Football Transfer Gossip and Rumours 1st July 2011 – All Premiership Teams

July 1, 2011   ·   0 Comments

It’s the 1st of July and that means the summer transfer window between domestic clubs is officially open until August 31st. Teams now have two months to make their final signings. There will be drama, last minute signings, big players in, big players out, controversy and of course the odd “Who did we sign?”.

Here is a look at the Premiership sides and who may be coming in over the next few months.
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Arsenal

Wenger has never been one to delve into the market for top names although there is belief that this summer could be different. Lille’s Gervinho is just one player who looks very likely to sign this month as Arsenal look to boost their attacking options. Although it is obvious to most that their major weakness is defensively, the North London have also been linked with Samuel Eto’ of Inter Milan, the attack minded midfielder Ricardo Alvarez and even possibly Stewart Downing of Aston Villa.

Defensively, you could name most center-backs that would have been linked with Arsenal, Gary Cahill of Bolton is one who remains under the watchful eye and Christopher Samba, who almost moved to the Emirates in January. Other players to be linked with Arsenal so far are West Ham United’s Scott Parker, Newcastle United’s Cheikh Tiote and any one of the Diarra’s – you choose. Arsenal’s biggest problem at the moment is keeping hold of their current stars with Cesc Fabregas, Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri all linked with moves away.

Aston Villa

The main thing for Aston Villa is that they now have a manager in place, no one would have predicted Martin O’Neils last minute resignation last summer but in McLeish, although obviously disliked by Villa fans, they have a man who can take control of procedures and as always he will buy clever. With Ashley Young joining Manchester United and Stewart Downing also likely to depart, McLeish will make finding some widemen a priority. The likes of Shaun Wright-Phillips and Charles N’Zogbia have been linked as possible replacements.

Villa also seem to keen to raid McLeish’s old club Birmingham City for goalkeeper Ben Foster and Scott Dann, although there is competition for the defender with Stoke City, Liverpool and Arsenal keen on the 24 year old defender. There have also been suggestions that McLeish would like to boost the current midfield with bids for Joey Barton of Newcastle United and West Ham’s Scott Parker.

Blackburn Rovers

For a team now back by a paultry company, Venky’s have not invested much since arriving, not on the field anyway, in fact most talk regarding Blackburn Rovers looks to involve players leaving the club. Samba could be on his way out and Phil Jones will sign for Manchester United. The Lancashire side look to be interested in Tottenham’s Robbie Keane as well as Roma striker Mirko Vucinic.

Their problems may also lie defensively however and with the club obviously very busy behind the scenes, the only defender to be linked with them so far is Roger Johnson of Birmingham City.

Bolton Wanderers

Another side reasonably quiet with Bolton manager Owen Coyle asking fans to be patient regarding new signings, a lot will depend on the sale of centre-back Gary Cahill and for how much. With prices expected to be reasonably high, a transfer worth £15m will provide Coyle with enough funds to purchase a good replacement. Scott Dann and Roger Johnson of Birmingham City have been linked however Rovers will also want to replace Elmander who scored a good percentage of the side’s goals last season. This could be one summer where Boltons imports are mostly that of loan signings.

Chelsea

Chelsea have been linked with some of the best players in the world this summer however they have only just sealed their manager, second choice Andre Villas-Boas is not a bad second choice for any team, even Chelsea although it will be his head that rolls should he upset the Abramovich machine.

Neymar has been linked heavily with the club but it looks as though he may be edging closer to Real Madrid. The biggest story is Luka Modric who Chelsea had a bid of £22m turned down. Javier Pastore is another linked heavily with the Stamford Bridge club and since the arrival of Villas-Boas, you can almost add every current Porto player, Falcao, and more recently Hulk have joined Mountinho as possible Chelsea arrivals. The new Chelsea manager has already said there will be three or four leaving the club to be replaced by another three or four so expect some big movement at the West London club.

Everton

Everton look to be a side that are relying on trying to keep players than buy new ones. Leighton Baines has been linked away for obvious reasons but he seems to be a true blue and probably won’t be going anywhere. John Heitinga is one player that seems to have moaned a bit of late regarding no European football and it is believed that if Moyes can get the right price the defender could be on his way out.

