And with that, we’re done for the day. The blog will be back bright and early tomorrow morning and through to the bitter, bitter end of the UK transfer window which, as you’ll probably know, is at 6pm BST. Clubs can (I think) still buy players from abroad, but obviously won’t be able to sell anyone elsewhere. Cheers for reading, and toodle-pip.
Here we have some details about the De Gea deal, straight from Danny Taylor...
Oh, another Liverpool youngster out on the borrow, striker Samed Yesil has joined Swiss side FC Luzern on loan for the season.
Going slightly peculiar at this point so not sure if we’ve mentioned this, but Brentford have signed Liverpool midfielder Sergi Canos on loan.
Slight correction from earlier, when we said Barry Bannan would be moving to Sheffield Wednesday on a loan - turns out it’s actually a permanent move.
Here we go...
Taken all summer to get this far but, yes, De Gea money-plus-Navas happening. MUFC have abandoned initial asking price of £35m
— Daniel Taylor (@DTguardian) August 31, 2015
Some more details on the Januzaj move here.
It is a bit weird for him to go from being in the first team to being farmed out on loan (to, incidentally, a team where there’s no guarantee he’ll play every week), but perhaps those first few games of the season in which he played were a chance to impress Louis van Gaal, a chance he perhaps didn’t take. Who knows though? It is still weird.
DONE DEAL!
They’re flowing now. Adnan Januzaj confirms himself that he’s off to Borussia Dortmund. A loan move (at least initially), we believe.
Pleased to sign for Dortmund 😁 ! Looking forward to new season 👍⚽️ pic.twitter.com/dhEOhz45i5
— Adnan Januzaj (@adnanjanuzaj) August 31, 2015
With De Gea on his way, talk will probably turn to whether Jasper Cillessen will move to United, but he didn’t see to think so over the weekend. “There is no contact with Manchester United,” he told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. “I have heard nothing from Manchester United.”
DONE DEAL!
And Wolfsburg have now also officially confirmed the transfer of Dante from Bayern Munich. The window closes at 6pm BST in Germany.
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DONE DEAL!
Oh, and as we speak Schalke confirm the Draxler move for what they describe as a ‘record’ fee. A record for them, not everyone else.
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Here’s Julian Draxler in some Wolfsburg duds. But there’s still a chance for Arsenal to gazump the move, eh?
An dieses Bild muss man sich noch gewöhnen. Um 15.02 Uhr präsentierte sich Draxler erstmals in Wolfsburg-Kleidung. pic.twitter.com/GpRBncVKHF
— BILD (@BILD) August 31, 2015
According to La Provence in France, Marseille are considering a move for Emmanuel Adebayor. With Abou Diaby already in place, they’re making a strong play to reunite the great Arsenal treatment room of 2009. Mikael Silvestre next?
Chhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhha-ching...
Lyon doing exceptionally well out of Monaco this week. Their CL exit means OL get +€10m market pool share & Martial sell-on could reach €19m
— Andy Brassell (@andybrassell) August 31, 2015
Never change, Nicky...
Nicklas Bendtner says that, er, his phone has been 'red hot' due to calls from clubs wanting to sign him. He's staying at Wolfsburg though
— Marcus Christenson (@m_christenson) August 31, 2015
Look at the state of that hashtag...
BREAKING NEWS: Fabio Borini returns to Wearside signing a four-year deal at #SAFC. #ThisisFab pic.twitter.com/EeYc60lA4V
— Sunderland AFC (@SunderlandAFC) August 31, 2015
DONE DEAL!
It’s done - Fabio Borini has completed his move from Liverpool to Sunderland. It only took about 18 months, but credit to Fabio for sticking it out for that long, hoping something better would present itself the whole time. You have to admire that.
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Here’s an update from busy puppy Dominic Fifield on what’s been happening at West Ham today. Stuff on Michail Antonio, Nikica Jelavic, Victor Moses, Alex Song and Modibo Maïga in here...
“Man Utd about 45 years late signing Martial,” guffaws Russ Brady, “Let’s face it, Martial-Law would be the ultimate backpage tabloid headline strike force.”
Word from Italy now, and Bologna have signed midfielder Saphir Taider from Inter. You might remember him from a loan spell at Southampton in which he didn’t make an appearance.
