Tough-tackling Marseille ball-winner Giannelli Imbula has long been a Chelsea, Arsenal and Juventus target and looks likely to leave the Ligue 1 side for pastures new during the summer. A box-to-box midfielder who has drawn comparisons with Patrick Vieira and Claude Makélélé, the 22-year-old French U-21 international has flourished in the Marseille first team under Marcelo Bielsa and reports today suggest Chelsea are pondering a £20m bid for a player who is eligible to play his senior international football for Belgium, France and DR Congo.
The Premier League champions-elect are also reported to be interested in Southampton’s French midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin, a state of affairs that ought to signal that the Stamford Bridge jig is well and truly up for John Obi Mikel, who could be heading for a surprise reunion with his former manager Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid, according to one Italian sports news website.
Another player who could be heading for the Marseille exit door is Florian Thauvin, who is 22 years old and primarily a left winger, but capable of doing a job all across midfield. Quick, energetic, strong on either foot and with a keen eye for goal, the youngster has got antennae twitching at Tottenham Hotspur, who the Mirror report could make a bid in the summer.
Monaco’s defensive midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia could also find himself joining the mass exodus from France, as he is one of several defensive midfielders to have caught the eye of Arsène Wenger. Capable of playing in central defence and at left-back, he could be just the kind of versatile utility man Arsenal fans have been heard crying out for at times in the past season and could prove a snip at £11m. As has been reported in this column previously, Lyon’s attacking midfielder Nabil Fekir is also on Wenger’s shopping list.
Despite last week’s talk that Manchester United were this close to signing Borussia Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, for £21.5m, the German club’s sporting director Michael Zorc has poured a giant bucket of ice-cold water over speculation that a deal has all but been agreed. “There is no signature, no contract, no offer, no request and not even a contact,” he said, rather emphatically. “The last time I talked to Manchester United was in November 2014 and that was about a different topic,” he added, failing to elaborate on what exactly that topic might have been. Gundogan is likely to be in popular demand this summer, with the Star reporting that representatives from Manchester City and Arsenal are likely to gyrate lasciviously before the player in the hope of capturing his attention.
Once they’ve recovered from the shell-shock of that shellacking at the hands of Everton, Manchester United will step up their attempts to sign Gareth Bale from Real Madrid, try to prise goalkeeper Hugo Lloris away from Tottenham Hotspur as cover for the potentially Bernabéu-bound David De Gea and sell currently on-loan-at-Real Madrid striker Javier Hernández to Southampton. Saints are also keen on keeping QPR winger Matt Phillips in the Premier League should his current side drop a division, but will face competition from West Brom in the summer scramble to retain the 24-year-old’s services.
Speculation in yesterday’s papers suggested Liverpool are planning a complete overhaul of their famous transfer committee, while speculation in today’s suggests Brendan Rodgers is plotting a summer trolley dash that will end with him scanning PSV Eindhoven winger Memphis Depay, Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke and his Burnley counterpart Danny Ings before placing them in the bagging area. Depay’s name had been mentioned in conjunction with a £25m move to Manchester United following reports he and his agent Kees Ploegsma met Louis van Gaal and other representatives of the club on Wednesday, but the 21-year-old has since flatly denied any such pow-wow took place. “There’s absolutely no truth in that,” he said. “I haven’t spoken to Manchester United.”
Sam Allardyce is expected to leave West Ham once his contract expires come season’s end and has been linked with a move Stateside to take over any MLS team that’ll have him and with a move to Wearside to replace interim Sunderland manager Dick Advocaat. “There is only one thing that needs to be sorted out here and that is me sitting down with the owners when they are ready to talk about me being at West Ham and nowhere else,” said Sam of his current gig. “Until that is resolved we won’t know which way we are both going forward. That is the only thing that is to be sorted, to sit down and sort it out.” Having secured promotion to the Premier League with Watford over the weekend after just six months in English football, the club’s Serbian manager Slavisa Jokanovic is also being linked with the Sunderland job.
