Transfer stories and links seem to never cease, and no sooner than the January transfer window slams shut, talk of summer moves set into motion. Whether it be players looking to escape their surroundings, make the next step up in their career or simply looking to remain employed, rumours surround men from almost every club.
It may be an exciting time for the fans, but for managers and their back-room staff the transfer window presents much worry and stress, with the pressure of finding the right player at the right price to secure pre-season aims and keep the chairman off of their back. Beginning preparation early ensures that the targets are identified with lots of time to thrash out the deal before the end of the window, because as we all know, panic buying can often work out as the worst strategy possible.
Here is a list of ten players who, for various reasons, will most likely be the subject of interest and bids this summer, as clubs across the league look to build for the 2012/13 season.
Click on Moussa Dembele to unveil the top 10
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Schalke goalkeeper Manuel Neuer has moved a step closer to joining Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich after ‘constructive talks’ between club officials.Neuer, 25, has already announced his intention to leave boyhood club Schalke at the end of the season.
The Germany international had been linked with a move to join English Premier League leaders Manchester United, but the player has insisted his preferred destination is Bayern.
The Bavarian giants were reportedly struggling to match Schalke’s valuation of the shot-stopper, with newspaper Bild claiming a fee of close to 25 million euros would be necessary to secure Neuer’s services.
But according to Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, talks held with Schalke’s director of sport Horst Heldt and board member Peter Peters on Tuesday were productive.
“It was a very constructive and fair talk,” Rummenigge told Munich’s Tz newspaper. “We now have a basis to work on.”
“I have always said that it would not be easy to find a price that both sides can accept in the end, but after this meeting, I am cautiously optimistic that we have found a price.”
“It is now up to our colleagues from Schalke to discuss it with their board.”
Bolton Wanderers manager Owen Coyle has heaped special praise on striker Johan Elmander after his stirring performance in Sunday's 2-2 home draw with Manchester United.
The Swede played a pivotal role in the Trotters' stalemate at the Reebok Stadium and, although he missed a great chance, Coyle was delighted that he created the opportunity out of nothing.
Bolton led twice as Nani cancelled out Zat Knight's opener and Michael Owen levelled after Martin Petrov restored the hosts' advantage and it was a scenario that upset the boss, but he refused to be overly critical by paying tribute to the Red Devils' quality.
"That chance would never have happened if Johan hadn't taken the ball, driven 40 yards and beat three or four men," said Coyle.
"He was magnificent today. He is a player playing at the top of his confidence.
"On another day that ball would have rolled into the top corner.
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"I am certainly not going to criticise a player who's given me everything and shown unbelievable quality as well.
"Having led twice, we were disappointed to give up those leads, but you have to give balance to the unbelievable individual quality they have."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Mauro Zarate could make a return to the Premier League following interest from QPR, says the Daily Star.
Zarate has thus far failed to make an impression at Inter Milan, who have loaned the striker from Lazio for the season.
It’s reported that Zarate would like to get games under his belt away from the San Siro and would welcome a chance to return to England.
Mark Hughes is eager to establish QPR as a Premier League club and could use the combined efforts of Zarate and fellow South American target Henrique to fulfil those ambitions.
Zarate scored four goals during his time at Birmingham in 2008, but the Argentine is yet to score in the league for Inter and limited playing time could add weight to speculation of a move away.
Zarate was linked with a move to Arsenal last summer and is also being tracked by Bolton and Newcastle.
With a number of Premier League suitors watching his situation, Lazio will be keen to drive his price up as much as possible.
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Sunderland manager Steve Bruce insists Fraizer Campbell is “mentally tough enough” to bounce back from his latest injury setback.The Black Cats striker is set to be out for 12 months after surgery on Wednesday to repair knee ligament damage and an Achilles tendon.
The 23-year-old has already missed most of this season after picking up the injury during a 1-0 win over Manchester City in late August.
He aggravated the problem during training earlier this month, and news of a further year on the sidelines have raised doubts over the likelihood he will fulfil his potential.
Bruce, however, is confident Campbell has the “strength of mind” to overcome the injury.
“Fraizer gets operated on today, he’ll be out for 12 months,” Bruce said.
“He was out on the training ground yesterday having a bit of banter with the players. He’s taken it OK because he’s strong mentally.”
“We’ve missed him. He came in at the start of the season and even the back end of last season and he was terrific.”
“When you’re up against it you want people like him in the team.”
“Thankfully, with his strength of mind we think he’ll be okay, I hope he will be. If there’s anyone mentally tough enough, it’s him.”
With Danny Welbeck rated only 50-50 to return against Wigan Athletic on Saturday following a hamstring strain, Bruce added: “The injuries to Welbeck and Campbell have killed us.
“Up front is the one area of the pitch where, for me, we were better than most at the start of the season with Darren Bent, Asamoah Gyan, Welbeck and Campbell.
“To go from what we started the season with to only having one striker now has made it really difficult.
“We’ve got to try and overcome that as well as we possibly can. It also puts a bit more pressure on us for next season.
“Going forward as a club we have to look to get over it because in the summer we’ve got one striker.”