Dan White has some thoughts on the modest proposal from earlier: “The Jenkins model is all well and good but sounds a bit Football Managery to me. I’m not sure these decoy teams he speaks of have the time or guile to pull of any given imaginary heist. Plus, no-one believes Italian sides actually have the wedge in the first place. As Liverpool, among others, are finding out, they are full of promises to pay up next year and derisory bids. A lot of loans coming out of Serie A and I bet Lamela will be the same.”
De Gea off to Madrid?
Big news from Spain, if you believe Marca - they reckon a deal is agreed with Manchester United for David De Gea, worth €30-35million. Keylor Navas could be going the other way.
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Malcolm Payne wants to give Jordan Pickering a quick telling off:
“The missing words are ...’Does this mean that Arsene has not managed to find a single defensive midfielder in all of Europe who is for sale at a reasonable price and the match of a youngster he wasn’t aware could play in the position until halfway to Christmas last year?’
“But perhaps that’s less tutworthy...’
Couple of quick lines from the Express and Star, who reckon West Brom are looking at both Mile Jedinak and Jose Enrique, although deals for neither are close, apparently.
“I’ve noticed your reports are light on the mention of Arsenal,” tuts Jordan Pickering. “Does this mean that Arsene has not managed to find a single defensive midfielder in all of Europe who is the match of a youngster he wasn’t aware could play in the position until halfway to Christmas last year?”
Why yes, Jordan, that’s exactly what it means. See also: forward, centre.
Quite why you’d want to tear yourself away from the transfer blog is a mystery, but if you’d like some actual, real sport, join Andrew Strauss soundalike Vithushan Ehantharajah (Vish is fine) for the over-by-over of the England v Australia Twenty20 international from Cardiff.
“Not a bad idea from Michael Jenkins,” notes Nicholas Roscow. “Italian teams already adopt a similar principle to get around the limits on signing non-EU players from foreign clubs.”
And then there’s this...
@NickMiller79 Didn't Spurs pull a similar stroke when signing Ezki Fryers from United
— Patrick Corbett (@Finishedatlast) August 31, 2015
One of the more low-level transfer sagas of the summer has been Jon Walters’ move/non-move from Stoke. Well, something could be afoot there, as he’s not been at Ireland training. Here’s Martin O’Neill to explain:
Johnny is only (absent) because there may be something happening to him,” he said after training. “He wasn’t completely sure, but there was little point in coming here for this morning and then maybe having to travel back.
“There may be something happening although he’s not terribly sure at this minute but while there is the possibility of something happening to him then I think it’s best that he sees it until the transfer deadline is finished.”
Norwich made a bid, but Stoke were playing hardball and tried to get Walters to sign a new contract.
All gone a bit quiet on the David de Gea thing. He is in Spain, but that doesn’t necessarily mean much since he’s with the national squad to play Slovakia in Oviedo on Saturday. For what it’s worth, Marca seem to think Real Madrid are confidence of getting a deal done before the Spanish transfer window SLAMS shut at 11pm (BST) tonight, and there is a suggestion that Real might include Keylor Navas in any deal. Could well go to the wire.
Michael Jenkins has been twiddling his mischievous moustache and stroking his white cat. Settle in for this:
“Now that Prem clubs are more loaded than a modern day machine gun and every club in Europe knows that certain Prem clubs are willing to spray about their TV money as liberally as a toddler does wee when left alone at the urinal, isn’t it about time that they started to get a little more crafty in their transfer dealings?
“As far as I’m aware, players can sign for three clubs in a year, and play for two. What’s to stop Prem clubs from approaching other European clubs to act as their proxy in transfer dealings, in return for a set fee or free loans? For instance: United want to sign Martial but don’t want to pay more than twice he’s worth; why not agree an under the table deal with, say, Lazio to act as their bidder, who’d surely get a more reasonable fee out of Monaco, and then buy the player from Lazio for a couple of million more a month later before he’s played a game in a Lazio shirt?
“Monaco get the price that they think is reasonable, Lazio get free money, and United get the player they wanted for a considerably smaller outlay than they could have managed alone. Why wouldn’t this work?”
More ins and outs than a f[redacted - Guardian Decency Dept.] at Wolfsburg today...
HSV have signed Wolfsburg's Aaron Hunt, according to Bild.
— Daniel Busch (@dan_bu) August 31, 2015
Leicester had been linked with a move for Inter full-back Yuto Nagatomo, but according to Claudio Ranieri that ain’t happening. “I know Yuto very well because I coached him but there is not anything,” he said. The suggestion in Italy is that he’s off to Levante instead.
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Want a few details on Javier Hernandez’s move to Bayer Leverkeusen? Sure you do.
