Search icon

Football

25th Mar 2015

Transfer Talk: Arsenal eye Manchester United defender as Liverpool plot striker clearout

Arsene Wenger may be going back in for a player he tried to sign five years ago

Sean Nolan

Brendan Rodgers is planning a major sell off if today’s press is to be believed

As it is international break, this is usually a time where a few transfer stories begin to bubble to the surface. Yesterday there were some blockbuster moves suggested and while today’s rumour mill isn’t quite so juicy, there are still some tasty morsels.

The most eye-catching is the suggestion in the Mirror that Arsenal are looking to take Chris Smalling to the Emirates. Arsene Wenger tried to buy the player back in 2010, when Smalling was at Fulham, but he chose to go to Old Trafford. We know that Smalling is a bit of a Marmite figure with Manchester United fans so many would be more than happy to get £12m for him, even if he went to a team that is battling United near the top of the table.

The other interesting tit bit comes from the Mail, who say that Brendan Rodgers is determined to clean out his drawer marked ‘strikers’ this summer. With Divock Origi on his way, and with the possibility of bringing in Falcao if he fancies him, Rodgers needs to get rid of a few non performers.

Mario Balotelli, Fabio Borini and Rickie Lambert are all said to be offered for sale. All Rodgers needs to do now is find a buyer.

Speaking of Falcao, the Colombian features on the back pages again as he is set to leave Old Trafford unless he gets some words of support from Louis van Gaal, according to the Sun. Good luck with that Radamel.

And in a similar vein, the Manchester Evening News reckon that Angel di Maria could be on his way too because LVG had a pop at him in the aftermath of the win over Liverpool on Sunday.

In other news, Petr Cech is going to be up for grabs this summer, so long as you have £10m quid to spend say the Mirror. At 32, the keeper surely has years left in him so someone is going to get a bargain.

And finally, in great news for whoever supplies the letters to the club shop at Anfield, Liverpool are said, by the Metro, to be in pursuit of Schalke defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos.

The FootballJOE quiz: Were you paying attention? – episode 10