Duff on his way to Newcastle

From the BBC

Tottenham are close to completing the signing of Chelsea's Damien Duff, according to reports.
The 27-year-old winger is thought to have completed a medical on Sunday and is expected to make his move across the capital in the next few days.

The Republic of Ireland star, who moved to Chelsea from Blackburn for £17m in 2003, has a year left on his contract.

Duff has won two Premiership titles at Chelsea but has struggled to hold down a regular slot in the starting line-up.

He would become Spurs' third major signing of the summer so far after the arrival of Dimitar Berbatov, Didier Zokora, and Benoit Assou-Ekotto.

Since Jose Mourinho replaced Claudio Ranieri as boss in 2004, Duff has been hampered by knee and shoulder injuries, and the summer arrival of Michael Ballack has put his place in the side under further threat.

The signing of Ballack and striker Andriy Shevchenko could mean that Mourinho will revert to a 4-4-2 to accomodate his new signings, leaving fewer opportunites for Chelsea's wingers.

Duff began his career at Blackburn Rovers in 1996 and made over 200 appearances for the Lancashire club.

Since moving to London, Duff has featured 95 times for the Premiership champions.



I wish it was Man Utd but it has to be good news for us if he links up with Robbie.

how many more midfielders does Jol want to sign? ManU or Liverpool would have been a better move .. must not be interested. Hopefully the move will allow Damien to develop his attacking skills again, after having them sucked out of him at chelsea

Brilliant move. I can't wait to see Robbie and Duff playing together each week.

And as said above, Tottenham's attacking style can only be good for bringing out Damien's best.

Hopefully Duff will benefit from Jol's management style. Of all the midfielders Jol seems to be in the market for few would directly be competing with Duff I'd say. Spurs is the kind of place where he could flourish again. Playing with two orthodox strikers to feed will be an instant boost to him.

I was on a business trip recently with Spurs fan who doubted if he'd be a good signing. Just as I take a very pro-Irish outlook on things, this guy is totally angloccentric & for purely selfish reasons I'd love to be able to ring this guy and say "I told you so".

£11m, actually Chelsea have done well bearing in mind the downward pressure on transfer values that the Italian "firesale" will have. Good move for Duffer although would also have preferred Man U or Liverpool for the European experience. Glad he is away from Chelsea anyway.

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Originally Posted by beautifulrock

Good move for Duffer although would also have preferred Man U or Liverpool for the European experience. Glad he is away from Chelsea anyway.

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Would of preferred those 2 myself but he will be getting European this season if he goes albeit UEFA Cup.

Suppose this means Andy Reid should begin packing his bags then...

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Originally Posted by Dr. Ogba

Suppose this means Andy Reid should begin packing his bags then...

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I think he already was...

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Originally Posted by BaZmO*

I think he already was...

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There was an interview with him recently (last week I think) where he was being very positive about his future and saying he was working hard in training in the expectation that he would be fit and rearing to go for the new season....must not have been in the loop on Spurs' transfer activities then!!

If Andy is not packing, then he should certainly get a move on as he badly needs first team football for ours and his own sake

Forest would gladly take him back.....

Reading are after Reid

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Originally Posted by Soper

Reading are after Reid

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Source? Hopefully he stays in the Premiership, maybe with one of the lower-tier clubs (Portsmouth/Charlton/Villa)...Can't see Reading being interested, sure don't they still have the American lad Convey there?

It was on the BBC forums, and it was in one of the papers yesterday.

They could possibly want to play him on the right, or more importantly in the middle.

There's been talk of Sidwell leaving

Sidwell's been linked with Man City, but I can only really see it happening if Barton moves on. Boro have been linked with him in recent weeks, but nothing concrete, and with the Huth transfer dissolving it's looking like Southgate will be looking for a central defender, rather than a midfielder.

Absolutely delighted with this news. I can't wait to see Duffer back to his best again. :) Spurs are on the up and with the team they've now built they should be challenging for the CL spots and a UEFA cup title.

Its a pity its come to this - for a start its one less Irish player in the CL. Secondly its at best a sideways career move (moving to a lesser club in order to get first team football). Thirdly I wonder whether we will ever see the old style Duff - Jol runs a tight ship and I betcha that he will want him to play pretty much as he has been doing for Mourinho.

On the surface its good business by Chelski - 11mil when he can go for free in 12 months.

He was well loved at Stamford Bridge and he will be missed. Lets just hope its a good move for Duff and for Ireland.

It was the height of summer at Cobham on Monday morning but thoughts turned to the 2006/7 season as a group of Chelsea first team squad members returned to training after the summer break.

There was a first taste of life at Chelsea’s training headquarters for Salomon Kalou (top picture on the left) and new goalkeeper Hilario. They were joined by Carlo Cudicini, Damien Duff, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Gérémi and Lassana Diarra, none of whom had been involved in the World Cup.

Delighted to see Duff going to Spurs. Does this mean another financial bonanza for Pat Devlin???????

was duffer pushed or did he walk ? Glad to see him out of Chelski though.. its a stinking club that ruins players

The Daily Mail said that with Carrick probably off to Manchester United, Jol wanted forum favourite John O'Shea to be apart of any deal.

Ade

I read that Jol actually turned down JO'S plus cash in exchange for Carrick..

And according to the good people on newstalk 106 last night the move is unlikely as spurs couldn't afford the package plus wages and he definately hadn't completed a medical. There was talk of a refused 5million bid from spurs though

Well moving to Tottenham means he won't be adding to his trophy cabinet any time soon. A club that doesn't even win the League Cup anymore.

