Remember when Germany’s Christoph Kramer banged his head
during a sickening collision with Argentinian defender Ezquiel Garay during the
World Cup final? He doesn’t.
Luckily, the Bayer Leverkusen midfielder,
currently on loan at Borussia Mönchengladbach for a second consecutive season,
appears to have suffered no lasting damage from the accident and is now the
subject of serious interest from Tottenham Hotspur.
A preposterously athletic,
sleeves-up, tough tackling defensive midfielder whose performances last season
earned him a surprise call-up to Joachim Löw’s World Cup squad, Kramer is a
tireless chugger with excellent distribution who looks increasingly comfortable
bursting forward with the ball at his feet. With his contract at Leverkusen due
to expire this summer, Tottenham are highly unlikely to have it all their own
way in the stampede to secure his services.
No longer an automatic first choice at Barcelona and set to
drop further down the pecking order now that Luis Suárez has served his latest
suspension, Pedro is believed to be open to the possibility of a move
elsewhere, even if he did recently toe the party line by saying he welcomed
competition for places in Luis Enrique’s first team. “I’m competing with the
best strikers in the world and it’s hard to always get in the team,” he told
Barca’s website a few weeks ago. “What [Barcelona strikers] Munir [Haddadi] and
Sandro [Ramírez] are doing is motivating for all of us. They want to do things
right and that’s good for the team. And there’s still Suárez to come. The more
the merrier.”
With so many forwards battling for so few places at Barca,
Arsène Wenger is rumoured to be interested in spending up to £25m adding Pedro
to his collection of superfluous speedy and industrious wide men, but will
placate supporters tearing their hair out at his apparent neglect in areas in
which he is short of personnel by bringing in Kiwi centre-half Winston Reid
from high-flying West Ham in January. Reid is out of contract in the summer and
currently keeping his options open.
The Daily Mail reports that Arsenal are
also interested in signing Juve’s Swiss right-back Stephan Lichsteiner, but will
have to grapple Women In Love style on a hearth rug with Real Madrid if they are
to get him on the pay roll.
Difficult to spell former Manchester United and Brighton
goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak is 32 years old and currently without a club, but
could be on the verge of landing himself a surprise gig as cover for Manuel
Neuer at Bayern Munich. Discussions between the German club and the Pole are
ongoing, what with Bayern’s second and third choice keepers Pepe Reina and
Thomas Starke both facing spells on the sidelines recuperating from injury.
Stoke City, QPR and Aston Villa are among several clubs
interested in taking Clint Dempsey on loan from Seattle Sounders in January in
a bid to keep the USA captain out of mischief and off the streets during the
MLS off-season. Dempsey’s club and international team-mate DeAndre Yedlin, on
loan from Tottenham having been signed by Mauricio Pochettino during the
summer, is likely to be summoned to London in January, which could herald the
sale of Kyle Naughton to Swansea City for £3m. Meanwhile in the Big Apple,
having just equalled the MLS goalscoring record by bagging 27 in 32 matches
with the New York Red Bulls, Bradley Wright-Phillips may also get antennae twitching
in his native England.
The Mirror reports that AC Milan are interested in bringing
Adel Taarabt back to the San Siro in January and it’s difficult to see QPR
turning down any sort of reasonable offer. Milan’s city rivals Inter are
rumoured to be eyeing up David Moyes as a replacement for their manager Walter
Mazzarri.
And finally, long term Arsenal target André-Pierre Gignac
has just inked a new deal that will keep him at Marseille for the foreseeable
future, while Ajax, Manchester United, Liverpool, Barcelona and Real Madrid are
all keeping tabs on 19-year-old Heerenveen midfielder Daley Sinkgraven.
Source-The Guradian
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