Back in 2010 Uefa cut a financial fair play deal with the “whole football family” to end “greed” and “reckless spending”. The sort of greed and reckless spending Uefa just can’t stand. It meant, they reckoned, a new era of fewer transfers, less speculation, and bad times for The Mill.
But six years on, the family have rallied: weighing up the spirit of Uefa’s FFP and deciding the future is all about €222m auctions for Neymar, a £1.17bn transfer window, and another £100m-plus on moving Chelsea a couple of places up the table. So this winter that’ll be Antonio Conte spending “at least” £50m on Milan’s Alessio Romagnoli, £35m on Atlético Madrid’s Yannick Carrasco, more on Lazio’s Felipe Anderson, and Kalidou Koulibaly in part-exchange for Michy Batshuayi.
And it’s all made sweeter by this from Willian, who says he never fancied a move to PSG in the summer, and reckons The Press Make Some of This Stuff Up: “I read some things in the press on this topic but personally, I never received a concrete offer. My family feels good in London, I am growing in a team that plays beautiful football … It would be a privilege to finish my career at a club as big as Chelsea.”
Elsewhere, Valencia fancy £40m-rated Javier Hernández, who left Old Trafford last year for £7.3m “to feel important and happy” – but their Grealish-haired teen Fran Villalba could be heading to United. “[They made contact] with me,” says agent Vicente Forés. “Just a contact to know his situation. They’re already aware. I don’t know about Valencia. But I reckon they will make it hard.”
Xherdan Shaqiri’s agent and brother Edrin has hinted his client and brother may try to do one from Stoke in January, Juventus are monitoring Santi Cazorla’s Arsenal contract talks, and Sevilla are upping Steven N’Zonzi’s wages to stop him joining Everton.
Leicester owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha has signed a new £11m yacht; literature’s Steve Bruce is off to Villa today; Liverpool keeper Simon Mignolet has opened a coffee shop in Belgium called TwentyTwo Coffee “in homage to his shirt number”; and new Cardiff ace Marouane Chamakh has had a haircut.
