Live transfers

Transfers - Gossip Shop: Inter eye Obi

Eurosport - Wed, 13 May 10:50:00 2009

The problem with managers who leave a club where they were held in high regard is that they invariably come back to haunt their former employers at one time or another.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 Premier League Chelsea John Obi Mikel - 0

Take Internazionale coach Jose Mourinho as a case in point. The Portuguese tactician was loved in the Chelsea dressing room during a successful (on the pitch) and entertaining (off it) spell at Stamford Bridge.

So much so that several of his former charges would be willing to once again link up with him, given half a chance.

At least the ever-egotistical Mourinho thinks so, and we've already seen him linked with moves for the likes of Frank Lampard, Michael Essien and Didier Drogba.

Of course, none of the above have been tempted by a move to Italy - although Drogba reportedly flew to Milan at the weekend, for a dinner date according to his people - but the latest name to be thrown into the hat could well be set for a reunion with his former mentor this summer.

The player? John Obi Mikel. The Nigeria international has been targeted by Inter to breathe life into their ageing midfield, with £15 million lined up to lure him to the San Siro district of Milan at the end of the season.

Mikel is far from a favourite with Blues fans and with funds needed to be found from somewhere if Chelsea are to invest in their own squad, £15m could be enough to tempt Guus Hiddink to sanction his departure.

One man who won't be leaving West London this summer though is Nicolas Anelka.

The France striker has been linked with a summer move - his 10th of a nomadic career - but his agent has poured water on the fires of speculation by insisting Anelka will not be moving anywhere.

Over to one of Anelka's former clubs, Arsenal, where the inquest into their disappointing campaign has begun in earnest, even before the season is over.

Everyone seems to have an opinion on who Arsene Wenger needs to bring in if the Gunners are to arrest their worryingly long run of trophyless years.

Gossip Shop believes a defender and a striker are priorities, and there can't be many out there who disagree.

Certainly the Daily Mail recognises the need for a top-class stopper, with a hit list of four stoppers put forward for consideration.

So, how about Everton's Joleon Lescott (£15m) or Lucio of Bayern Munich (£12m)? Or Paris St Germain's Mamadou Sakho (£12m) and Cristian Zapata of Udinese (£12m)?

The Star offers another suggestion in the shape of Gary Cahill . But considering the £20m price tag slapped on his head by current employers Bolton - not to mention Arsenal's thriftiness in the transfer market - a move for that kind of money seems unlikely. He's no Andrei Arshavin, after all.

In other tittle-tattle, Martin O'Neill has been suitably impressed by West Brom striker Marc-Antoine Fortune and the Aston Villa boss is currently leading the race to sign the on-loan Nancy ace.

Indeed, anyone who is any good at West Brom will be fair game if, as expected, the Baggies go down this season. And fitting neatly into that category is winger Chris Brunt, who Fulham boss Roy Hodgson is ready to splash £3m on.

And finally, it would be remiss of Gossip Shop not to mention Carlos Tevez today, despite most people having become terribly bored by the uncertainty over his future, such has been the saturation coverage since his revelations to the Sunday newspapers

The question of where the Manchester United striker will end up next season is already threatening to become this summer's biggest transfer saga, and with two further possible destinations suggested in today's papers, the story is not going to disappear anytime soon.

The Sun reports - although there are no quotes to back the claim up, not even a made-up one from a 'close friend' - that Tevez will go back on his promise to United fans not to join bitter rivals Liverpool by actually heading down the M62 and signing a deal at Anfield.

And the Star claims Milan have offered £20m for the Argentine's services, with a further £20m set aside for his wages over four years.

So that's who Kia Joorabchian was talking to on the phone during Sunday's Manchester derby.

Eurosport

Comment 37 - 56 of 56

Sort comments by: Most recent
  1. hiddink back to russia

    From ruairidh.mitchell, on Fri 15 May 3:05PM
  2. adebayor is welcome at s/brdge. adebayor should replace­ Drogba, we need a striker like him. someone who behaves­ well and can score. adebayor you are welcome. then we­ also need hindik to stay

    From richard, on Thu 14 May 3:58PM
  3. mikel should stay at s/brige.he is a talented young­ player. If chelsea need to upgrade their standards they­ should not go for fake players. Chelsea only need a few­ changes and a coach like the current coach. Mikel is­ for chelsea. mimbulu family

    From richard, on Thu 14 May 3:50PM
  4. Mikel should not leave chelsea because he is a great­ midfielder though he makes some mistakes at time. it is­ better not to sell Mikel than bringing someone who will­ take so much time to catch up. Mikel should stay.

    from­ the mimbulu family

    From richard, on Thu 14 May 3:41PM
  5. so much bulshit! Milan don't need tevez and for­ shure they wont pay so much for a avrege player

    From Vlad, on Wed 13 May 6:40PM
  6. cmooonn Tevez!!!! come to Anfield!! be with your fellow­ Argentine Javier Mascherano!!!!

    and score against the­ ONLY team in the world that doesnt want you...­ Manchester Utd!!!!!!!

