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Top News:

The Sun suggests that Manchester United are close to sealing a deal for Udinese’s Alexis Sanchez. Until yesterday Manchester City were said to be in the pole position to sign the 22-year old winger, but United now appear to be the favourites after Chief Executive David Gill flew to Barcelona to meet Udinese president Gino Pozzo and finalise a £27m deal. This will be a major coup for the Premier League Champions and would signal a crushing blow to City for whom Sanchez was a primary summer target. (read more)

In a startling interview to a French radio station, Arsenal’s Bacary Sagna has stated that skipper Cesc Fabregas should be allowed to move to Barcelona. Amidst the current turmoil regarding the Spaniard’s future, Sagna’s comments would certainly be unwanted and he will surely have upset many Arsenal fans. We still think Fabregas will stay this year, but in football you never know.

Spicy Rumour of the day:

Chelsea will make a move for 24-year old attacking midfielder Arda Turan once they finalise the appointment of Guus Hiddink as manager, suggests the Mirror. The total value of the deal is said to be around the £18m mark and it could see the perennially crocked Jose Bosingwa going the other way. We think there is a good chance for this deal to go through.

In one of the week’s biggest surprises, the Mirror suggests that Sunderland have sent a mail to clubs across Europe regarding Asamoah Gyan’s availability on a transfer. This would come as a big shock to Sunderland’s fans especially with the player having been signed only last year and having played some tireless and exciting football. It is increasingly looking like manager Steve Bruce is going for a complete squad overhaul at the Stadium of Light.

Sounds Realistic:

According to the Mirror, Liverpool have been asked to double their initial offer of £10m for Aston Villa’s Stewart Downing. Dalglish’s valuation of the winger is wide off the mark but we believe that he will come up with the dough given the dire need for wingers at Anfield and even more so after failing to land Downing’s ex-teammate, the Old Trafford bound Ashley Young.

The Mirror reports that Newcastle are ready to pay £2m to Demba Ba’s agents as they attempt to gain the upper hand on Everton in the race to sign the 26-year old striker. Everton seem to be reluctant in making any sort of payments to sign the free-agent even though the player himself is said to be keen on a move to Goodison Park. With plenty of money in the bank from the sale of Andy Carroll, we expect Newcastle to complete this signing.

Manchester City outcast Jerome Boateng has claimed in an interview to the Mirror that he has agreed a four year deal with Bayern Munich. The weird thing about this deal is that Boateng seems to have signed a contract, before City can reach an agreement with Munich. Ideally City would want to make some profit on a young player whom they signed just last year for £11m, but Munich are reportedly not ready to even go close to City’s valuation. With the Blues unwilling to relent, this one is far from over.

According to the Daily Mail, Newcastle are on the verge of signing Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta. The 26-year old Swiss international has made it clear that he no longer wishes to stay at the BayArena and his £6m valuation should be easily matched by Newcastle. We expect this one to go through.

According to the Mirror, Arsenal will embark on a £30 million spending spree to allay their fan’s growing concerns. Ivory Coast striker Gervinho is already on the verge of signing for the Gunners and more transfers are expected to follow. Wenger is also reportedly keen on a centre back and has narrowed his search to either Blackburn’s Chris Samba or Bolton’s Gary Cahill. Other targets also include Internacional striker Leandro Damiao and AIK Stockholm full back Alexander Milosevic. We think it’s about time Arsenal made some moves in the transfer market and hope that some of these players actually end up at the Emirates.

After having missed out on Kevin Gameiro, Newcastle have turned their attention towards Paris St Germain’s Mevlut Erding. In an interview to the Metro, Alan Pardew confirmed his interest in the 24-year old striker. We think that a deal could go through especially after Gameiro’s arrival at Parc Des Princes, which would put Erding’s starting berth in jeopardy.

Palermo have slapped a monstrous £44m tag on their attacking midfielder Javier Pastore following an enquiry about his availability by Chelsea, reports the Sun. Real Madrid and Barcelona are also interested in the Argentine  but will surely flinch at the humongous valuation of the player. We expect the player to move in the summer and Palermo can sit back and relax as the imminent bidding war can only mean more cash for them.

The Daily Mail reports that Tottenham will wrap up the signing of Internacional striker Leandro Damiao in a deal believed to be in the region of £12m by the end of this week. If the signing goes through then it will give Harry some sort of relief after he failed to get a striker in the last transfer window also.

According to the Guardian, Real Madrid look set to clinch the signing of Neymar unless Chelsea increase their offer to £40m. Roman Abromovic is reportedly reluctant to pay so much for a 19-year old with unproven European credentials and we believe that the Brazilian will eventually move to Madrid, who have a reputation for throwing money (remember Huntelaar?).

The Daily Mail suggests that Manchester United’s Wes Brown has his mind set on staying in the North West and will reject a move to Sunderland. This will come as a big blow to Steve Bruce who was interested in signing the trio of Brown, O’Shea and Darron Gibson from United. Brown’s refusal has alerted both Blackburn and Bolton who will now try to entice the defender to play for them next season.

No Way Jose rumour:

The Mirror suggests that Blackburn have joined Juventus in the race to sign Roma’s Mirko Vucinic. The 27-year old striker is apparently no longer wanted at Roma and will reportedly cost prospective buyers a fee in the region of £10m, a fee that both the clubs can easily come up with. Despite Juventus’ torrid campaign where they failed to qualify for Europe, we still feel that if Vucinic leaves, he would prefer to move to one of Europe’s giants rather than to Blackburn.

According to the Metro, Chelsea and Manchester City will try to land David Villa if Barcelona choose to do the business. It is believed that the Catalan club has only £40m to spend and will have to sell in order to bring in targets such as Arsenal’s Fabregas and Villarreal’s Giuseppe Rossi. We think that there is little sense in selling a player who managed to score 18 goals in his first campaign for the club and while there may be selling at Barcelona, Villa certainly will not be among the ones who leave.

File Photograph Copyright: Shaun Brooks