Gossip: Manchester clubs battle for £60m Spurs duo

Matt Stead

WINGING IT
You get the sense that even Phil Cadden is not wholly convinced by his exclusive on the back page of The Sun on Tuesday morning. The claim is that both Manchester clubs will fight it out to sign Kyle Walker and Danny Rose from Tottenham for a combined £60million.

The issues regarding any deal are ignored, such as: Why would either player want to leave Tottenham at this stage? Why would Tottenham sell? Who really believes £60m would be enough to sign both? What about poor Matteo Darmian?

Why Manchester United and Manchester City would want the right and left-back is obvious. Walker and Rose are the Premier League’s standout full-backs, operating often essentially as wingers for Tottenham, and are infinitely better when playing together. If you sign one, you might have to sign the other.

But the fact is that Tottenham might not be persuaded to sell even one of those players to a title rival for £60m, never mind both. Neither are realistically worth that amount, but why would they strengthen a fellow contender in order to weaken themselves?

 

WINGING IT AGAIN
In what represents a huge day for wing-backs, The Times are reporting that Chelsea have two targets for January. The Italian is looking to improve the club’s wide options.

The two individuals named by Matt Hughes in his exclusive are Michail Antonio of West Ham, and Cologne’s Jonas Hector, who you might know as a long-term Liverpool target.

Conte is happy with Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso, and feels they were integral to their 13-game winning run, but that they were poor in the defeat to Tottenham. The manager ‘wants more competition for places’.

West Ham will want plenty of money for Antonio, while Hector was regularly touted at around £20m in the summer, and that was before he signed a new contract.

 

JACK THE LAD
‘Manchester City contact Arsenal over deal for star man: Other club after Gunners ace too’ is the delightfully vague headline to the Daily Star’s transfer report on Manchester City and Everton’s interest in Jack Wilshere. He has 18 months left on his contract, and his loan spell at Bournemouth has impressed interested parties.

The crux of the claim is that City ‘want to be told if the Gunners decide to sell’, which is awfully cute. Everton are also sniffing around; they do have the money nowadays.

 

 

AND THE REST
Manchester City are considering a loan deal for Bayern Munich defender Holger Badstuber…Manchester United are continuing talks with Everton over a fee for Morgan Schneiderlin…Inter Milan are set to rival Manchester United for Roma defender Kostas Manolas…Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce is ready to offer £4m for Barnsley’s young right-back James Bree who has attracted plenty of top-flight interest…West Ham are ready to allow goalkeeper Adrian to leave – and want to replace him with England star Joe Hart…Tottenham have reportedly tabled an offer for young striker Calvin Tshilumba. The 17-year-old only made his professional debut for Ligue 2 side Stade Lavallois last Friday…Everton are set to move again for Gylfi Sigurdsson. Ronald Koeman is a big fan of the Iceland international and will revive his interest after the Toffees handed him a £50m war chest…West Ham are ready to let Argentinian flop Jonathan Calleri join Las Palmas on loan with a view to a permanent £4m deal in the summer…Real Betis are keen on Stoke defender Marc Muniesa but they would have to pay around £3m…Atletico Madrid winger Nicolas Gaitan could be ready for a January loan move to the Premier League.