Gossip: Real want Alexis, Roy wants Jack, Coutinho stuck
REAL MADRID WANT SANCHEZ
This is delivered with a barrel-load of salt as it comes from Don Balon, who really do specialise in spurious bullsh*t. They claim that Real Madrid realise they need a new striker and have come up with a list of names to fill that position. The surprise name on that list is Arsenal (and crucially former Barcelona) forward Alexis Sanchez.
Other players mentioned are Timo Werner (Leipzig), Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo), Andrea Belotti (Torino), Kasper Dolberg (Ajax), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund). So that’s pretty much every striker in Europe then.
ROY WANTS WILSHERE AT PALACE
Of course he does. Why on earth did we not see this coming before the Daily Mail? Jack Wilshere was a favourite of Roy Hodgson as England manager (only five players were picked more) and Jack Wilshere is now in need of a new home as he is very much a peripheral player at Arsenal, where he is out of contract at the end of the season.
Hodgson will ‘monitor’ his involvement at Arsenal before deciding whether to pay a nominal fee in January for the central midfielder. He should have no problem finding the cash; the Daily Star say he will have up to £40m to spend.
BARCA DO NOT WANT COUTINHO
There was always the possibility that Barcelona would start the season at a canter and decide that they did not really need to spend over £100m on Liverpool’s third or fourth-best player. According to reports in Spain, they are ready to give up on the Brazilian and go for a cheaper alternative instead.
That cheaper alternative is Nice midfielder Jean Michel Seri, who could be bought at a fraction of the price and would probably be happy to provide squad depth.
AND THE REST
Burnley have taken former Manchester United goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard on trial…Everton are weighing up a January bid for Celtic’s Scottish right-back Anthony Ralston…Tottenham, Everton and Burnley are all interested in Werder Bremen midfielder Thomas Delaney…Atletico Madrid are increasingly confident they have made a breakthrough in negotiations to re-sign 28-year-old forward Diego Costa.