    From hardeep, on Wed 13 May 3:38PM
  7. i am an inter fan, i will like young players to be in­ this club, but mikel is somehow slow

    From Joshua, on Wed 13 May 8:05AM
  8. AS FOR ME IDONT REALLY LIKE MIKEL, HE PLAYS LIKE A­ WOMAN,WE NEED PLAYERS LIKE ESSIEN WHO CAN TAKE THE ­ TEAM ON HIS SUOLDERS.

    From osuma37, on Wed 13 May 1:12AM
  9. WHICH CLUB DOES CAHILL PLAY FOR??

    From esther.melvyn, on Tue 12 May 7:52PM
  10. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Would you like a brand new Games console like a PS3,­­ Wii, or a DS Lite etc. for only £5 or even FREE? Then­­ just copy and paste

    ultimategadgets. co . cc into­ your­ browser (removing any spaces) and sign­ up.

    Complete­ just ONE of the listed offers to­ qualify, there are­ many to choose from, some are free­ and some are as­ little as £5. My favourites are the­ FREE Lovefilm DVD­ rental trial or the
    the FREE HSBC­ offer, The Coral and Gala­ bingo offers are only £5 and­ you can win that back and­ more. I have used this site­ to get a PS3, Iphone and a­ Nintendo Wii so far. Just­ sign up, do an offer and get­ a few friends to do the­ same, its as easy as that.

    From Julie B, on Tue 12 May 7:06PM
  11. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Would you like a brand new Games console like a PS3,­­ Wii, or a DS Lite etc. for only £5 or even FREE? Then­­ just copy and paste

    ultimategadgets. co . cc into­ your­ browser (removing any spaces) and sign­ up.

    Complete­ just ONE of the listed offers to­ qualify, there are­ many to choose from, some are free­ and some are as­ little as £5. My favourites are the­ FREE Lovefilm DVD­ rental trial or the
    the FREE HSBC­ offer, The Coral and Gala­ bingo offers are only £5 and­ you can win that back and­ more. I have used this site­ to get a PS3, Iphone and a­ Nintendo Wii so far. Just­ sign up, do an offer and get­ a few friends to do the­ same, its as easy as that.

    From Julie B, on Tue 12 May 7:05PM
  12. kim.whittaker you started off so bad then made some­ sense. explain how chelsea need another centre back­ though? they have 4 great ones and 1 young up and­ coming english star.

    as lt said, mikel was never a­ defensive mid but managers come in and see the last­ played him there so they think they need to. its­ stupid. we need a manager to come in and look at the­ players and notice things like mikel to not be in a­ sitting position and kalou can play as a central­ striker. also of a good age btw.

    what chelsea need are­ 5 players max. a young decent backup keeper, young left­ back, young attacking centre mid, winger(quaresma) and­ a world class goal scorer. ther aint many chelsea­ players Id wanna see leave but I would let belleti and­ ferreira go because of age not ability. mineiro can­ leave. mancienne could go on a season loan to an EPL­ club. ballack used less and wages reduced but Id keep­ him and deco for 1 more season while new younger­ players merge into the team. plus they can change­ styles of play with ease

    From yip, on Tue 12 May 6:27PM
  13. Fergie is arguable the best coach, with an eye for­ talent, and he wanted Mikel Obi. Mourinho, another­ successful coach, fought to bring Mikel to the Bridge.­ Isn't it then obvious that Mikel's critics are­ the ones with poor judgment? Mikel has more potential­ than he has been allowed to show. The boy is not a­ natural defensive midfield player. He was signed as an­ attacking midfielder. In view of the number of­ attacking midfielders at Chelsea at the time, Mourinho­ converted Mikel to a defensive midfielder just to make­ sure the boy was selected for games. It will be a poor­ decision to let Mikel leave. He is young and has very­ good ball holding and passing abilities. With the right­ team shape, and in an attacking position, the boy will­ come good. To be honest, Ballack has not been great for­ Chelsea either. Why gamble and bring in another­ midfielder when building cohesion and team play should­ be the goal.

    From Idiaro, on Tue 12 May 6:11PM
  14. Well said kim.whittaker. see you make a valid point­ although i find it hard to believe you are a lass.­ thats beside the point but i still think your point is­ a good one although i'm an obi fan.

