Gossip: Samper, Boufal, Depoitre, Afobe

Daniel Storey

Samper wants Arsenal move, Spurs eye Boufal and Depoitre (us neither), Villa prepare Afobe bid…

 

SAMPER TO ARSENAL
We’re starting in the Metro today, which we hope you’ll agree is a horrible thing to have to do. It’s like starting a meal by eating sheep’s eyeballs for starter.

They claim that Barcelona midfielder Sergi Samper is ‘willing to accept’ a move to Arsenal. That supposes that an offer even comes his way.

The Metro get their golden gossip from their Spanish pen pal Fichajes.net. We’ve used the scientific tools of Google translate to bring you Fichajes’ take on the deal.

‘The player knows he must seize each and every opportunity you have, but it is also true that it is difficult for a squad turn into a key player for FC Barcelona, ​​so many players have to find life on other computers.’

We’ll be very surprised if that other computer is Arsenal.

 

SPURS EYE BOUFAL AND DEPOITRE (US NEITHER)
Gossip might be thin on the ground (and it is so, so thin), but two news outlets report interest from Tottenham in different players.

The first is the Daily Star’s claim that Mauricio Pochettino wants to sign Lille playmaker Sofiane Boufal. He’s a little gem who has understandably been dubbed as the ‘new Eden Hazard’.

Lille captain Rio Mavuba recently restarted the hype machine after Boufal’s excellent start to the Ligue Un season: “He reminds me of Eden when he was playing here. It is striking, he likes the ball, even if he plays too much sometimes. But he is young, you have to let him grow.”

Elsewhere, French radio station RTL claims that Spurs will make an approach for Gent forward Laurent Depoitre in January.

Depoitre would be both an odd and underwhelming signing. He’s scored six goals in ten league games for Gent this season, but only made the top tier in Belgium at the start of last season and has just been called up to the Belgium squad for the first time. He’s 26.

 

VILLA PREPARE AFOBE BID
It’s a link that has surfaced before, but there are further claims that Aston Villa will try and sign Benik Afobe from Wolves for a fee of over £10m in January.

The Birmingham Mail report the link without adding much flesh to the bones, normally an indication that they aren’t buying it. The Metro also pick up on the rumour which looks like it began in The Sun.

The Sun claim that Tim Sherwood will go over £10m for Afobe, with a contract worth around £50,000 a week. That relies on him still being in charge in January, which looks mightily unlikely on current form.