By Jonny Stapleton
Ireland and Irish gossip
Another will he won’t he saga has developed around Stephen Ireland. This time, however, the debate is not about whether he will don the green of Ireland again but the blue of Manchester City.
Reports suggest the controversial Cork midfielder will be used as a makeweight in the Sheik-Mansour funded Manchester club’s bid for Aston Villa’s James Milner. There are some newspapers claiming City boss Roberto Mancini is keen to keep Ireland. However the majority believe the player of Grannygate fame will depart Eastlands over the summer, and if Milner fancies a stint at City, Ireland will be Villa-bound.
Ireland is famously not a fan of the Irish dressing room. So he may not be happy to read reports of a Martin O’Neill Irish recruitment drive. In addition to Mr Pink Land Rover, the Villa boss has this week been linked with Kevin Doyle and Robbie Keane.
‘Dream move’ specialist Keane has been has been mentioned as part of an exchange deal that would see Ashley Young, who has also been linked to City, move to Tottenham.
Keane will return south to the Premier League after the end of his loan spell at Celtic and it’s believed the Spurs player- who has also been mentioned in connection with moves to Wolves and Stoke City – would welcome O’Neill’s overtures.
Keane’s Irish strike partner Doyle may play hard to get however. The Wolves Players’ Player of the Year has been linked with a £9 million move (a million per goal, on last term’s evidence) to Arsenal. Former Irish boss Mick McCarthy is eager to retain Doyle’s services but surely the Wexford man couldn’t pass up a move to the Emirates to join up with the man who labelled him ‘intelligent and brave’, Arsene Wenger.
Other Irish players on the rumour mill this week included Stephen Hunt, Liam Lawrence and Seamus Coleman.
Recently relegated Hunt is a target for recently promoted West Brom, while Wolves and Birmingham are also said to be on his trail. Lawrence is keen to leave Stoke for the greener pastures of Wolves and Coleman, who helped Blackpool to the most shocking promotion of all time at the weekend, may spend another season on loan with the Seasiders.
Battle for Milner’s affection
Not since Brad Pitt has there been a man as desired, wanted and pursued with as much vigour as James Milner. Milner is currently top of the Premier Leagues most wanted list.
Manchester City have already tabled a £20 million bid only for it to be refused. Reports claim they will return with an offer that will include Stephen Ireland, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Micah Richards, the City of Manchester Stadium and a set of jerseys.
(As an aside, if they don’t get any positive feedback on their second request they will pursue a favourite of former boss Mark Hughes, David Bentley. City are reportedly ready to match Tottenham’s £15 million valuation.)
Manchester United are also reported to be lining up a bid for Milner and even Liverpool, despite their financially stricken status, are said to be interested. Indeed the former Newcastle and Leeds star has allegedly expressed a desire to fill the Steven Gerrard-shaped hole in Liverpool’s midfield, if the Scouse star is tempted away from Anfield.
Fab departure
Time for a piece of gossip not instigated by the newspapers or an ulterior motivated club. In fact the Cesc Fabregas headlines that dominated the red tops over the past week were started by the player himself.
Fabregas expressed a desire for a “quick move to Barcelona†early last week and rumour mill has since been churning out some interesting print. Wenger has asked his talisman to stay while Barca have said they won’t match the London club’s asking price.
JOE’s Gossip Column reckons this is a story we will still be discussing come August.
City aim for the galaxy not just the stars
There is so much gossip surrounding Man City this week don’t be surprised if it gets mistaken for glossy girly mag gossip and your other half enquires about the debonair Mancini!
It seems City are not looking bolster their squad but build an entire new one!
I’m just going to press the BOLD button and start typing: Yoann Gourcuff, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Napoli and Slovakia player Marek Hamsik, the aforementioned Steven Gerrard, brilliant German youngster Mesut Ozil, dazzling Argentine winger Angel Di MarÃa, and Jerome Boateng (we’re not 100 per cent sure which Boateng he is and we don’t trust Wikipedia) are just a few to be linked with the club.
