EPL Gossip Monday June 15th
Manchester United are ready to battle it out with Real Madrid for the £45m transfer of Valencia forward David Villa. (Daily Mirror)
Would be a brilliant move if Manchester United can get a small measure of revenge on Real Madrid by hijacking their bid for David Villa.
Chelsea are leading the race to sign Portsmouth’s Glen Johnson for £18m, with the right-back also wanted by Liverpool and Manchester City. (The Sun)
But Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez is still hopeful of landing England defender Johnson. (Daily Express)
And it would appear that Anfield is Johnson’s preferred destination. (Daily Mail)
Liverpool should be Johnson’s preferred destination. His first stint at Chelsea wasn’t a memorable one. Manchester City is all talk and no action at this point. With Liverpool Johnson will be playing in the Champions League where he’ll be given a clean slate something he won’t be afforded playing for Chelsea.
Tottenham have been put off Bayern Munich striker Luca Toni after learning the size of his wages at the German club. (Daily Mail)
Luca Toni was never going to play for Tottenham anyway. Playing for Tottenham would hold the same profile as playing for a Serie B team as far as Italian national coach Marcelo Lippi is concerned.
Roque Santa Cruz says he has a clause in his contract that would allow the striker to leave Blackburn for over £20m. (The Sun)
Then why did he stay during the winter transfer period when Manchester City made a 20 million pound bid? Surely if there was clause of just over 20 million Manchester City would of upped their bid at that time to trigger it.
Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas has pleaded with manager Arsene Wenger to buy a midfield hard-man this summer. (The Sun)
And Fabregas believes that Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure would be the perfect signing for the Gunners. (Daily Star)
Fabregas also says he would be open to a move to Champions League winners Barcelona. (Daily Mail)
Despite Mathieu Flamini final season at Arsenal they have never been able to replace Patrick Vieira. The question isn’t Fabregas wanting to play for Barcelona as everyone should know that giving the right timing Fabregas would return to play for his boyhood club. The question is if Barcelona would make a bid for Fabregas services which doesn’t seem forth coming anytime soon.
The takeover of Portsmouth is in doubt, with buyer Sulaiman Al Fahim facing questions over his suitability. (The Sun)
Former Manchester City owner Thaksin Shinawatra has insisted he has nothing to do with the proposed takeover of Pompey.(Daily Star)
Good to see the EPL actually having some standards regarding any perspective owners after the mistake of letting Thaksin Shinawatra take over Manchester City.
Paul Ince has said he is hopeful of taking advantage of the current series of management moves. (Daily Mirror)
The term bit off more than you can chew is what comes to mind when I think about Paul Ince.