Striker helps show rival to the door at Eastlands…
Is Roque Santa Cruz greasing up the wheels of Robinho’s winter transfer to Barcelona? Man City’s £18m striker put the jinking Brazilian right in it during a recent radio interview with Catalunya Radio, by announcing Robinho regularly reminds his teammates he’d rather being doing his jinking alongside Lionel Messi than, er, Roque Santa Cruz:
Of course he talks to us about it. And the players are cracking jokes about it in the dressing room.
In the English papers there’s a lot of interest about Barca and Robinho is also not hiding his desire to play for them one day. But I guess we’ll see.
Lying in 6th, the table might show Man City are still in with a chance to crash the Big Four’s tedious party, but their fans seems to think otherwise.
Boos rang out on full time at City’s 3-all draw with Burnley - the club’s fifth successive draw in a row. After a £120m spending spree in the summer, taking five points from Aston Villa, Wigan, Fulham, Birmingham and Burnley might indicate a slight derailing of Manchester’s Emirati revolution.
So, with a post-suspension Adebayor decidedly quieter than he was at the start of the season, Lescott playing as if - surprise, surprise - he wasn’t worth £24m after all and Mark Hughes being increasingly found out as lacking the tactical acumen to change a game, are City still favourites to drag Arsenal Liverpool out of the Premier League’s elite?
Spanish press claim striker may not be back until December…
Diagnosis of Fernando Torres‘ recent trip to Spain, for a second opinion on his groin injury, proved fairly inconclusive in the English press this morning. The Spanish media, however, are confident the striker will be out until after Liverpool’s crucial Champions League clash with Debrecen.
According to AS, Torres hopped on a private jet to see Dr Ramon Cugat, a respected sports injury specialist, after medical staff at Liverpool’s Melwood training ground claimed surgery - which Benitez is desperate to avoid - was the only solution. Cugat is reported to have prescribed a ‘conservative treatment’ which will mean El Nino is laid up until the Reds’ game against Blackburn on December 5th.
Spoiler Bonus:El Mundo Deportivo are reporting a gentleman’s agreement is in place for Robinho to sign for Barcelona in the January transfer window now both the Man City chairman and Mark Hughes (who allegedly ‘has always been receptive to his departure’) are resigned to losing the Brazilian forward.
The latest transfer gossip, rumours and damned lies
David James not going to Tottenham
Harry Redknapp will not pursue the former England man while he has two keepers already on the books, say The Telegraph.
The Spoiler truth-o-meter: This will be bad news for Jamo, who appears keen to jump the SS Portsmouth before it goes down…
David Bentley and Alan Hutton to Everton The Mirror believe David Moyes is set to make a £12m ‘double raid’ for Harry Redknapp’s least favourite human and the Scottish defender. They seem to think the cash will be generated by the sale of a certain Mr Lescott to a certain Manchester-based club. The Spoiler truth-o-meter: Everton have been linked with Hutton all summer and is s strong possibility. Although David Bentley will almost certainly move on too, our secret squirrel still thinks
A further helping of transfer gossip, rumours and damned lies
Gokhan Inler to Arsenal
With primary target Melo almost certain to join Juventus, Arsenal have been forced to look elsewhere for a new midfielder. However, reports suggest Arsene Wenger is restricting his search to Serie A and now wants to sign £10 million-rated Gokhan Inler from Udinese.
The Spoiler truth-o-meter: Arsenal were linked with the Swiss international a lot last summer so hopefully this doesn’t drag on as long as the Andrey Arshavin saga did, especially as this transfer window has been fairly interesting and unpredictable so far.
Tuncay to Everton or Aston Villa
Middlesbrough’s local paper the Evening Gazette states that Aston Villa are looking to complete a £20 million double deal for Stewart Downing and