Mourinho may spark Premier exodus
Panic has spread across the Premier League with the confirmation the Special One will be at the Real Madrid helm next term.
Only City have been linked with more players than Mourinho. The former Porto, Chelsea and soon-to-be-former Inter boss is set to be pursuing former friends Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole, while Liverpool stars Steven Gerrard (him again) and Fernando Torres are reportedly in his special sights. And the rumours don’t stop there… Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie and Manchester City forward Emmanuel Adebayor are also mooted to be potential targets.
Gerrard transfer talk embargo gets papers talking
Steven Gerrard (stop, please…!) has refused to talk about transfers until after the World Cup, sparking a lot of transfer talk in the process.
The weekend’s back pages bulged with Gerrard rumours, the most common theme being a £40 million one-way trip to the Bernabéu to join up with long term admirer Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid.
Chelsea have also been linked with Anfield’s talismanic captain and could completely massacre Liverpool’s midfield if their reported £25 million bid for Javier Mascherano is accepted. And they’re also keen on Lucas. Actually, we made that last one up. On Mad Masch, the Blues are said to be eager to get a deal done before World Cup inflation sets in.
One of the few good players who could remain at Anfield next season is Torres. That’s according to net minder Pepe Reina anyway, but sure he speaks Spanish so it could have been lost in translation.
The domino effect
The greatest thing about transfer-related gossip is that it breeds further rumours. The goings lead to comings and the comings lead to goings.
Arsenal have lined up another Spaniard to replace Fabregas if he does depart. Everton play maker Mikel Arteta is the man Wenger wants to replace the ‘irreplaceable’ Fabregas. Also on Wenger’s midfield radar is Marseille’s Cameroon midfielder Stephane Mbia, who was linked over and over and OVER again with Everton last summer. Here’s hoping that one comes to a swift conclusion one way or another, although on the plus side M-B-I-A is a nice short surname to type.
Meanwhile, Edin Dzeko is on Liverpool’s wish list if finances force the sale of Torres. Dzeko, one of Europe’s most gossiped about players, was the top scorer in the Bundesliga with 22 goals in the season just ended. But why would he want to go to Anfield? Curiouser and curiouser.
Which brings us to another Balkan. Tottenham’s Luka Modric has been linked to Chelsea and his departure could see fellow flair player Joe Cole move in the opposite direction. Should that one happen, Cole would have played in east (West Ham), west (Chelsea) and north London (Spurs). If his career completes the circle, the fans of either Crystal Palace or Millwall will be leaping for joy in about four years’ time.
And the best of the rest
Alex Ferguson has revealed Dimitar Berbatov will do as little moving off the field this summer than he did on it last season. French handyman Thierry Henry has been linked the West Ham. Stoke are ready offer Emile Heskey a route out of Villa Park and are also interested in Carlton Cole.
Tuncay could change the sponsor on his red and white shirt from Britannia to Boylesports with talk that he will leave Stoke for Sunderland in a £4 million deal while another player in line for a move to the North East is Jermaine Jenas (remember him?), who Newcastle want to bring back to St James’s Park.
It could be all change at relegated Burnley, where England one-cap – er, what’s the opposite of “wonder”? – David Nugent and Steven Fletcher are two players in demand. Nugent could be Bolton-bound while West Ham, Birmingham and Blackburn have all expressed in interest in former Hibernian ace Fletcher.
Everton, West Ham, Aston Villa and Celtic will battle it out for Martin Petrov’s signature. Another left winger in demand is Wigan danger man Charles N’Zogbia. Birmingham are his reported suitors.
Nadir Belhadj could be seen blowing bubbles at broke West Ham. The Portsmouth left back is certain to be on the move and Upton Park is his likeliest destination, particularly if Avram Grant takes the reins. And Craig Bellamy could be bringing his four iron back to Merseyside but will be teeing off the new season with Everton rather than Liverpool.
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