Another player linked with a move away is that of Marouane Fellaini who has been linked with a move to Chelsea although our source suggests there is no truth in it. With regards to players in there has not been much news nor speculation for the Blue side of Merseyside, although one can predict Moyes bring in a new striker and a new attack minded midfielder for the likes of Cahill and Saha who just seem to be injured all the time. One decent and affordable prospect would be Diego whou would slip in nicely at Goodison, especially under the eye of David Moyes.

Fulham

When Martin Jol was unveiled as Fulham manager after the shock resignation of Mark Hughes (He must be feeling like a bit of a nit right now) the Dutchman suggested that he was keen on bringing in two or three quality players to add to what is already a decent squad. let us not forget that two years ago this was a team in the Europa League final! With regards to players coming into Craven Cottage Robbie Keane of Tottenham has been mentioned, Mahamadou Diarra, DJ Campbell and David Bentley to name just a few. Fraser Fyvie of Aberdeen is another who likes highly likely to join Jol’s men for a new Premiership campaign.

Liverpool

After purchasing Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez you could have been forgiven for thinking Dalglish would cool it down this summer but that does not look to be the case with this new look Liverpool side. Whilst a lot must be said for their new owners, Dalglish is looking to buy clever for the Anfield team and specifically British players. Jordan Henderson of Sunderland is already in and Charlie Adam will be joining soon by the looks of things.

The left back slot at Anfield is still a concern though and Liverpool have been linked with moves for Jose Enrique of Newcastle United, Gael Clichy of Arsenal and Manchester City’s Wayne Bridge. There is also Michal Kadlec of Bayer Leverkusen but he remains a tough nut crack, especially with his side qualifying for the Champions League this season.

There is also news of Liverpool wanting a new striker to provide competition for the two January signings and they may look to boost the midfield too with the likes of Maxi Rodriguez possibly on his way out. Liverpool have been linked with a move for Wolfsburg’s Diego recently which could work.

Manchester City

No one really ever knows who Manchester City are after, in a lot of cases they probably do not know they themselves. Needless to say if there is a top quality player out there who is available the club are likely to make a bid. City will have to be careful now, this represents their last chance to be able to buy players using multimillions as when the UEFA Financial Fairplay Ruling comes into effect, they will only be able to spend their clubs profit.

Brazilian starlet Neymar is one they look to be hot on the heels of, Edinson Cavani has been linked and the Eastlands side are also keen on Chilean maestro Alexis Sanchez. The club are not only involved in the buying market with City looking to offload Jerome Boateng and even Carlo Tevez, the club captain has been linked with a move away this summer.

Manchester United

Manchester United are one club that always look to do their buying early. Already they have purchased Ashley Young and Phil Jones from Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers respectively but with news at the time of writing this goalkeeping target David De Gea had undergone a medical. Sir Alex Ferguson had said at the start of the summer that the club would be looking to find two or three players which would mean they have already completed their summer business however many still believe the club are on the lookout for a creative midfielder with Wesley Sneijder and Alexis Sanchez still on their radar. We also have the possibility of Alcantara who United apparently bid for under the noses of Chelsea.

On their way out looks puzzling. There have been links with Darrin Gibson and Wes Brown departing to the likes of Sunderland, Danny Welbeck could be loaned out once again but the biggest move could be that of Dimitar Berbatov who despite being the teams top goal scorer could be on his way to France with PSG or Spain with Valencia.

Newcastle United

The Tyneside outfit have already let Kevin Nolan go to West Ham United which seems a little silly to us, nonetheless it’s happend now and the club must move on. Pardew has already signed the likes the Demba Ba and Yohan Cabaye. Other players to be linked with Newcastle United at the moment at Steven Warnock of Aston Villa, Darron Gibson of Manchester United and AIK Stockholm’s Teteh Bangura who looks very likely to join soon.

Pardew certain has the cash to spend and it seems he is looking to strengthen the whole side rather than use the cash on just three or four mega signings. Depending on how well they gel to together, Pardew may be building quite a strong footballing unit at St. James’ Park.

Norwich City

Signing Millwall’s Steve Morrison and Everton’s James Vaughan were clever moves by Lambert who looks to be building a side capable of staying in the top flight. Steven Caulker is also a name to be chucked in the bag recently although they will have to contend with Sswansea City. The money is there but much like Newcastle United, Norwich City are looking to build on what they have rather than purchase one or two mercenaries in the hope it may work. The biggest deal of the summer by far is that of extending Lambert’s current deal. Manchester United’s Richie de Laet was also clever thinking on loan.

