EPL WEEKEND GOSSIP.
HAZARD TO REAL MADRID
You wait a long time for a good day of transfer gossip, and then everything comes along at once. They’re like buses, buses painted a shiny colour but possibly made out of bulls**t.
The first story comes from L’Equipe, and it’s a whopper. They claim that Eden Hazard has already confided in friends and international colleagues that he wants to leave Chelsea, aiming to seal a move to Real Madrid next summer.
This probably stems from Hazard ‘liking’ an Instagram post linking him to Real, but L’Equipe take the story on further. They say the Belgian is not enjoying life in England, and sees Madrid as the perfect destination. How that would hurt Chelsea.
LIVERPOOL LEADING NEVES CHASE
Liverpool keep getting linked with Ruben Neves, and the Daily Mirror now claim that a move for the Porto midfielder is a step closer.
The first line of the article (‘Liverpool continue to make assessments of target Ruben Neves’) is a bit wishy-washy, but they then report that Liverpool are leading the race for the 18-year-old. He’s the dog’s b*llocks, basically.
Liverpool scouted Neves on Tuesday against Maccabi Tel Aviv, when he became the youngest captain in Champions League history. He was born eight months after Euro ‘96 finished, for goodness sake.
VAN GAAL TELLS UNITED TO SIGN KANE AND VARANE
Well isn’t this a poky call. It comes via beIN Sports, who claim that Louis van Gaal is ‘insisting’ that his Manchester United bosses complete a move for Tottenham striker Harry Kane.
Firstly, interest from United is nothing new. Kane was a summer target last year, but United’s valuation fell well short of what Spurs wanted. If United are going to make another move, Kane’s recent dip in form isn’t going to change that price too much. We’re looking at £40m plus.
In addition, we also have talkSPORT claiming that United will go back in for Raphael Varane next summer in a bid to bolster their defence. Did someone just turn on the big club rumour tap?
KLOPP WANTS RANOCCHIA
Finally, Jurgen Klopp has reportedly targeted Internazionale defender Andrea Ranocchia.
It’s a rumour that has been doing the rounds for a few days, but Gazzetta World in Italy (us neither) say that Jurgen Klopp is interested. It all seems based on Klopp’s interest in the defender when he was at Dortmund, which may or may not be relevant.
In addition, Tottenham, Everton, Galatasaray, Roma and Milan are all linked with a move for the Italian.
Well, this was inevitable. Disappointing and disheartening, but inevitable nonetheless. According to The Sun, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United have all made ‘informal approaches’ to Barcelona and to Lionel Messi in particular.
The claims crop up every single transfer window and are soon dismissed as ridiculous for a number of reasons, but The Sun believe Messi’s current ‘ongoing issues’ (as they describe an alleged £3.1million tax fraud case) has led to the Argentinean becoming disillusioned with life at the Nou Camp.
As a result, the aforementioned Premier League trio have ‘informally approached’ old Lionel (they presumably have him on speed dial by now) and, apparently, ‘were pleasantly surprised by the reaction’. He has ‘given the trio the clearest hint yet that he is ready to listen’. Except The Sun never say exactly what that ‘hint’ is.
All this appears to emanate from an interview with Messi conducted by Guillem Balague earlier this week, in which the 28-year-old said, when asked whether he would ever play in another league: “I don’t want to look too far ahead. I live for the moment and at this moment I am with Barcelona in the Spanish League where I have made my living and where I live very well.”
A couple of things:
- Messi earns £336,000-a-week at Barcelona. That wouldn’t smash wage structures, it would obliterate them.
- Messi’s release clause is reported to be around 280million euros, or £180m. That’s a lot of money, and…
- …FFP is still a thing. Not as much of a thing as it seemed to be once upon a time, but certainly still a thing.
STONES CONTRACT TALKS BEGIN. OR NOT.
Over to the Daily Mirror now, whose boy David Maddock claims Everton have opened contract talks with Chelsea target John Stones.
Maddock insists no timescale has been set on the negotiations as manager Roberto Martinez is keen not to put any pressure on the England international, but the Toffees are keen to improve the 21-year-old’s current £30,000-a-week deal, which expires in 2019, to reflect his performances and persuade him to stay. As is widely reported however, Stones will request a release clause of some sort in case Chelsea come calling.
But what’s this? Paul Joyce of the Daily Express emerges from the bushes, and he is in the mood for some fisticuffs.
Joyce refutes Maddock’s claims – in a fashion – stating that Everton will delay talks with the centre-half so as to not distract him from his performances on the pitch. Amusingly, both use the exact same quotes from Martinez about “focus” and a lot of other stuff.
