Transfer Rumors (26 August 08): Falcao for Tottenham, City in for old boy Wright-Phillips, Arsenal’s Senderos secures Milan loan move, and more
We’re one day closer to the end of the transfer window, and as expected, there’s a mad dash by many to make moves happen before time runs out. So, let’s get a move on and get started with today’s transfer roundup.
Tottenham are reportedly set to make a £7m move for Colombian striker Falcao. The 22-year old River Plate star was watched by Spurs on the weekend, and he‘s also drawn interest from the likes of Arsenal.
Rumor Rating: 4 - He’d certainly be an inexpensive option compared to some of the others they’ve been linked with.
The Daily Mail says that Manchester City have offered Chelsea £10m to try to lure Shaun Wright-Phillips back to the club that he left in 2005.
Rumor Rating: 3 - There’s really not a lot keeping Wright-Phillips at Chelsea, but does he want to go back to City? That’s the big question.
The Daily Mail also says that Aston Villa are closing in on a £7.5m deal for Reading striker Kevin Doyle.
Rumor Rating: 3 - They don’t necessarily need another option up front, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to add more quality there.
Everton have finally made a little headway in the transfer market, and not a moment too soon. The Toffees have snapped up Danish defender Lars Christian Jacobsen on a free transfer, and they’re also reportedly nearing a £2.5m deal for Guinean defender Kamil Zayatte, who plays for Swiss side Young Boys.
Rumor Rating: 5 - Expect David Moyes to also address the midfield this week, may it be by finally getting Tiago to come around and come back to England, or going down another road.
Fulham are being linked with Valencia striker Nikola Zigic. The tall Serbian striker has been linked with multiple Premier League sides throughout the summer, but nothing has materialized as of yet.
Rumor Rating: 3 - Given that Andy Johnson’s health might be a question mark, it wouldn’t hurt for Fulham to add another option up front, so Zigic would certainly be a quality addition.
Reading are set to sign Sheffield United’s Chris Armstrong in a £750k deal.
Rumor Rating: 5 - Armstrong was linked to Ipswich for a good while this summer, but Reading have ponied up the right fee to nab the 26-year old, who’s been at Sheffield United since 2003.
Valencia seem pretty intent on holding on to David Villa, as they have rejected a €47m bid from Real Madrid for their star forward.
Rumor Rating: 2 - With all the players that they are allowing to leave the club already, Valencia could very well take the money and run when it comes to both Villa and David Silva for the sake of building towards the future, but keeping two of their prized assets shows the present is very much on Unai Emery’s agenda.
Manchester City’s on-loan forward Nery Castillo is set to end his spell in the Premier League and move to Real Betis on loan.
Rumor Rating: 5 - Things haven’t quite worked out for Castillo since he left Olympiakos last summer, but the move to Betis could prove to pay off for him, and frankly, it needs to for the sake of his hopes of remaining in Sven-Goran Eriksson‘s plans with the Mexican national team.
AC Milan are set to wrap up a loan deal for Arsenal defender Philippe Senderos. The deal includes the option for a permanent deal in the region of €7m-8m.
Rumor Rating: 5 - This deal might mean that Rennes, who were interested in Johan Djorou, might have to look somewhere else, since Arsene Wenger might cut off the departures from here after letting Senderos and Armand Traore go in the last few days.
Hamburg SV are set to fill the gap left by Vincent Kompany’s sale to Manchester City with the signing of Brazilian defender Alex Silva from Sao Paulo.
Rumor Rating: 5 - The 23-year old, whose older brother is Benfica defender and Brazilian international Luisao, was part of Brazil’s bronze-winning Olympic squad.
PSV are set to sign FC Groningen striker Stefan Nijland for a fee of €4m. The 20-year old has penned a five-year deal with his new club.
Rumor Rating: 5 - Leaving Groningen behind certainly won’t be easy for Nijland, as his father is a director at the club, but he certainly has a bright future ahead of him.
Zenit St. Petersburg have broken the Russian transfer record, buying Dinamo Moscow’s Danny Alves for €30m. The 25-year old Portuguese playmaker cost nearly twice as much as Maniche did when he moved from Porto to Dynamo Moscow for €16m in 2005.
Rumor Rating: 5 - Automatic replacement for Andrei Arshavin? Maybe, maybe not, considering that it’s not exactly a sure thing that Arshavin is leaving.
Well, that’s it for another day in transfer news and rumors. I’m sure there’ll be plenty to report on tomorrow, but until then, chime in with your thoughts on today’s tidbits, chip in with ones that you’ve read and heard, and make sure you check out the updated summer transfer lists.
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erm… Nery Castillo joined Man C from Shakhtar Donetsk though he did play for Olimpiakos before that, so maybe thats what’s meant.
And there it is, what I said yesterday…Djourou cannot be leaving. Though I think we should have sold Senderos now instead of waiting after a loan because we could use the cash.
Also, Zenit St. Petersburg would be smart in keeping Andrei Arshavin along with Danny Alves because they are going to play Man United in the Super Cup…and winning that would make their season an instant success. Plus, I think they might have higher hopes than UEFA Cup this year and possibily moving up to the Champ. League.
Though for 30mill, I think they might need to sell someone at least to balance out the budget a little bit.
David Villa is not a €47mill man. I am sorry, but I would have taken that money in a heartbeat. You could buy 3 or 4 high quality players(all of them worth €10mill or more each) and still have some cash left over. You have to think do you want one superstar, or an overall higher quality team…plus if they were holding out for any higher that would offically be insane. And besides…they have a good team already, its not like the team becomes horrible with his departure. I think maybe if Real offered this 10 days ago they might have accepted it, because then there is much more time to bring in replacements and other players. If they accepted it, it would take another day or two to get finalized and then there would be two or three days left to bring someone else in. Bad thinking on Real’s part.
I think this move not going through has an effect on the Robinho trade…its looking less likely to happen now because of this.