Campbell’s operation is the second a Sunderland star has required this week, with Craig Gordon having also undergone knee surgery on Monday.
Bruce had hoped the 28-year-old could avoid going under the knife and revealed Gordon now faces up to six months out of action.
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But the Black Cats boss has no fear that Belgian keeper Simon Mignolet can continue to deputise despite his mistake for Birmingham City’s first goal in Saturday’s 2-0 defeat.
“Simon’s done fantastically well in his first season,” said Bruce, who has recalled Trevor Carson from a loan spell at Brentford to provide cover for Mignolet.
“He made a mistake. Outfield players have been making mistakes for weeks. When you’re a goalkeeper, it gets highlighted.
“But I’ve watched him in training all week, I’ve worked with him now for eight months and he’ll be OK.
“He’ll have to recover but I think he’s strong enough to deal with it.”
Former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier has refused to rule out a return to the Premier League with Aston Villa.
Houllier, who left Anfield in 2004 following six seasons in England, has been linked with a director of football role at Villa Park.
The Frenchman would reportedly oversee a new-look coaching system at the Midlands club which would include current caretaker manager Kevin MacDonald remaining in charge of first-team affairs.
MacDonald has been in interim control since Martin O'Neill resigned on the eve of the new season.
Houllier was back in England on Saturday after helping manage the Reds during Jamie Carragher's testimonial game against an Everton XI at Anfield.
Speaking afterwards, the current technical director for the French Football Federation refused to rule out a possible move to Villa Park.
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"Never and always are two words you can't use in football," he said.
During Houllier's six-year reign on Merseyside, Liverpool won a UEFA Cup, FA Cup and League Cup treble in 2001.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
For someone who has, in the past, always been so careful with their money in terms of transfers, this season it seems that something has come over Arsene Wenger, and he is indulging in what the rest of us call panic buying.
Firstly there was the mass buying spree right at the death of the summer transfer window after high profile departures, and now comes the January transfer window, where Wenger says he will buy if ‘something comes up.’
For a man normally so careful and frugal with the money he has, just why has Wenger’s approach to spending changed so much?
The first explanation is clearly the fact he needed both cover for the players who had left in the summer and also to show fans that he was willing to buy and take Arsenal forward, and as the January window approaches, it seems that in order to convince their star man to sign a new contract, Arsenal need a big signing to show RVP that they really mean business and can fulfil his ambitions both in terms of taking the club forward and winning trophies.
It cannot be denied that the Londoner’s are in dire need of cover for RVP, if not only to lighten the burden on the player, also as a back-up should he succumb to injury problems yet again. The players they currently have, such as Chamakh are nowhere near the level they need, and Wenger is fully aware of this.
The drive and urgency to succeed may also be playing a hefty part in Wenger’s dip into the transfer market, with the gap between the top couple of teams and Arsenal only growing, and Wenger knows that should the club fail to convince Van Persie to sign a new contract, they will have virtually no hope of competing with the likes of City, and may struggle to fund a replacement in the same league as the Dutch man.
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Arsenal and Wenger are in a difficult position, they clearly need a second striker who can actually score goals, and will lose players when the African Cup of nations starts, yet is panic buying the answer? Only Arteta of the summer signings has made any real impact, and the history of silly money flop transfers in January is one that grows every year.
Arsenal have never really been ones to enter into panic buying and waste money – yet the urgency to both succeed and keep hold of their main man may well see them major players this window. How far this will help them however is another matter entirely, and for a man who in seasons gone by would criticise other managers for doing exactly what he is now, how times have changed for Wenger.
LDU Quito booked their place in the Copa Libertadores last 16 with a 2-0 win over Godoy Cruz on Tuesday, while Independiente fell short.Quito, the reigning Ecuadorian champions, finished on top of Group Eight with 10 points courtesy of second-half goals to Luis Bolanos and Hernan Barcos.
Bolanos struck two minutes after half-time on a swift counter-attack, the former Internacional striker making no mistake after being picked out at the far post.
Barcos, who scored 22 goals in his 32 appearances in his first campaign with Quito last season, made it 2-0 with a bit of individual brilliance 11 minutes later.
The Argentinean collected the ball at midfield, sprinted up the left flank and somehow bullied his way around two defenders before firing into the roof of the net on a tight angle.
Godoy Cruz midfielder Carlos Sanchez saw a straight red for his tackle on Ezequiel Gonzalez in the 62nd minute, leaving the Argentinean club with no hope of claiming the win they needed to advance to the quarter-finals.
Elsewhere, Argentine giants Independiente saw their slim hopes of progressing in the South American tournament fade despite a 1-0 win at Uruguayan side Penarol.
Striker Facundo Parra nabbed the lone goal in the 33rd minute for the visitors and then spent a nervous seven minutes in goal after Independiente goalkeeper Fabian Assmann was dismissed for pushing Penarol striker Juan Manuel Olivera.
Assmann’s foul was prompted by Olivera head-butting Ivan Velez, for which the striker was also sent off.
Independiente needed to score eight goals in Uruguay and hope that LDU Quito and Godoy Cruz drew in order to reach the next round.
