Chelsea offer knock-down £40m for Sergio Aguero

The Guardian reports that Atletico Madrid may accept a knock-down figure of £40m from Chelsea for their prized asset Sergio Aguero, a third lower than the £57m buy-out clause in his contract. Frank Arnesen, the Londoners' director of football, will be charged with driving a hard bargain for the Argentinean striker, and the Dane can point to the 21-year-old's cup-tied status - and thus his ineligibility to play in the latter stages of the Champions League this season - as a reason why he won't go beyond his limit. [Fittingly enough one of the games Aguero played saw him score two goals against the Blues which had Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti purring.) Time is of the essence for the Premier League club, as could have their Fifa transfer ban re-imposed should their appeal be thrown out of the Court for Arbitration in Sport in February...

Mindful of the brittleness of his squad following the weekend injury to Robin van Persie, Arsene Wenger has moved quickly and signed a long-term deal with Croatian striker Eduardo da Silva that will keep him at the Emirates for years to come. There had been rumours before the weekend that the 26-year-old, who is still to make a full recovery from the horror tackle that broke his ankle in February 2008, was unhappy at being sidelined for the Gunners and was attracting covetous glances fro other clubs including Liverpool. Yesterday's deal has put paid to that, with Wenger telling the club's website: ""We're delighted that Eduardo has signed a new long-term contract with us. Eduardo is a special player with huge talent and natural goalscoring ability, and we're all so happy that he has committed his future to Arsenal Football Club. We have also seen in his comeback from injury, Eduardo is a human being full of courage, bravery and commitment"...

Manchester City's Brazilian superstar Robinho openly discusses his favoured move to Barcelona in the dressing room at the Premier League club, according to his teammate Roque Santa Cruz. Paraguay striker Santa Cruz told Spanish radio station Catalunya Radio: "Of course he talks to us about it. And the players are cracking jokes about it in the dressing room. In the English papers there's a lot of interest about Barca and Robinho is also not hiding his desire to play for them one day. But I guess we'll see." While the provenance of the story is questionable, as Santa Cruz has a lot to gain from seeing his erstwhile City teammate leave Eastlands, it appears to indicate that Robinho is doing his utmost to push for a loan deal in the January transfer window...

Tottenham are leading the chase for Marseille winger Hatem Ben Arfa, the Sun claims, after the 22-year-old French international had another bust-up with his manager Didier Deschamps. Ben Arfa his manager of "breaking his balls" after a succession of clashes between the pair, and looks set to leave the club on loan in the transfer window, with Spurs and Portsmouth both vying for his services. Harry Redknapp will hope to tame the combative Ben Arfa, who arrived at Marseille having been sold by Lyon following a fight with a teammate and problems with Eric Gerets, his manager there. There is also interest from Spanish clubs Sevilla and Valencia... ·