Gossip: Manolas for Arsenal, Son out of Spurs
ARSENAL TURN BACK TO MANOLAS
Quite what they thought of a defensive performance that saw Roma lose 3-0 at home to Porto is unclear, but the Daily Mail claim that Arsenal sent scouts to watch Konstantinos Manolas on Tuesday night for what must be the gazillionth time since he became a Gunners target about three years ago. The Greek centre-half is a target once again after Arsenal seemingly hot a brick wall with Shkodran Mustafi, Jonny Evans (with West Brom wanting £25m) and Phil Jones.
The Jones story is interesting, with the general consensus being that the former England international has been told (and is ‘content’, according to reports) that he does have a future at Old Trafford and will not be moving to either Arsenal or Stoke. Though quite whether that will still be the case if United push through a move for Jose Fonte in the final days of the window is unclear.
Manolas would presumably cost roughly double the £11m that Roma paid for his services in 2014 – which would still make him cheaper than Evans.
SPURS SEND WINGER ON HIS WAY…
Well that went well. Just a year after signing Son Heung-Min for £22m, Tottenham are willing to listen to offers for the South Korean and Wolfsburg are said to be interested. Despite his big-money signing, Son started just 13 Premier League games for Spurs last season and scored just four goals in the top flight.
Also heading out of Tottenham are Ryan Mason (to Hull), Nabil Bentaleb (to Newcastle as part-payment for Moussa Sissoko) and Clinton N’Jie (to Marseille on loan as part of the protracted deal to sign Georges Kevin Nkoudou. What about poor Nacer Chadli? He hasn’t even made it onto the bench for Tottenham so far this season.
AND THE REST
Everton have made a £25.8m bid for Napoli striker Manolo Gabbiadini…Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala want to sign Newcastle midfielder Cheick Tiote…Everton will bid a mere £1.25 million for Curacao international Cuco Martina…Loic Remy could be heading to Crystal Palace on loan…Napoli are ready to take 25-year-old Manchester City defender Eliaquim Mangala on loan…Southampton manager Claude Puel is targeting Lyon forward Rachid Ghezzal…Watford are close to signing Newcastle United right-back Daryl Janmaat…Hull caretaker manager Mike Phelan wants to make Aston Villa defender Micah Richards his first signing…West Brom are chasing 22-year-old Leeds United full-back Charlie Taylor…Newcastle United keeper Tim Krul, 28, is set to sign a new contract before joining Ajax on a season-long loan…QPR are hopeful of signing Nicklas Bendtner.