With enough Crunchies and Red Bull to last us until midnight, here’s the last gasp of the wheezing carcass that is the summer transfer window.
After months of half truths, rumours and outright lies, here we are at the final Transfer Talk of the summer. And a quick look at the papers today suggests that the window is going to slam shut with a bang. Normally the final day is packed with gossip but light with actual news but we think this year might be different. Maybe it is the sugar rush we already have after eating two Lion bars and a purple Snack before 10am but today looks poised to be a busy one.
Let’s start with the juiciest name on the block, Radamel Falcao. The Monaco striker has reportedly (Guardian) been ‘offered’ to Arsenal and Manchester City for a fee of £55m while the Mail say the Colombian is only available as a loan deal, and that Manchester United are also in the hunt.
Everyone says that City are in pole position to nab the striker, but Arsenal fans everywhere will be hoping Arsene Wenger addresses his forward deficiencies with the free-scoring Falcao.
City will only buy Falcao if they can offload Alvaro Negredo to Valencia, according to Marca, and it seems it is a similar situation across the city.
Whether United make a serious play for Falcao depends on shipping out a few heads. The Sun say that United want £5m for someone to take Danny Welbeck on loan, with Everton and Spurs leading the way. Another United forward headed for the exit is Javier Hernandez, who the Mirror say is Real Madrid-bound, also on loan. If those two do head out the Old Trafford exit, Louis van Gaal will be anxious to get another striker in.
Speaking of United, Tom Cleverly is expected to reject Hull and Valencia to go to Aston Villa but only if his wage demands can be sorted, according to the Telegraph. Just leave him in a room with Roy Keane for a few minutes. Problem. Solved.
Oh, and in case you were wondering who Monaco have lined up to replace Falcao if he goes, it is Spurs striker Roberto Soldado according to the Telegraph.
We assumed Liverpool had all their business done but it looks like, for the 1,997,342th time this summer, we were wrong. Not only is the Fabio Borini to Sunderland move still on (Sunderland Echo), but Victor Valdes might be on his way to Anfield on a free, according to the Mail.
Transfer Deadline Day wouldn’t be the same without a bit of Harry Redknapp news and it seems that today will be no exception. The Guardian report that Harry would like to take Jermain Defoe back from Toronto to QPR, and he wants a few of his old Spurs team-mates to join him.
The Mail say that Sandro and Aaron Lennon could be headed for Loftus Road. Robbie Keane should charge up his phone, just in case.
Away from the Premier League, it looks set to be a busy day too. Celtic’s classy defender Virgil van Dijk could be headed to Southampton (Sun), Micah Richards could be off to Fiorentina (Mail) and Xheridan Shaqiri, one of about 50 world class midfielders at Bayern, may be shipped out to Spartak Moscow (Bild).
Right, we’re off to get a few more high-sugar products into us so we can get through another 14 hours of unbroken Sky Sports News watching…
