Football transfer rumours: Juan Mata to sign for Arsenal on a free transfer?
The Mill is up bright and early, licking its lips ahead of a huge showdown between Arsenal and Manchester United later on. Who will come out on top in the tug-of-war for Juan Mata? To be fair, there’s little indication United are pulling especially hard: Mata’s contract runs out in the summer and there’s been scant progress on a new deal, so let the games commence. The Gunners believe Mata won’t be put off by the underwhelming fortunes of recent transfers – in either direction – between the two, but they have Juventus, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain for company and, of course, need to face him and his team-mates in an actual football match this evening.
Thierry Henry suspended by Monaco as manager after 104 days in charge
Anyone awaiting a real blockbuster signing at the Emirates this winter may be waiting … a while. There’ll be no Andrey Arshavin in the snow this year but there could be a loan move for Paris Saint-Germain’s versatile Christopher Nkunku, a 21-year-old midfielder who can also fill in up and down the right-hand side. Arsenal will turn to him if their long-running pursuit of Barcelona’s Denis Suárez falls flat, with the Catalan club playing hardball over a permanent deal. Sevilla or Real Betis could be Suárez’s next destination. In the meantime it’s scraps from the cupboard in N5 at the moment.
Talking of scraps – albeit of a different stripe – connoisseurs of uncompromising, brick-outhouse defending in the Uruguayan mould will be curious to see that Diego Godin is set to end his long spell with Atlético Madrid and join Inter Milan in the summer.
Barcelona’s winter dealings have the feeling of an alien trying a little too hard to blend in with us mere earthlings. First Kevin-Prince Boateng bowls up at the Nou Camp and now, if reports are to be believed, Nicolás Otamendi is being lined up to shore up the La Liga leaders’ defence. He could be freed up be Manchester City if Pep Guardiola can snaffle Ajax’s supremely talented Matthijs de Ligt. Next up for Barça? Presumably Scott Arfield and Sol Bamba.
Next up for City, though, could be a raid of Spain’s other big power. David Silva is getting on a bit, so what harm another midfielder with silky technique and a low centre of gravity? That man might be Isco, who is out of favour under Real Madrid head honcho Santiago Solari and could depart in the summer if the status quo remains.
In more assiduous planning for pre-season, Liverpool will apparently find their names inserted in a brand new contract for the RB Leipzig striker Timo Werner – allowing them, along with nine other unspecified clubs, to take him for £61m if he signs the deal. Somebody who won’t be arranging tours to the far east this summer, though, is Thierry Henry. As trailed yesterday, he’s been shown the door by Monaco and looks set to be replaced by the man he … erm … replaced, Leonardo Jardim. His old chum Patrick Vieira has problems of his own at Nice: Cardiff want to sign his defensive midfielder Adrien Tameze and have had a bid rejected.
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