Aston Villa are flying high in the Premiership and manager Martin O’Neill is relishing the chance to chase a UEFA Cup spot. Indeed, Villa are just 3 points off a European spot and O’Neill, so often tipped to be the next England head coach, is believed to be on the lookout for a certain Jose Bosingwa. Bosingwa is the FC Porto fullback and is valued at £5 million and O’Neill is planning to rack up the money and sign the player as early as this January.
But one player who is stated to desire to head the other way, that is switch over from the Premiership to the Portuguese league, is the Middlesbrough player Fabio Rochemback. He is reported to be interested to join Sporting Lisbon as early as next month. And one Premiership player who’s word you can hardly accept at face value (what with his club’s situation and his previously stated lofty ambitions) is the Bolton Wanderer striker Nicolas Anelka who has told the Independent that he is happy at the Reebok Stadium in spite of lingering interest from Manchester United and Chelsea.
Manchester City manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has all the money in the world and he wants to make good and quick use of it. The former England national team coach has expressed a strong desire to sign Argentine international striker Diego Milito from Real Zaragoza. Eriksson is said to be in want of a top quality striker and has already laid down plans to make offers for Newcastle United’s Michael Owen and Bolton’s Anelka. Milito though reportedly has a €100million buyout clause stringed to his contract.
Sunderland too are hitting the transfer button. According to the Shield Gazette, Roy Keane is expected to make a bid of £5 million for Chelsea’s Steve Sidwell but he might just not be able to pull off the coup. The player is contented with life at Chelsea; he has featured regularly for the Blues so far this season although most of those appearances have come as a substitute. The Mirror is speculating that Sunderland would also like to stretch an offer to Blackburn Rovers for striker Jason Roberts especially reports have now confirmed that Roberts is looking for a move away from Ewood Park after being left on the Blackburn bench far too much for his liking.
Inter Milan meanwhile are in an almost done deal with CSKA for their Brazilian star Daniel Carvalho. According to the Italian newspaper Studio, the 24-year old attacking midfielder is set for a medical in Milan and would be joining Inter at the start of next season. But could Hernan Crespo be heading out at the same time? River Plate have just finished a disappointing season and are said to be in chase for the Argentine star Crespo to rekindle their glory days. Although they would like to sign the player in January, they might not be able to persuade the player until the European season ends since Crespo is quite happy playing for Inter.
Inter’s city rivals AC Milan are reported to be in talks on their own winter deals, but not to buy any player. French youngster Yoann Gourcuff has been center of much speculation and this time France Football has joined in too. It says that Palermo sports chief Rino Foschi is discussing on signing Gourcuff from Milan.
Frank Lampard and his reported desire to join Juventus have been making the headlines for several weeks now. According to English and Italian press reports, the deal between Chelsea and Juventus over Lampard would be completed by Christmas although the player wouldn’t join the Italian giants until the end of the season. Another piece of news concerning the Old Lady of Turin: Italian newspaper Leggo says that they are ready to trade Raffaele Palladino with Udinese for Fabio Quagliarella.
Catalan sports daily Sport reports that Spanish giants FC Barcelona will tap into the January transfer market to sign a new deputy custodian. Victor Valdes is the number one at Camp Nou but his deputy Albert Jorquera is unhappy to watch most of the matches from the substitute bench. The 28-year old’s contract with the Catalan club runs out in the summer and he is looking for a move to another club for first team football. Dudu Aouate of Deportivo la Coruna is said to be on the wish list of Barca.
Just another piece of transfer news for you. Chelsea have been told to wait for the signature of Valencia striker David Villa. Villa has been an object of much speculation since last season and with Valencia out of Europe altogether for this season, there are many who believe that Villa might last at the Mestalla only until the end of the season. Chelsea and Real Madrid are said to be the top clubs for the running.
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