Lazy Sunday Transfer Talk: Part 1

Welcome to the first installment of Lazy Sunday Transfer Talk. You just have to love Sunday transfer stories as every website try's to outdo the next with extravagant "Exclusives" that has about as much credibility as the South African Idols voting results. Let's have a look at who's making news today....
Chelsea are back in the headlines after the club denied on Thursday that they made a bid for Real Madrid bound Kaka. According to goal.com Carlo Ancelotti is preparing to bring midfield maestro Andrea Pirlo to Stamford Bridge with a whopping €30m offer which Milan would find hard to refuse.
Personally I don't see any truth in this one because Chelsea already have excellent cover in the central midfield position with Lampard, Essien, Ballack and John Obi Mikel all vying for a place in the starting 11. I also doubt that Milan would sell two of their most popular player's in one go. It'll be a bit like Liverpool selling Gerrard and Carragher, United selling Vidic and Rooney or Barcelona selling Xavi and Iniesta. Just can't see it happening.

Speaking of Barca, the club looks set to lose defensive midfielder Yaya Toure after the player reportedly turned down Barca's latest contract extension offer. According to El Mundo Deportivo, negotiations between Barca sporting director Txiki Begiristain and Toure's agent, Dimitre Seluk, have reached a standstill.
Toure has lost out on his place in Barca's starting 11 after the rise of 20 year old youth team player Sergio Busquets, and Arsenal are believed to be interested in securing his services as Wenger tries to solve their problematic holding midfielder position which has been a concern for the Gunners since Flamini's move to AC Milan.

In other stories Liverpool are reportedly close to making Portsmouth duo Glen Johnson and Peter Crouch their first signings of the summer. News of The World claims that Rafa will sign Johnson for £10million despite interest from Chelsea. While Anfield favourite, Peter Crouch, will be reunited with the club he spent three season's at with The Mirror claiming that £4million will be enough to get their man. Not sure how true this may be but I know many Pool fans believe that Crouch should never have been sold in the first place!

Another club that is likely to be linked with just about every player under the sun is Manchester City. The News of The World are running with an "Exclusive" claiming that Mark Hughe's is looking at bringing Everton centre-back Joleon Lescotte to the City of Manchester Stadium and he is even prepared to offer the once highly rated right back Micah Richards as part of the deal. City will be more than happy to double Lescott's current salary of £45,000-a-week.

Premier League Champions Manchester United are also in the transfer news this morning, but for all the wrong reasons. The Daily Star are running with a story that Pep Guardiola's all conquering Barcelona are interested in signing United's Serbian defender Nemendja Vidic in a massive £20million deal. Sounds like B.S to me but I guess we'll have to wait and see if there's any truth to this one, while The Mail on Sunday reports that Barca will beat United to the signings of both Frank Ribery and Karim Benzema.


There's also talk of Ruud Van Nistlerooy returning to the Premier League with a £1.25million move to Tottenham Hotspur on the cards according to The People, while Atletico Madrid's Argentine wonderkid Sergio Aguero has been professing his manlove to Chelsea in an interview with the Sunday People:

“It makes me feel proud a team as important as Chelsea notices me.”

I guess that means we can expect a "It has always been my dream to play for Chelsea" quote from the Argentine sometime during the week before Roman Abramovich smashes the Premier League transfer record to secure Ageuro's signature.

That's it for this week's installment of lazy Sunday Transfer Talk. See you next Sunday...