Joyce is slightly more reserved in his report than Maddock, admitting that talks may still be held between the two parties. If they are, Joyce says, Everton are unlikely to bow to Stones’ release clause demands. That probably won’t make him a happy bunny.
‘TOTTENHAM PLOT SHOCK MOVE TO SIGN HAZARD’
…is almost certainly how this one will be packaged. The actual ‘story’ is that Tottenham are interested in Thorgan Hazard, brother of Eden.
Spurs apparently had scouts watching Borussia Monchengladbach’s Champions League clash with Juventus in midweek, the second time they have watched the Bundesliga side in recent weeks. That’s basically it, really.
ANFIELD RETURN FOR SAHIN
Keep your family safe and lock your doors, the gossip apocalypse is upon us.
It’s always a sad day when Calciomercato and The Metro seem to collaborate to provide us some extra bullsh*t, but this one’s great. The Daily Express reported yesterday that Jurgen Klopp was interested in bringing Nuri Sahin to Liverpool after the German ‘slammed’ previous incumbent Brendan Rodgers for his treatment of the midfielder during his loan spell at the club a couple of seasons ago. Sounds juicy.
Except the quotes were from 2013. That, of course, didn’t stop the Express.
It is more than a little coincidental therefore that those lovely Calciomercatans report that Klopp wants Sahin at Liverpool. They don’t attribute the claims to anyone or anything, they just report that Klopp is a fan of the midfielder he once managed at Dortmund.
Within one hour and 51 minutes, The Metro had picked up on the rumour. We give it two hours until the Express start reporting this with ‘according to reports in Italy’.
AND THE REST
Italian giants Fiorentina are chasing Chelsea striker Radamel Falcao…Manchester United and Arsenal could look to reprise their interest in Paulo Dybala after Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini urged the 21-year-old to leave Juventus…Liverpool target Ruben Neves is not for sale, says Porto’s owner – but a number of Premier League clubs are tracking him…Chelsea and Manchester United will have to sump up £35million if they want to sign Aymeric Laporte from Athletic Bilbao (Daily Express)
Monk, Lamela, Krychowiak, Perez
MONK TO VILLA
Poor Tim Sherwood, whose job is being touted around the Premier League and beyond. First we were told that Brendan Rodgers was being lined up. Next came the rumours that David Moyes was at the front of the queue, but now it’s Garry Monk who is rumoured to be on Villa’s shortlist. Is it just anyone but Sherwood?
Things aren’t going too well in Monk’s world either. Having earned plenty of plaudits last season for keeping Swansea in the top half, they’ve promptly fallen away badly this season. Defeat at home to Stoke on Monday made it five without a win and kept the club in 14th position in the league.
That said, surely Monk would rather stick it out than go to Villa? He was being discussed (by silly sods) for the England job a few months ago.
CITY BATTLE ARSENAL FOR KRYCHOWIAK
To the Daily Telegraph now, and their claim that Manchester City will challenge Arsenal for the signing of Sevilla (and ctrl+c, ctrl+v) midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak.
The Telegraph hype up the news as City ‘weighing into the battle for Krychowiak’, also claiming that the midfielder ‘looks set to be in the middle of a tug of war between the two Premier League title rivals’. Surely, he’s the rope itself rather than just ‘in the middle’? It really doesn’t matter.
City face Sevilla on Wednesday evening, so it could all be designed to add an extra layer to that match. Yet it’s worth pointing out that the story is by John Percy, who is generally top-notch with his information.
PORTO WANT LAMELA
Searching ‘Erik Lamela Porto’ on Google brings up a load of links from July, including one from the Metro which claimed that the Argentinean was ‘on the verge of completing’ a move to the Portuguese club.
That suggests two things. Firstly the Metro have a tendency to talk out of the wrong hole, and secondly that Porto probably do want to sign the winger. No smoke without fire.
Excellently, the stories have come from A Bola and O Jogo, Portuguese newspapers who get their information from Mundo Desportivo, one of those transfer websites. The papers also reference Sportsweek FM in England for reporting the rumours, which we’re pretty sure doesn’t exist. Perfect.
UNITED JOIN PEREZ RACE
To our old foe (something smells) Fichajes.net, who claim that Manchester United have ‘joined the race’ for Newcastle forward Ayoze Perez.
It’s an odd claim, given that United have reportedly been interested in Perez since midway through last season. There were even talks of a bid in the January transfer window.