Ay then, here’s one - a few reports in Italy suggest that Juventus are set to sign midfielder Hernanes from Inter for about €11million. Sounds like a bargain. Well, anything sounds like a bargain with all these numbers flying around for Martial.
Here we go. This just in from an anonymous email address: “Hi, work at Heathrow and just wanted to say that an hour ago or so I saw Erik Lamela boarding an American Airlines flight to Milan!”
IT’S ON! IT’S BLOODY WELL DEFINITELY ON!
Looks like it’s starting to happen at West Ham. This from the Forest correspondent on the Nottingham Post...
Told Nottingham Forest have accepted a £7m bid from West Ham for Michail Antonio. Winger expected in London for talks today #nffc
— Paul Taylor (@nottmtails) August 31, 2015
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Spurs apparently made a bid for Zenit midfielder Axel Witsel, but...
RTBF on Axel Witsel: "He won't leave Zenit". Spurs made an offer, but it was rejected. #coys
— Kristof Terreur (@HLNinEngeland) August 31, 2015
D-D-D-D-D-D-D-DONE DEAL!
Schalke have signed the boy Pierre-Emile Højbjerg on loan from Bayern Munich til the end o’ the season.
Wolfsburg are going TRANSFER KERAAAZEEEEE. They’ve agreed a deal to sign 17-year-old Spurs midfielder Ismail Azzaoui. Does this mean Spurs are about to announce the Wanyama deal? No.
“Why won’t upper table Prem teams consider Charlie Austin?” ponders Patrick McCabe. “Is it just snobbery?” Possibly. Or people might not think he’s good enough for Manchester United.
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I’m back, and back with a B-B-B-BANG, specifically with word that Real Madrid midfielder Casemiro has signed a six-year contract extension. Have that.
Nick Miller has swooned back into the office with a ham and mozzarella baguette. He says “It’s OK.” And like that, I’m gone. Bye!
Marcus is skipping around the office. He’s that excited.
Great transfer day this. Raúl García from Atlético to Athletic (confirmed) and Kevin Großkreutz on his way from Dortmund to Galatasaray
— Marcus Christenson (@m_christenson) August 31, 2015
Here’s Raúl García pulling an expression that looks like he’s just been given a hefty dose of morphine, for anyone that doesn’t believe.
Raúl García pasa el reconocimiento médico pic.twitter.com/lfFyBOQaMf
— Athletic Club (@AthleticClub) August 31, 2015
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Here’s some hot transfer chat about a 19-year-old French striker. Nope, not Anthony Martial, it’s Fulham’s Moussa Dembélé who might be on the move.
Dembélé is in the final year of his contract at Craven Cottage and so Feyenoord have tabled a cheeky £750,000 bid. It’s been rejected but expect the Dutch club to come back for more: they are flush from the sale of Jordy Clasie, remember.
Whilst we’re talking Fulham, they’re apparently interested in taking Gary Hooper on loan and have locked Ross McCormack in a cupboard under the stairs after turning down a bid from Sheffield Wednesday.
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Southampton fans: want to know how selling Wanyama might help you sign Virgil van Dijk? Well OK then. Emphasis on the might, all hypotheticals of course. It’s a transfer window blog after all.
Regarding any potential Wanyama departure: Celtic are entitled to 10% of the sell-on fee. And if anyone does cough up a cool £20m or so – a figure being bandied around various corners of the internet for the Kenyan – that’s not a bad little boost to Celtic’s coffers.
The money could help go towards Jozo Simunovic, who has opened talks with the Ronny Deila and co. He’s a 21-year-old Dinamo Zagreb defender, for those that don’t know, and expected to cost around £4m.
His arrival at Celtic Park could hasten the departure of Virgil van Dijk to … Southampton! Maybe.
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Right then, I’m off for some lunch – here is Michael Butler for ‘a while’.
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Want an update on the goings on at Chelsea? Dominic Fifield is yer men for that one.
A couple of DONE DEALS from the Championship now - Brentford have signed striker Marco Djuricin on a season-long loan from Red Bull Salzburg, while Ipswich have completed a move for Australian winger Tommy Oar.
SKY SOURCES UPDATE. Apparently Victor Wanyama hasn’t travelled to join up with the Kenya squad as planned. Presumably this means he’s going straight to Tottenham to hang around outside. There is a decent chippie on the Tottenham High Road, as it happens.
Coming up to lunch time, so celebrate by watching Christopher Walken reading ‘Three Little Pigs’. Don’t be a dunski.
