HERE’S THE GOOD, the bad and unlikely football moves being talked about today.
José Mourinho is reportedly considering a move for Liverpool’s Joe Allen in what would be one of the most shocking transfers of the summer. A string of very solid performances at Euro 2016 has brought the Welsh Pirlo onto Mourinho’s radar. The Manchester United manager won’t have it all his own way as the South Wales Evening Post reports that he will have to fend off interest from Swansea if he wants to land the in-form midfielder.
Another man who had a strong tournament in France, forcing his way onto the Team of the Tournament, was Rui Patrício. The Portuguese goalkeeper is keen on a move to the Premier League reports The Sun, news which is sure to be music to the ears of Ronald Koeman. Everton have been chasing the Sporting Lisbon shot-stopper for a while and with an estimated price-tag of €7.2million, the Toffees could land one of the bargain-buys of the summer.
Man City are going to have to dig deep into their pockets if they want to land Leonardo Bonucci. Juventus appear to be willing to let the centre-back leave Italy but they will not let him go without being well-compensated placing a price-tag of €60million on the 29-year old’s head, as reported by The Guardian.
Losing N’Golo Kanté hasn’t curbed Leicester City’s ambitions of building another solid unit for the upcoming season. According to Football365, they are using funds from Kanté’s departure to increase bids for Irishman Robbie Brady and Burnley’s Michael Keane.
N’Golo may have left but Riyad Mahrez is safe for now as Barcelona have ruled themselves out of the race to land the Algerian, according to The Mirror. Unfortunately for Leicester, last year’s PFA Players’ Player of the Year’s future still remains uncertain as he is supposedly still looking to leave the club with Arsenal and Chelsea waiting in the shadows.
Jurgen Klopp looks set to fill the void left my Martin Skrtel is his squad by adding Estonian captain Ragnar Klavan to the Liverpool ranks reports TalkSPORT. The addition of the 30-year old, along with Joel Matip earlier in the Summer, is a sign of Klopp’s eagerness to add strength to a well-documented weak area in the Liverpool setup.
Arsenal’s contract talks with Laurent Koscielny have stalled with Bayern Munich ready to pounce on the French international. Reports from Express suggest that talks over a €108,000 a week contract may have broken down but the prospect of only providing backup to Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels may convince the defender to stay at the Emirates.
Retro Deal of the Day
On this day in 1997, Paul Ince returned from Inter Milan to play for Liverpool in a deal worth £4.2million.
The move was seen as a shock at the time as Ince had only left arch-rivals Manchester United two years previously.
The English midfielder failed to replicate the success he had at Old Trafford with Liverpool but he did make 65 league appearances for the club scoring 14 goals in the process.
One of highlights from his Liverpool career came against his former club. He scored a late equaliser against Man United at Anfield to earn the Merseysiders a draw.
Unfortunately for Ince and Liverpool, it wasn’t enough to deprive their rivals of claiming the Premier League title.
Ince’s Liverpool career lasted only two years before he was put on the transfer list in 1999 and subsequently was shipped off to Middlesborough.
Playing for both Man United and Liverpool brings its downfalls as Ince never fully received legendary status at either club.
Paul Ince went on to manage teams such as Blackburn Rovers, MK Dons and Blackpool. His son Tom followed in his father’s footsteps and currently plies his trade at Derby County.
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