ROONEY TO GET 700K A WEEK
Well obviously he is worth it. You can certainly see why a Chinese club would pay that kind of money for the kudos of having Wayne Rooney at their club. And __with Oscar on £400,000 a week and Carlos Tevez on £615,000 a week, it would seem that £700,000 a week should be the going rate for a Rooney. The two clubs said to be interested are Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao – the richest club in China – and Beijing Guoan.
If we’re honest, we would have to admit that we would take it if we were Wayne Rooney, 31. He could give 25% of the money to charity and make himself a hero, and still have a pay rise on the £300,000 a week he ‘earns’ at Manchester United.
A BARKLEY/SISSOKO SWAP
Well, Tottenham have been strongly linked __with Ross Barkley, while Moussa Sissoko was an Everton target, so this all feels a bit convenient from the Sunday People’s Neil Moxley but we will go with it anyway. He claims that Ronald Koeman wants a ‘sensational swap deal’ as he has lost patience with Barkley, described as ‘enigmatic’ here. We all know what ‘enigmatic’ means right? It means that he’s nowhere near as good as people think he might be.
It seems highly unlikely that this could happen – not least because Evertonians really, really wouldn’t want Sissoko at the club now – but it’s fun to dream. The report also claims that Morgan Schneiderlin will sign for Everton and James McCarthy will be free to leave. They are also interested in Werder Bremen’s Thomas Delaney and of course Manchester United winger Memphis Depay.
SAINTS VALUE VAN DIJK AT £60M
And why the hell shouldn’t they? They are on a financially sound footing and do not need to take any less for the Dutchman, who is not in any real rush to leave the club and play in the Champions League. The Daily Telegraph claim that Southampton’s ‘policy is to wait for up to three windows from the time of the initial interest before doing business’, which is how they have managed to extract such massive fees for Sadio Mane, Dejan Lovren etc. So Manchester City will have to wait.
One player who could leave in January is Jose Fonte, but the Saints want £13m for the 33-year-old Portuguese defender. Would Everton pay that for a short-term solution to their defensive problems?
AND THE REST
Lucas Leiva has agreed to swap Liverpool for Inter Milan…New Crystal Palace boss Sam Allardyce will splash £20 million next month in a bid to keep the Eagles in the Premier League following Alan Pardew’s sacking…Arsenal are targeting Sunderland’s England Under-21 keeper Jordan Pickford in a move that would see them loan the 22-year-old back to the Black Cats for the rest of the season…City manager Pep Guardiola says he has “no plans for a major signing” in January and would happily complete the season with his current squad…Valencia want to sign Manchester United defender Marcos Rojo…Hull City manager Mike Phelan says is would take a “huge” offer for anyone to sign midfielder Robert Snodgrass.