Gossip: Silva, Kane, Weigl, Alonso, Ozil

Daniel Storey

ARSENAL WANT SILVA TO REPLACE SANCHEZ
With it becoming increasingly clear that Alexis Sanchez is on the next train out of Dodge, thoughts have inevitably turned to his potential replacement. Tuesday brings a new name to that ever-growing list: Milan striker Andre Silva.

Now Silva only joined Milan in the summer for a fee of £35m from Porto, but has so far not scored a goal in Serie A. With Vincenzo Montella’s team struggling for progress after a massive summer spend, The Sun believe that Silva could be tempted by a move to Arsenal.

We’ll say two things here:

1) Silva is not a replacement for Sanchez. They are completely different players.
2) The story is an exclusive from Alvise Cagnazzo. His hit rate is astoundingly low.

 

LOTS MORE KANE WAFFLE
It’s definitely a coincidence that there are lots of ‘Harry Kane to Real Madrid’ stories during the week in which Tottenham face Real Madrid. It’s definitely not the Spanish media attempting to unsettle the Tottenham striker and alter the mood in the Tottenham camp. Nor is it people sneakily taking advantage of the fact that SEO terms ‘Tottenham’ and ‘Real Madrid’ will do very well this week. Oh no.

Still, we can only report what we’re told. The Times quote Daniel Levy saying that Kane is worth more than £200m. The Sun report that Zinedine Zidane has failed to rule out a move for Harry Kane, although it’s worth pointing out that Fleetwood manager Uwe Rosler has also not ruled out making a move. The Daily Mirror say that Real Madrid will make a £150m move for Kane. Don Balon say that Real will move for Marcus Rashford if they can’t get Kane.

That is an awful lot of speculation about one player on one day.

 

GUARDIOLA EYES WEIGL
One thing we can get on board with – and losing Harry Kane to La Liga is not something we want – is Manchester City signing Julian Weigl. Central midfield is just about the only obvious weakness in Pep Guardiola’s squad, and Weigl would answer that issue beautifully. Fernandinho and Yaya Toure are both out of contract next summer.

Spanish newspaper AS report that Barcelona want Weigl to be their long-term replacement for Sergio Busquets, but say they face serious competition from Guardiola and City. Weigl is only 22 and has a contract that runs until 2021, so it will cost whichever club signs him a heck of a lot of money.

Is it just us that hopes Guardiola lets Weigl go to Barcelona and signs Busquets instead? Even at 29, it would be lovely to see him in England.

 

AND THE REST
Arsenal are ready to try and find a January buyer for Mesut Ozil… Liverpool are heading the queue of Premier League big guns hoping to prise exciting young midfielder David Brooks away from Sheffield United… Dave Whelan is set to sell Wigan for £15million… Marcos Alonso is being lined up as a potential replacement for Barcelona left-back Jordi Alba… Swansea are discussing a deal for Slovenian left-back Matic Paljk… Alvaro Morata could lead Chelsea’s attack against AS Roma in the Champions League (we hope so…he’s in Big Midweek).