UK Summer transfer window - gossip, rumours and facts

I love this idea that Mourinho has a look at Mata and thinks "Not for me." Tells you so much about Mourinho. "Not for me, that."

Arsene will be champing at the bit if the Arsenal funds are to be believed. Very nearly had Mata two years ago, some late Chelsea money scuppered our deal when it was all but done apparently. 

Although not sure we're in the market for a creative mid any longer, we probably wouldn't have cazorla if we had mata.

No way the happy one will let Mata leave. He may be looking for a striker though.

With Cavani almost out of Napoli, Benitez is making it known he wants Torres.

lots of juicy gossip today, so here are my thoughts on it......

Jose Mourinho has shelved Chelsea's bid for Andre Schurrle - whaa?  This one seems to have been a done deal since forever.

Nicklas Bendtner has been told he has no future at Arsenal - least surprising news ever.

...AC Milan are keen to reunite Carlos Tevez with Mario Balotelli at the San Siro - I don't quite understand how anyone thinks Tevez will go to Italy until his current contract expires.  He is on about 200k per week, and doesn't want to go lower than that, and Italian clubs are just not throwing that kind of cash about.  I can see him ending up at Monaco or PSG.

...Aston Villa will let veteran keeper Shay Given go on loan next season, with Celtic interested - match made in heaven, with old, broken keeper going to a club where he will have to face about 20 shots on goal all season.

...Blackburn boss Gary Bowyer is ready to give local hero David Dunn a new deal - match made in heaven with bloated joke of a player staying with bloated joke of a club

...Crystal Palace have made an ambitious bid for Blackpool star Tom Ince - will never happen in a million years.  This is one of those rumours that is simple to make up because Ince played for Holloway at Blackpool.

...Leeds boss Brian McDermott expects to sign Reading striker Noel Hunt today - will be a good signing for Leeds, and a poke in the eye for all those people who said this would never happen and the rumour was simple to start because Hunt played for McDermott at Reading.

Joey Barton, currently going for his Fifa A coaching Licence has allegedly told QPR "Pay me 3 million and I'll go. Well Joey, go now, go for nothing and QPR fans will leave you alone. Insist on the money and QPR fans will abuse the shit out of you all over the net and the club will force you to keep to your contract. You greedy self serving bastard.

Probably agree but if you were in his shoes what would you do... hold out for the money..

Harry has already spoken his usual threats

Well he claimed that Marselles was ready to give him a 3 year deal which means he'd be getting paid anyway. I appreciate all footballers these days go where the better money is but, which way does he want it? In the Championship or in the European Cup? QPR can quite rightly insist he stays so Joey can screw himself over. Personally I'd leave for free and play in the European Cup. But thats just me.

Chelsea get Schurrle...Jose was joking!

Dejan Lovren to Southampton, interested to see how he goes in the Premier League.

Good signing, that. Impressive.

Seems like Mignolet to Liverpool is pretty much a done deal, leaving Reina to go and stand around doing nothing in the Barcelona sticks.

Also, Hull and Newcastle to duke it out for Darren Bent at about 6m.  I hope he goes to Hull as so many of the promoted sides struggle to score goals, and he is the type of player who will get you 15 goals a season.  Could be the difference between them staying up and going down (not that I particularly care about Hull staying up or going down, but it is always nice when the promoted teams are not just a forgone conclusion).

Is there any truth in the Fabregas back to EPL rumour?

he says he wants to stay, but there seems to be a lot of noise about United getting him.  I can understand him moving on as Xavi/Iniesta are in his favourite position and doesn't seem to be going anywhere soon, so he has been filling in up front over the past couple of seasons.  With Barcelona signing Neymar, that position seems to have gone for him so I guess he is fighting it out with Pedro to play on the left side of the attacking three.  For someone who would probably be first choice centre midfield in most other teams in the world (including probably all Premier League teams), I can see that being frustrating enough for him to leave.

i can't see him leaving to be honest and if he does gunners have first refusal get 50% of the transfer fee :)......Xavi's form has slowly been dropping as he gets older i cant see him last too many more season at a high level. Bloodly Spain and their mids....Silva,Juan,santi,Isco,Cesc,Thiago,alonso,Martinez,sergio that's just not fair is it

Think Thiago is more likely to leave than Fab - think he's been saying he wants more game time in an attempt to go to the World Cup.