It’s clear that Perez’s performances for Newcastle are not going unnoticed. He has a wonderful ability to hold off a defender, beat a man and bring team-mates into play. We’ll be generous and say Wayne Rooney is currently offering one of those three attributes.
Ayew, Berahino, Hazard, Konoplyanka
Despite his protests to the contrary, one has to believe that Jurgen Klopp is drawing up a shortlist for his first transfer market in charge of Liverpool this winter. Reports claimed last week that Swansea striker Andre Ayew had emerged as a surprise target alongside Borussia Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, but the manager of the former has moved to dismiss any rumours.
Ayew is a known life-long Liverpool supporter and Klopp twice tried to sign the forward during his time at Dortmund, but, basically, Monk doesn’t care one jot.
“The speculation starts earlier and earlier every year, but I don’t think about it,” said Monk, speaking before Swansea’s clash with Stoke on Monday.There we go then.
“There is no point in me focusing on things like that, things are not reality. The things I need to concentrate on are the things in front of me that are reality.
“Until anyone comes to me and says anything concrete it is not worth thinking about.
“It is part of the game, players get linked everywhere, every year. That is part of the job and I never focus on that.
“It is not my concern if he is a Liverpool fan or not. I could say there are 1,000 players I admire in the game, but is there any point in that?”
BERAHINO BATTLE IN JANUARY
It’s pretty much accepted that Spurs are likely to renew their interest in West Brom striker Saido Berahino come January, but could they face Premier League competition for the Englishman’s signature. Yes, yes they could.
Well, according to Italian website Tuttomercatoweb. We’re not entirely sure why an Italian website would know anything about two English clubs trying to sign an English player from another English club, but, y’know.
Anyway, Berahino has scored three of West Brom’s seven total league goals this season, a contribution of 42% of the goals to his side’s cause which is bettered by only Odion Ighalo at Watford (83%), Georginio Wijnaldum at Newcastle (50%), Jamie Vardy at Leicester (47%) and Callum Wilson at Bournemouth (45%). As a result, everyone’s (predictably) pretty much forgot he threatened to go on strike just a month ago, and now he is certain to be in-demand come January.
The club to rival Spurs will, according to Tuttomercatoweb, be Manchester United. If Berahino had problems keeping Peace with Jeremy, it really would be quite entertaining to watch his relationship with Louis van Gaal unfold/unravel if they were to work together.
EDEN HAZARD -REAL MADRID
Eden Hazard was dropped to the bench for Chelsea’s win over Aston Villa. Eden Hazard was then name-checked by Jose Mourinho in his post-match quotes, with the Portuguese telling the Belgian to improve his work-rate. Eden Hazard has now been linked to Real Madrid. Transfer window gossip in a nutshell.
What makes this even worse is that Fichajes.net are the ones accredited with this rumour. We’re spoiling you this morning with the Spanish website alongside Tuttomercatoweb, you lucky sods.
I would usually now turn back to the rumour itself, but there isn’t much to add. Fichajes simply say Hazard is a priority signing for Real next summer, but that he won’t come cheap if Chelsea even want to sell.
MOURINHO ‘SCOUTS’ THREE PLAYERS
…is the gist of what Sky Sports are saying this fine Monday morning. They use quotes from Shakhtar Donetsk boss Mircea Lucescu, who claims he spoke to Mourinho and discussed three players who the Chelsea boss has been scouting personally.
The game in question was the European qualifier between Spain and Ukraine, and the players in question are Yevhen Konoplyanka, Andriy Yarmolenko and, weirdly, Brazilian Alex Teixeira, who his manager seems to have randomly crowbarred into a rumour. In the words of Lucescu himself:
“Mourinho is interested in Yevhen Konoplyanka. I was at Ukraine versus Spain with Mourinho and he is interested in some players.Sky believe Konoplyanka is the man on Mourinho’s wishlist, and considering Yarmolenko has just signed a new contract with his club and Teixeira isn’t exactly of the required standard, they’re probably not far off.
“Perhaps it is Yarmolenko or Teixeira, if not, then it is Konoplyanka.”
AND THE REST
Radamel Falcao could ask Chelsea to cancel his season-long loan in January…Marseille would like to sign David Ospina should he decide to leave Arsenal…Leicester City are set to up their £8million bid for Sporting Lisbon winger Andre Carillo in January…Bolton boss Neil Lennon is interested in Carlton Cole if Celtic snub him…Fans called for David Moyes’ sacking in English as Real Sociedad suffered another defeat yesterday.
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