More like this
Liverpool want £18m Alberto Aquilani
Transfer Talk: The Merseysiders are looking at the £18m-rated Roma and Italy midfielder as a replacement should Xabi Alonso leave
Liverpool may be fighting tooth and nail to keep Xabi Alonso at the club but manager Rafa Benitez is savvy enough to be looking for a replacement should the Spaniard leave for Real Madrid, Chelsea or Manchester City, with Roma's midfielder Alberto Aquilani their prime target, the Daily Mirror suggests. The cash-strapped Serie A side would demand that Benitez hands over at least half of the £35m that Liverpool have said is the asking price for Alonso. The 25-year-old Italian international Aquilani has recently signed a four-year deal with Roma...
Sir Alex Ferguson has been told that the balance of the £80m that Manchester United received from Real Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo - believed to be £60m - remains available to the manager for "investment" in his squad, according to the Guardian. A spokesman for the Glazer family which owns the Old Trafford outfit said that "[Sir Alex] has a significant amount of money to invest if he wants to... [but] the manager has not been able to locate the players he believes fit the Manchester United mindset – players who are motivated to play for United. You don't want mercenaries and you don't want to pay over the odds for players not willing to give their all for the club." To date Ferguson has spent £17m on Antonio Valencia, a reported £3m on Gabriel Obertan, and picked up Michael Owen on a free transfer...
Chelsea look to have done enough to keep their captain and defender John Terry at Stamford Bridge after the England international agreed in principle to stay at the club, reports the Times. After meetings with the club's chief executive Peter Kenyon and owner Roman Abramovich on Chelsea's current American pre-season tour, the 28-year-old is likely to sign a deal that will see his salary increase to £150,000 a week - short of the £200,000 a week that Manchester City was offering, but enough to get by on...
Having apparently missed out on picking up Peter Crouch when he opted to remain in the south of England, Sunderland may end up helping Tottenham sign the lanky Portsmouth striker by buying Darren Bent from the north Londoners, the Daily Mail reveals. Steve Bruce is willing to spend up to £12m on Bent, whose career at White Hart Lane can be described as fitful at best. With the money from that transfer, Harry Redknapp will hope to best his capital rivals Fulham in the pursuit for Crouch, becoming reacquainted with the man he bossed at Southampton and Portsmouth... ·
