Gossip: Cavani, Adebayor, De Gea, Wanyama

Editor F365

Arsenal turned down Cavani as he has ‘no re-sale value’, Adebayor stalled on Villa as he received no sign from God, Spurs offered £20m plus players for Wanyama, and some De Gea fallout.

 

DID ARSENAL WANT CAVANI?
Ahh, the day after transfer deadline day. A wonderful occasion where absolutely no-one publishes ‘Transfer Deadline Day: As It Happened’ pieces. And as it happened, not much happened.

Such was the case with Edinson Cavani’s proposed move to Arsenal. According to the Independent, the Gunners’ interest in the PSG striker has been ‘overstated’ throughout the summer. On top of that, a club source claims a move for Karim Benzema was ‘never a serious possibility’.

John Cross’ post-mortem in the Daily Mirror offers a different perspective, however. He says Arsenal did make moves for ‘top strikers’ in the summer, including only reaching ‘first base’ with Benzema *shudder*. Real didn’t want to sell, Benzema didn’t want to leave, and Arsenal didn’t want to spend a huge wad of cash. Simple.

Cross’ Cavani claims conflict with the Independent’s, however. He says Arsenal did make a move for the Uruguayan – including a call in the last few days of the window – but didn’t want to meet the £50m valuation. Why? The 28-year-old ‘has no sell-on value’.

It all sounds very Arsene.

 

ADEBAYOR WANTED SIGN FROM GOD
Glorious stuff from Emmanuel Adebayor. The Togolese striker’s deadline day demands for Tottenham to hand him a £5m pay-off to leave the club are well-documented. Stunningly, Spurs didn’t cave in and the forward remains frozen out at White Hart Lane.

Matt Law of the Daily Telegraph brings us news of Adebayor’s two failed moves: One to Aston Villa and another to West Ham. Firstly, the latter fell through after Adebayor himself failed to turn up for a medical, with the Hammers turning to Victor Moses to fill their Premier League loan quota.

Secondly, the Aston Villa stuff. Law supports the widely-held claims that Adebayor was almost certain of a move to Villa Park at the end of July, having completed a medical and posed for pictures in the club shirt. The move fell through after Adebayor ‘stalled on the deal by claiming that he wanted a sign from God that it would be the correct move’.

Adebayor is also understood to have ‘consulted his pastor’ over a move to the Midlands, with Tim Sherwood eventually growing tired of the whole saga and abandoning the deal himself.

Never change, Emmanuel.

 

MORE STUFF ON SORRY SPURS
No deadline day arrivals for Spurs then, although the Evening Standard claim they tried their hardest to bring Southampton midfielder Victor Wanyama to White Hart Lane.

Tom Collomosse claims Spurs were prepared to pay ‘up to £20million’ for the Kenyan midfielder, as well as offering either Andros Townsend or Erik Lamela in part-exchange.

Spurs also retained an interest in Zenit St Petersburg midfielder Axel Witsel, say the Standard, but the Belgian will remain with the Russian side until at least January.

 

STUNNER ON AUSTIN
The Guardian reports that QPR ‘fielded no concrete bids’ for Charlie Austin over the final month of the transfer window. Both Crystal Palace and Leicester had £12m bids turned down earlier in the summer, but because that isn’t actually £15m (we’ve had this confirmed), Rangers did not relent. Austin has one year left on his deal at Loftus Road, and will be #hotproperty come January.

 

PEACE CENTRAL TO BAGGIES WAR
After Saido Berahino’s deadline day revelations that he will “never play Jeremy Peace” – presumably in an upcoming biopic on the West Brom chairman – we’re still reeling. Plenty for the Baggies to clear up in the aftermath, but the Telegraph reports that boss Tony Pulis ‘is understood to feel some sympathy’ towards the Burundi-born frontman.

Pulis had been open to the sale of Berahino in order to fund reinforcements to the rest of his squad, with QPR pair Austin and Matty Phillips his main targets.

West Brom received two final bids for Berahino from Spurs on Tuesday, with Peace rejecting both of them after being ‘irritated’ by Spurs’ reported planned staggering of payments.

 

REAL TOOK DE P*SS
That’s the claim from pretty much every national newspaper on Wednesday morning. Although the deal could only have been completed by Monday, the fall-out continued to dominate deadline day on Tuesday, with Real and Manchester United both releasing bullet-pointed statements explaining their side of negotiations.

Well, on Wednesday, the claims are that Real deliberately delayed on their De Gea paperwork. The Daily Express, via senior United club sources, say Real did not allow Costa Rica keeper Keylor Navas to travel to Manchester for a medical ahead of his part-exchange, with the player’s agent then refusing to answer calls from Old Trafford.

Regardless of their intentions – whether it was to unsettle De Gea further but still get him on the cheap in January or for free in the summer – many have accused Real of ‘sabotaging’ the deal purposely. Drama.

 

BEST OF THE REST
Former Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov, 34, failed to secure a surprise deadline-day return to the Premier League after negotiations with Aston Villa…Manchester United made a late £26.4m bid to sign midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu, 21, from Bayer Leverkusen…Bournemouth failed to sign former Cherries striker Lewis Grabban, 27, despite making an improved £7m bid for the Norwich City player…Everton turned down a bid of up to £8m from Norwich City for Scotland forward Steven Naismith, 28…Naismith was also a target for Sunderland in the last few hours of the transfer window…Stoke City forward Jon Walters, 31, has been left stuck at the club because the Potters could not agree a deal for Crystal Palace’s 31-year-old midfielder Mile Jedinak…Arsenal forward Joel Campbell, 23, who last played for the club in January, is back in the squad after a loan spell at Villarreal…Newcastle United turned down interest from former boss Alan Pardew to take defender Paul Dummett, 23 to Crystal Palace.