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Hot Football Transfer Gossip: Manchester United 'target Hart', Manchester City 'want Kyle Walker', Arsenal 'lead Van Dijk chase'

Transfer targets: Kyle Walker, Manchester United target Joe Hart, Virgil van Dijk
Transfer targets: Kyle Walker, Manchester United target Joe Hart, Virgil van Dijk

Tony Coton.

Boom – you weren’t expecting those to be the first two words of any article you read in 2017, were you? But Hot Football Transfer Gossip is prepared to say the things other football transfer gossip columns won’t.

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Today, that thing is Tony Coton, and the reason for repeatedly saying Tony Coton is that he was the last footballer Manchester United signed from Manchester City. Until now.

The year of that transfer was 1996 and the fee was £500,000. Fast forward 21 years, add £29.5m and history could be about to repeat itself. Except this time, the goalkeeper does not have a moustache. It’s Joe Hart.

The Sunday Mirror reports that England’s No1 is set to become the first man in over two decades to move from the blue half of Manchester to the red. It’s controversial, but it illustrates just how little Pep Guardiola cares about what Hart does with his life.

“Nothing will be ruled out,” a City “source” told the tabloid, as Jose Mourinho reportedly added Hart to his list of potential replacements for David de Gea.

If Hart does move to Old Trafford, let’s hope he fares better than Tony Coton, who didn’t make a single appearance for the Red Devils and was offloaded to Sunderland before he’d even had the chance to show Alex Ferguson his moustache (which, incidentally, was excellent).

Meanwhile, the Sunday Mirror also reports that Antoine Griezmann’s proposed £85m move to Old Trafford from Atletico Madrid hinges on whether the club qualifies for the Champions League (and, presumably, if his bromance with Paul Pogba is still going on).

As for Guardiola, he will use some of the money he gets for Hart to sign Tottenham right-back Kyle Walker, says the Sun on Sunday. Spurs will demand a “mega fee” of £50m for the 26-year-old, who is unhappy at White Hart Lane because he apparently earns “less than £60,000 a week”. Even the tea ladies get more than that at the Etihad.

The Daily Star Sunday says Guardiola will take on Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger to sign Southampton centre-back Virgil can Dijk for £50m, which is a battle that Guardiola will surely win, unless Wenger uses some kind of special laser.

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Elsewhere, Chelsea manager Antonio Conte says it could be “impossible” to keep Eden Hazard at Stamford Bridge if Real Madrid decide to buy him (Sunday Times), the Blues are “at the front of the queue” to sign Monaco midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko despite rival interest from Bayern Munich and Juventus (Mail on Sunday) and misfiring Tottenham striker Vincent Janssen insists he will not leave Spurs this summer (Sun on Sunday). And even if they decide to sell him, he’ll just lock himself in the changing room and refuse to come out (although that plan could backfire once they start demolishing White Hart Lane).