We should know very soon whether or not Wayne Rooney will stay at Manchester United, Manchester City want Pepe and Victor Wanyama could be about to leave Celtic for a pretty hefty sum indeed.
No summer passes without one particular transfer story hovering above the rest to dominate the news agenda and following in the footsteps of Cesc Fabregas and Carlos Tevez in recent years could be Wayne Rooney, whose future is still very much the subject of some doubt and has been since before the end of the season.
This morning papers seem to think that we’ll have a far better idea of what lies in wait for the England striker by next week after showdown talks have taken place between David Moyes, Rooney and his agent Paul Stretford in what will be Moyes’ first working week as Manchester United manager.
A report in the Times suggests merely that the talks will take place, but the Daily Mail go one step further and claim that will Rooney will state his intention to leave the club, which will, of course, put the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal on red alert.
Possibly because they don’t fear a tongue-wagging from Alex Ferguson next season, the papers have been having a field day about the potential ins and outs at Old Trafford, with the Daily Mirror suggesting that Nemanja Vidic might move to AC Milan if he’s not part of Moyes’ plans while a man that signed for the club at the same time as Vidic, Patrice Evra, is said to be disturbed at United’s pursuit of Leighton Baines and could jump ship before next season. Well, according to The Sun, at least.
Across town at the Etihad, having let Carlos Tevez go to Juventus, The Star claim that Manchester City are seeking to replenish their quota of controversial South American characters by trying to prise Pepe (yes he plays for Portugal but he was born in Brazil) from Real Madrid. Watch this space.
Like United, it looks like there could be plenty of activity at Arsenal this summer, with the Daily Mail saying that the Gunners might be about to take Julio Cesar from QPR, which would give extra credence to reports in The Sun that reserve ‘keeper Vito Mannone is bound for Sunderland to replace Simon Mignolet.
While Cesar’s arrival is a likely one according to the Mail, Gooners shouldn’t expect to see either Marouane Fellaini or Ashley Williams anytime soon because they will not be held to ransom over a transfer fee for either player.
The Mail is choc-full of transfer gossip today, in fact, and they also claim that one-time Arsenal target Victor Wanyama has been the subject of a whopping £11.5 million bid from Premier League new-boys Cardiff City in a deal that would really make a statement of their intentions if it was to go ahead.
Speaking of the Mail, they are also reporting that Spurs are prepared to hijack Liverpool’s bid for Henrikh Mkhitaryan with a £20 million bid of their own, despite the imminent arrival of Paulinho from Corinthians, while the Guardian say that they also want to bring David Villa in from Barcelona. Where are they getting all this money from? Are they already preparing for the departure of a certain two-time Player of the Year from White Hart Lane?
Finally, meanwhile, the Daily Mirror reckon Tom Huddlestone and his huge afro (he could have cut it during the holidays, we’re not sure) could be on their way to Sunderland for £5 million, they also say that Paul Lambert has told Barry Bannan, Nathan Delfouneso and our own Enda Stevens that they can leave Aston Villa, Youssi Benayoun is close to a move to West Brom (The Star) and Fulham are set to sign Bakary Sako from Wolves for £4 million (Daily Express).
