TRANSFER RUMOURS: Mourinho to Chelsea, Benteke to Liverpool, Navas to Manchester City
Mourinho to Chelsea
1/6/13: Real Madrid president Florentino Perez speaks to Sky Sports News. “Mourinho is going to Chelsea. Probably on Monday he will be their new manager. We wish him good luck.”
2/6/13: Mourinho speaks to Spanish football TV show Punto Pelota “I’m going to London on Monday and at the end of the week I will be the manager of Chelsea. I feel the people there love me and in life you have to look for that. Life is beautiful and short and you must look for what you think is best for you.”
2/6/13: Mourinho arrives at Heathrow airport.
Benteke to Liverpool
16/11/12: Benteke interview in The Daily Express: “I am not afraid of making enemies at Aston Villa by saying I love Arsenal. There are worse things one can say. I am a Villa player for now. They are the right club at the right time for me. I have fulfilled a dream by playing in the Premier League. Now it is about staying as long as possible. Villa are the beginning of my career in England. I have not just joined any club – although I didn’t know their full history, I knew they’d played in the Champions League and won plenty of titles and cups. At the time I signed I didn’t know where they played. I thought they were a London club. But my friend Yassine El Ghanassy, who plays for West Brom, rang me to say he was glad I was moving to Birmingham and near to him. Arsenal are the club I love. I like their philosophy of selecting young players and, besides, they had Thierry Henry in their team. For me, he is the best player in the world and he was my boyhood idol.”
16/5/13: Aston Villa confirm talks with Benteke over a new contract will be taking place soon.
23/5/13: Benteke interview in The Sun: “If Aston Villa say I must stay, I won’t necessarily accept that. I do not in any way want to feel I didn’t get the most out of my career. I try to get everything. Of course playing the World Cup in Rio is in my head. But I have no fear of falling out of the team. There is no point in me getting into a tug-of-war with Villa. If the chance comes up for me to join a club like Arsenal, I’m convinced we can reach a compromise where everyone comes out a winner.”
24/5/13: Benteke’s agent, Eris Kismet, speaks to Sky Sports: “Christian and I are surprised and disgusted by a story in the Sun newspaper claiming Benteke can do what he wants. He has been misquoted. The true line is that Christian does not want to make a war with Aston Villa. He has called me today from New York and he is disgusted, I have told him not to speak to any media from now on. If there is interest, which is normal after the season he has had, no way will problems be made by Christian and myself. That is what he said in the interview! He’s more than happy to stay if he has to stay. But we all know he had a good season and it’s normal that maybe other teams are more interested in him, and he might be interested to play European football which is his right. If there is a team, a bigger team playing European football next season, that shows interest to Villa concerning Christian, I would be lying if I said Christian would ignore that. But at the same time Villa have the right to say whatever is going to happen with Christian next year, and Christian will have his word also because it’s his career. It’s no use with all respect to go to Southampton or Norwich. If he can improve himself in a footballistic way, okay, why not? But it’s up to Aston Villa and that supposed team to get an agreement. At this moment nothing is happening. Let’s wait a week or two and then we will see what can happen.”
2/6/13: Further talks between Benteke and Villa are expected to take place once he returns from International duty with Belgium, but Liverpool have lined him up as a replacement for want-away Luis Suarez. Atletico, Tottenham, Arsenal, Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund are also reportedly interested.
Navas to Manchester City
17/1/11: Navas signs a contract extension until 2015 with a release clause of €35m.
17/5/13: Navas tells La Sexta – “I am prepared for anything. I want to keep progressing and pushing for titles because I am used to such nice things, but I am happy here. City’s interest? I would be excited to be there and I can dream, but we’ll wait until the end of the season and look at the summer to see what happens.”
2/6/13: Navas reportedly said “Manchester City is a team I really like. I’m open to anything and I want to win titles. I want to fight for those things.”
3/6/13: Sevilla boss Unai Emery on Navas’ future – “Everything indicates he will leave.”