Instead, Penarol will progress after finishing second in Group Eight with nine points.
Finally, Chilean outfit Colo Colo moved to the top of Group Five with a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Deportivo Tachira.
Edgar Perez-Greco put the visitors ahead with a goal on four minutes, but a brace to 17-year-old striker Diego Rubio ensured Colo Colo would move within a point of clinching their last-16 berth.
Rubio has scored five goals in his past three appearances for Colo Colo.
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has hit out at the "kamikaze" spending which has occurred in the Premier League in recent years.
Ferguson has revealed his amazement at the transfer market following a summer where neighbours Manchester City are poised to take their spending past the £125million mark.
England midfielder James Milner is poised to join from Aston Villa for a fee of around £30million.
City have already landed Mario Balotelli, Yaya Toure, David Silva, Aleksandar Kolarov and Jerome Boateng during a record-breaking summer.
"It's amazing the amount of money that is being bandied about," said Ferguson, who declined to mention the clubs in question by name.
"Over the last two or three years we have seen very wealthy owners become part of football clubs and therefore go on this kamikaze effort to spend their money.
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"Some people may think it could be dangerous and I don't see it abating. The kind of spending we are seeing at the moment will be here for two or three years, until such time as they understand you can't necessarily achieve all the time by spending."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email
Artificial pitches could be on their way back, more than 20 years since they were banned. Wycombe Wanderers and Accrington Stanley have raised the idea in an attempt to reduce costs and it seems that many others would be happy to follow suit.
They were a major feature of football in the 80’s with QPR and Luton using them as well as Oldham and Preston, but they were banned in 1988 after complaints that they were causing injuries because they were solid and it was affecting the quality of football on show.
Pitches were set on top of concrete which made it very difficult to move about in comparison to traditional grass but thanks to the advancements in technology the current plastic pitches have padding underneath which makes the experience similar to grass, offering a softer experience under foot and in the tackle as well as a smooth surface that is not guaranteed outside of the country’s top grounds. Rubber pellets are also on the pitch to act like mud and increase movement.
Accrington owner John Heys said that it will cost about £500,000 to install but the savings on maintenance will make it worthwhile. He added: “There is an income to be gained from hiring the pitch out and money to be saved in maintenance costs and the fact that you can train on it.
“The community benefit is that you can get people down to the ground seven days a week rather than just 23 times a season for home fixtures.”
Opinion is divided on the issue, with people saying that it is unnatural and will cause injuries and others favouring the idea of having smooth, all-weather pitches and there is no reason why the game should not bring them back.
Admittedly it would take a while to get used to. Players might not be too keen to make the sliding tackle because of the surface but that is part of the settling in process. It would not cut the skin like they did before and after training on the pitch players would become more comfortable with it and be able to play their natural game. The fear that they may get injured turning or by getting their foot stuck in the ground is still the same as it is on grass and is an unfortunate part of football whatever surface is used.
Mick Rathborne, who played on the plastic pitch at Preston and worked as Everton physio after retiring said: “The new third generation pitches are light years away from the old plastic pitches.
“The new pitches with the millions of rubber balls are soft to run on, you can stop and turn very easily so there could be implications with preventing those types of injuries.”
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Introducing artificial surfaces is necessary to football because although clubs like Manchester City and Chelsea have an abundance of cash, many clubs in the lower leagues are struggling for funds and an opportunity to make savings should be welcomed. Wycombe owner Steve Hayes said that to maintain the grass pitch currently installed at Adams Park costs around £75,000 a year and although clubs would have to shell out to make the change, it would see a huge chunk of that money stay in the kitty. Rather than heating the pitch to prevent it being icy or covered in snow, a blanket would be all that is required and instead of cutting the grass it would only require sweeping every so often to get rid of some of the rubber. And take away the cost of replacing the turf once it gets cut up beyond repair and your team is already onto a winner.
And after the problems last winter with games being called off for frozen and snow covered pitches, a plastic surface would put an end to that so no longer would fans be travelling to the match only to hear it has been cancelled.
It would also mean that the team could train and play at the stadium rather than finding a traditional training pitch which again saves money and when the club are not using it other groups could get involved, creating possible opportunities for community groups and sport centres which could in turn lead to more people coming to the ground, meaning more money.
And for the traditionalist, who wants sexy football from one side and tough tackling from the opponent. The new surface would not have patches that cause the ball to bobble or bounce differently so that in itself will encourage passing football rather than the long-ball game that everybody loves to hate. Players will be more comfortable playing the ball along the ground because they know there is less chance for an unlucky break and slide tackles will still be possible on the natural-feeling pitch, so a non-contact game is not on the horizon.
Top-flight clubs in Italy, France, Switzerland and Russia use them without major problems and there is not a noticeably higher rate of major injuries in their leagues. Our players have experienced them in Europe and World Cup qualifying. Do not think of the old plastic pitches because they are as ancient as the Romans, plastic is the affordable and effective way forward.
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Do you want a plastic pitch at your club? Comment below or follow me on Twitter @jrobbins1991.