EPL Gossip Thursday January 8th
Barcelona are planning a sensational raid on Arsenal with a £45m double summer move for captain Cesc Fabregas and striker Robin van Persie. (Daily Star)
With all due respect to Fabregas where exactly does he fit into the Barcelona picture? They do have Xavi and Andrés Iniesta who are just fine in the middle of the midfield. Besides if Arsenal where to sell Fabregas they might as well hang a sign outside Emirates stadium saying they are a small club.
Hull boss Phil Brown is poised to sign midfielder Kevin Kilbane from Wigan in a cut-price deal worth about £1m. (Daily Express)
A million pounds for a player like Kilbane doesn’t seem so cut rate to me. Even in the inflated world of English football a million seems on the generous side for Kevin Kilbane.
Manchester City have intensified their £15m bid to sign Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn Rovers as manager Mark Hughes looks to reassert his authority over a demoralised squad. (The Times)
Hughes better reassert his connection to the Manchester City fan base who are quickly losing patience with the former Blackburn boss.
Spurs boss Harry Redknapp is considering a £4.5m bid for Lyon’s Brazilian striker Fred. (Daily Mirror)
Something is wrong with the English game when Jermaine Defoe is worth 15 million and Fred is out there less than half the fee.
Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha is at the centre of a battle between Wigan, Blackburn, Fulham, Newcastle and French side Paris St Germain. (Daily Mirror)
Take a young player with talent, mix in the fact he is not able to get many games in because of establish starters and teams would be foolish not to be interested in the player.
Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate appears to be warming to the idea of allowing Stewart Downing to leave the club for nearly £15m in order to use the money to strengthen his squad. (The Times)
Like I said yesterday cooler heads will prevail and this deal with get done. Right now it’s all the game within the game that is being played.
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson faces competition to land French midfielder Sofiane Feghouli, 19, from Grenoble. Atletico Madrid, Juventus and Inter Milan are also interested. (Daily Telegraph)
I’m sure it would be nice to be linked with United but a player like Feghouli needs to play for a club where he’ll get games in.
Hull City are in the verge of signing Luis Boa Morte from West Ham for a fee of around £2m. (The Independent)
Boa Morta works hard which is just about the nicest thing I can say about him.
Deco has blasted suggestions he is manager Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Chelsea “pet” and does not warrant a place in the team. (The Sun)
Deco is right, it’s not like he won two champions league titles with Scolari. When a team is going bad the press will always point to a new arrival and Deco fits that bill to a tee.
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp may be ready to axe David Bentley from his side, casting the £15m winger’s long-term future at the club into doubt. (Various)
I’m never liked Bentley and if he wasn’t British he’d be worth half what Tottenham paid for him. His constant talking up on replacing Beckham on the England squad turned me sour on Bentley. England places should be won on the pitch and not by talking to the press. Despite his stunner against Arsenal, Bentley doesn’t strike me as the type of player who’d want on your team.
Manager Harry Redknapp has decided that Defoe and Roman Pavlyuchenko will be his first-choice forward partnership for Spurs, starting at Wigan on Sunday. (The Times)
Makes sense, Pavlyuchenko is in form right now after grabbing goals against Wigan and Burnley the last two games.