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Posted by Jon Carter on 08/02/2009

Do you trust Sir Alex Ferguson when he tells you something? Well, the papers have probably got their fingers burned one too many times and are now totally sure that he'll spend some of the Ronaldo cash before the end of the season, despite saying he won't.

Three papers. Three different potential transfer targets . And we'll start with the News of the World who think that Valencia's David Silva is the man to fill the United midfield with some proven quality.

The People are pretty sure it's teammate David Villa they're after, although they might just make an enquiry about Silva too.

And lastly, the Sunday Express claim that Fergie hasn't had enough of small, powerful Argentine strikers just yet and will spend £35m on bringing in Sergio Aguero.

One player who won't be joining for sure is Gremio's Douglas Costa, as the News of the World claim his private life - i.e. his party lifestyle and the fact he is frequently late for training - has scuppered any hopes of a move from the famously hard to please Fergie.

Could all this speculation have anything to do with the fact that Valencia travel to Old Trafford on Wednesday and Aguero is currently in England for the Emirates Cup? Or are the tabloids just a little unhappy that Manchester United haven't been in the gossip column for a while?

Away from United, Sunderland and Tottenham are not exactly seeing eye to eye over Darren Bent. The People say Spurs want to extract an extra £1m out of the deal - although £14m still looks like a good price for a striker who has not won round his critics yet.

The same paper has also linked the Black Cats with a double transfer swoop for Tottenham's David Bentley and Michael Dawson.

The News of the World thinks Harry Redknapp won't mind offloading a few names, certainly not if he can get in Mark van Bommel. After missing out on Paddy Vieira, he still wants a leader in the centre of the park.

Chelsea are closing on a move for Rafael van der Vaart if they miss out on Andrea Pirlo and it could be on loan as they are having trouble agreeing a price for the Dutchman.

Rounding up the rest of today's gossip, we've picked most of it up from the People. Arsenal are closing in on 23-year-old PSV midfielder Ibrahim Afellay, while Fulham want to sign Gunners striker Carlos Vela on loan; Blackburn and Portsmouth want to sign Manchester City striker Benjani (who we think still plays football) and Newcastle defender Habib Beye is also wanted by the Rovers, Villa and Hull.

And it's full of full-backs as Valencia right-back Miguel could be on his way to Everton; Blackburn left-back Stephen Warnock is subject to interest from Villa and Hoffenheim full-back Andreas Beck is wanted by Bolton and Fiorentina.

And finally, the News of the World loves a good financial analysis. So they have a story about how City's wage bill is now over £100m a year.

Robinho (£160,000 a week), Emmanuel Adebayor (£150,000), Carlos Tevez (£150,000), Gareth Barry (£120,000) and Toure (£120,000) are the top earners - while owner Sheikh Mansour has half a billion pounds worth of commitment in wages alone over the next four years. Nice work if you can get it.

Comments

Posted by Jinay Dhanki on 08/02/2009

I trust Fergie because he is absolutely right. The transfer fees this year have been crazy. Wenger hasn't spent either and these are 2 managers who have worked for years and gained success.
David Silva would be an awesome addition but then suddenly Nani, Obertan and Tosic go deep down the pecking order. Consider we have Adem Ljajic coming this Jan.
A great buy would be Rafael Van der Vaart as a replacement for Paul Scholes. He can even play on the wings and he scores goals from midfield! His availablility (for around 10m) is not too pricey. Add him and Manutd have a REALLY strong squad.

Posted by D Ceetwo on 08/21/2009

Anderson is a natural replacement for Scholes. Like Rooney and because of Scholes, Anderson is forced out of position and looks it when he plays. As for spending, he appears to be biding his time to the half year to see what the fall out is from the big spending. The only complaint I have about SAF is let Owen or Rooney take the penalty kicks. Most keepers who look at film can guess Giggs, Evra and Carrick. Owen you can never guess nor can you Rooney. A mystery that one is. SAF has it right. Just waiting on Macheda to play regularly.

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