ROONEY TO REAL?
When there isn't a lot of gossip around in the English papers, it's always a reasonably safe bet to skip over the Spanish press for a bit of tittle tattle.
And praise be to Sport, the Barcelona-based rumour rag, who come up with a highly spurious belter for us this morning.
They report that, despite having seen 90 minutes worth of evidence on Wednesday night that throwing money at a problem doesn't necessarily work, Florentino Perez will launch a bid for Wayne Rooney in the summer.
No figures are mentioned, but such is Real Madrid's financial incontinence when they see something shiny they like, we're guessing it will be what is known in financial circles as a 'f**kload of cash'.
Obviously, with Sport being a Barca paper, we urge you to treat this with some degree of caution, but what the hey.
WHO DO REAL WANT?
With Manuel Pellegrini something of a dead man walking, talk is flying about who will take over at Real.
Arsene Wenger is thought to be Florentino Perez's choice, but as you can see here, he has told them to keep their filthy mitts to themselves.
However, The Sun has an alternative theory; Rafa Benitez.
And look at this - quotes from an anonymous source: "Rafa is the preferred choice. He is a Madrid man and his agent, Manuel Garcia Quillon, has an excellent relationship with the club.
"Above all, though, his record in Europe is exceptional. The club want to return where they believe they belong - to be the No 1 team in Europe again. They believe Rafa is the man to make that happen."
Must be true.
Also on the list are Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho, but the paper reckons Rafa is the top dog, despite some personal issues with sporting director Jorge Valdano.
AKINFEEV TIED DOWN
Manchester United have been rumoured to be sniffing around CSKA Moscow keeper Igor Akinfeev for a while now, and The Daily Mail reports that the Russian club have spotted those covetous glances and want to tie down their man.
The paper claims the keeper is seen as the successor to Edwin van der Sar at United, and with Akinfeev's current contract running out in December next year, they might've hoped to get him on the cheap.
However, CSKA don't want to lose a prize asset for nowt, which seems rather sensible to us, so they're going to offer him a new deal.
The extension will run until 2014, which will give them a little more room to negotiate when United come in with their seemingly inevitable bid.
United may face competition, with Bayern Munich, Fiorentina and even Arsenal and Chelsea also showing an interest.
DANNY BACK IN FRAME FOR CHELSEA?
We're sure we weren't the only ones who said 'Huh?' when Zenit St Petersburg splashed out something like £20million on Portuguese midfielder Danny a couple of years back.
We'd certainly never heard of him, so it either represented some great business on behalf of the selling club (Dynamo Moscow), or massive ignorance on our part. Both are quite plausible.
However, we've heard of him now, and so have Chelsea, if you believe The Daily Mail, who report that Carlo Ancelotti is hanging his nose over Danny as he returns from a cruciate ligament injury.
Should he recover sufficiently, Chelsea might be tempted to fling £25million Zenit's way.
Oh, and here's some quotes from the man himself: "The injury made it a very difficult time for me. It prevented my transfer to Chelsea, for example, and even before the injury, I nearly went to Juventus.
"But I understand their position. They have to think twice before hiring a player who has an injury."
CHELSEA AND CITY IN FOR NEYMAR
When Robinho returned to Santos on loan, there was much talk about a young player at the Brazilian club, who would dazzle us all with his skills and that.
Neymar is his name, and it was only a matter of time before the big spenders of the Premier League started getting interested.
And the player's agent has identified two rather predictable suitors: "There is every likelihood that Neymar will leave Santos in the summer. I think there are more opportunities for English teams.
"In the Premier League, he is followed by Chelsea and Manchester City, although there is nothing concrete."
AND THE REST...
Nick Montgomery is poised to walk out of Sheffield United this summer after refusing a new deal...Manchester City are to set to battle Manchester United to sign Nigerian youngster Ramon Azeez...Joseph Yobo looks set to quit Everton in the summer...Stoke are ready to offer Jermaine Pennant a move back to the Premier League...Derby hope to sign Liverpool goalkeeper David Martin on loan...Blackpool are looking to complete a loan deal for Everton defender Seamus Coleman.
The KEVIN PIETERSEN! Gossip
Now let's hear what you've got to say about this item... or anything else happening in the world of football. Send in your opinions, rants, praise or abuse to: theeditor@football365.com
Your Comments
darkstar07
"please take away Rafa from us, we can no longer follow his ridiculous schemes of idiocy,i beg you.
Dear Mr.Florentino Perez, we will sell him to you for bag of peanuts(roasted).Use him in any way possible(including ball boy, towel 'man',drinks supplier,watchdog).
