There’s plenty of Manchester United related gossip in this morning’s papers, while the imminent arrival of Samuel Eto’o at Chelsea could result in a sensational return to Tyneside for Demba Ba.
The later it gets in the transfer window, the more rumours tend to come with more than a whiff of desperation attached and it’s hard to believe that there will be the flurry of activity at Old Trafford, for example, that the papers are predicting will happen over the next five days.
Yesterday afternoon, word that Leighton Baines had asked Everton to sanction a transfer to Manchester United appeared in the Independent and it surfaces again in most newspapers today, with the Daily Mirror saying that United will up their bid for Baines and Fellaini to a combined £38 million, £10 million more than the ‘derisory’ offer originally made for the Everton pair.
That isn’t the only story regarding United in the Mirror, with the red-top claiming that Spurs will look to spend even more of the Gareth Bale money set to land in their bank account any day now by forking out £15 million for Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez, who could remain down the pecking order now that Wayne Rooney is likely to stay in Manchester.
And Spurs aren’t going to stop there either, with the Daily Mail reporting that they are going to bolster their midfield ranks yet again by signing Christian Eriksen from Ajax and thereby upsetting Liverpool who had held a long-term interest in the Danish international.
Returning briefly to Old Trafford, the future of another player seemingly out of favour, Shinji Kagawa is the subject of some debate and following on from Borussia Dortmund fans launching a #freeshinji campaign on behalf of their former player on Twitter, the Daily Mail claim that Atletico Madrid want to take him to Spain on loan.
While you can probably expect some activity at Old Trafford before the deadline on Monday, it is highly unlikely that all of the deals mooted above will go ahead.
If you’re looking for more of a dead cert, then Chelsea wrapping up the £2million signing of Samuel Eto’o (The Sun and the Daily Mail) could be done as early as today, with the Mirror suggesting that the arrival of the Cameroonian could lead to a sensational return to Newcastle for Demba Ba.
Elsewhere, with Vincent Kompany sidelined for the foreseeable future, Manchester City are close to signing Martin Demichelis for £4million (The Star), West Brom want to take Jack Butland from Stoke to cover for the stricken Ben Foster (The Star), while Nicklas Bendtner’s fall from grace as one of the (self-professed we should add) best players in the world will surely be complete if he ends up at Hull as the Daily Mirror are claiming he could before Deadline Day.
