HERE ARE THE good, the bad, and the unlikely football moves being talked about today…
WITH THE TRANSFER deadline getting ever closer, Arsenal fans must be a little worried at the lack of new recruits to come in the door over the past two months.
Don’t despair though, as reports in Spain this morning claim that Arsene Wenger is set to open the chequebook and sign Spanish striker Lucas Perez from Deportivo.
The 27-year-old, who can also play on the wing, scored 17 times in La Liga last season and has a buyout clause of £16.9 million (€20m).
However, Everton’s director of football Steve Walsh has been a long-time admirer of Perez and would love to bring him to Goodison Park.
The Gunners could really do with strengthening their defence but any potential bid for Manchester United’s Phil Jones will be rejected as Jose Mourinho doesn’t want to do business with the Frenchman.
Tottenham are keen on Bayer Leverkusen’s talented attacking midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu, who is a bit of a dead-ball specialist, but the Turkish international’s agent has stated that he wants to remain with the Bungesliga outfit for now.
Watford have announced the arrival of Dutch full-back Daryl Janmaat on a four-year deal from Newcastle. The Hornets have paid around £7m (€8m) for his services, while the Magpies picked up US international DeAndre Yedlin from Tottenham as a replacement.
And Sunderland have sealed their sixth new arrival as Atletico Madrid defender Javier Manquillo has joined on loan The 22-year-old made ten appearances for Liverpool on a previous loan spell during the 2014-15 campaign.
Retro Deal of the Day
The man who would go on to be nicknamed the ‘Baby-Faced Assassin’ arrived at Manchester United as an underwhelming £1.2 million signing from Molde around the same time that compatriot Ronny Johnsen joined in the summer of 1996.
As the story goes, many of the senior players questioned who this young boy was on his first day of training — until he began lashing the ball into the back of the net with ferocious regularity.
On 25 August, 20 years ago today, the Norwegian striker was brought on a substitute for David May against Blackburn Rovers and scored just eight minutes into his debut.
Solskjaer would soon become a key squad player and the epitome of a ‘super sub’ under Alex Ferguson — scoring 126 goals over an 11-year period despite suffering from several injury problems.
He’s most fondly-remembered for his injury-time winner in the 1999 Champions League final at the Nou Camp.
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