It’s all about one little Spaniard in today’s papers…
It was, for a while, the biggest transfer rumour of the summer. A Juan Mata/Wayne Rooney swap between Chelsea and Manchester United looked fairly unlikely when it broke in July last year but now, six months on, it makes much more sense.
Clearly Jose Mourinho doesn’t see Mata fitting into his style and clearly he likes the idea of Rooney playing for him. And the gossip across all the back pages today suggests that at least half of that deal may be back on.
The Telegraph, Mail, Guardian and most of the rest lead on the story that Manchester United are poised to bid up to £40million to get Mata from the Blues. There has been no mention of Rooney in the deal so far but it has surely crossed Jose’s mind that if a bid does come in, he’ll try to nab the England man again.
Everyone has weighed in on the merits of the transfer, including
Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville, and a move of that size between two big clubs in January would be unlikely. Still, it is a funny old game as someone once said so we reckon we will be hearing much more about this one over the next 10 days.
In other Manchester United news, the Mail reckon Edinson Cavani, a target of David Moyes, won’t be going anywhere until the summer but a deal to land Koke from Atletico Madrid could still be on, according to the Mirror.
A former Manchester United man, Dimitar Berbatov, could be about to rejoin his former club Spurs, with Daniel Levy anxious to make the deal. No fee is mentioned in the Mirror but considering Levy’s skills in this department, we wouldn’t bet against Fulham paying Spurs to take him.
Over at Liverpool, the big rumour surrounds Kung Fu’s Nigel de Jong, with the Mirror reckoning he could leave AC Milan for Anfield this month. Sky Sports say that Brendan Rodgers will have to fight off Newcastle to land long-term target Basle’s Mohamed Salah and they also report that Sebastien Coates is on his way back to Nacional in Uruguay on a six-month loan.
Arsenal are still no closer to that much sought after striker and German tabloid Bild reckon Tomas Rosicky is a target of Bayern Munich. Rafa Benitez also made a call to check on Thomas Vermaelen and was politely told to go away, according to the Mirror.
And finally, in a move that will surely lead to ‘Hulley Muntari’ headlines, AC Milan’s Sulley Muntari is linked in all the papers with a £3.9m move to Steve Bruce’s team.
