EPL Gossip Friday January 9th
Manchester City boss Mark Hughes fears he will be priced out of a move for striker Roque Santa Cruz, who Blackburn are valuing at £18m. (Star)
But Hughes is set to make a £17m take-it-or-leave-it offer for Santa Cruz, which could be enough to seal the transfer. (Mirror)
Both teams have too much to lose by not making this deal happen. Blackburn could always use the money and it isn’t like another team will be coming around with 20 million in hand for Santa Cruz.
Real Madrid want to seal a £15m deal for Wigan’s Antonio Valencia. (Star)
For 15 million Wigan should also want to seal a move for Valencia.
Manchester United and Chelsea face a summer battle for Villarreal’s £12m-rated keeper Diego Lopez. (Star)
I could understand why United may look around for a goalie since Van de sar isn’t going to last forever but Chelsea? Petr Cech isn’t bad back there and while early to suggest but if Chelsea are really looking for another goalie wouldn’t that mean they would consider selling Cech?
Arsenal’s hopes of signing midfielder Niko Kranjcar have been dashed after Portsmouth insisted he will not be leaving the club in January. (Star)
Portsmouth need to keep some star players around as they will be in a fight for EPL survival the second half of this season.
Aston Villa boss Martin O’Neill has told left-back Nicky Shorey he can leave the club, with West Ham and Tottenham both interested. (The Sun)
Shorey hasn’t exactly shown the form which got him an England call up while at Reading.
Tottenham have failed with a £6m bid to capture Sunderland striker Kenwyne Jones. (The Sun)
In this crazy market that offer is way too low for Jones. When he hasn’t been injured, Jones was always a threat to score.
Liverpool have offered Jermaine Pennant a new deal in order to prevent him leaving the club for free when his contract runs out in the summer – the winger has been linked with AC Milan and Real Madrid. (Various)
Why would Pennant sign a new deal with Liverpool? He has spent the last two years on the bench why sign up for more of the same?
Chelsea boss Luiz Felipe Scolari will ignore Nicolas Anelka’s pleas to play alongside striker Didier Drogba rather than the pair being alternated in the team. (Mirror)
Agree with Scolari, both players are too selfish to play well together.