Arsene Wenger looks set to cut his ties to Real Madrid - as expected, given that he is a man of honour who has yet to walk out on a contract. His 'babies' project might just come into its own next season, provided that Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie stay, so he will reject all of Madrid's overtures.
Real have managed to secure one signing, that of Wigan Athletic's Antonio Valencia, with a reported fee of £20m setting up Latics boss Steve Bruce for a busy summer of wheeler-dealing. According to the Mirror, Valencia has told his friends that he would rather stay where he has settled in the North-West, but as yet there has been no bid from preferred-destination Manchester United.
Chelsea's dreams of teaming up Carlo Ancelotti and Emmanuel Adebayor may be dented by news that AC Milan's rivals Roma want the former midfield-general to be the head coach in the capital. Adebayor seems inextricably linked to Carlo, with Tuttosport (amongst others) repeatedly linking him to the club where Ancelotti will end up - Adebayor seems to have a loyalty to Carlos, perhaps because they had practically finalised negotiations at the start of last season.
Ancelotti could conceivably end up back at Juventus (who just sacked Claudio Ranieri), where he would link up with Fabio Cannavaro who has confimed he'll be joining the Old Lady on a Bosman-free at the end ofthe season. Shame he didn't end up at home-town Napoli.
Middlesbrough's big plans of getting out of the financial mire took a blow when Stewart Downing picked up an injury that will see him out of action for 6 months. The £18m fee to Spurs was going to keep Boro solvent for another few months following their drop to the Championship, but seems to have been soured now. The full extent of his injury will be discovered later today.
It looks like Carlos Tevez is going to be one of the first players in years to cross the United-Liverpool divide, with a £50m deal having been agreed, with some sources suggesting that Carlos will personally take home as much as 40% of the reported £20m transfer fee!
Finally, the fact that Wayne Rooney went for a Chinese with his wife seems to have made it into most of the red-tops, with photos of them in Manchester's China Town tacked up alongside tenuous Chinese puns that only tabloids can come up with (e.g Pregnant Coleen took her own dumpling back home with her). Surely we can do better than that?
Tags: Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, Cesc Fabregas, Wigan, Antonio Valencia, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Chelsea, Emmanuel Adebayor, Carlo Ancelotti, Fabio Cannavaro, Juventus, Roma, Wayne Rooney, Middlesbrough, Stewart Downing, Carlos Tevez, Liverpool
