Transfers - Gossip Shop: Heskey to Chelsea?

Eurosport - Mon, 15 Dec 13:19:00 2008

London has always been a fan of revivals. Forgotten musicals, dinosaur rock bands, and long dead artists regularly get their chance to shine in front of the capital's glitterati and their insatiably nostalgic appetites.

FOOTBALL Wigan Chelsea Emile Heskey Jon Obi Mikel - 0

Now it seems that a couple of the city's football clubs are set to let a couple of wily old veterans swap damp, cold outposts up North for the bright lights of the city.

There must have been a repeat of England's 5-1 2001 victory over Germany on ESPN Classic this week because both Wigan's Emile Heskey and Newcastle's Michael Owen are men in demand.

Heskey is wanted by the bargain hunting Chelsea while Owen is a target of Spurs as clubs everywhere look to go retro in a bid to spice up their seasons in January.

Why even the recently retired Andrew Cole is in demand, although admittedly only by Bacup Borough of Vodkat League. Bacup is apparently between the bustling metropolises of Burnley, Todmorden, Rochdale and Rawtenstall and sounds very, very cold.

Back to London though, and transfer rumours involving Chelsea just are not what they used to be with Bolton's Kevin Davies and Sunderland's Kenwyne Jones being mentioned as alternatives to Heskey. The days of the club being linked with the likes of Lionel Messi seem long over.

In fact, there are more rumours of big name players moving out of Stamford Bridge than in, with Didier Drogba, Branislav Ivanovic (both Inter) and Joe Cole (Tottenham) all being listed as possible exits by various Sunday tabs.

Spurs certainly look set for a busy January. If they lose out on Owen to Everton (who are also reportedly interested), they could be willing to spend £15 million on Bordeaux striker Fernando Cavenaghi.

They could raise that money by selling David Bentley to Manchester City for the same fee while Heurelho Gomes has also said he wants to return to PSV. GS cannot imagine what he could get nice and legally in the Netherlands that he cannot get over here?

However, if Harry Redknapp wants to achieve what all Spurs managers have tried but failed to do - ie sign Stewart Downing from Middlesbrough - then he may have to offer Gareth Bale in part exchange.

Back up North and at Goodison Park David Moyes seems determined to build a side that could have won the Premier League 10 years ago. As well as Owen, Henrik Larsson and Gary Neville are on his wish-list.

Moyes will also compete with Newcastle and Middlesbrough for Crystal Palace man Ben Watson and will try and raise £4.5 million by selling Leighton Baines back to Wigan.

Manchester City targets in Sunday's papers are all familiar: Roque Santa Cruz, Bentley and Lassana Diarra are again mentioned, but they could miss out on Diarra as, according to French paper L'Equipe, the far sexier Real Madrid now want the Portsmouth star.

Portsmouth could replace Diarra with a similarly versatile player in the shape of Chelsea's Jack Cork who has impressed on loan at Southampton this season.

Southampton's side could be decimated because Stoke are planning a £3 million raid for their young duo Andrew Surman and Adam Lallana.

However, Stoke boss Tony Pulis will miss out on Liverpool's Jermaine Pennant, who will also snub Blackburn. Instead, the former Birmingham winger will bide his time knowing that he can leave on a free in the summer unless he plays 15 games for the Reds this season.

Liverpool could also lose Daniel Agger to Milan and if they do, expect an £8 million bid for Fulham's Brede Hangeland.

Speaking of Fulham, Spartak Moscow goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa has issued a "come-and-get-me-plea" to the West London club. Good luck with that Stipe, GS issued a similar plea to the lovely ladies at Putney's Be At One just a stone's throw away from Craven Cottage on Friday night without any success.

Arsenal are centring their flirtations on a couple of young Belgians. They are willing to pay £4m for 20 year-old Standard Liege player Steven Defour and Lille's 17-year-old Belgian sensation Eden Hazard is also on their radar.

A second Lille player - Yohan Cabaye - could also end up at the Emirates, while Carlos Vela could leave for a second loan spell at Salamanca.

West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola has said he will quit the club if promises made to him at the time of his joining are not kept; but in even more alarming news for Hammers fans, Premier League reject Eric Djemba-Djemba claims that the club want to bring him to Upton Park.

In other manager talk: Leo Beenhakker, Roberto Mancini, Gerard Houllier, Martin Jol, Dick Advocaat and Ronald Koeman are amongst a host of names linked with the Sunderland position as the papers logically start to look beyond Sam Allardyce, who would surely already have the job if Sunderland really wanted him?

Meanwhile, Peter Crouch could be set to continue his tour of former clubs with a summer move back to Aston Villa being mooted.

Villa will also try and edge out Newcastle and West Brom for Anderlecht's Czech midfielder Jan Polak, while Hull City will bid £8 million for Manchester United's Frazier Campbell .

In the Championship, Birmingham will make a £4m bid for Peterbrough's fishy sounding striker Craig Mackail-Smith; Sheffield United are chasing the "new Chris Waddle" who is apparently Chris Taylor of Oldham; QPR want Aston Villa's Wayne Routledge; and new Watford boss Brendan Rogers wants to return to Chelsea to sign Miroslaw Stoch and Scott Sinclair.

