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Transfer Talk has some sympathy for Sunderland's pantomime villain Pascal Chimbonda.

The French full-back arrived at Wigan Athletic as a relative unknown and, moments after their Premier League status was secured at the end of the 2005/06 season, he slapped in a transfer request after barely a year at the club.

He engineered a move to Tottenham Hotspur, but not long afterwards the former Le Havre and Bastia right-back was reported to have said he would move to Newcastle United for the money while celebrating after Spurs' Carling Cup win over Chelsea.

He moved to the North East, but it was Sunderland's cash that drew him to Wearside.

Now, after barely six months at the Stadium of Light, he is set for another pay-day. Lyon have been sniffing around and, in a bizarre twist given his fall-out with the club, Tottenham are reportedly lining up a swoop.

"A return is possible. We'll know shortly," an ominous source close to the player allegedly told The Sun.

TT has sympathy because he is not actually that good, got his break relatively late in his career and knows full well he will never be first-choice for France. Take the money and run, son.

Sunderland could use some of the cash to move for former Everton target Modeste M'Bami.

The Marseille midfielder is available for around £6 million but the Black Cats would have to fight off interest from Blackburn Rovers and Portsmouth.

Manchester City boss Mark Hughes appears to be pressing the panic button as he realises that an entire new first-team squad is needed at Eastlands.

There are complications with most of his targets though. Either they do not want to move from title-challenging giants to a relegation-battling club with delusions of grandeur (Kaka, David Villa, Gianluigi Buffon, Kolo Toure) or their clubs really do not want to sell (Craig Bellamy, Scott Parker, Roque Santa Cruz, Jermain Defoe, Shay Given).

Some players will almost certainly not be at City by February though. Elano, Tal Ben Haim and Jo have been fairly pointless since Hughes took over, while Michael Ball, Darius Vassell, Felipe Caicedo, Gelson Fernandes and Dietmar Hamann are treading water.

Elano has been interesting Espanyol and Lazio, while Ben Haim may return to Bolton or could even rejoin former Trotters boss Sam Allardyce at Blackburn Rovers. Jo is expected to be sold on if City buy Santa Cruz, Villa or Bellamy, and they can find a club reckless enough to shell out at least half of the £18m they paid for him.

Worrying news for Arsenal fans is that injured England winger Theo Walcott could leave the club for as little as £400,000.

The 19-year-old joined from Southampton for a fee that could yet rise to £10m, but his current deal winds down in 18 months and he could leave on a free in the summer of 2010. He could even buy out the final year for £1m, although that is unlikely due to the fall-out that always accompanies 'Webster'-clause defections.

Real Madrid are reportedly monitoring his availability, although new Gunners chief executive Ivan Gazidis starts in February and has renegotiating Walcott's contract high on his list of priorities.

Arsenal are reconsidering whether a £20m move for Andrei Arshavin is a wise idea this January. While they are desperate for midfield cover following injuries to Cesc Fabregas and Tomas Rosicky, Arshavin is cup-tied in Europe.

Stoke City are eyeing a bid for Wigan striker Henri Camara , although that is dependent on whether the Latics manage to hold on to Emile Heskey in the transfer window, while Spurs are renewing interest in West Ham defender Matthew Upson.

The North London side are currently also involved in heavily-publicised tug of war battles with Portsmouth and Middlesbrough over Defoe and Stewart Downing respectively. The former has received death threats after his absence through injury in recent matches was perceived as an attempt to hasten a transfer, while the latter submitted a written transfer request to Boro.

Fulham and Hull City, meanwhile, are both considering bids for Sheffield United goal-getter James Beattie although are baulking at the Blades' £6m asking-price.

Reda Maher / Eurosport