The Rumour Mill didn’t get where it is today believing everything it reads in the papers, preferring instead to get where it is today by hoisting a sceptical Carlo Ancelotti-esque eyebrow at much of what it reads in them before regurgitating it all anyway and leaving sensible readers to draw their own conclusions regarding which nuggets of tell-all may or may not be shiny and genuine.
While it might not seem inconceivable that a player whose previous clubs include Arsenal, Manchester City, Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur might be wanted by Chelsea, piping hot revelations that the man in question goes by the name ofEmmanuel Adebayor prompted no little tittering, even if the motivationally challenged Tottenham Hotspur striker with the questionable attitude towards professionalism did score eight goals in 22 games during a previous spell working under José Mourinho while on loan at Real Madrid.
Adebayor has said in the past said that Mourinho is “a good manager and I have always had respect for that man” and the feeling seems to be mutual, which suggests that if anyone can get a tune out of the striker, it’s probably the Portuguese. With Didier Drogba almost certain to leave Stamford Bridge in the summer and some up front back-up required, perhaps the mooted move isn’t quite as outlandish as it seems on first view.
Having unsuccessfully attempted to sign the Togolese striker during the January transfer window, West Ham may also rekindle their interest in a striker trousering over £100,000 per week at Spurs for doing very little, while Chelsea are also keeping tabs on Inter striker Mauro Icardi and his Shakhtar Donetsk counterpartDouglas Costa. Palermo’s Paulo Dybala also features on the Stamford Bridge radar, while it’s no secret that Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City are also understood to be interested in the highly sought-after 21-year-old from Cordoba.
Edin Dzeko scored three goals in 49 minutes over the weekend to fire Bosnia & Herzogovina to their firstvictory in five games of Euro 2016 qualifying and will wake up this morning to speculation linking him with a summer move to Barcelona, despite a transfer ban the Rumour Mill understood to mean the La Liga isn’t allowed to sign any players in 2015. Somewhat marginalised at Manchester City, where he has been deemed surplus to requirements, the burly Bosnian is reported by Spanish newspaper Sport to be on a shortlist of two strikers, along with Juventus frontman Fernando Llorente, who Barcelona boss Luis Enrique has identified as likely candidates to help his team break down rivals who attempt to frustrate the Catalan side by parking the bus. In other news pertaining to the Premier League’s second placed side, Luka Modric could find himself house-hunting in leafy Cheshire during the summer if his current club Real Madrid are successful in their bid to bring Paul Pogba from Juventus to the Spanish capital. City are also being linked with what can only be described as a “double summer swoop” for Sampdoria midfielder Roberto Soriano and Juve’s 22-year-old Spanish striker Alvaro Morata, who scored on his first ever start for his country as they beat Ukraine 1-0 in Euro-qualifying over the weekend.
Occasionally infuriating creative Chelsea minx Oscar could be off to Turin this summer, following reports that the Italian champions had scouts on hand to watch him score for Brazil against France in the friendly between the two sides in Paris last Thursday. Meanwhile on Merseyside, Raheem Sterling will continue to “snub” Liverpool despite club suits writing bigger and bigger numbers on bigger and bigger sheets of paper and sliding them across the boardroom table to his agent, while the same bean-counters are likely to snap the hand off their West Brom counterparts when they offer to take Rickie Lambert off the Anfield payroll in a bid to plug the gap left by Victor Anichebe, who is expected to leave the Hawthorns this summer.
