Lazy Sunday Transfer Talk: Man City get Eto'o and Tevez, Arsenal eyes Benzema while Chelsea and Man United fight for Franck Ribery

Welcome to another edition of lazy Sunday Transfer Talk, apologies for the late publication but unfortunately I had to attend a wedding today. Without any further ado let’s have a look at what’s making news in the transfer market today….

Manchester City’s Billionaire owners have finally started to flex their financial muscle after the club clinched a deal for Barcelona’s Cameroonian goal machine Samuel Eto’o. The News of the World reports that City and Barcelona have agreed on a £25million transfer fee for the striker.
Barcelona President Juan Laporta revealed in an interview today that City had made a monster offer to Eto’o which will see the striker becoming the highest paid footballer in the world. Eto’o is expected to fly to Manchester on Monday to undergo a medical before being unveiled as Manchester City’s latest signing.

Mark Hughes will further bolster his attacking line-up with the signing of Argentine striker Carlos Tevez. The former Manchester United striker will become one of the Premier League’s most expensive signings ever after agreeing to a £30m fee, which is a bit of an odd case as Tevez currently doesn’t belong to any football club which means that Kia Joorbachian will be pocketing most of the money, if not all. Tevez is expected to sign a four-year deal worth around £140,000 a week on Wednesday.

On the other side of Manchester, Sir Alex Ferguson looks to have some battle on his hands as he tries to secure the services of Olympique Lyon’s Karim Benzema, with The News of The World claiming that Arsenal are interested in signing the French striker for £30million, which the board plans on funding with profits made from Emanuel Adebayor’s expected departure to AC Milan this summer. Arsene Wenger is known to have a preference for young players and the fact that he’s 21 and French means that Wenger could be interested in bringing Benzema to the Emirates Stadium.

Chelsea have also started to throw their weight around after a relatively low-key transfer window period last season. The big news coming from the Bridge is that Carlo Ancheloti has been handed a £100million transfer kitty and the Sunday Express believes that £50million of that will be spent on Bayern Munich’s French winger Franck Ribery! Chelsea will however have to fight off competition for Ribery’s signature from the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United while also having to convince the German giants to let go off their star player. Something Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge doesn’t seem too keen on doing. He insisted last night that Ribery was not for sale: “Ribery is irreplaceable and is not for sale.

Chelsea will also be returning with for Brazilian wonderkid Pato, with a massive £50million offer on the cards after AC Milan turned down their £45m bid last week according to News of The World. I can’t see Milan turning this offer down but the Italians will be wary of a backlash from the club’s fans after they sold fan favourite Kaka to Madrid. The paper also goes on to claim that the Blues have completed a £19million deal for CSKA Moscow’s flying winger Yuri Zhirkov, 25, who is known as the Russian Ronaldinho.

Liverpool looks set to lose out on their Spanish midfield maestro Xabi Alonso, with the News of The World reporting that Madrid will meet Liverpool’s £25million pound evaluation. This is however dependant on whether or not they manage to lure David Villa to the Bernabeu, if they succeed its very unlikely that Perez will splash out another £25m on a central midfielder, a position where they already have the likes of Lasana Darra and Fernando Gago.

On the other side of Merseyside, Everton has been linked with a move for former Arsenal attacking midfielder Jose Antonio Reyes. Reyes has had unsuccessful spells with the Gunners, Real Madrid (loan), Benfica (loan) and with his current club Atletico Madrid. The Sunday Mirror claims that David Moyes is eying a €4.7 million move for the 25 year old Spaniard who is also being tracked by Ser-A club’s Roma, Milan and Fiorentina.

Finaly, Liverpool striker Fernando Torres has urged Rafa Benitez to bring one of his Spanish team mates to Anfield. Torres believes that Rafa should try and bring either one of David Silva, David Villa or Juan Mata, to Liverpool if they are to end their 19 year wait for a League title.

See you next week....