The Rumour Mill generally only buys German tabloid Bild for its pictures, but couldn’t help notice an article that ought to gladden the hearts of Arsenal supporters. Stuttgart defender and Chelsea target Antonio Rudiger has announced he would like to play for the Gunners. A 20-year-old centre-back who can also do a job as a holding midfielder, Rudiger played in Germany’s recent European qualifiers against Poland and the Republic of Ireland and told the newspaper he has “always dreamed” of playing in the Premier League.
“I have been following Arsenal since the days of [Thierry] Henry and [Dennis] Bergkamp,” he said. “I watch videos of Arsenal all the time on YouTube and I often wear the current Alexis Sánchez shirt. My heart beats for Arsenal.” While Rudiger’s heart may have been beating quicker than usual if he watched their late mugging of Anderlecht last night, he can at least reassure himself that, if their recent performances are anything to go by, he will at least be assured of regular playing time should he decide to go to the Emirates. The Germany manager, Joachim Löw, recently described Rudiger as “another Jerome Boateng, because they’re so alike”, all of which chit-chat will come as a soothing symphony to the ears of Gooners bewildered by their team’s paucity of cover at the back.
Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City are all interested in signing Birmingham attacking midfielder Demarai Gray, but the Mirror reports that it is Tottenham Hotspur who are most anxious to get him on board. Valued at £2m and with 18 months left on his current contract at St Andrew’s, the 18-year-old has been lazily dubbed “the next Raheem Sterling” and can presumably look forward to reading a series of nonsensical handwringing articles about himself any time he heads for a night out with friends in his personal, club-approved leisure time.
Bayern Munich have confirmed their interest in bringing Manchester United target Marco Reus in from their feeder club Borussia Dortmund, although not quite as enthusiastically as some headline writers would have you believe. “If a German international has an exit clause and his contract is running out, Bayern is obliged to think about him,” said club mouthpiece Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who is well aware that Reus has a €25m release clause in his contract that several clubs would be delighted to activate next summer. The player himself is believed to be after wages of €230,000 per week and publicly, at least, Rummenigge was fairly non-committal about Bayern’s determination to get him. “Whether we deal with it, I cannot seriously predict,” he said. “We’ve talked too little internally about the subject.”
Popular former Liverpool scurrier and goal-getter Dirk Kuyt is wanted by Southampton, who will attempt to bring him to Saint Mary’s from Turkish club Fenerbahce in January. A long-time fan of his industrious compatriot, Ronald Koeman previously attempted to sign Kuyt when he was in charge at Rotterdam.
And finally, Napoli may renew their interest in unsettled Liverpool defensive midfielder Lucas Leiva, while Sunderland, Nottingham Forest, Burnley and Southampton are all keeping tabs on young midfielder Che Adams from Ilkeston FC in the Evo-Stick Northern Premier league.