According to RMS Sport in France, the fee for Martial is an initial €60million and then €20million in add-ons. That’s potentially £58million.
Surely, surely, surely that can’t be right.
A bit more on the outgoings at United. According to your friend and mine Danny Taylor, Adnan Januzaj is indeed heading to Borussia Dortmund on loan, while Javier Hernandez is indeed off to Bayer Leverkeusen. Neither deal done, but it looks like they’re both happening.
Bayer Leverkusen set to pay £8.75m for Javier Hernández. #mufc
— Marcus Christenson (@m_christenson) August 31, 2015
Meanwhile, Danny also reminds us that Van Gaal was asked on August 13 whether Hernandez would be sold, and he said: “No.”
Maybe this, after Hernandez missed that penalty against Club Brugge, was the moment he changed his mind...
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You want some details on Anthony Martial? You got it, stud!
Here we are - something non-United related. Although it is Chelsea.
@domfifield where is he going on loan afterwards?
— Jacob Steinberg (@JacobSteinberg) August 31, 2015
And, again, a United story, but the word in the West Midlands is Anders Lindegaard is on his way to West Brom. The first of three keepers to leave Old Trafford today? Leaving them with, gulp, Sergio Romero as their undisputed No.1?
With apologies for this nearly turning into a Manchester United transfer blog...
Javier Hernandez arriving for medical at Bayer Leverkusen: https://t.co/UtOAMOLacE #mufc
— Marcus Christenson (@m_christenson) August 31, 2015
Interesting point on Martial that might go some way to explaining the fee, if it is indeed £36million, is that he only signed a new contract in June and was described by Monaco owner Vadim Vasilyev as ‘untransferable’.
Extending Anthony’s contract sends a strong message to our fans,” Vasilyev explained. “He was being contacted by some of Europe’s biggest clubs but we wanted to make sure that he continues his development with AS Monaco. I’m convinced that, under the direction of the coach (Leonardo Jardim), Anthony will keep improving and score a lot of goals. What Anthony has been able to achieve at just 19 years of age is impressive to say the least, but the best is yet to come.”
Not directly to do with transfers, but obviously worth a read anyway - it’s Paolo Bandini’s round-up of the weekend’s action in Italy, which might actually have an impact on the last few hours of the window, because it sounds like Juventus could spend...
On Sunday, La Gazzetta Sportiva published a whimsical look ahead to that evening’s clash between Roma and Juventus. Defining the match between last season’s top two as a “rock & roll” encounter, the newspaper went through each team picking out songs to fit the players and coaches on either side. Paul Pogba became The Who’s Pinball Wizard; Edin Dzeko was Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer.
Gazzetta did not select an overarching theme for the match itself, but if they had then Bob Dylan might have been an appropriate choice. By the end of the night, it was clear that The Times They Are a-Changin’.
It is not yet three months since Juventus faced Barcelona in the Champions League final. Back then, the Bianconeri had just won a domestic double, seizing their fourth consecutive Serie A title after finishing 17 points clear at the top for the second year running. Roma’s manager, Rudi García, described them as “out of reach”, suggesting his club should celebrate second-place as their own version of the Scudetto. Most ominously, he told reporters that, “I think the gap will be even bigger next season”.
Not many people are really blinking about this Martial fee, rumoured to be around £36million. So is it a sign that we’ve become inured to the colossal amounts of money spent in football, or a recognition that the size of transfer fees really don’t matter, unless they impact on a club’s ability to do other things? Or something else?
Unless the opportunity cost is free admission, makes no difference how much Martial costs. He's either good enough or he isn't, that's it.
— Daniel Harris (@DanielHarris) August 31, 2015
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Americans invest to aid a wounded Europe(an football club): the Martial plan.
— Andrew Thomas (@andi_thomas) August 30, 2015
Breaking news from that most reliable of transfer organs, the official site of the French Football Federation, who announce that Anthony Martial has been given permission to leave the France national team camp in order to be cupped and cough for Manchester United. Here’s the full announcement:
Anthony Martial s’est présenté ce lundi à 11h00 au rassemblement de l’Equipe de France à Clairefontaine. Il a sollicité auprès de Didier Deschamps l’autorisation de se rendre en Angleterre pour y signer un contrat avec Manchester United.
Compte tenu des circonstances exceptionnelles, le sélectionneur a accédé à la demande du joueur.
Anthony Martial a quitté Clairefontaine ce lundi à 12h00. Il sera de retour mardi matin.
