Gossip: Lallana, Klopp, Payet, James, Van Dijk
PSG EYEING LALLANA
Our favourite kind of nonsense here at Football365 is new nonsense and this is such new nonsense that we can still smell the paint. According to The Sun: ‘PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN are ready to break the bank to land Adam Lallana.’ Do banks break if you spend £40m on a 28-year-old England international and offer to pay him £200,000 a week.
A ‘PSG insider’ is quoted as saying: “Adam is seen as a player of real quality in the Premier League.”
But by far our favourite part of the story is this: ‘The interest comes just days after Lallana, who earns £70,000 a week, and Jordan Henderson made a 220-mile round trip on England duty to visit a strip club in Bournemouth. PSG, close to the city’s famous Moulin Rouge, can also offer Champions League football.’
It’s the ‘can also’ that is really amusing us.
BAYERN WANT KLOPP
Oh my. This is so wonderfully flawed that it has to be seen to be believed.
According to the Sunday Mirror: ‘Liverpool are facing a fight to keep Jurgen Klopp out Bayern Munich’s reach. The Reds’ chief has emerged as the number one target to replace Carlo Ancelotti as the Bavarian giants’ season spirals out of control. Pressure is growing on the Italian after Leipzig’s 4-1 victory over Freiburg on Friday night opened up a six-point gap at the top of the Bundesliga.’
So did that pressure ease when Bayern beat Bayer Leverksen on Saturday night and halved that gap? Odd that the report does not mention that despite being published AFTER the game.
Anyway, Carlo Ancelotti is under pressure and of course Jurgen Klopp is the obvious man to replace him. But is there anything in Klopp’s demeanour that suggests he would be remotely tempted by Munich just over a year into a Liverpool project?
PAYET TO MAN UNITED?
What a handy piece of gossip on the day that Manchester United are playing West Ham. According to the Sunday Mirror: ‘Old Trafford boss Jose Mourinho is a big fan of the France winger and has made a wide player a priority as he attempts to mould his side into Premier League title contenders.’ The price would be £35m, it says here, but it’s unlikely that Payet will be sold in January with the Hammers in potential relegation trouble.
Alarm bells are sounding at a report that says Mourinho ‘is desperate to add pace and width to his team’. Hmm, we really wouldn’t say that Payet is the quickest.
JAMES TO CHELSEA OR MAN UNITED
Real Madrid’s James Rodriguez is ‘one of two major targets for Antonio Conte in January’, according to an exclusive in the Sunday Express. Geoffrey Kondogbia is apparently Chelsea’s other major January target but it’s James who is the more interesting as it’s not often that one of the most expensive players in football history becomes available, with the Colombian reportedly ready to leave Real Madrid. Jose Mourinho is also said to be interested, presumably because he is desperate to ‘add pace and width to his team’.
James started only his third La Liga game of the season on Saturday night in the absence of the injured Gareth Bale.
VAN DIJK TO MAN CITY?
Quite how the Daily Star Sunday can claim this is as an ‘exclusive’ is anybody’s guess but they are going big on the richest club in the Premier League (who have a problem in central defence) targeting probably the best centre-half in the Premier League right now. Well join the queue, Pep, because Manchester United and Liverpool are also said to be interested in the imperious Dutchman.
The price will apparently be £30m or more for Van Dijk, who has spoken this weekend about his shock at the exit of Ronald Koeman to Everton.
AND THE REST
Manchester City have also stepped up their interest in signing Sporting Lisbon winger Gelson Martins…Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois will consider running down the remaining two years of his contract at Stamford Bridge amid interest from Real Madrid…Stoke City manager Mark Hughes will consider offering 35-year-old striker Peter Crouch another season with the Potters.
