France Transfer Rumors: Henry, Ribéry,Makélélé, Anelka, and…Barthez?

Okay, I have a few free minutes this morning, so I thought I’d fill you in on what I’m reading about transfers for a few of our France guys.

First, of course, is the guy everybody has been talking about: Thierry Henry. ALL the articles are saying Titi has come to terms with Barcelona. Except, of course, for the articles that aren’t. Yesterday the big news, coming out of France, was that Henry and Barca have had a meeting of the minds and all that’s left is to get Arsenal to come to grips (and terms) with this fact. Except that I’m also seeing interviews with his agent saying that this is a crock.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live Jeff Weston of the ESM Group denied that a deal had been, or will be done for Henry: ‘No such meeting took place. That is absolute rubbish.

‘There’s never been any question of him not being at Arsenal next season.’

Is he being coy? I have no idea. Other articles are linking Henry to Milan, or even to (gasp!) remaining with Arsenal. Stay tuned for more soon.

And what about Franck Ribéry? Remember not so long ago, when Marseille was kind of languishing in the upper middle of the table, when Franck said, “I’ll stay at Marseille ONLY if they make Champions League”? Well, guess what? Marseille made Champions League. Is Franck staying? Hahahahahahahaha!!! You make me laugh. He’s actually going to Bayern Munich to hang out with buddy Willy Sagnol. I guess Champions League isn’t all that important compared to friendships. And boatloads of money. (As several commenters in my last post mentioned, it looks like Munich is really struggling/working to rebuild after a rather abysmal season. Luca Toni and perhaps Miroslav Klose will be among Franck’s new teammates.)

And it looks like the Claude Makélélé-Chelsea love affair is coming to a sad end. Remember when they swept him away from Real Madrid and made him feel cherished, the way he deserved to be? Well, I guess that kind of love lasts only so long in football. As I said before, Claude apparently wanted a two-year extension to his one-year contract. Problem is, he’s thirty-four and there are some seriously good up-and-coming holding midfielders at Chelsea. So where is Claude going? There were some rumors about Villareal earlier this year, but Robert Pires says that’s not happening. One rumor that interests me, though, and that Claude’s not necessarily denying? Maké to the Houston Dynamo. Wouldn’t that make life interesting over here. Given AEG’s fascination with older European stars, I see a chance that this could actually happen. But maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part.

And then we have my favorite no-longer-so-bad boy, Nicolas Anelka. Where’s Nico going next year? Possibly nowhere. Rumor is that Manchester United had been showing some interest, but that has apparently cooled. The reason? Nico doesn’t think that the news of his behavioral rehabilitation has trickled up to the top EPL team front offices. Hey! Front office guys! Take it from me, okay? Anelka is solid. He’s stable. He’s married, for heavens sake. And he’s freakin’ good!!! Take a chance. You won’t regret it.

And last but not least (because I’m running out of writing time,) this interesting rumor popped up in my mailbox yesterday. Seems Fabien Barthez might go to… MEXICO?!?!?! Supposedly the Mexican team Necaxa has expressed an interest. Because doesn’t he just look like somebody who should be playing in the Mexican league? Although the most recent news says that his agent has dumped cold water on this rumor, I think I’m going to choose to believe it anyway. Because I want to.

And that’s all I have time for this morning. Stay tuned for more unsubstantiated gossip cold, hard transfer facts soon.