Transfer Rumours transfer thread fact and fiction

Mundo Deportivo are linking us with Real Betis striker Loren Moron

I can think of a few Spurs bloggers who absolutely deserve to wear a shirt with that name on it...

 

Skriniar on the bench for Inter tonight

Interesting...

 

Gonzalo Higuain and Sami Khedira have had their Juventus contracts terminated

Hmmm...

 

Fat and crocked. Maybe fatboy if we're desperate, but I can see them both buggering off to Trumpville.

 

Or Arsenal can finally get Higuain. Been linked for several years.

 

Sell Lacazette, buy a defence, sign Higuain on a free while Martinelli and Nketiah gain experience? Makes sense.

 

I don't think Higuain enjoyed his time at Chelsea much, wasn't he very vocal in the week that the premier league is over physical and full of players who just want to kick you.

 

As opposed to the genteel defending of Serie A or the Primera Division?

 

Higuain - no, we already have one fatty, definitely don’t need another.

Khedira - possibly, injury prone but would provide decent competition (if he could remain fit) for Hojbjerg whilst Skipp’s on loan. Used to be a fantastic player, not really seen much of him at Juve though. Think Jose signed him at Madrid too IIRC so may fancy a reunion if we’re looking for DM depth.

 

This Weeks Primeira Liga Watch
A Bola are linking us with Benfica right winger Pizzi

On the stat side of things this makes a lot of sense considering his absurd stats from last season, with 18 goals and 14 assists that made him the league's assist leader and one of the three players to share the top scorer gong

There's a couple of obvious issues, though: he's got three years left on his contract, and he turns 31 in October - and on top of that we're well stocked for wingers right now with Son, Bergwijn, Lucas and Lamela so he'd be a sell-to-buy job...but as his peak will surely be a memory in a couple of seasons I can't see the logic here. If he was in his early-to-mid 20s it would obviously make sense, as we'd get a good few years of him at his peak if he was handled right, but if there is interest it's either a reactive signing where we don't need oine (unlike Hojbjerg, who was reactive because we needed him badly) or it's a Moneyball signing not unlike Clint Dempsey where his goals/assists return will be enough for a season before we move on to someone else

 

Khedira maybe could be useful. Higuain was awful at Chelsea and imo doesn’t suit the English game

 

Benfica Rando Watch
...may as well make that a thing now

The Sunday People
a.) Still exists
b.) Are linking us with Tomas Tavares, their 19-year old Portugal U19 right back

The most obvious thing to say about Tavares is he's a like-for-like replacement for Aurier, as Benfica play with two attacking fullbacks so in our asymetrical system he'd be paired with Ben Davies, although Tavares certainly appears to have better discipline going forward than Aurier has - although on the flip side he does need to work on his end product, because while he's rapid going down the flank he failed to get a single assist last season, although it's not unreasonable to expect he can be coached considering he only broke into the Benfica side last season. The other obvious drawback is he's contracted until 2024, so we're going to have to bite the bullet and pay the (presumed) release clause

Okay, there's one other thing: if we signed him we won't be able to take the piss out of David Luiz or Matteo Guendouzi anymore...

 

Non-specific Rumour Watch
Football BSider are claiming that we will sign a striker at some point in the coming week...and of course they don't actually say who that striker might be

Ligue 2 Rando Watch
Toulouse head of recruitment Jerome Fougeron says that the club are expecting their previously-linked Ivorian DM Ibrahim Sangare to leave this summer after they got relegated so hard even the algorithm couldn't save them, with the club willing to sell if anyone offers €15-20m+

Serie A Rando Watch
Il Secolo XIX (whoever the **** they are...) claim that we're looking at Sampdoria DM Ronaldo Vieira, who as it turns out isn't a regen on Football Manager but a very real player - and, more importantly, a very real player who Samp are supposedly willing to let go for £9m

Now to be honest there isn't the amount of hard data available about him as there is for Sangare so it's hard to say that he can do X or Y based on the evidence of him doing X or Y, but there's certainly one upside to him: he's HG, having come through Leeds' youth ranks and spending a couple of seasons in their first team, and he's apparently willing to come back to England - not least because he was born in Guinea Bissau and Italian fans were a bit...well, Italian about this fact

Vulture Watch
Just going back to consult the list of Valencia players we could/should be looking at due to the club becoming a complete dumpster fire
Geoffrey Kondogbia
Dani Parejo
Mouctar Diakhaby
Lee Kang-in
Kevin Gameiro
Francis Coquelin

 

Would love Doherty from Wolves but they would want a huge fee for him.
Looks like Gedson is going to be backup RB/WB and to be honest he has all the tools in his locker to be a very good attacking FB.

 

RB Watch
Various reports (which is a euphemism for "Nobody credible enough to be cited, but enough of them") say that we're going head-to-head with Atalanta to sign the aforementioned Tomas Tavares, who reportedly is available for £9m

Yes, the same Atalanta who Timothy Castagne plays for, which is why I'm a little suspicious of this version of the story - and get that bit more suspicious by the supposed pricetag, because Primeira Liga teams always put a hefty release clause in players' contracts and I'm expecting Tavares' to be at least £15m considering Ricardo Pereira had a clause worth that in the summer of 2017 where we thought it was a better idea to pay £8m more than that on Aurier

 

Contrary to popular belief, Jack Clarke hasn't joined Yeovil on loan

Instead it's a Villa youngster who also happens to be named Jack Clarke

 

Apparently Juve tried making an approach for Gio but we gave them the middle finger, thankfully.

More Rakitic rumours keep appearing too, think I’ve already said but I’d personally love it, been a player I’ve really enjoyed watching over the years. Real silky and classy player. Bit like Niko Kranjcar but more well rounded and a lot, lot better - and I liked Niko!

 

Barca have reportedly terminated Luis Suarez's contract

That'll keep the Reddit crowd distracted for a few days...

 

Would offer him a 2 year contract

 

Watching him taking a bite out of VVD or Salah and the ensuing scouser outrage would be worth the wages alone