Sportingo’s Mark Apostolou brings us some Sunday transfer rumours.
Ignore the facts, these snippets are just newpapers gossip and rumours, so believe what you will. This bulletin also includes Manchester United, Manchester City, Newcastle, Everton, Sporting Lisbon and Eindhoven.
It seems no secret that Arsenal’s recent signing Lassana Diarra is unhappy. It seems he is surprised not to be featuring on a regular basis for the north London side, and this has led to a rumour that he may be on his way to near neighbours Spurs. Tottenham are said to be after three players in January, a goalkeeper, a centre-back and a midfielder (The Guardian), hence the connection with the former Chelsea utility player.
French international Diarra, 22, has started the last two Premier League games so may feel less inclined to throw his toys out of the pram. But he may soon realise he isn’t going to be a regular in the table-topping side, especially given the wealth of quality in the Emirates squad.
You can understand his concerns; having only started nine league games in two seasons at Stamford Bridge, he is keen to not fall into a similar bench-warming trap and therefore a move away from Arsenal seems inevitable. But would a move to Tottenham go down well with the Gunners, or indeed do Spurs fans want Arsene’s cast-offs?
One thing is for sure and that is that the Parisian is a quality player who can make an impact at White Hart Lane. The fee wouldn’t be astronomical as he arrived fairly cheaply in the summer. However, given the host of players Wenger is apparently wishing to sign in the coming months, maybe he should try to get some cash for the huge bids reportedly in the offing. Well, that’s if you believe what you read, which in my experience would be a big mistake.
The three big Arsenal signings on the cards are Sporting Lisbon midfielder Miguel Veloso, that often mentioned Croat Luka Modric and PSV Eindhoven’s Peruvian goal machine Jefferson Farfan (various). Apparently each of these players would cost near enough £20m. Given that Arsene has never spent big, these rumours seem absurd, and therefore all three together represent a great deal of hot air.
Veloso, the 21-year-old Portuguese international, is also high up on the wish list at Manchester United and Chelsea, and given the influx of fellow countrymen at Old Trafford it would seem more likely he would head north should he feel the need to leave his homeland.
We have all come to know more and more about Modric over the last few months, he must have one hell of an agent! Now it appears that Manchester City have decided to put in a £20m bid for the Dinamo Zagreb player; they again will be up against Chelsea, who will be looking to strengthen their squad to cover the players leaving for the African Nations Cup in January.
I have been a long-term admirer of Farfan, a striker who has been a big hit since arriving in the Dutch Eredivisie three years ago. He has scored goals for fun and even when you take into account the average nature of the league, he has still amassed 56 league goals in helping his team to the title in the last two campaigns. It appears he is now keen to move up in the world and therefore a move to the Premier League seems on the cards. A pacy striker with good vision, he would fit in well in Wenger’s total-football squad.
Peter Crouch seems to be nearer a move from Anfield than ever, with Liverpool keen to bring in new players. But with a reduced budget from the club’s American owners, Rafa is now realising that the best way to bring in new talent is to sell first. This leads us to the rumour that the lanky English international may be heading to Eastlands with Manchester City offering teenage sensation Michael Johnson in return (various).
Apparently, Benitez was looking with interest into bringing the talented midfielder to Anfield in the summer but without success. Now, with Sven-Goran Eriksson desperate to add striking power to his hugely-improved City team, Rafa has some leverage with which to entice Johnson back to Merseyside, where the Under-21 international began as a schoolboy with Everton. Given the astounding potential of the 19-year-old, I would have thought t Benitez would have to give a little cash to City to balance the swap.
West Ham boss Alan Curbishley is apparently close to securing the services of Newcastle’s former Spurs full-back Stephen Carr (News of the World). The 31-year-old Republic of Ireland international has found it hard to get into Big Sam’s first 11 and would probably love a move back to the capital. He still has something to offer and even though he played for the enemy at White Hart Lane, I am sure he’d be welcomed by Hammers fans.
I rate this deal a near-certainty to happen, which is more than I can say for most of the rubbish I manage to dig out from the world of tabloid lies!