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Manchester City make last-ditch attempt for Barcelona-bound Alexis Sanchez
The Citizens are doing a last-minute push in a bid to prevent the Chilean from moving to Barcelona
Manchester City are looking to hijack Barcelona's deal for winger Alexis Sanchez by offering Udinese €40 million, according to Sky Sport24.
Reports in Chile claim Sanchez is just one step away from joining Barcelona as he will allegedly abandon his national squad's camp to board a plane to Spain and complete a move to the Liga champions on Tuesday.
However, Italian sources suggest City are desperate to land Sanchez and have offered €40 million to give the player, as well as his club, some food for thought.
It is believed, though, that Sanchez is only interested in joining Barcelona and will not be persuaded by City's reported €4.5m-a-year contract.
The Catalan club are understood to have come to an agreement with both parties by offering the club €28 million plus forward Jeffren and Sanchez an annual salary of €3.5 million, despite recent statements from Udinese owner Giampaolo Pozzo, who said 'the value of Sanchez is €50m.'

City and United target Sanchez edges closer to £22m Barca switch
Striker Alexis Sanchez’s representative was in talks with his club Udinese last night in a bid to secure a transfer to Barcelona.
The Champions League winners are reluctant to match the £27million already offered by Manchester City and Manchester United and want to do a deal of £22m plus forward Jeffren Suarez for the Chile international who is in a training camp preparing for the Copa America.



OTHER BOLLOX
Arsenal's Gael Clichy is a £7m target for Roma, and the Italian club are willing to sell striker Mirko Vucinic. Daily Mirror

Swansea are closing in on the £3m transfer of Poland international goalkeeper Grzegorz Sandomierski from Polish club Jagiellonia. Daily Mirror

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish will refuse to give up on his pursuit of Stewart Downing, despite Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish's reluctance to sell the England winger. Daily Mirror

Liverpool also remain keen on Lyon defender Dejan Lovren but fear they will struggle to gain a work permit for the Croat, 21, who has won just eight caps for his country. Daily Mail

Wigan are finally set to sign goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi in a £4m deal from Bolton. Daily Mirror

Dynamo Kiev have entered the race to sign Croatian midfielder Niko Kranjcar from Tottenham. Daily Mail

Tottenham are locked in a four-way fight for £17m-rated Espanyol striker Pablo Osvaldo with Atletico Madrid and Italian clubs Inter Milan and Juventus also interested in the 25-year-old. Daily Mirror

New Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish has sounded out Nigel Reo-Coker about making a shock return to Villa Park after the 27-year-old midfielder was released by the club at the end of last season. Daily Mirror

The Football Association is confident of repelling Inter Milan's potential interest in England manager Fabio Capello. Daily Telegraph

Czech Republic forward Tomas Pekhart says England's brightest talents are 'too flashy' after helping to dump Stuart Pearce's side out of the European Under-21 Championship in Denmark. Daily Mail

Reluctant Kasper set for £1.5m reunion with Sven
LEEDS UNITED will step up their attempts to lure No 1 target Keiren Westwood to Elland Road after accepting a bid from Leicester City for Kasper Schmeichel.
The Elland Road club first spoke to Coventry City’s out-of-contract goalkeeper during the final few months of last season after it emerged he was unlikely to sign a new deal at the Ricoh Arena.
Simon Grayson has been a big admirer of the 26-year-old Republic of Ireland international for some time.
Sunderland are understood to have also been in talks with Westwood over a possible move to the Premier League with sources in the North East indicating a deal could be imminent.
However, following yesterday’s decision to accept Leicester’s £1.5m bid for Schmeichel, Leeds will step up their bid to land the highly-rated former Carlisle United goalkeeper.
Schmeichel’s imminent departure to be reunited with Sven Goran Eriksson at the Walkers Stadium means United, who released Shane Higgs at the end of last season, have no senior goalkeepers on the books.
On the decision to accept Eriksson’s offer, Grayson said: “We feel this is the right deal for the club. We spoke to Kasper’s agent at the end of the season about a contract extension and it was apparent that it was going to be a difficult deal.
“Given the fact he has one year remaining on his contract, we feel this is in the best interests of Leeds United.”
Schmeichel moved to Elland Road on a free transfer last summer from Notts County, where he played under former England coach Eriksson, and went on to make 40 appearances as Leeds finished seventh in the Championship.
Schmeichel said: “I want to put on record that I have never asked to leave Leeds United, nor did I reject an offer for a new contract, since one was never put to me.
“Therefore it is with great disappointment that I have learned that Leeds United have accepted an offer from Leicester.
“I was enjoying being a Leeds United player and was looking forward to winning promotion this season with the club.
“I have spoken to the manager Simon Grayson and he has made it clear to me, that, in spite of having played well for him, this is something he believes is a good deal for Leeds United.
“I have been put in a very difficult situation and will spend some time considering my options for my future.”
As willing as Grayson is to let Schmeichel go, he has also reaffirmed United’s commitment to hanging on to Robert Snodgrass amid continued interest from Premier League newcomers Norwich City.


more bollox shortly ..

Noemie Lenoir....bang tidy!

Hope McLeish sells Downing to the scousers. They could get away with Henderson, as Gerrard can teach him how to improve & not waste the ball, but the combination of him & Downing should fuck them up good & proper.

ant london wrote:Noemie Lenoir....bang tidy!

And completely bonkers Ant

That WAG is fiiiinnnneeeeeeeee.......

Who is she?

Tuesday's Rumour Mill

With the summer solstice upon us and the Rumour Mill gadding around a rock-strewn Wiltshire field in a cloak, saffron robes, thigh-boots and ceremonial antlers while insisting everyone addresses us as "Stag Lord", it seems somewhat fitting that the majority of talk in Premier League circles (metaphorical rather than stone) is of the likely appointment of André Villas-Boas a new Chelsea manager. As if the day wasn't going to seem long enough already, eh?


