Sportingo.com’s Mark Apostolou brings daily coverage of the Premier League’s hot gossip.
Following the move for Ajax boss Henk ten Cate, Chelsea are now set to bring in a number of top-quality Dutch players, starting with the chase for striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Daily Mail). They may face competition from Arsenal, who have also been linked with the 24-year-old Dutch international and could put in a record-breaking bid.
Huntelaar is pretty prolific, even by Dutch league standards, having already scored 11 goals in as many starts this season. So it is no surprise that interest is surrounding the former Heerenveen player. Manchester United apparently tabled a bid for Huntelaar in the summer, but that proved unsuccessful.
It is surely only a matter of time before a player of this quality leaves the Eredivisie and the Premier League would appear to be the most attractive prospect. Do Arsenal need him? I think not, especially given their goalscoring exploits in recent weeks. Chelsea, on the other hand, would love to get hold of someone with this much potential. Watch this space.
Liverpool’s John Arne Riise is on the shopping list of both Aston Villa and Newcastle (The Sun). The Norwegian attacking fullback is a crowd favourite at Anfield and his long range efforts, as well as his vision and defensive stoutness, have over the last six years made him almost irreplaceable to Rafa Benitez.
However, this season hasn’t been the best for 27-year-old Riise. I am not sure that Rafa would like to see him leave; however, he may find himself under pressure from the younger talents emerging from the ever-increasing pool of talent available to the Spanish boss. By January there may be more fuel to this story and I think it wouldn’t be the biggest shock in the world if he moved on for a new challenge.
Former West Ham star Carlos Tevez has stated that Manchester United are more than capable of beating Arsenal to the Premier League title (various).
In an astonishingly cheeky interview, he said: “Arsenal are the leaders in the table, but Manchester United should be favourites for the title and the Champions League. I think we will show that and prove it to our opponents when we play them in the key matches this season. United have special players and Cristiano Ronaldo is the best in the Premier League.â€
It appears that Tevez has learnt well from the master of mind games, Sir Alex Ferguson. This is a first-class attempt to unsettle opponents and get a sly dig in at rivals. Even if the Argentinian believes what he has said, it seems pretty pointless
The ongoing Jermain Defoe saga continues to move along; now Manchester City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson is reportedly ready to offer £12million for the Tottenham striker (Daily Express). Apparently England defender Micah Richards told his Swedish boss to make a bid for Defoe in the summer, and now Sven is going to make a move for JD in January.
Given Defoe’s only starts for the White Hart Lane outfit have come against the Cypriots of Famagusta and in the Carling Cup, it is surely only time before he moves on and Martin Jol cashes in on the striker who refuses to sign a new deal and commit to a lifetime on the bench.