I hope you can fulfill my request. "
RobAndrew
"wow you guys are retarded. He doesn't have to spend money because the the team on paper is better than arsenal. What do you mean Wenger's style isn't suited to Real, when Zidane was there and the other galactigo's (successful times), good old Vicente Del Bosque was manager. And wenger was commented having a "similiar style of game" to him... Wenger needs some more trophies, he's too good to keep this youngsters stuff that will result in wins. According to his theory arsenal should be winning at least 2 trophies at least now. But still nothing, boohoo gooners. You guys find beating porto highlight of the season. Not much else to celebrate about you trophyless' juts!"
EssexLad1985
"Rob - Eeeer yeah cause Wenger is well known for his love of spending £50mill+ on players every season. What a stupid comment."
player1
"People often judge a manager on the players he's bought, but I think it's more telling to see how many of Benitez's own signings he has sold."
Fake_Dave
"harryboulton - how much was Carrick? £16m? How much was Berbatov? £30m? How much was Anderson? £18m? How much was Valencia? £20m? How much was Hargreaves? £17m? How much was Nani? £15m? And there's more who were under the £10m pricemark too. Not withstanding your examples or Rio and Rooney.
Man U have spent a lot of money and (apart from Valencia for Ronaldo) I don't believe they have really had to sell anyone in order to bring anyone in. This has been a big difference.
You really are dumb if you don't think that Rafa has to sell in order to buy. Fergie has never been bound by this. The only reason the net spend now looks more respectable is based on the £80m Ronaldo transfer.
I think times have changed for you now and you too won't be able to spend like madmen in the past, but your base is so much stronger in depth than us. It is like a 100 metre race - if you start at the 80 metre mark and we start at the 50 metre mark it is always going to be hard to beat you.
"
goonerboy
"RobAndrew , What a stupid comment what on Earth would Arsene want to go to a club that has had 10 different managers in 7 years . Yes that's exactly the place to go and manage . Also Arsene and madrid have different philosophies about how to build a team . Really Rob keep the blonde thoughts to yourself"
harryboulton
"Mulder, a £200m team? Giggs was free and 30 years old, Ferdinand and Rooney were £30m and £28m respectively and Ronaldo cost us £12.5m. That he turned into an £80m player is down to the player, the manager and the coaches. Benitez has spent similar amounts on Keane, Bellamy, Babbel and Kuyt and none have remotely come close to getting to that level. What's more, and herein lies the point about Benitez, regardless of how much money he's had to spend, he's still spent a lot of some players and that team, the one who played Wigan and Lille, should not have been losing in a million years to those sides.
What Benitez has been given is enough money to NOT be losing to relegation fighters and European nobodies. Aquilani was not £5m, either. That is complete and utter rubbish and well you know it. You clock up his major signings and you have a terrible list of Babbel, Kuyt, Torres, Mascherano, Lucas, Morientes, Keane, Bellamy, Crouch, Riera, Gonzalez, Skrtel, Agger and Alonso. Of those players, Mascherano, Torres, Alonso and Skrtel have been sound investment. The rest have been distinctly average, save Agger, who's had many MANY injury problems.
People can't half exagerate when they want to make their point. I've seen some people pricing Nani and Anderson at £24m in order to paint Benitez in a better light. Crikey....."
AFC_No1
"Lets hope he goes one less thug on our pitches, hehe Im sure the spanish will love him pls let him go "
mulder
"NDBalls, get yer head out the tabloids and do your own research. When rafa arrived, fergie already had, rooney, ferdinand, ronaldo, giggs.......need i go on, ie the best part of a £200 million team. Anyone that bothers researching where rafa has spent money would know that he has completely overhauled the first team and also the reserves and youth team, his big buys have been torres and mascherano, these are the only two players he's spent more than £20 million on. Aquilani is only £5m, as his ongoing fitness/games played will ultimately decide his fee. So who decided that the criteria to measure rafa v fergie spend should be when rafa arrived ??. you cant compare, fergie has already been in place for over 15 years at that point and had spent wildly on players (Veron etc...). And whilst were on the subject, whatever happend to Tosic who they blew 10mill on and played only a few times ??, whereas rafa spends similar on Babel and gets dogs abuse.
Unlike most random commentors, i prefer to form my own opinion on issues based on what ive researched, not just quoting bile from the back pages regurgitated by some london hack. Anyone wanting to know the real situation to Rafa's spending should start by reading Paul Tomkins articles. "
RobAndrew
"If Arsenal don't win a trophy i can see Wenger at Real. Wenger would make them into a quality team. Don't see rafa going to a big club like Real, especially seeing that he's done worse than madrid in every aspect of football this season."
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