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Originally Posted by CollegeTillIDie

Well moving to Tottenham means he won't be adding to his trophy cabinet any time soon. A club that doesn't even win the League Cup anymore.

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Yeah 2011 a bit of wait for a cup win. :D

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Originally Posted by thejollyrodger

its a stinking club that ruins players

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... and this from a $h€ls supporter! LOL.

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Originally Posted by CollegeTillIDie

Well moving to Tottenham means he won't be adding to his trophy cabinet any time soon. A club that doesn't even win the League Cup anymore.

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tbh, I couldn't care about his trophy cabinet. :) I'm just happy to see Duff destroying premiership right backs and proud he's Irish. At the moment he's as enjoyable to watch at Chelsea as John O'Shea.

Here's his stats from last season:
http://home.skysports.com/list.asp?h...r+Damien+chase

He should be trying a lot more dribbles than that but the rest are impressive.

eb, could you repost your Duff compilation pls, if convenient?

After reading conflicting reports on the net (source google news search duff :D ) - it looks the media is in a spin with this story. There are even reports he's been offered a two year extension to his contract with Chelsea. Another saying Chelsea are looking for more than Spurs have supposedly offered. Mourinho also saying he'll have no fit players for the start of the season therefore he is needed. And then the conspiracy from Newcastle is it is a Chelsea leak forcing Newcastle to stump up cash to buy Wright Phillips.

Why wouldn't he want to stay and force his way back into favour, after all injuries hampered his form last year and he gets to feed the best players in the world i.e Shevcenko and Ballack with his crosses - it'll make a refreshing change for him as there is only so much he could take can take when playing with Drogba. It seeems Champions League football is the be all and end all for players once they get a taste of it - a move to Spurs wouldn't provide this. Do Liverpool and Man Utd have any interest in him? They did before his move to Chelsea.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

eb, could you repost your Duff compilation pls, if convenient?

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Sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxZNDrG4Ln8

Duff has made his mind up to leave Chelsea, as they will be even less chance this season than last, as The Special One plans on playing 4-4-2 to accommodate his new signings, Ballack and Shishenko. Chelski won sell him to Manure, Arse-nal or Liverpool. That leaves Spurs and Newcastle. Keane is supposedly bending Duff's ear, so I'd expect him to sign for Spurs, probably on Friday.

all the compliants ppl have made about chelski what it has done to duffer, take a look at eirebhoys vid and the majority of clips are in a chelski shirt!!!

unless of course feeds for this were easier come across than when he did it in a blackburn shirt or ireland shirt ;)

Note that very few of those clips were from the last 12-15 months though Paul!

R5 Live often says that Mourinho has put too much fear of losing the ball into Duff's game so he doesn't take his man on as aggressively as before. Duff under Ranieiri was great. Duff during Mourinho's first 6 months was great. Duff since then hasn't been.

I also maintain that Duff, as a winger, having only one centre-forward (and a goal shy one at that) to service reduces his effectiveness, especially as he doesn't have the cut-inside-and-shoot ability of Cole & Robben. I've lost count of the number of gilt-edged chances that Drogba has missed from Duff assists.

Like eirebhoy I don't think Duff should be looking at his trophy collection. It's possibly premature to move - I'd love to see him throw the gauntlet down to Cole & Robben and prove his quality, especially now they could be switching to a 4-4-2 - but if he were to move Spurs with their attacking game would be a great place for him. They're on the up, are buying well and my guess is he'd flourish there.

PS: tks for posting the clip

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Originally Posted by paul_oshea

all the compliants ppl have made about chelski what it has done to duffer, take a look at eirebhoys vid and the majority of clips are in a chelski shirt!!!

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Yeah but a lot (if not all) of those are from before the special one arrived.

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Originally Posted by paul_oshea

unless of course feeds for this were easier come across than when he did it in a blackburn shirt or ireland shirt ;)

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I'd love to see Suwon again, and also the pre-WC02 friendly at home to Denmark, Duff's finest hour in green IMHO.

ya i know lads!

There have been a few comments on the fact Chelsea are intending playing 442 this season but I dont think they intend to play wingers.

I suspect they will have
Makelele in holding role
Lampard and Essien/Ballack in the middle
Ballack/Robben/Cole behind a front two

Ignoring whether this makes much sense I cant see Duff getting mcuh of a look in in this team. Of the 3 Robben/Cole and Duff, Duff is the out and out winger, I dont see him in the role behind the front two.

Duff's biggest problem is that he is too modest/retiring etc. If you watch Robben he plays for himself, never passes, always goes as far as he can. This means he gives the ball away regularly but it also means that he occasionally scores wonder goals. (The same is true in a slightly different way of Lampard).

Damien would be a star at Tottenham (as he is with us) and I think he would beneift from play centring around him. Arguably playing in a true 442 Tottenham side is better practice for playing for Ireland than playing in one of Mourinho's Porto with money Chelsea sides.

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Originally Posted by lofty9

After reading conflicting reports on the net (source google news search duff :D ) - it looks the media is in a spin with this story.

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or has been spun a story?

One year left on contract, prior to negotiations it has been known for a player's agent to spin an unattributable story to the tabs about a move to another club.

I don't think Devlin is that type of agent but maybe I'm wrong.

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Originally Posted by fergalr

... and this from a $h€ls supporter! LOL.

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let it go man !! there are other clubs richer than us.