Arsene Wenger and his new shirt are sticking it their rivals.
Not content with merely getting one over Jose Mourinho with the signing of a certain goalkeeper, the Arsenal manager is also set to beat Manchester United to a high profile signing. The Arsenal boss has been given the green light by Real Madrid to sign Karim Benzema. According to The Daily Star, the French striker will be sold this summer, as the club will be forced to offload players before they can bring new faces into the club.
Real president Florentino Perez is a fan of Benzema, who signed for Madrid aged 21 back in 2009, but is prepared to lose him in order to sign either Sergio Aguero or Paul Pogba.
United have long been interested in Benzema, and tried to sign him before he moved to the Bernabeu.
Big news Rob Green fans. The QPR goalkeeper is about to be a permanent fixture on the Chelsea bench, becoming their new second choice goalkeeper/member of home grown footballer quota.
Oh, and Petr Cech is to join Arsenal for €19.5 million
According to The Daily Star, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is going to go above Mourinho, and sanction Cech’s move to a domestic rival, as a parting gift for 11 loyal years of service. The Chelsea manager had preferred to see the ‘keeper move abroad. According to The Mirror, Cech’s transfer will be finalised this week, and the 33 year old has been given assurances that he’ll be the first choice at the Emirates next season.
The assurance being that the club are playing lots of money for him, we assume.
Meanwhile, Chelsea will move quick to fill Cech’s vacant seat on the bench, so he immediately thought of Rob Green. The 35 year old former England ‘keeper performed admirably behind a leaky defence last season, and will help the club increase their home-grown ranks. What a time to be alive.
This could your year Liverpool.
Despite the tough series of away fixtures for the next season, a return to the Europa League slog and the loss of Steven Gerard, Liverpool’s recruitment drive is taking shape.
Fair enough, Danny Ings and Adam Bogdan aren’t the most exciting signings the club has ever made, but Liverpool could be about to get another player to give up Champions League football to come to Anfield. James Milner has already joined from Manchester City, and now a Southampton defender is set to turn down a move to Manchester United in favour of Brendan Rodgers’ side.
According to The Daily Express, Nathaniel Clyne has a “concrete offer” on the table to move to Old Trafford, but wants to join Liverpool instead, and all that remains is for the two clubs to agree a fee.
Southampton signed Cedric Soares, as replacement for Clyne, yesterday and want €21 million for the right-back.
Finally, United are set to miss out on another one of their 3,000 reported targets. Spanish publication AS have reported that Mario Mandzukic will be joining Juventus for €18 million, as soon as the club offload Carlos Tevez.
The Croatian striker only joined Atletico Madrid last summer, but apparently “does not fit the mould of an Atletico player”, and will now be on his way to Italy. United were linked with the player last week, but their search for a new striker continues.
