Here’s the QPR team, leaving the training ground this morning on their way to St George’s Park, where they’ll prepare for their visit to Stoke this weekend. They don’t normally do this, apparently, but then what they normally do before away games definitely isn’t working, so it’s surely worth a try.
Romanian journalist Emanuel Rosu can see a little Rooney in Bus, who is expected to join Sheffield Wednesday today.
Sergiu Bus, the Romanian version of Wayne Rooney, on his way to Sheffield Wednesday. #SWFC
— Emanuel Roşu (@Emishor) January 30, 2015
Separated at birth?
New Arsenal signing Gabriel Paulista
The Phantom of the Opera
Updated
The Wolfsburg sporting director, Klaus Allofs, has given an update about André Schürrle’s mooted arrival from Chelsea, and Ivica Olic’s proposed switch to Hamburg. And this is what he said, when ZDF Television asked this morning if the deals were done:
I say no. We have two issues, Olic to Hamburg and Schürrle to us. Fact is this morning that all signatures are still missing and I am an old-fashioned guy so it is not done yet. That is why we are not announcing them yet. For the first case not much is missing but for Schürrle there are still some things to be settled. It is now out in the open that we are making efforts but it is still not a done deal yet.
BREAKING NEWS
CSKA Sofia have announced on their official website that they have reached agreement with Sheffield Wednesday for the transfer of their top goalscorer Sergiu Bus, a 22-year-old from Romania, to Sheffield Wednesday, for a fee of around €500,000. Everything has been agreed, and the player will be in Yorkshire today for a medical and to sign his contract. “Bus scored 10 goals in 19 games in the Bulgarian championship so far this season,” reports Metodi Shumanov, who tipped us off about the deal, “and he is also the current First division’s leading goal scorer.”
And already, an update from David Hytner who’s fresh out of Arsenal’s morning press conference, with bad news for Arsenal fans desperate for concerted squad-strengthening or transfer rumour fans desperate for transfer rumours.
Arsene Wenger has suggested that his transfer business for the January window is over. Having signed the centre-half Gabriel Paulista from Villarreal and the 17-year-old defensive midfielder Krystian Bielik from Legia Warsaw, the Arsenal manager feels that his squad is well-equipped. “If someone stands in front of my door and he is an exceptional player – I will open the door,” Wenger said. “But it looks unlikely.”
Hello world!
So here we are, then. The 30th day of the January 2015 transfer window, and things are really hotting up. And there’s no better way to start the day than with a dose of the Rumour Mill, which Barry Glendenning has written this morning and includes a suggestion that Chelsea will snaffle Gerson from the clutches of Manchester City.
Listening to the radio last night, the Rumour Mill was amused to hear former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan’s frank admission that he once signed a “defensive striker” (ie one that rarely scored) as a sop to a manager whose daughter was going out with a particular player who wanted his pal at Selhurst Park.
It was a revealing insight into a world we’d previously believed to be ruthless and cut-throat and will now have us questioning the motivation behind every potential deal. Are Manchester United interested in bringing Nathaniel Clyne to Old Trafford during the summer because they admire the Southampton right-back’s qualities as a defender, or does Louis van Gaal merely see the 23-year-old as a potential source of free tickets to gigs at the Academy in his native Brixton? Clyne’s French team-mate Morgan Schneiderlin is also being tipped for a move away from the south coast, with Arsenal being mooted as the next port of call for the French midfielder once the Saints have gone marching into next season’s Champions League.
Belgian winger Kevin Mirallas is wanted by Tottenham Hotspur, who will offer Everton Aaron Lennon in a straight swap before Monday night’s transfer deadline, while a washbag-toting Emmanuel Adebayor may be spotted ambling into the training ground of PSG, Stoke or QPR for a medical at some point in the next 72 hours.
Read the rest of it, including that bit about Gerson, here.