Finally in Scotland, Rangers and Celtic both want Newcastle's Northern Ireland youth international Shane Ferguson . What religion the boy is should not have any bearing on which club he ends up at, but GS suspects it just might!

Seán Fay / Eurosport

Comment 27 - 46 of 46

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  1. sell malouda and anelka.go for­ eto'o,henry,nisterooy,ibrahimovic,villa or­ tevez.heskey is just as good as anelka,all good for­ nothing.

    From danieltavershima, on Wed 31 Dec 7:10AM
  2. Of Course his religion has a bearing on it! look what­ happened with Lennon.........that was recent not back­ in the 70's.......

    From james b, on Mon 15 Dec 2:28PM
  3. "Finally in Scotland, Rangers and Celtic both want­ Newcastle's Northern Ireland youth international­ Shane Ferguson . What religion the boy is should not­ have any bearing on which club he ends up at, but GS­ suspects it just might!"

    whats this all about?­ its not 1971, get your backwards mornonic thinking out­ of your journalism, idiot

    From james, on Mon 15 Dec 1:35PM
  4. i would like Manu to buy aplayer to replace legend­ Giggs of about 16years.A nigerian ManU fan.Ekine fj.

    From Okpara Bj, on Mon 15 Dec 12:36PM
  5. Arsenal need to stop buyin those young player who are­ not established enough get the young once who can­ inflict fear.For vela he needs more loan experience its­ a welcome idea.Up Gunners.

    From Donvinci, on Mon 15 Dec 12:34PM
  6. Heskey of all striker?so Chelsea now have to settle for­ a defensive cheap striker?Chelsea is broke now the­ market will be back and better.

    From Donvinci, on Mon 15 Dec 12:32PM
  7. rafa should replace riera,arbeola and­ dossena.they're not up to standard if want to stay­ top of pl.pls find players from other markets beside­ spain

    From perintisvc, on Mon 15 Dec 12:22PM
  8. Chelsea want to forget owen, his nickname is "sick­ note" up north, he is on the sick more than he­ plays, alright he gets goals but 5-6 weeks then he gets­ injured and is back on the injury list. Newcastle's­ Martins is a better target.

    From richard.atkinson4, on Mon 15 Dec 11:33AM
  9. I dont wanna see heskey go but 4 £8m i will drive him­ down myself!!!!

    From 1982, on Mon 15 Dec 9:48AM
  10. i m chelsea fans. chelsea should sell drogba. Should­ buy Owen.

    From nbh90, on Mon 15 Dec 8:50AM
  11. why are people interested in talking about him even­ though these are fake things? you
    should have known­ the fake news about his affair with Miss New York and­ even his joining
    the famous dating place____TallLoving­ com___.. he is a completely play boy. ...

    From li J, on Mon 15 Dec 2:13AM
  12. chelsea ki maa ki..............

    From ankitanuraj, on Sun 14 Dec 7:16PM
  13. chelsea are @#$% losers

    From ankitanuraj, on Sun 14 Dec 7:11PM
  14. alonso to arsenal???????????????????

    From ankitanuraj, on Sun 14 Dec 7:10PM
  15. arsenal are surely in very big trouble.with fabregas­ and adebayour linked with moves to spain and italy­ respectively and walcott out to injury and eboue being­ booed by his own fans.things are not well at the­ emirates and with villa,man city,and spurs looking to­ really boost their teams this january i think they are­ out of the champions league next year.

    From ankitanuraj, on Sun 14 Dec 7:03PM
  16. I doubt drogba will leave, i dont care about ivonavic­ but i think buying heskey is complete rumours..
    CHELSEA

    From , on Sun 14 Dec 6:20PM
  17. REPLY TO COMMENT 30

    in case u hadnt noticed, drogba­ is the prems top scorer....
    he is bringing results,­ and drogba isnt...
    drogba has an attitude problem­ (incase u also hadnt noticed) --- seriously on his 1st­ game back, he gets a 3 match ban.

    -- to me it looks­ like drogba is the one with a problem keeping his­ composure on the front line

    From Yannick P, on Sun 14 Dec 6:04PM
  18. i think this is the time to sack scolari,im a chelsea­ fan and did not like how he alwayz select the­ squad...Anelka can't start match in expense of­ Drogba! What a hell is wrong with scolari?Anelka is­ just a chance player no skill,no ambition and can't­ composed in front line..just look at Etoo and Henry­ they are wonderful strikers...Please give us Drogba we­ are tired of Anelka of a thing!

    From FlirtiStarr6699, on Sun 14 Dec 4:58PM
  19. Chelsea should take advantage of Tevez's short­ length of contract at untd, they need to buy a proven­ younger striker & Kaka will never go to Chelsea.

    From GREGORY, on Sun 14 Dec 4:54PM
  20. If Chelsea are paying £8m for players of heskeys­ calibre MAn utd, Arsenal and Liverpool fans must be­ jumping for joy.

    From Malcy, on Sun 14 Dec 4:47PM
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