    From lindsaymanette, on Tue 12 May 6:06PM
  15. am a big fan of mikel(mufc life long supporter here).­ you all know we tried to get him but moneybags­ abramovich beat us to it. my only critisiscm abt his­ game is his low ratio of shots on goal but then again­ i think its cos of the way he's been asked to play­ in the team. personally we wouldnt mind having him in­ manchester since i dont see him costing more that­ 15mil, and i reckon he would so an equally if not­ better job that anderson and dare i say carrick.
    anyway­ chelsea bore me and i really think they are going down­ from here, cant see them inj the cl final for sometime­ to come.
    as for tevez, yeah we all love him but i have­ the upmost respect for fergie and i can see why­ he's dithering with signing him. yeah he runs his­ socks of and stuff like that but he is played as a­ striker, not as a midfielder and at the end of the day,­ 4 prem goals is not a good return for the season. dont­ know abt his assist but i'm sure it isnt far from 5­ as well.30 mil is just too much for a player who's­ already spent 2yrs at a club earning huge wages and not­ really living up to the hype.for me, i would get shot­ of him and use half that cash to get benzema or aguero.­ fletcher and anderson run as much as he does and dont­ forget rooney clocks up the most miles on the pitch but­ he has an impressive goal/assist ratio to his cv.
    glad­ man u dont really need that much players this summer.­ we have enough already, will be surprised if we get­ more than two people this summer. looking forward to­ seeing the youngsters, especially tosick, have a good­ feeling abt him, not forgetting fabio, who's­ rumoured to be better than rafael, and that is saying a­ lot.
    gosh the future sure is bright for united. we­ definately will have overtaken liverpool with titles by­ the time the great fergie decides to call it­ quits.......

    UTD UTD UTD 4 EVER!!!!!

    From lindsaymanette, on Tue 12 May 6:03PM
  16. So who should leave the BLues at the end of this season­ ?

    Ballack should leave, his influence on the team has­ been minimal, Obi "goes missing" Mikel should­ also leave, he's just not good ebough, Deco ? him­ too, though no doubt a good player once, he was a­ scolari player but even then only gave two decent­ performances before his multitude of injuries. Kalou­ should leave too, highly skillful but way too­ inconsistent to rely upon. Malouda ? hmm the juries out­ on him

    Chelsea need a left back (they should never­ have let Wayne Bridge leave), another Centre back, a­ goalie (Hilario ain't good enough), another Central­ striker,a consistent winger (who don't have to be­ world class, just consistent with his crossing), other­ than that they should allow for other injuries by­ playing some of the promising "fringe"­ players in the squad like DiSantos.

    Over the last­ three of seasons they've had far too many­ influential playesr out injured through long term­ injuries, which has affected both their performances­ and style of play, Terry, Carvalho, Chech, Essian,­ Lampard and Drogba have all been missig at times with­ long term injuries, some of them all at the same time­ too.

    No team can go unnaffected by so many long term­ absences, yet they still, yet they've still managed­ to win two domestic cup competitions, were in three­ other finals (including this years FA Cup final),­ finished 2nd twice in the league, and were robbed of a­ place in this years Champions league final by some­ attrocious and very blatant cheating refereeing­ decisons.

    Let's get real here, there are only so­ many things a club can win and no matter how good a­ club (or it's players) is there is no guarantee­ that trophies will be won and getting very close to­ winning them should be seen as a fairly successful­ season, well it's far better than struggling along­ in midtable innit ?

    Sometimes the boards and fans of­ many clubs simply demand, or expect too much, Li

    From kim.whittaker, on Tue 12 May 5:42PM
  17. N.PEARCE(P38).DID U SAY U WATCH CHELSEA'S GAME?Who­ is a better ball passer than Mikel in Chelsea?well that­ is not the issue.if u feel he should go use ur veto­ power and sell.ple sell him to man.U

    From Kester, on Tue 12 May 4:44PM
  18. everybody keep saying mikel should go forgeting the­ fact that ballack will be retiring soon which means­ essien as a holding midfieder will be moved in as a­ attacking midfielder which chelsea have been doing for­ a while now even at there last game against arsenal. so­ if mikel go and ballack is out of the game chelsea will­ need to shop for another midfielder which will be risky­ for the team because its good for them to stick to a­ player they are already use to not the one that will­ take a while for him to adjust to the team.

    From bright00love, on Tue 12 May 4:39PM
  19. Oh for f.sake heres tim again with his usual rubbish.­ anyone wanna help me get him banned?

    From yip, on Tue 12 May 4:39PM
  20. N.PEARCE(P38).DID U SAY U WATCH CHELSEA'S GAME?Who­ is a better ball passer than Mikel in Chelsea?well that­ is not the issue.if u feel he should go use ur veto­ power and sell.ple sell him to man.U

    From Kester, on Tue 12 May 4:38PM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account