A bit more on Papy Djilobodji (reported Chelsea target, 10.40am), from the hardest working man in showbiz, Dominic Fifield: “He has entered the final year of his contract at Nantes and made clear his desire was to leave earlier in the summer. He’s been training with the kids ever since. Trabzonspor had a bid of around 2m Euros rejected for him last week.”
Apparently there is general bafflement in France as to why Chelsea might be interested in him. I mean, they probably need a defender, but...
So why the hell are United letting Januzaj leave, if they are indeed letting him leave? Surely they are not a club who can afford to get rid of any attacking options. Most people seem to agree that they’re a little light up top, but if the rumours are true then by tomorrow they’ll have brought in Martial but let Javier Hernandez and Januzaj leave. The keen mathematicians among you will note this is a net loss.
More from Dominic Fifield, who taps his nose and informs us all that Barry Bannan is heading on loan from Crystal Palace to Sheffield Wednesday.
Interesting couple of lines from Sky on Borussia Dortmund. According to them they are in ‘advanced talks’ to sign Adnan Januzaj on loan from Manchester United, which would be a bit of an odd one (from United’s perspective) given that he started a game not too long ago.
Also, apparently Jakub Blaszczykowski is off to Fiorentina. He’ll have big, Micah Richards-shaped shoes to fill, and no mistake.
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Your boy Tor-Kristian Karlsen has a few thoughts on potential saviour of Manchester United Anthony Martial. Go over to his Twitter timeline for the full, in context thoughts, but here’s a selection to get you United fans a little over-excited...
As for the price, Monaco clearly believe Martial is to become a world beater in a 1-2 year perspective (many "insiders" seem to agree) (6/7)
— Tor-Kristian Karlsen (@karlsentk) August 31, 2015
Roma have completed the signing of midfielder William Vainqueur from Dynamo Moscow. I must confess I’m not absolutely familiar with his work - anyone?
Word doing the rounds is that Sunderland have agreed a fee with Liverpool for Fabio Borini, which should be about £7million or thereabouts. More details on that one here:
Quick couple of bits on Chelsea now, and a few reports in France reckon they’re talking to Nantes over Papy Djilobodji, a centre-half/defensive midfielder who had been interesting Celta Vigo and Trabzonspor. The John Stones knock-back has seen them scrabbling for new targets, it seems.
Meanwhile, our man Dominic Fifield reckons they’re going to be sending out a few more players on loan, bringing their total of lent out men to 29. Victor Moses is on his way to West Ham, Jeremie Boga is off to Rennes while Nathaniel Chalobah will join Napoli.
On that last one, all the best to Chalobah, for Napoli manager Maurizio Sarri was asked what qualities his new signing would bring to the team yesterday, and he said: “I couldn’t tell you, as I don’t know anything about the player.”
Marca have a typically overwrought take on the David De Gea situation...
What is sure is that whatever happens, the story comes to an end today. This is the final act of this summer’s drama and at midnight the curtains will close. And like all good dramas, we won’t know who comes out the winner until the very last scene. De Gea, nearly as tortured as poor Hamlet was, is asking himself the same question over and over: To be, or not to be… Real’s keeper.
That Perisic deal might not actually be the last piece of business for Inter, if you consider what Roberto Mancini said after their win over Carpi on Sunday.
“The fact remains this is a very small squad and some roles are completely uncovered,” he told Sport Mediaset. “We’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
Did you have fun last night? I did. I went to see excellent band TV On The Radio, who were, being an excellent band, excellent. Enjoy this.
It’s not that Ronald Koeman doesn’t think Victor Wanyama can do better than Southampton, but he certainly thinks he can do better than Tottenham.
Maybe it’s good for Victor to talk to Morgan [Schneiderlin]. Because I think Morgan is more happy now than he was last year, even to do the move that he wanted at that moment. We like to grow, we like to keep the best players. Of course, if there is a player with one year to go or who finishes his contract, then that situation is totally different.
“Victor has two more years of contract. Come on. If Victor comes back how we like, then there’s no problem. If he keeps going like this, then he is playing with his own future and that’s not good.”
Koeman was asked directly if Wanyama had specifically asked for a transfer. “Yes,” Koeman replied. “We had a meeting, and that’s true. But it’s the same as with Sadio [Mané] or anyone – nobody is for sale. It’s an easy answer and the players have to accept that.”
