曼联买入埃弗拉 弗格森口无遮拦身陷"疟疾门"
United Tie up 5.5m Pounds Deal for Evra
摘要：
英超曼联俱乐部首席执行官大卫·吉尔5日晚在路易二世体育场同法国摩纳哥队就埃弗拉转会曼联一事进行了长达两个小时的会晤。最终摩纳哥队同意以550万英镑的价格完成这笔交易。对此，摩纳哥俱乐部副主席布里安蒂称双方“达成了良好的谅解”。
Manchester United's chief executive David Gill was in Monaco last night to complete the transfer of the France defender Patrice Evra. In two hours of talks at the Louis II Stadium he agreed a fee of about ?5.5m and finalised the financial terms of the contract.
英超曼联俱乐部首席执行官大卫·吉尔5日晚在路易二世体育场同法国摩纳哥队就埃弗拉转会曼联一事进行了长达两个小时的会晤。最终摩纳哥队同意以550万英镑的价格完成这笔交易。对此，摩纳哥俱乐部副主席布里安蒂称双方“达成了良好的谅解”。
据英国《卫报》1月6日报道，在此之前，曼联刚刚以700万英镑的价格从莫斯科斯巴达队引入了塞黑后卫维蒂奇。维蒂奇5日已经开始和新队友进行转会后的第一次合练。随着冬歇期两名后卫的到来，目前在曼联后防的每一个位置上，弗格森都配备了两名队员进行竞争，这和“死对头”切尔西队主教练穆利尼奥的做法如出一辙。由于后防大将海因策受伤，目前曼联首发阵容中的4后卫人选很可能就是加里·内维尔、费迪南德、维蒂奇和埃弗拉。司职左后卫的海因策看来只能等到下个赛季再作打算了，那时另一名后卫希尔维斯特恐怕早已经挪窝了。埃弗拉的到来还意味着奥谢以及理查德森将坐稳“冷板凳”。
现年24岁的埃弗拉司职左后卫，他的到来在增加曼联后防实力的同时，加剧曼联其他队员在这一位置上的竞争。埃弗拉下周抵达英国后将首先接受身体检查。如果一切顺利的话，这位出生于非洲塞内加尔的球员预计最早将在下周三英格兰联赛杯半决赛曼联同布莱克本队首回合的比赛中亮相。
在中场核心基恩“负气”出走凯尔特人以后，曼联目前急需在中场位置上补充实力，然而老爵爷弗格森却在这紧要关头优先考虑加强后防线，这的确有些令人吃惊。但这两笔转会交易的完成同时也说明，格拉泽家族仍然在支持者弗格森。也许在买入球员方面，格拉泽还不能和切尔西老板阿布拉莫维奇相提并论，但自去年入主曼联以来，格拉泽在加强球队实力方面的净支出已经达到了1500万英镑，而且许诺还会继续加大投资。格拉泽家族的意图非常明显，那就是看好64岁的弗格森仍然是带领曼联征战下赛季比赛的最佳人选。
在完成后防线引援后，弗格森的下一个目标肯定是在转会市场寻找一位能够替代基恩的中场球员。不过在这以前，他还要解决好另一个麻烦，就是向总部位于美国亚特兰大的国际疟疾基金会表示道歉。此事的起因是弗格森在上周曼联客场同阿森纳队互交白卷之后的一句玩笑。据报道，在那场比赛之后，眼瞧着切尔西队在积分榜上高歌猛进，已经将本队甩下了13分之多，弗格森在接受一家电视台采访时面对镜头调侃说，切尔西队说不定什么时候就会集体爆发疟疾，之后还觉得不够解气，又加上了一句：“我倒是盼着这样的事情发生。”
国际疟疾基金会主席玛丽·加林斯基5日晚在对此发表评论时说：“这显然是信口开河，但是这样的话题实在是敏感而且很不恰当的。他应该为此道歉。”加林斯基举例说：“疟疾所涉及到的并不仅仅是一些统计数字。要知道全世界每天有3000名儿童死于疟疾这种疾病。”
Manchester United's chief executive David Gill was in Monaco last night to complete the transfer of the France defender Patrice Evra. In two hours of talks at the Louis II Stadium he agreed a fee of about ?5.5m and finalised the financial terms of the contract.
Evra, a 24-year-old left-back, will be available to make his debut against Blackburn Rovers in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi-final at Ewood Park next Wednesday provided he passes a routine medical examination when he arrives in England next week. Gill had set up the deal on Tuesday during the first negotiations with Evra and his agent Federico Pastorello and when yesterday's talks concluded just before 6pm Monaco's vice-president Gérard Brianti said the clubs had reached "a good understanding".
With Nemanja Vidic, United's ?7m recruit from Spartak Moscow, training with his new team-mates for the first time yesterday Sir Alex Ferguson has two players competing for every position in defence, just like Jose Mourinho. While Gabriel Heinze is injured it seems likely his first-choice back four will consist of Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand and the new recruits. Heinze will return to challenge for the left-back spot next season, by which time Mika?l Silvestre may be on his way out. Evra's arrival also means John O'Shea and Kieran Richardson will be shunted down the pecking order.
Ferguson's decision to make reinforcing his defence his priority is surprising given his need for new midfielders but the deal confirms that Malcolm Glazer is willing to back him in the transfer market. Glazer may be unable to compete on level terms with Roman Abramovich but his net expenditure since taking control in June is ?15m with the promise of more to come. By backing Ferguson, Glazer would appear to regard the 64-year-old as the best man to take United forward next season.
Next on Ferguson's wish list is a central midfielder to replace Roy Keane but in the meantime he is facing calls for an apology after joking that he was hoping for an outbreak of malaria at Chelsea. His comment in the aftermath of United's scoreless draw against Arsenal was clearly tongue in cheek but it was condemned by the Malaria Foundation International.
"It was obviously an off-the-cuff remark but it was also highly insensitive and inappropriate and an apology is due. It's making light of a killer disease and a major worldwide disaster," Dr Mary Galinski, who runs the Atlanta-based organisation, said last night. "My first reaction when I heard it was: 'Oh my God!' He may as well have said: 'Wouldn't it be great if a tsunami hit where Chelsea are playing?' People would be outraged but it's effectively the same thing.
"Malaria is not just a statistic. When we talk about numbers - 3,000 kids dying every day and one to three million every year - these are real children we are talking about. I wonder how they would feel in the village schools in Africa to hear that someone in Britain has come out with something so extremely offensive."
Ferguson made the remark on television as he talked about Chelsea's 13-point advantage at the top of the Premiership. "You never know - malaria might hit the camp," he said. "We've got to hope something like that happens."
"This comes on top of worrying new reports that a growing number of people in England are coming back from abroad with malaria and dying from the disease," said Galinski.
It is highly unlikely Ferguson's joke was well received within Stamford Bridge either. Gérémi, Michael Essien and Didier Drogba come from three of the countries worst affected by malaria - Cameroon, Ghana and the Ivory Coast respectively. Portsmouth's Congolese international striker Lomana LuaLua suffered an attack this season and Ferguson is probably better off not repeating the joke in front of Evra either, given that the new signing was born in Senegal, another badly affected country. |
