Believe it or not (we’ll choose not to) but Arsenal apparently tried to hijack West Ham’s move for Andy Carroll, while South American strikers appear to be flavour of the month as far as the gossip is concerned.
When the silly season reaches its peak – and with no major tournament (no offence to the Confederations Cup) to act as a distraction, it’s likely to happen more regularly than usual this summer – some bogus stories that seem to defy credibility start doing the rounds.
One such story is one in The Daily Star this morning which suggests that Andy Carroll’s move to West Ham from Liverpool nearly didn’t go ahead because of a last-ditch attempt to hijack the deal by, of all clubs, Arsenal.
Carroll is often unfairly maligned because of the exorbitant price Liverpool paid Newcastle for his services a couple of years back but for most observers he would be well down Arsene Wenger’s wish-list in terms of strikers, and we don’t think Gooners would be too overwhelmed with his arrival after Ivan Gazidis’ claims that they have the financial muscle to compete with the top clubs in Europe.
It’s not going to happen now, in any case, but it’s one for Arsenal fans to mull over when they’re struggling to play their fancy football on *ridiculously overused cliché alert* a cold, wet Tuesday night in Stoke in November.
A striker that would appease Arsenal fans far more that Carroll would have is Gonzalo Higuain and although talk of a move to the Gunners has gone on for yonks now, the Daily Mirror think that a £22million deal has been all but wrapped up and that it will be completed sooner rather than later.
While Higuain might be about to arrive in the Premier League, his compatriot Carlos Tevez could be on his way out, with the Mirror again suggesting that AC Milan are ready to lure him to Italy so he can hook up with old mate Mario Balotelli in a deal worth around ten million quid.
Sticking with South American strikers, many Liverpool fans have resigned themselves to Luis Suarez leaving the club this summer, but Jamie Carragher reckons his old club should stand firm and hold onto him as long as possible because the Uruguayan would not ‘down tools’ in the manner that Fernando Torres did before leaving Anfield.
Some would say that Torres hasn’t picked up his tools again since arriving at Stamford Bridge but even still it was a pretty ‘zing’ comment from his former team-mate, who could well turn out to be the next Gary Neville on Sky Sports next season.
That’s not the only mention of Carragher in this morning’s papers as according to The Star, Carragher has followed Neville’s lead by urging Wayne Rooney to stay at Manchester United and although Jamie is obviously thinking of Wayne’s best interests, it is a stance that might not exactly be welcomed by Liverpool fans.
If Rooney hangs around Old Trafford next season he could be joined by highly-coveted Barcelona midfielder Thiago Alcantara and it’s interesting that The Sun have claimed an exclusive on the picture of Thiago holding a match ball with the message ‘Nos Vemos en Manchester (See you in Manchester) scribbled on it – most likely written by David de Gea – something which appeared on our website and countless others yesterday having been broken on Twitter by @CheGiaevara.
Staying with The Sun, they think that Southampton are going to swoop for Celtic midfielder Victor Wanyama as well as former Chelsea winger Miroslav Stoch, Swansea and Cardiff are battling it out for Lyon striker Bafetimbi Gomis, while the Bluebirds are in pole position to sign Thomas Ince from Blackpool for £8million according to the Daily Mail, who also reveal that Steve ‘Stan’ Staunton has been axed from his role as part of the backroom staff at Sunderland.
Is Stan likely to find another job in football sooner rather than later? Well, you tell me.