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More Sky Sources news (something that coincidentally appeared in Another National Newspaper this morning and thus covered in the Rumour Mill), and apparently West Ham are close to signing Nikica Jelavic from Hull. They’re saved!
A point raised by our boy Hytner that, in my tired and fuzzy state, I hadn’t thought of myself...
Inter's signing of Ivan Perisic means Erik Lamela will have to look to another club for a route out of Spurs #thfc
— David Hytner (@DaveHytner) August 31, 2015
It’s all kicking off at Celtic. Red hot on the heels of the Simunovic news, Inverness Caledonian Thistle have confirmed they’ve accepted an offer from the Bhoys for midfielder Ryan Christie.
Looks like Jelle Vossen hasn’t taken the signing of Joey Barton particularly well - the Belgian forward, who only signed for Burnley in July, has already left Turf Moor to join Club Brugge. Look:
De eerste woorden van @VossenJelle voor de fans van Club! #WelkomJelle https://t.co/qyTRaPMkHd
— Club Brugge KV (@ClubBrugge) August 30, 2015
Sky have got the hand-crank out to get their Sources whirring, and have spluttered out the news that Celtic have agreed a fee for Dinamo Zagreb defender Jozo Simunovic.
“Which high ranking Guardian sport person did you anger to get a bank holiday transfer window live blog?” asks Charles Horwood. Higher than that, I think. This could only have come about having angered the very gods that watch over us.
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Obviously we should all be aware that it might be the end of the transfer window in England tomorrow, but it shuts all around Europe tonight. So Spanish, German, Italian and French clubs will have to get their business done today, meaning Real Madrid have about another 13 hours to come up with the dough for David de Gea. Here’s what Van Gaal had to say about that, after Sergio Romero did his ‘dad playing in the back garden with his five-year-old so dives out the way to let him score’ act against Swansea yesterday:
We have to wait and see. I don’t want to interfere. As a manager we have divided our tasks and the task is for Ed Woodward, not for me. So I don’t want to interfere with words or nothing. It is a process and we have to wait and see, the club shall announce it when it is finished.”
DONE DEAL!
We’re cooking on gas here. Only 23 minutes into the blog and we’ve already got a confirmed, bona fide, actual transfer. For Ivan Perisic has followed Kevin De Bruyne out of the door marked ‘Do One’ at Wolfsburg in favour of signing for Inter. Wolfsburg are however closing in on Julian Draxler, and have already snaffled Dante from Bayern Munich.
If you’re interested in the thoughts of peripheral figures like managers, rather than those really in the know such as blokes on Twitter who claim they’re agents and are for some reason letting the world know every in and out of every transfer rumour, here’s Louis van Gaal:
When you are scouting players, you already know in advance more than a month or two months which ones you can buy or not. It’s not that we are in a panic at the last moment. When you see the game, we were the dominant team but you have to score more and not concede the goals.
You can never speak as a club as Manchester United that you are satisfied because that depends on the process. But, certainly, we shall not buy at the end of the transfer period a player that we haven’t scouted before.
We know in advance what is happening and what is not happening. It’s not an issue. We have to keep on and, in January, the window is open. It is a process and I cannot change the process. It is not only dependent on the player but the club. It is a lot of things that you cannot force.”
So are Manchester United going to buy a striker? They bloody well need to, and would still need to even if Wayne Rooney wasn’t playing like a traffic bollard, so thin are their options up top. The big talk this morning is of course that they’re shipping Javier Hernandez out to Bayer Leverkeusen, and replacing him with Monaco’s Anthony Martial, for whom they have offered a reported £36million. Yowks. You can sense the presence of Jorge Mendes in every move, can’t you? Apparently they’re also pondering a move for Charlie Austin too, which...well, he is a striker...
Let’s start with some gossip. Maybe the answers lie within the Rumour Mill. Today’s edition is jam-packed with tales from the grapevine that will almost certainly happen, absolutely nailed on, no danger of any false talk here.
Morning all. Two days to go, then. Two more days of this most profligate of transfer windows. Another 33 hours for clubs to buy players they need, buy players they don’t need and sell players who are scweaming and scweaming until they’re sick like a moneyed Violet Elizabeth Bott but wearing those weird pumps with the brilliant white soles they all seem to have now, in order to force through a move.
Let’s join hands and take our deep breaths. It’s nearly done. Enjoy it. And if you can’t enjoy it, tolerate it. And if you can’t tolerate it, turn off the TV, turn off the phone, throw your computer down a well and hammer large pieces of crooked wood against your windows until 6pm tomorrow.
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