Rumour Reel: Sunday’s snippets
Published:Spring clean at Old Trafford
Man Utd boss Jose Mourinho told fans that Wayne Rooney and Ashley Young wouldn’t leave in January, and he was right too. That doesn’t mean they won’t depart soon enough though, with newspapers suggesting there will be a clear-out at United.
Wayne Rooney and Ashley Young are expected to be joined by Maroune Fellaini out of the revolving door, in order to free up some cash to make a big-money assault on signing French striker Antoine Griezmann. Mourinho views the Atletico Madrid star as the future of his attacking options.
Morata fancies Chelsea
We spoke during January about the possibility of Alvaro Morata coming to English football, to break his way free from a miserable time at Real Madrid, and get more time on the field of play. He has been scoring recently too, and is sure to be on the watch-list of a number of big clubs across Europe.
Rumours suggest a move to Stamford Bridge is the player’s preferred option, and that would make him a ready-made replacement for Diego Costa who, himself, wants a transfer to China. That’ll be great to hear for Chelsea fans and the player will, surely, be joining a league winning side.
Arsenal must move quick
The on-going contract talks between Arsenal and their star man Mesut Ozil don’t appear to be going forward quickly enough for anyone concerned, and fans are beginning to worry that they may lose one of the side’s better performers in the summer.
Barcelona have, apparently, been in contact with Ozil about bringing him to La Liga and, if Arsenal don’t give him what he wants, any offer from Barca will surely be impossible for the German to ignore. Perhaps he is playing the waiting game to weigh-up his options. The uncertainty isn’t helping the team at present.
It wasn’t me
Italian hit-man Simone Zaza failed to live up to the hype when on-loan at West Ham, and he has spoken to the Italian press about why he didn’t make the kind of impact in English football as was expected. And, of course, none of it was his fault.
The reasons were, instead, down to environment, culture, training and, most surprisingly, nutrition at the London club. The fact that he couldn’t score in 11 starts had nothing at all to do with it and the player was eventually sent home after developing a knee injury, if you want to call it that.