QPR

QPR are a club with plenty of money but they do not look too keen on spending much of their own. A decent side already Warnock has mastered them into a good footablling side but will want to make additions defensively. The side have already been linked with a few pensioners such as Cannavaro but Mikele Leigertwood was a good move and QPR have even been linked with a move for West Ham United’s Scott Parker who appears to want to remain in London. There was also talk about a move for Arda Turan but his heavy £18m price tag has put them out of contention and Chelsea now look to be favourites to land the Turkish star.

Stoke City

Having a bid rejected for both Birmigham City players Dann and Jerome will not stop the FA Cup finalists from trying again, they are also keen on West Ham’s Carlton Cole showing that Tony Pulis is very keen to add British talent instead of paying for untested talent abroad. They have the money but will strengthen the squad in the hope of improvement rather that splash the cash on one or two players. Steven Warnock, John Carew are two others to be linked with the club as are Blackpool’s DJ Campbell and Robert Snodgrass of Leeds United.

Players on the way out may include keeper Thomas Sorensen and Ryan Shawcross on whom Tottenham Hotspur are apparently keen. Matthew Etherington has also been linked with a move to Aston Villa. Pulis will want to keep his main players on board as well as bring in some fresh faces.

Sunderland

Steve Bruce has already admitted that he will again look to young British loan signings to add to the squad however he does have some good transfer cash available, not only from Jordan Henderson’s move to Liverpool but that of Darren Bent’s to Aston Villa. Strikers are on top of his list and if cannot reloan Danny Welbeck off Manchester United he will look to buy some top strikers to get the goals. One player continuously linked is that of Tottenham’s Peter Crouch, Ipswich’s Connor Wickham as well as Manchester United players Wes Brown and Darron Gibson.

Swansea City

Swansea City have been linked with some top players already this summer, however it all seems to be pure speculation at the moment with nothing really tied up. The question is whether they really need big name players in the squad. They already have a team capable of picking up points in the Premiership but will need a few tweaks here and there. So far the first Welsh club in history in the Premier League have been linked with Eidur Gudjohnsen, Leroy Lita, Ryan Bertrand and Villareal’s Marcos Senna.

Tottenham Hotspur

Harry Redknapp has already admitted to having to sell first before buying and a lot will depend on selling the likes of Robbie Keane and Wilson Palacios. There will be others too and no one is really sure on what Modric is wanting to do. The main players to be linked with Tottenham Hotspur are nothing new but interesting nonetheless as the White Hart Lane side look to make that top four again. Pablo Daniel Osvaldo of Espanyol, Scott Parker of West Ham, Joe Cole of Liverpool and Asamoah Gyan of Sunderland have all been heavily linked.

West Bromwich Albion

After Roy Hodgson turned Albion’s fortunes around you would be forgiven in thinking that West Brom don’t really need much strengthening. They have however been linked with some interesting players of late with the likes of QPR’s Adel Taarabt, Fulham’s Andy Johnson who used to play under Hodgson when he managed the West London side, David Vaughan of Blackpool and possibly Daniel Sturridge on loan from Chelsea.

Wigan Athletic

The biggest transfer news for Wigan this summer is that of Roberto Martinez deciding to stay on, it must have been a tempting offer by Aston Villa but he stood firm, fans should never forget that. With regards to new players Martinez does have his wish list which includes the re-loaning of Tom Cleverley, Bolton’s Ali Al Habsi, and forward Kenny Miller who currently plays for TUrkish side Bursaspor. He does look as though he may be selling on Charles N’Zogbia this summer as well as keeper Chris Kirkland and they are big players to replace. Should they be sold though the Wigan boss will have some extra cash behind him to invest in suitable replacements.

Wolves

Wolverhampton Wanderer’s have been linked with some good names over the last few weeks and landing any three of them will give the whole area a boost, let alone the team. The likes of Manchester United’s Jonny Evans is one player who could be on his way to Molineux as well as Shane Long and the perhaps the unfairly criticised Paul Konchesky. A big issue for Wolves manager Mick McCarthy will be keeping hold of instrumental Matthew Jarvis who is wanted by numerous Premiership sides including Liverpool and Everton.

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By Footybunker