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HOT FOOTBALL TRANSFER GOSSIP: Vardy, Teixeira, Ozil, Mourinho
How interested do you have to be in a footballer to buy them? Very interested, you’d assume, but that’s not necessarily true. It’s a bit like sex. Sometimes we sleep with people even if we’re not particularly interested in them, just to have the sex. And if you’re a team with as much money as Manchester City, sometimes you might buy a player you don’t particularly like, just because you can.
At least that’s the implication in today’s Telegraph report that City have made a “tentative enquiry” for Jamie Vardy, whereas Chelsea’s interest in the Leicester striker is described as “more solid”. So what was it that made this enquiry so tentative? Did Manuel Pellegrini ask about Vardy in a really quiet voice? Have City’s board sent a Christmas card to their Foxes counterparts with a P.S. saying, “Vardy?”. The paper goes on to claim that City’s interest in Vardy is “not thought to be anywhere near as strong as Chelsea’s at the moment”. So are they interested in him or not? Not very, it seems, but they might just spend £30m on him anyway.
Even if Chelsea do miss out on Vardy, that £30m will come in very handy to sign Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Alex Teixeira. The Star reports that the Brazilian “hotshot” (good word, sadly underused these days) will join Guus Hiddink’s revamp next month. The uncapped South American has scored more goals this season (22) than Chelsea’s entire time have managed in the league.
Liverpool are being tipped by German media to tie up a deal for Cameroonian (another great word) defender Joel Matip, who has reportedly rejected Schalke’s latest contract offer.
Arsenal will aim to fend off interest in Mesut Ozil by offering the German a new contract that will make him the club’s best-paid player, reports the Mail. But it’s not such good news for Mathieu Flamini, who the Sun says will not be offered a new deal in the summer despite the fact he has never been on the losing side at the Emirates.
A man who started his career at Arsenal is set to end it at LA Galaxy, with the Sun reporting that free agent Ashley Cole will join Steven Gerrard’s MLS side.
And in manager gossip, Neil Warnock has told the BBC that Man Utd’s owners will not have the “bottle” to dismiss Louis van Gaal and replace him with Jose Mourinho. So forget everything else you’ve read or heard on this subject, because this is Neil Warnock talking and he’s amazing.
