Premier League - Paper Round: Arsenal eye Balotelli

Eurosport - Fri, 23 Oct 09:03:00 2009

Arsene Wenger is reportedly mulling over a £20 million bid for fiery young Internazionale striker Mario Balotelli.

Balotelli Inter - 0

According to The Sun, Wenger sent scouts to watch him last week when he scored in the 5-0 drubbing of Genoa, his only goal of the season to date.

The 19-year-old is behind Diego Milito, Samuel Eto'o and David Suazo in the pecking order in the eyes of Jose Mourinho.

With the summer move for Bordeaux star Marouane Chamakh failing to materialise, the Gunners boss could make a move for the forward, who is as talented as he is temperamental. And he's very temperamental.

The Mirror claims Wenger is looking at bringing Belgian attacking midfielder Eden Hazard to the Emirates.

As if having such a brilliant name wasn't enough, the 18-year-old Lille player is the French league's current young player of the year.

Things aren't so rosy at Anfield at the moment either. Liverpool are also on a historic losing streak and fans are more than a little disgruntled with the men at the top of their club.

Supporters group Spirit of Shankly are planning a demonstration against the club's American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, before their crucial clash against Manchester United on Sunday. Last season around 4,000 fans descended upon the ground prior to kick-off against their rivals last season, but the Mail claims that this season's poor start will prompt more than double that number this weekend.

Former Liverpool player Jermaine Pennant has also struck a blow to the club, but his ire in an interview with the Guardian was aimed at manager Rafa Benitez.

Pennant, enjoying a good start to his time at Spanish side Real Zaragoza, said: "I don't see how a player can play at an average team and be great and go to Liverpool and be not as great.

"Liverpool have had some great strikers come and go - Robbie Keane is scoring goals at Tottenham, Peter Crouch is scoring now. It didn't happen at Liverpool: it must be about how the manager relates to players, how the tactics are and how he restricts players. The coach plays a big part when you arrive at a new team. If he restricts you, it's going to make you play differently."

Chelsea fans will remember when Ray Wilkins was a regular sight at club press conferences during the glory days of Luiz Felipe Scolari. The Independent reveals that Butch will be fielding the questions at Cobham today as manager Carlo Ancelotti has returned to Italy to visit his sick father, though he is expected to be back in time for the visit of Blackburn tomorrow.

Back to matters that really are our business, and the Blues are planning a big spending spree in January, assuming their appeal for FIFA to suspend their transfer ban for the next window is successful. Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, Salomon Kalou and Jon Obi Mikel will all be away on African Nations Cup duty at the start of next year.

Jermaine Beckford has already bagged eight goals for Leeds this season to add to the whopping 26 he scored in the league last term. He's been on the radar of plenty of clubs for a while, but even he wouldn't have expected to hear of interest from Portuguese side Sporting Braga.

The striker has the choice of either a move to northern Portugal or Shepherd's Bush, as QPR are also rumoured to be ready for a bid in January.

Gordon Strachan hopes to install Neil Lennon and Garry Pendry to his back room staff should he take over at Middlesbrough, while Sven-Goran Eriksson's former assistant at Manchester City, Hans Backe, is odds on to replace Ian McParland at Notts County.

Eurosport

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  1. 20 million is waayyy too much for a player that has­ more red cards than goals this season....

    From rbrangmanjr, on Sun 25 Oct 10:34AM

  2. definitely, balotelli's a good player but not on­ the line of €20m at least €10m's ok for him.­ besides, instead of prof wenger buying hazard he rather­ spend the money on a juventus meastro sebastine­ giovincho which i observe's uncomfortable with his­ situation at the club now thus desperate to leave the­ club as i observed on his website

    From uwezion, on Sun 25 Oct 12:57AM

  3. #42..Dale A..Likes big black c,ock...
    #39..Lubov..Man­ it's nick griffin man,and i'd rather stand­ along side him than you man.

    From stirling lines, on Sat 24 Oct 1:55PM

  4. hmm... this is good choice ... coz Balotelli is young­ but he is very dangerous, he just have a big mouth, but­ Arsene can fix that ...
    for me, Balotelli should join­ us !
    Gunners 4life!

    From dzuni_heco, on Sat 24 Oct 11:03AM

  5. Will Baloteli and hazard join Arsenal?
    Yes(thumbs up)­­
    No(thumbs down)

    From Wt, on Sat 24 Oct 10:31AM

  6. Ryan mate apparently you don't understand the game!­ Am not saying diaby is a holding midfielder! He panics­ in keys situations and am not just discussing PL! It­ was his lack of judgment caused us the three points­ with AZ and the same happened with United! So don't­ tell me I don't know the game I played for two­ leagues and I know what I am taking about! I didn't­ say he was the holding midfielder! Plus half of our­ players are bought not home grown so we have to stop­ saying this BS about we need to give the young players­ a chance! I want to see everybody playing like Rooney!­ He covers the pitch from end to end! And when I am­ talking experience it is the whole team not just one­ player! Ok so just Chile! I believe we need more depth­ in defense than we have right now! If you don't­ agree then you are entitled to your opinion but I­ don't want us to loose this season for silly­ mistakes of our own! I want us to finish off teams!! We­ have other issues with the current team and I am glade­ to talk to you about them and I have been watching this­ league for more than 20years so probably I do know what­ I am talking about! In the end I want us to win! I­ don't want to loose Fab next summer! If you read­ Arshivan comments you should know what I am talking­ about!

