Transfer deadline looms: 5 last-minute rumours

Ollie Irish

30th, August 2006

1 Comment

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The summer transfer window will close tomorrow, blown firmly shut by a chilly, autumnal gust. Several big-name British clubs haven’t finished spending though. Panic buying, anyone? Here are the five hottest transfer rumours:

1 Ashley Cole is stuck at Arsenal

Argghhhh! Jesus wept, does anyone still care about the Cole/Chelsea/Arsenal love triangle? If you do, at least it seems like there’s an end in sight – The Daily Telegraph reports that Cole’s move to west London is off, I repeat, OFF! Arsenal have refused to accept less than £20m for the left-back, whilst the champions got paranoid that Cole was on offer to other clubs at a lower price and turned their back on the deal. Phew, thank God for that. (Still, it’s a good excuse to publish a pic of Cole’s lovely missus, Cherly Tweedy)

Transfer deadline looms: 5 last-minute rumours continued…

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2 Tottenham to sign Steed Malbranque and Pascal Chimbonda

According to The Guardian, Spurs are ready for a last-minute plunge into the transfer market – haven’t they tinkered with their bloated squad enough already? – with the signings of Fulham outcast Steed Malbranque (for £2.5m) and Wigan turncoat Pascal Chimbonda (for around £5m). White Hart Lane = the last refuge of the footballing scoundrel. To balance the books, Wayne Routledge (Fulham) and Lee Young-Pyo (AS Roma) will leave north London.

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3 Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano go missing, putting Arsenal and Man Utd on red alert

The two Argentine stars have gone AWOL from Corinthians, their Brazilian club side, sparking a frenzied football man hunt. The Sun maintains that Arsenal are favourites to land Tevez, for £18m, while Man Yoo may put in a last-minute bid for Mascherano, as compensation for their failure to sign either Tevez or Owen Hargreaves.

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4 Steven Appiah on his way to Portsmouth

‘Appy Harry Redknapp is ‘on the brink of completing the signing of the Ghanaian captain Steven Appiah’ – so says The Independent. The fee is reported to be around £6m. Appiah was very impressive in the World Cup this summer, and would be an excellent addition to Pompey’s squad.

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5 Martin O’Neill prepares last-minute bid for Jermain Defoe

The Mirror claims that ‘Martin O’Neill is
ready to make a £9m bid to sign Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe
before tomorrow’s transfer deadline’. Aston Villa’s new manager
has offloaded Kevin Phillips to West Brom and
has identified Defoe as the ideal replacement. Defoe can’t get a regular game under Martin Jol, but I can’t see Spurs letting him go.