One week in, and we’ve yet to see any actual purchases so far. Maybe some of these will get us started.
The back pages today are, as you might imagine, consumed with David Moyes, Manchester United and that 2-1 defeat in the Carling Cup to Sunderland. But amid all that doom and gloom/hilarity, the press have managed to squeeze in a few tit-bits of transfer gossip too, to keep the rest of us amused.
We’ll kick off with what already feels like the Irish transfer saga of the window, Wes Hoolahan’s proposed move to Aston Villa. The Express report that Norwich will reject a bid from former boss Paul Lambert, and they will reject any transfer request the Irish international puts in too. The word ‘derisory’ is used in the report, a word you only hear in relation to football transfer attempts.
In further Irish news, Shane Long’s name crops up again in relation to a move to Newcastle in the Star but the same paper reports that Borussia Monchengladbach’s Luuk De Jong is also a target for Alan Pardew.
Considering half the teams in the Premier League, and beyond, need a striker, the news that QPR are willing to flog Loic Remy may be of interest. The Sun say £15million will do the trick, the Mail say £16m, and that may be just a bit too steep for some. Newcastle say they would like to keep him but the deal is described as 'complicated'. That leaves the door open for others...
And we wonder will Arsene Wenger step through it. With Arsenal now in full blown STRIKER CRISIS mode with Theo Walcott crocked, a few papers mention Real Madrid youngster Alvaro Morata. The Mirror reckon Wenger has already made a move while the Mail say that Porto’s Jackson Martinez is being lined up if the Morata deal falls through.
Elsewhere Blackpool’s Tom Ince is a popular boy with Swansea (BBC) and Crystal Palace (Mirror) after his signature this month, Everton won’t lose any of their ‘top performers’ this month according to Roberto Martinez in the Mail and the Sun says that Wilfried Zaha won’t be going back to Palace on loan but he might be off to Cardiff.
Finally, the Express reckon that Jose Mourinho is going to try and bring his old Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso to Stamford Bridge. If it happened, we'd imagine lots of Liverpool fans would be very upset indeed.
