The most wanted men in football continue to lead all the back pages today.
Since the papers went to press last night, the Luis Suarez story has been moved on by Liverpool owner John W Henry’s epic tweet but the basics of the story remain the same. Arsenal bid £40,000,001 for the Uruguayan striker to trigger a clause in the striker’s contract.
That clause, it seems, simply states that any offer over £40million requires Liverpool to tell the player about the bid. Nothing more, nothing less. Hardly seems worth the effort since Suarez could have read all about it in the papers anyway.
We also know that Liverpool rejected the bid and that the owner thinks the Gunners are having a giraffe. No end in sight for this tale then.
The Gareth Bale saga also rumbles along. After fevered reports in the Spanish press yesterday that Real Madrid had already done a deal with the Welsh wonder, the English press have reacted.
The Mirror reckon Spurs will fight to keep him, the Sun believe Real are set to ‘step up their hunt’ for Bale while the Express accuse Madrid of ‘their usual transfer-market dirty tricks’. Harsh, but possibly fair.
As for the Cesc Fabregas story, it should have disappeared yesterday when quotes reportedly from Barca president, Sandro Rosell said that the club would not sell the midfielder and a second, or third depending on who you read, bid was rejected from Manchester United.
But Sky Sports today say that the Spaniard is ‘considering his future’ at Barca, so that may or may not mean anything. He might just be wondering what car park space to park in tomorrow, or where to have lunch.
In other Manchester United news, the Mail report that Wayne Rooney may head to Arsenal if his move to Chelsea doesn’t happen and the same paper reports that Angelo Henriquez (remember him) may spend next season on loan at Real Zaragoza.
Over at Spurs it is business as usual. By that we mean repelling bids for Gareth Bale (see above) and chasing Roberto Soldado. The latest, according to the Express, is that Valencia want Spurs to offer £26m to trigger his release clause.
In a round-up so fast, we’re in danger of clocking up some penalty points, Nani is wanted Monaco (Times), West Ham are trying to move Loic Remy across London from QPR (Star) and Nathan Dyer won’t be going to Everton as he is going to stay at Swansea instead (Mirror).
Finally, in what we hope isn’t bad news for Kevin Doyle, Celtic are linked with two other strikers in today’s papers. The Daily Record say that Tunisian international Saber Khelifa is in their sights while the Sun report that they have their eye on Hamburg forward Artjoms Rudnevs too.
