Manchester United have already added Shinji Kagawa and Nick Powell to their squad this summer, and the James Rodriguez gossip is gathering pace with the Daily Mail suggesting Sir Alex Ferguson has had a £30m offer rejected for the FC Porto winger.
Since United are hamstrung by the Glazer family’s ownership, the fee for the 20-year-old seems fantastical, let alone excessive. There’s also the alarming factor of the Reds identifying the wing as an area to strengthen rather than the infamous and oft-ineffectual midfield area.
Good news (or is that “news”?) has cropped up for the Old Trafford club today via The Sun however, who state Nemanja Vidic will start pre-season training next week. Vidic suffered knee ligament damage in December last year against Basel and was sorely missed as United conceded a multitude of aerial-assisted goals.
Across the divide, and City have so far been quiet in the transfer market, but is that all about to change with the recruitment of Barcelona’s Dani Alves? The Daily Star say he has fallen out with officials after playing in a friendly... which Lionel Messi also featured in. Flimsy?
Gylfi Sigurdsson was a Twitter trend yesterday, but he still hasn’t officially, 100 per cent signed for Tottenham Hotspur yet. The Times claim Liverpool - a logical destination after Brendan Rodgers upped sticks for Merseyside - have not given up hope of signing the on-loan Swansea star, but are unwilling to bow to his wage demands. Spurs only offer £70,000-per-week at the most...
It’s an ambivalent morning if you’re an Arsenal fan and believe everything you read. The club want to offload Park Chu-Young, Andriy Arshavin, Denilson, Nicklas Bendtner, Carlos Vela, Sebastian Squillaci, Marouane Chamakh and Johan Djourou, say the Mail. The season of goodwill will have arrived months in advance if Arsene Wenger managed to chainsaw off all that deadwood...
But the Grinch has arrived in the form of the Express, who say the club is resigned to losing Robin van Persie after the signing of Olivier Giroud on Tuesday.
Fancy duck on the menu? Your luck may be in if Alexandre Pato has his way [“Pato” means duck]. Quotes that he wants to play in the Premier League when his AC Milan contract expires in 2014 run in a number of national and local newspapers. Free duck, perhaps?
Remember Michael Owen? His racehorse career could move to the United Arab Emirates, with the Star suggesting Al Shabab will act as a front for his football career. Dare he depart dear Cheshire?
On the local beat, and the Stoke Sentinel say Stoke City are interested in Houston Dynamo’s Geoff Cameron. They’ll be hoping he’s a better appointment than another Cameron who has to constantly defend.
John Ruddy has signed a new four-year contract with Norwich City, but new manager Chris Hughton is having to “step up his efforts” to convince wantaway striker Grant Holt to remain at Carrow Road, report the Independent.
On the managerial front, and Andre Villas-Boas is set to start work as Tottenham’s new boss next week, allege the Mail. The Star counter that by suggesting Didier Deschamps as a new contender for the White Hart Lane post, while forgotten man Rafael Benitez is set to flee to Italy and to Sampdoria, The Sun suggests.
Straying into Euro 2012 territory and the continued fallout from England has seen former coach Fabio Capello have his say on Wayne Rooney’s international form by insisting he only plays well for his club. Rio Ferdinand offers another snippet, expressing his bafflement at Phil Jones not getting a kick at the tournament in The Sun.
Finally, a right-wing Italian politician has already come under fire of a potentially racist snipe at Mario Balotelli, and now a newspaper in Europe’s boot, Gazzetta dello Sport, depicted him as King Kong ahead of the Azzurri’s quarter-final against Italy, report the Daily Telegraph.