    From ru4real, on Sat 24 Oct 4:52AM

  7. he has talent, yes but AW will never pay 20 million to­ get him.. by the way, we don't need another­ striker..

    From qimee_89, on Sat 24 Oct 1:53AM

  8. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

    Does ayone really think Wenger would­ splash 20m on a 19 year old ??? hahahahaha

    Im an­ Arsenal fan, but come on...Wenger wouldnt spend that­ much on Kaka or Messi :D. Not to speak abput kids...
    He­ is 10m max according to Wenger :), maybe even less­ :).

    Oh, and we dont need strikers!

    From NothingMan, on Sat 24 Oct 1:05AM

  9. Who doesnt want him? But he really would upset the team

    From nezvedz, on Sat 24 Oct 12:07AM

  10. bricktop likes purple, stiff c,ocks

    From Dale, on Fri 23 Oct 10:55PM

  11. Ru4real.... Are you a @#$% more like? What the hell you­ talking about, Diaby is and has had a great season so­ far and he doesnt play in a holding midfield! He plays­ just in front of song and just behind fabregas he links­ play up then bombs it forward so you don't have a­ clue about football! Also if Arsenal win their game in­ hand they go 2nd and 1 point off man united again 5­ points and its only october look at liverpool man utd­ have dropped 4 points chelsea have dropped 5 so mate­ shut up! You obviously know jack about football

    From Ryan, on Fri 23 Oct 8:22PM

  12. bricktop!!!!!!!! racist @#$% man

    From lubov, on Fri 23 Oct 8:20PM

  13. The sun, are full of lies man. And by the way­ !!!!bricktop!!! you are a racist man go and join nick­ grivin

    From lubov, on Fri 23 Oct 8:19PM

  14. The name of the manager should be called wenger­ lovelace...

    From stirling lines, on Fri 23 Oct 8:02PM
  15. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    wenger doe's like those big black c,ocks...

    From stirling lines, on Fri 23 Oct 8:00PM

  16. load of bulls**t. if wenger isn't willing to pay­ 15 for arshavin, why would he even consider putting 20­ on the table for balotelli?

    From dan.neagu, on Fri 23 Oct 7:41PM

  17. I hope our priority this Jan is in Defense not forwards­ or midfield! Maybe next year we can look at those boys­ and trade in some of our forwards! I'd like to know­ if we loose Gallas tomorrow to injury!? Who is his­ replacement and why! And I still have issues with­ Diaby! He is not a holding midfielder! He can do better­ going forward! I don't want us to drop more points­ because of one player lack of judgment! We have already­ dropped 5 points! And we are only in October!

    From ru4real, on Fri 23 Oct 6:42PM

  18. The sun reports this...that says it all people. The Sun­ knows jack about football. and makes up stories to­ entice sales. FACT! We dont need a new striker and we­ dont need an attacking midfilder. We have depth up­ front and in the middle. defensivly is where we lack.­ Unless the Times says there is a possible move or­ interest i wouldnt listen to any other newspapers­ regarding transfere targets.

    From Tom, on Fri 23 Oct 5:38PM

  19. And with uncertainty with Arshavin and his eye on­ Barca, I would definately get Eden Hazard, the boy is­ good, and Wenger has been looking at him, bring him on­ already.

    From Dale, on Fri 23 Oct 4:43PM

  20. This guy...ghettovest..obviously knws squat! 1. INTER­ WILL SELL fact, ANY PLAYER CAN BE SOLD 2. May be,­ nothing too special, he isn't better than Torres,­ Villa or even Pato who is about his age, ad I rate him­ along with Bendtner as of now in terms of form, your­ right next BUG thing in Italy, NOT! 3. I actually agree­ with you on this point, AW will not shell out that much­ on him, unless we are exchanging with cash, but­ Mourinho and AW don't get along. 4. Wenger THINKS­ he has enough strikers, but he does not, selling­ EDUARDO IS OUT OF THE QUESTION at least for now. 5.­ Arsenal IS A TOP CLUB, only you don't have any idea­ what a top club is, 4 years and people like you think­ you can talk @#$%...Arsenal as beaten all your so­ called top clubs, name them i'll give you dates and­ scores! Who the hell is Chelsea in terms of histroy­ next to ARSENAL?? 3 League wins in the entire history??­ compared to 13?? 6. well what can i say,papers gotta­ get people like you talking smack 7. TOTALLY AGREE WITH­ YOU, AW will not touch this guy, BUT I know he likes­ him as a player and would not mind getting him under­ the right circumstances, including having a long talk­ with Mario and what he hopes to achieve, Wenger is the­ right man for youngsters like this...would take more­ work though, and Wenger might not have the energy, RVP­ had a bit of temper too in his Feyoor days, but his­ coping well under Wenger. Wenger prolly see's cash­ written all over Balotteli when he turns 25.

    From Dale, on Fri 23 Oct 4:22PM
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