The winter transfer window inches closer, speculations, rumours and gossips concerning players’ transfers and clubs’ acquisitions are underway. A plethora of English Premier League clubs and scores of players would make moves in January when the window opens. Therefore, attention should be paid to news and reports about transfers from now as clubs would be making underground moves to strengthen their squads for the second half of the season. Now, news concerning Arsenal’s chase of Benfica midfield ace, Talisca and talks of Liverpool calling short the season-long loan deal for Divock Origi and other reports are all around the media. Here are a few reports involving Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United.
Divock Origi: News filtering in says, Brendan Rogers may just call short the season long loan arrangement Liverpool had with Lille FC in France over Divock Origi. Origi was signed from Lille but was sent on a season-long loan back to the Ligue 1 club. Liverpool could just recall the player from his loan spell and draft him into his squad in January, to bolster and expand his attacking options, according to reports from Daily Star. Brendan Rogers recently spoke of the player and expressed the fact that Origi may not immediately fill the shoes left by Luis Suarez but has the potential of becoming a Liverpool top scorer in seasons to come as his qualities have made such speculations easy. Liverpool were very impressive last season almost clinching the English Premier League title coming second on the log behind Manchester City, the eventual Champions. A major factor responsible for the successful run last term is the Sturridge and Suarez (SAS) connection in their forward line but this season, the absence of Suarez through a departure to Barcelona and Daniel Sturridge through injury has had an effect on the potency of the Liverpool attack this summer. The signing of Mario Balotelli from AC Milan and Rickie Lambert from Southampton hasn’t really alleviated the goal scoring problem and now the manager, Brendan Rogers would look to bring in Divock Origi in January, by cutting short his loan spell with Lille and hopefully pair him up with Sturridge for a semblance of the Suarez era.
Talisca: According to Daily Star, Arsenal has stepped up their pursuit of Benfica midfielder, Talisca, a £17m rated star. Talisca is currently the Portuguese Primeira Liga’s top scorer with 6 goals, this season and he featured recently for the Brazilian U-21 team against Bolivia on Friday, where Arsenal scouts were seen present to watch the interesting player. Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho has also been said to be interested in the player but Arsenal seem to be the keener of the two London clubs for the player’s signature. However, the report says Arsene Wenger would aim to land the player only if Lukas Podolski, the 29-year-old Germany and Arsenal forward leaves the club in January. Podolski has been a subject of speculations of an Arsenal departure alongside Costa Rican, Joel Campbell. Other than the central defence and the defensive midfield positions where many fans believe Arsenal need reinforcements most, any signing of a forward or attacking midfield player is likely to come at the expense of the exit(s) of the Campbell and Podolski. Talisca, the 20-year-old midfielder would make a good signing for Arsenal especially considering him being a long term replacement of Podolski at the Emirates.
Varane: Raphael Varane, the Real Madrid and France defender has revealed that he turned down the chance to join Manchester United under Alex Ferguson in 2011 because of the Red Devil’s signing of English man Phil Jones. On the switch to United, Varane said: “Manchester United? They had just signed Phil Jones in my position.” Raphael Varane, 21, is a top class versatile defender for Real Madrid, who has played Right Back, Centre Back and even in the defensive midfield at one point or another in his career so far. He joined Real Madrid in 2011 under the guidance of Jose Mourinho and had since featured, though most times as an unused substitute, in a star-studded Madrid side. Varane was the preferred centre back defender alongside Mamadou Sakho for France in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil keeping top defenders like Laurent Koscielny and Eliaquim Mangala on the bench. His decision to choose Madrid over United has paid off now especially considering the fact that Manchester United highly underrated Gerrard Pique and Paul Pogba, two players, who had since gone on to become world class stars with Barcelona and Juventus, during their time at the Old Trafford.