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HOT FOOTBALL TRANSFER GOSSIP: Chelsea ‘want James Rodriguez’
Everyone knows Jose Mourinho dislikes attacking midfielders with a natural aversion to defending almost as much as he dislikes losing at home to Bournemouth. Everyone except the Daily Express, who reveal that Mourinho’s big target for next summer is Real Madrid’s James Rodriguez - the supremely gifted Colombian who only tracks back if you specifically tell him to. The paper says the Blues are monitoring James due to “concerns over Cesc Fabregas’s influence’ which can be taken one of two ways, neither of them good. At least one thing James would have in common with Chelsea’s fans if he does move to west London is that he thinks Rafa Benitez is a plum (allegedly).
In one of the least surprising announcements of the season, Barcelona chief Josep Bartomeu has revealed that Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez are not for sale, reports the Sun. Now wait for tomorrow’s story in the Sun about Neymar going to Man Utd and Messi going to Man City.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is also being a bit of a spoilsport on the transfer gossip front, claiming in the Telegraph that he will not sign any players in January because he wants to give the current mob a chance to "prove themselves”. Which is all very well, but what about all the people who make a living writing transfer rumours about players signing for Liverpool? Has he thought about them and their families? And just before Christmas too. Shocking. In any case, the Telegraph does manage to sneak in a little bit of Reds gossip, claiming Klopp “admires” Schalke midfielder Leroy Sane and Marko Grujic of Red Star Belgrade, but adding that neither will be available until the summer.
It’s Tottenham’s turn to sign Michy Batshuayi today, with the Mail claiming that Spurs will make a January bid for the Marseille striker who has been linked with most of their Premier League rivals, but especially Arsenal. The Mail says Spurs will attempt to beat the Gunners to the Belgian by making an “early offer” when the transfer window opens - presumably on 1 January at about four minutes past midnight when everyone at Marseille is drunk.
Italian media have a couple of nuggets for us, in the form of Norwich forward Kyle Lafferty moving back to Palermo and Watford swooping for Roma’s 22-year-old forward Juan Iturbe.
And finally, Tony Dorigo says Aston Villa will definitely get relegated. Thanks for that, Tony.
