Morning all. Throughout January Soccerlens is going to be bringing you a daily round-up of the morning’s various goings-on. Be it juicy morsels of spurious transfer gossip or real, actual bona fide news, rest assured, we’ll have it covered.
Here’s this morning’s batch.
Mexes-matosis…
It should come as absolutely no surprise that, over the course of the weekend, Arsenal suffered yet another setback in terms of Thomas Vermaelen‘s agonisingly slow comeback from an Achilles twinge.
After months of recurring niggles, the Belgian defender is now set to undergo surgery on the tendon in question, a procedure that will keep him sidelined for at least the next six weeks.
With that (and the fact that Johan Djourou is a bit on the waff side) in mind, manager Arsene Wenger has conceded that he may have to delve into the January market to land a wee bit of defensive cover – with Roma centre-back Philippe Mexes the latest man to be strongly linked with a move to the Emirates.
The good news is that Mexes may be available for as little as £4.5 million, after being told by the Italian outfit that his current deal will not be renewed.
Calm, composed and, above all, cheap – it’s almost too perfect ain’t it?
Spitting image…
Blackburn are believed to be ready to allow troublesome forward El-Hadji Diouf leave the club this month, after finally admitting that trying to reign in the Senegalese gobshite is just not worth the effort anymore.
The player’s agent Willie McKay said:
“El-Hadji is looking to make a fresh start. He is a good player and there is plenty of interest.”
Several Premier League sides are reported to have already made tentative enquiries, with Blackburn considering the prospect of letting Diouf leave for a ‘fire sale’ price just to get him off their hands.
I wonder if QPR will be tempted?
Feed the Ox…
It looks like Southampton’s teenage sensation Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is on the verge of joining Arsenal, after the League One side revealed that they’re only willing to sell their highly-rated tyro to a club that will ‘nuture him properly’ – which, to the Daily Mirror‘s mind, seems to rule out Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool.
Said Saints manager Nigel Adkins:
“We would only let him go to a club that would nurture him and treat him properly.
There is going to be no auction for Alex. We love him and want to make him a better player.”
Aww, bless.
Queue forming for SWP…
Newcastle, Bolton and Fulham are all vying for the signature of winger Shaun Wright-Phillips after Man City formally told the diminutive winger that he will be allowed to leave the club this month.
All three clubs are hoping to tie up a loan deal within the next few days, though City’s insistence that any successful suitor will have to pay all of Wright-Phillips’ sizeable wages may just prove to be a stumbling block for Bolton – who don’t have a pot to p*ss in.
The best of the rest…
- Everton have officially confirmed that the bid they have accepted for winger Steven Pienaar is from Chelsea and that the bid they rejected was from Tottenham…
- Dutch giants PSV and Ajax are squaring off once again, this time in the race to sign Stoke forward Eidur Gudjohnsen on loan until the summer…
- Leicester City have failed with their bid to take Manchester United ‘keeper Tomasz Kuszczak on loan…
- Inter Milan midfielder Sulley Muntari has handed in a transfer request in a bid to push through a loan move to Sunderland, though the Ghanaian is still thought to be pining for a switch to a London-based club…
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