So dont be surprised to see him in England - although staying in Spain might suit his game a bit more

So Big AC to West Ham looks like a done deal (assuming he can stay sober through the medical)

I hope he does well....except against us.

Not a lot of interesting gossip recently, with the deal for Big AC to West Ham being done, and the rest seemingly made up of "Cavani to City or Chelsea" and "Isco to City or Madrid" stories.  But today, I see the following:

QPR striker Djibril Cisse is closing in on a move to Montpellier - this geezer has had some clubs.  According to Wiki this will be his 6th club since 2008 (although in my mind he seems to have played at more).

Leeds boss Brian McDermott is lining up a move for 28-year-old Reading keeper Adam Federici - I hate it when managers just buy loads of players from their old club as it shows such a lack of imagination.

Cisse has promised to go to the French club but he's forgotten one minor point. He's still got 12 months to run on  his contract. However like Joey Farton (Not an accidental spelling error), if they both wish to give up their money owed on the rest of their contracts, they can both fuck off with fans blessing. Barton wanted 3.5 mill to go otherwise he's still got 12 months to go.

cavani to chelsea rumours looking more than just that, espnfc reporting 58m euros done deal

Tevez to Juventus.....I've heard a rumour that man City are in for Suarez along with Real and Bayern

How fucking shite is it that Thiago is going to United.

I am not sure that any club in Italy is in a position to pay players GBP200k per week

Think it won't go through? Juventus did get the Spanish striker from Bilbao (Fernando someone...) so must match wages from Spain?

Llorente. He wasn't exactly enjoying life at Bilbao and was desperate for a move.

That said Tevez would surely be taking a pay cut wouldn't he? He's 29 and hasn't been playing regularly, and is renowned for his sulky antics.

EDIT

Also are tax laws in Italy more favorable than UK? This could justify him earning less but receiving the same overall.

Apparently Huguain to Arsenal is a pretty close to done - personal terms agreed although I am not sure if the agreement with Madrid is confirmed (if not surely that is "tapping up"?).  If he goes, does that just pave the way for Suarez to Madrid?

Torres back to Liverpool!!!!!

Can't wait to see the duel between Reina and Mignolet, from a non Liverpool fan

I think Reina will be sold, to be honest.

Which opens the door for Rory Fallon to the Nix.

Tevez actually going to Juventus has surprised and saddened me.  My 2 favourite memories of Tevez:

* Being at City of Manchester stadium in the West Ham end when he scored in front of us, and came and apologised for the goal.

* Being at Palace away on the day that there were strong rumours in the papers that City were going to send him back to us on loan, and singing the whole game about him coming home.  There was an almost giddy atmosphere in the fans about the prospect (although that was slightly deflated when some of the fans smashed up the little bar behind the stand at the start of the 2nd half).

Ahhhh, away days.

There were also loads of other memorable moments (winning goal at OT, free kick vs Spurs where he jumped into the crowd afterwards, coming back to UP with Utd and doing the hammers sign to all sides of the ground before kick off) but I only saw them on TV.

wowsers  - it has all gone a bit bonkers over the weekend:

* Arsenal in for Torres, as well as Higuain.  On top of that, they have apparently made a 20m bid for Rooney. 

In other mental news, Palace could end up paying 8.5m for Peterborough striker Dwight Gayle (me neither), somebody (Besiktas) wants Titus Bramble and 2 clubs (Vidiprinter: TWO CLUBS) who are Celtic and Leeds want Kevin Doyle.

greyhound and pigeon racing Frankie?

It is interesting to see the approach the promoted clubs take to staying in the Premier League:

Blackpool have accepted Cardiff's £8m offer for Tom Ince...Dwight Gayle (me neither) will join Crystal Palace this week for £6m...Cardiff may bid £10m for Benfica striker Oscar Cardozo...Hull are keen on free agent Richard Dunne...

Spending large following promotion is a sure fire way to stay up don'tchya know. Just look at the success of QPR compared to the abject failure of teams such as Swansea and Norwich.

or look at the failure of West Ham versus the success of Reading.

Not suggesting that every team promoted go and spunk everything they have (and more), but relative success is usually based on either spending cash in large portions (West Ham, Newcastle), or unearthing hidden gems from around the globe (Swansea, Wigan).  Personally I just cannot see signing Richard Dunne as fitting into either of those categories.