Assuming the Portuguese tyro and his current employers decide to take the Roman Abramovich shilling, their first acquisition looks set to be Falcao, the lank-haired, alice band-sporting Colombian striker who you might remember for scoring the only goal of last season's Europa League final; one of 73 the devout Christian has bagged in 85 games for Porto over two seasons. Falcao's arrival at Stamford Bridge might render Didier Drogba surplus to requirements and while Tottenham Hotspur, Malaga, Galatasaray and Milan have all expressed an interest in signing the Ivorian, Chelsea would almost certainly prefer to ship him abroad than run the risk of incurring his vengeful wrath as a player with one of their Premier League rivals. Fleet Street headline-writers are expected to be warned about over-using the adjective "incredible" if Manchester City or Spurs make Porto an offer they can't refuse for the Brazilian they call Hulk. "Right now I'm in Portugal and already with a big club, but if I go to Spain, Italy, England or Germany I would be happy too," is how he worded his come-and-get-me plea.


Another man currently on his way to London is Roma's director of football Walter Sabatini, who will meet with Arsenal suits to haggle over a fee for full-back Gaël Clichy. The Gunners want £10m, the Serie A side have offered £7m. Something's got to give. Roma are also prepared to offload Mirko Vucinic for a fee in the region of £18m; Juventus, Blackburn Rovers and Tottenham Hotspur have all expressed an interest in the Montenegro international striker. According to this morning's Mirror, the transfer window trolley-dashers of Tottenham are also sniffing around Espanyol's £17m-rated striker Pablo Osvaldo, a dual citizen of Argentina and Italy, who has represented the latter country at U-21 level. Atlético Madrid, Inter and Juventus are also taken with the cut of Osvaldo's jib.


The Mirror also reports that Alex McLeish has kicked off his crusade to weasel his way into the affections of Aston Villa fans by sounding out midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker about a surprise return to the club that released him so recently his locker door is still swinging. McLeish is also hoping to repel Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish's advances on Stewart Downing, a winger with an undeniably sweet left foot, but a right that's only good for standing on. Dalglish is also keen on bringing Lyon defender Dejan Lovren to Anfield, but the Daily Mail reports the young Croat may struggle to obtain a work-permit as he's only won eight international caps. One eastern European who'll have no such bureaucratic obstacles to overcome should he wish to come over here and take one of Liverpool's few remaining jobs is former Celtic holy goalie Artur Boruc, who currently plies his trade with Fiorentina.


In other goalkeeping news, Swansea City have £3m set aside to secure the services of Boruc's ridiculously difficult to spell Polish compatriot Grzegorz Sandomierski from his local side Jagiellonia, while arguably the most underwhelmiing transfer tug-of-love in the history of the Premier League will end when Wigan Athletic finally sign their former loanee Ali Al-habsi from Bolton Wanderers for £4m. On the subject of mind-numbingly tedious and interminable transfer sagas, Barcelona president Sandro Rosell has announced that, while Barcelona are still interested in signing Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fábregas, they will not pay a penny over £35m for him. "If Arsenal do not yield, well then Cesc will not come," he said, prompting no end of schoolboy sniggering.


And finally, Alan Pardew has announced that he's still "hopeful" that full-back Jose Enrique will stay at Newcastle despite overtures from Liverpool and Arsenal, while for reasons best known to themselves, the FA are determined to hold England manager Fabio Capello to his preposterously lucrative contract despite interest from Serie A side Inter.

Here's My Attempt at being Chinners for a day: The Guaridan's Gallery, This week is Waynetta's new Hair!



http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/gallery/2011/jun/21/wayne-rooney-hair#/?picture=375902442&index=0

Chinners wrote:Grzegorz Sandomierski from Polish club Jagiellonia.

So many letters.

LATE NIGHT BOLLOX
Adebayor in Zenit link as Manchester City look to offload out-of-favour striker
Emmanuel Adebayor is attracting interest from Russian club Zenit St Petersburg as Manchester City desperately try to offload one of their many unwanted players.
Adebayor spent the second half of last season on loan at Real Madrid but has been told there is no chance of a permanent transfer.
The former Arsenal striker - who earns £130,000-a-week - is unlikely to be attracted to a move to Russia.

City are due to meet with the agent of another unwanted forward, Craig Bellamy, in the coming days as they look for a way to ease the Welsh captain out of Eastlands. Celtic are keen but cannot fund a deal without City subsidising it.
Aberdeen are looking to bring Man City's Colombian reserve goalkeeper David Gonzalez to the club on a six-month loan deal.

Jerome Boateng's Move to Bayern Munich Stalling Because of Manchester City's Fee
Jerome Boateng did not have a happy year in Manchester and is very eager to return home. It seemed like Bayern Munich would snatch him up, but disagreements in price have arisen between Bayern and Manchester City.

Bayern have lined up Barcelona's Gabriel Milito as a replacement because they do not want to pay the £17 million City is demanding for the 22-year-old Boateng, who still has four years left on his contract.

Liverpool and Manchester City to Fight for Lyon's Aly Cissokho
Lyon left back Aly Cissokho has been on Liverpool's radar for some time, but now they'll have to fend off Manchester City.
Liverpool were originally linked to Cissokho in January, and Kenny Dalglish is even more eager now to bring in an experienced left back.
Now that Jerome Boateng is likely leaving City for Bayern Munich, Roberto Mancini would like some defensive cover and is preparing a bid for the £9 million-rated 23-year-old Cissokho.