Won’t somebody think of the Stoke fans? Amidst the frenzy of media frothing surrounding José Mourinho’s future, his relationship with his players, his myriad conspiracy theories, his intolerance of the press and his FA-imposed ban from the Britannia Stadium this weekend, it appears to have gone unnoticed that one of the Premier League’s most vocal sets of fans have, through no fault of their own, been cruelly deprived of their turn to serenade the Chelsea manager with a heartless rendition of “You’re getting sacked in the morning!”
Chelsea’s hierarchy appear adamant that Mourinho will remain in situ, in a state of affairs that has been backed up by one intriguing story carried by several papers suggesting the club have rejected a £35.5m approach from Monaco to prise the Portuguese away from Stamford Bridge. Alessandro Proto, a minority shareholder in Monaco who doubles up as an Italian property magnate rumoured to have been the inspiration for Fifty Shades of Grey bondage enthusiast Christian Grey (no, really), claims he has met Roman Abramovich to discuss the prospect of bringing Mourinho to the Ligue 1 club’s Red Room of Pain (or Stade Louis II, as it is more commonly known).
“We offered €50 million to have the coach immediately, but the request was €100m and that figure seems exaggerated,” said Proto, in a statement released through his company. But you know, at any other time that figure wouldn’t feel exaggerated although it doesn’t exactly smack of great value in the current climate.
The Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport says Arsenal are ready to end their boycott of outfield player-purchasing during transfer windows by putting in a bid for the Napoli midfielder Jorginho in January. Napoli played Genoa in Serie A last Sunday, in a contest attended by Arsenal’s chief scout Tony Banfield and rumours suggest it was the Brazil-born Italian and Genoa’s Argentinian winger Diego Perotti he was there to watch.
Quizzed on Arsenal’s apparent interest by a Brazilian radio station, Jorginho’s agent didn’t seem any more clued in than the rest of us, but did manage to take what appeared to be an amusing swipe at Rafael Benítez. “I don’t know if the Arsenal scouts were in Genoa for Jorginho,” said João Santos. “I’m not surprised that the player is doing very well – especially in light of the change of coach – and has top clubs interested in him. One of the head scouts of Arsenal is well-known, and so I know he was at Marassi for the Napoli match.” In other Arsenal-related news, the London Evening Standard reports that Tomas Rosicky, Mathieu Flamini and Mikel Arteta will all be ushered to the door marked “exit” once their current deals expire.
The Liverpool Echo’s dedicated team of football writers are always good for a bit of clued-in transfer tittle-tattle and they reckon that, despite rumours to the contrary, Kevin Mirallas is not on his way out of Everton. They also bring the heartwarming story of an Everton fan, who by way of riposte to a small group of fellow Toffees who hired planes to trail banners calling for the departure of club owner Bill Kenwright over St Mary’s and Goodison Park, has stumped up for the rental of an aircraft trailing a banner in praise of the theatre impresario over Merseyside prior to Everton’s next home game. The Rumour Mill is no fan of violence, but we can’t help but hope the first group of fans, who are looking a mite daft in light of recent Everton performances, retaliate by hiring another plane of their own, with all proceeds from the subsequent sponsored pre-match Battle of Britain-style dogfight over Goodison Park going to local charities.
More Chelsea, you say? Oh, go on then. According to Gazzetta dello Sport, the Premier League strugglers are hoping to draft the Red Star Belgrade central midfielder Marko Grujic into their ranks, but will have to fend off interest from Inter if they are to turn his head. The 19-year-old Serb has previously been touted as “a long-term replacement for Nemanja Matic”. We’re guessing Chelsea now simply see him as a replacement for Nemanja Matic.
If the Internazionale striker Mauro Icardi is feeling slightly uncomfortable, it’s probably because Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs are all “monitoring” him. Elsewhere, the Mirror report that Leicester City are merely “keeping tabs” on Arkadiusz Milik, in a state of affairs that sounds far more relaxed and a lot less sinister.
Finally, Patrick Vieira could take over as head coach of Manchester City’s MLS counterparts New York City following the dismissal of Jason Kreis, while nominative determinism’s favourite goalkeeper Samir Handanovic is on the verge of inking a new deal with Inter.
