hot.

* * * * * * * * * * *

NEWS IN BRIEF

A referee had to be escorted from the pitch by 20 armed riot police after being attacked by Brazil players following their 2-2 draw with Chile in the South American Under-20 championship. The Brazilians were furious after Alberto Duarte awarded their opponents two penalties in the dying minutes of the game.

A Kenyan league match between Coast Stars and Thika United also descended into chaos when national sports commissioner Gordon Oluoch tried to have it abandoned, only to be chased from the stadium by fuming fans. Riot police had already stormed the pitch once in an attempt to arrest referee Fredrick Odour. The government recently dissolved the country's football federation (KFF), and has been trying to prevent matches from taking place in government stadiums.

And Lord Ferg has joined celebrities including Sir Tom Jones, Emma Thompson and the real T4's Steve Jones in supporting a campaign to save 300 jobs at a Burberry factory in south Wales. "I would like to lend my support to the campaign by the Burberry workers in Treorchy," och-ayed Ferg in a letter to Welsh Euro MP Glenys Kinnock.

* * * * * * * * * *

FIVER LETTERS

"To borrow a Two Ronnies gag, is it true that Portsmouth's inquiry into Glen Johnson stealing toilet seats has been halted? I heard they had nothing to go on" - Roy Ward (and many, many others).

"The last thing I would ever expect from the Fiver is a demonstration of tactical knowledge and an accurate preview of a big game. So, full marks for correctly predicting the Rowdies manager would ruin a potential football feast by playing 4-5-1, under-using his best player and over-using his worst. Has the loss of the TV and Radio section given you more time to fully consider footballing matters?" - Ryan MacDonald.

"Even though everyone been's suspecting it for years, the Fiver was the first to break the news that Barca have signed Thierry Henry in Friday's story about the Uefa team of the year. Good work. Now that's a transfer scoop" - Andy Clyde (and many others).

Send your letters to [email protected]". Today's winner of Noel Edmonds: Positively Tranquil - Soothing Music For Positive Thoughts: Ryan MacDonald.

* * * * * * * * * * *

[lfc4ever]

Baros to Lyon
Carew to Villa

Confirmed deal.

[Flake]

Baros to Lyon
Carew to Villa

Confirmed deal.

[Shaggy]

Ha! UNLUCKY Villa! Carew is ****ing ****e.

Martin O'Neill eh...consistently buys crap.

Mind you, now I've opened me trap, Carew will score 15 goals to fire Villa into Europe.

[animal magic]

carew fits into oneils system more than baros remember at celtic he had both sutton and hartson

[Bob]

carew fits into oneils system more than baros remember at celtic he had both sutton and hartson

Soooo obvious.

Baros just wan't performing at Villa. I think this is a good move for both parties.

Carew could be great, and if he'll succeed anywhere it'll be under O'Neill as he'll play to his strengths.

[Shaggy]

remember at celtic he had both sutton and hartson

Exactly.

[tomasjj]

Longball O'Neill....great manager and according to some, worthy of taking over for the mighty Rafatollah....

[MrsB]

Ha! UNLUCKY Villa! Carew is ****ing ****e.

Martin O'Neill eh...consistently buys crap.

Mind you, now I've opened me trap, Carew will score 15 goals to fire Villa into Europe.

Agreed.

[MrsB]

Longball O'Neill....great manager and according to some, worthy of taking over for the mighty Rafatollah....

Bouncing ****.

[Shaggy]

Longball O'Neill....great manager and according to some, worthy of taking over for the mighty Rafatollah....

This is what I mean about Carew. He's dog****, capable, but dog****, yet the fact he "suits their system" is supposed to make it okay. Fair enough, ship out the non-performing Baros, but I'd be looking elsewhere for the strong target man he seems to crave incessantly. Strikes me as a deal of convenience.

But like I said, Carew will suddenly become the new Gerd Muller. Bound to.