The Mill is back baby but no time for pleasantries I’m afraid, for there is hot gossip, the smouldering, red-hot variety, ready to be spewed your way. Calling birds, four of them no less, are on their way to the Emirates. Desperate measures from Arsène Wenger perhaps but lest we forget, this is the Crucial Christmas Period and things for Arsenal are already, well desperate. The names of said birds? First up we have Nolito, Celta Vigo’s £15m forward, who is also attracting interest from Barcelona. Wenger has a plan, though, throw in Joel Campbell, shut his eyes and hope.
Second we have somewhat of a surprise move for Chicari (No!), Javier Hernández, who is in hot goalscoring form for Leverkusen after Louis van Gaal (more on him later) deemed him surplus to requirements at Old Trafford. Oopsy Poopsy Louis. Third, we have Real Madrid’s 22-year-old benchman Jesé, also piquing the interest of Liverpool, and finally we have Mohamed Elneny, who will jet in from his native Egypt to complete his £5m from Basel when the window flings open.
Liverpool meanwhile, are set to be almost as busy in January with three key targets. Moussa Dembélé, not that one, is due to arrive from Fulham, Swansea’s Bafétimbi Gomis has appeared on Jürgen Klopp’s radar with the Swans bracing themselves for bids, and Steve Mandanda may soon be occupying the Reds’ sticks with a £3m move from Marseille on the cards.
On to the turtle doves hightailing it out of Chelsea now. Cesc Fàbregas has met Wenger underneath a railway bridge in the dead of night and has decided it’s time to put PSG and Bayern Munich Inter and Juventus, among a number of other clubs, on red alert. He will be joined at the Chelsea exit door by Loïc Rémy, who continues to hang around, scoring the odd goal, collecting his pay packet and generally looking glum.
Guus Hiddink will be busy in January, he, and he alone, has decided that Chelsea need a superstar. He has apparently also decreed that Chelsea need to spend £30m on Jamie Vardy. (The Mill shuts its eyes, waggles its finger and picks a name from a hat) And the superstar is Paul Pogba, who hasn’t been linked with a move away from Juventus this side of Christmas. Chelsea are also, by the by, in the race for Ante Coric, Dinamo Zagreb’s 18-year-old wunderkind along with Real Madrid and Manchester City.
And on to Mr Van Gaal, he of the death stare, who says he may fall on his sword but more likely, have his peartree rattled and be given both barrels by the Manchester United suits, who have locked Bobby Charlton in a disused WWII bunker, thrown away the key and will unveil José Mourinho at half-time today.
In other news, Stoke are chasing Daniel Accam from Chicago FIre, Everton are in hot pursuit of Bournemouth’s Matt Ritchie and Aston Villa will offer Charlie Austin the chance to stay in the Championship next season having made an £8m to QPR.
