EPL Gossip Thursday August 5th
Mario Balotelli’s move to Manchester City is off because the Inter Milan striker has demanded £180,000-a-week in wages. Daily Star
Of course Mario Balotelli and his agent are going to try and juice Manchester City for every last dime. Unless you are from Manchester few kids dreamt about playing for City. It’s not like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United or A.C Milan have come calling. Mario Balotelli saw that foolish contract given too Yaya Toure and now he wants a piece of that pie.
City are already making preparations should the Balotelli deal fall through, with Atletico Madrid striker Diego Forlan an alternative, according to Spanish paper Mundo Deportivo. imscouting.com
One thing is for sure if Diego Forlan ever returned to the Premier League you can count on him scoring against Liverpool.
Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson has confirmed he is close to making Juventus’ Danish midfielder Christian Poulsen his first big-money transfer capture of the summer. His arrival will pave the way for midfielder Javier Mascherano to leave the club. Daily Mirror
I’ve liked all of Roy Hodgson moves til this one. I’ll wait and se how much money Juventus will get for Poulsen but it shouldn’t be more than 5 million.
Arsene Wenger is preparing a move for Everton playmaker Mikel Arteta in case he fails to prevent Cesc Fabregas from moving back to Barcelona in the summer. caughtoffside.com
Arteta would fill the void Alexander Hleb left behind. Sol Campbell aside if Wenger didn’t hate signing former players he should give Barcelona a call asking for Hleb. Then again the Barcelona-Arsenal relationship isn’t at an all time high.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is ready to make a significant offer to bring Manchester City reserve keeper Joe Hart to the Emirates. caughtoffside.com
Alternatively, Wenger is lining up a bid for Cagliari goalkeeper Federico Marchetti. footylatest.com
Wenger is hoping he can sign Joe Hart on the ceap. Don’t understand these Federico Marchetti rumours. Good goalie yes, but he didn’t wow me during the World Cup.
Montpellier president Loulou Nicollin has slapped a 28m euro (£23m) price-tag on Bosnian defender Emir Spahic amidst reported interest from Arsenal. imscouting.com
Montpellier president Loulou Nicollin is clearly on the sauce. Beside how can you take someone seriously with the name Loulou. What is he a panda?
Stoke boss Tony Pulis hopes to beat both Liverpool and West Ham to the signing of Nice striker Loic Remy for £10m. Daily Mirror
Pulis has also lined up a £4m bid for Portsmouth midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng. The Sun
What is taking so for Kevin-Prince Boateng to find a new club? Are other clubs hoping Portsmouth lose their tax case and go bust?
Zenit St Petersburg are considering a £21m bid to take Chelsea defender Yury Zhirkov back to Russia. Daily Mail
Yury Zhirkov back pass to gift Hamburg a goal in yesterday friendly didn’t help his cause any.
Bristol City have been told by Manchester United they can have Michael Owen on loan after an approach for Danny Welbeck is rebuffed. Daily Mail
You can’t blame Michael Owen for wanting to play for Real Madrid but nothing has gone right for him since then.
Goalkeeper David James will be the first casualty of England’s World Cup debacle when coach Fabio Capello leaves him out of next week’s friendly with Hungary. Daily Mirror
Shocking that the 40 year old keeper of a Championship side is the first casualty.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will today tell Gunners captain Cesc Fabregas to end his summer flirtation with Barcelona and commit his future to the north London club. Daily Mirror
Still hearing crickets from the Fabregas camp.