Becks may have a tough decision ahead, Serie A or the MLS, but he’s sure to be helped out by his wife. Posh has apparently made her feelings clear over her hubby’s future and it does not involve learning Italian, if you believe the Sun. She’d much rather spend her cash on clothes and then a hop on a plane back to L.A.
Portsmouth meanwhile are quite happy to spend part of their new-found wealth on some top quality, mid-ranging, not-quite-good-enough-for-other-teams, type players and it has even angered former player Paul Merson. It takes a lot to get ‘Merse’ riled, but apparently the signing of Hayden Mullins was the last straw.
Therefore he’ll be thrilled to find out that Sunny, a 20-year-old Valencia midfielder currently on loan at Osasuna (in case you’ve never heard of him), is on his way to Fratton Park, according to Sky Sports.
At Arsenal, the Andrei Arshavin deal takes another twist after the previous 103, with news that the Russian can leave for £15m. We all thought they'd agreed the fee, with Zenit lining up Juve's Vincenzo Iaquinta as a replacement.
Arsene Wenger, however, has claimed in the Guardian that he won’t break the wage structure at the club. The striker is on around £100,000-a-week at Zenit, but there’s no way that the frugal Frenchman will let him pick up that much cash. Especially when he could sign a new youngster a week in place of him. We do hope he goes though, if only so we can use the headline ‘Arsene announces Arshavin arrival at Arsenal’.
Theo Walcott, the man who can leave the Gunners in the summer for a measly £400,000, could make way for the Russian, but Wenger is keen to tie the England star down to a long term deal to ward off interest from that pesky Rafa Benitez.
Inter are also keen to keep everyone’s hands of their young star Mario Balotelli, who despite making only four starts so far this season, is still viewed as a hot prospect for the future (to coin a Championship Manager phrase). West Ham have made the Ghanaian-Italian one of their top targets, although after appointing Gianfranco Zola, their wishlist does have a familiar ‘Calcio’ feel to it.
Speaking of all things Italian. What do you do when your 35-year-old Italian reserve goalkeeper signs for someone else? Replace him with a younger model of course.
Ok, so 32 isn’t exactly young, but Milan’s Marco Storari is definitely Italian, and definitely a goalkeeper, so if Phil Scolari can persuade him to cut his hair then he’ll have the perfect replacement to sit on the bench and count his cash in place of Carlo Cudicini.
In the day’s other news, a host of players who fans may not want to see at their clubs are busy committing themselves left, right and centre. Liverpool workhorse (or is that carthorse) Dirk Kuyt, fresh from speculation linking him with a £28m move to Juve, has told Voetbal international he’s ''enormously happy'' at Anfield. Well he certainly wouldn't say 'Neigh' to a new contract.
Yaya Toure has quashed any talk that he might leave Spain’s best side, Barcelona, to join, well, anyone who’s interested really. And the Sun say that Spurs’ Giovani Dos Santos is content not playing at White Hart Lane, as opposed to not playing at Lyon.
Harry Redknapp seems too busy not trying to sign Lyon striker Fred, to comment.
Oh, and after reports they will lose Shay Given to Man City, that their players are fighting in training and their manager keeps getting fined for X-rated outbursts, Newcastle have finally hit rock bottom with the Sky Sports news that crocked midfielder/striker Alan Smith (yes he’s still there) is committing himself to the cause. Thanks Alan, and Joey Barton promises to be a good boy too.
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