Football transfer news

TIDYING UP ALL THE LOOSE STORIES IN FOOTBALL THIS WEEK

MARIO NEARING MILAN MOVE

Roberto Mancini has tried to diffuse his training ground bust-up with Mario Balotelli on Thursday and suggested that the controversial striker still has a future at Manchester City.

The Sweeper understands, however, that Balotelli’s mind has long been made up that he would like to leave the Etihad Stadium in January as Italian giants AC Milan prepare a bid.

Mancini may have said that he will give Balotelli ‘100 more chances’ if necessary, but the 22-year-old is homesick and wants to return to Italy to be with his girlfriend and newborn child.

The one thing keeping him at City may have been his close relationship with Mancini, but the pair have increasingly been at loggerheads, culminating in the embarrassing public spat this week that was captured by photographers on the footpath by the club’s Carrington training base.

Milan have made Balotelli their top priority for the winter window and the player has never hidden his desire to play for Rossoneri, where he would be willing to take a small wage cut on his current £110,000-a-week salary.

A loan move is more likely for Balotelli, but both the former Inter man simply want his time in England to end as soon as possible as his relationship with the club continues to rapidly deteriorate.

He has scored just one Premier League goal this season and fell out with City chiefs last month after taking them to a tribunal over a two-week fine for breaching club discipline rules, which he later retracted on December 19.

Mancini has constantly defended Balotelli’s behaviour but even the City boss has started to openly criticise the youngster’s attitude, claiming he must work harder in training to fulfill his potential before the sensational scenes this week on the training pitch.

– Greg Stobart | Correspondent

GREEN WANTS TO LEAVE QPR
 
Rob Green has made no attempt to hide his dis-satisfaction at joining QPR to be the No.1 keeper only for Brazil star Julio Cesar to demote him down the pecking order.
 
The Sweeper understands that the England international is ready to leave the Premier League strugglers after losing his starting spot for the second time this season.
 
Green is furious at being axed from the team following the club’s 2-1 Boxing Day defeat to West Brom, in which he was credited with an own goal.
 
Fit-again Cesar is set for an extended run in the side after helping keep Chelsea at bay in the shock 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge in midweek.
 
Green, 32, has stopped short of handing in a formal written transfer request but wants to find a new club before the end of the window.
 
His £40,000-a-week salary will be beyond many suitors but Everton and Southampton are among the clubs who could provide a new home for the former West Ham man.

– Wayne Veysey | Chief Correspondent

THE BEERS ARE ON PREMIER LEAGUE
 
The Premier League will enter into a new official beer partnership three years after its £2.25 million-a-year deal with Budweiser expired.
 
The world’s richest league has been in market consultation on the title sponsorship with a number of interested brands for what is expected to be a three-year term.
 
The Sweeper has learned that Carlsberg are the frontrunners to secure the agreement, with Budweiser, Heineken and Diageo also in the running.
 
Insiders say the new deal could be worth four times that of the £6.8m three-year agreement with Budweiser that expired in 2010. The American firm had been the official beer of the Premier League from 2002 to 2010.

– Wayne Veysey | Chief Correspondent

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EXCLUSIVE
By Wayne Veysey | Chief Correspondent

Tom Ince is on the verge of completing his return to Liverpool, Goal.com understands.

The Merseysiders are close to reaching an agreement with Blackpool over the fee for the 20-year-old winger.

The Championship club have lowered their price tag from £8 million and a deal is expected to be completed at around the £5-6m mark.

Although Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said at his press briefing on Friday that there had been no progress in the club’s pursuit of Ince, all parties are believed to be confident that a deal will soon be completed.

The Anfield Academy graduate, who left Merseyside 18 months ago, has blossomed at Bloomfield Road, scoring 13 goals in the Championship this season.

Liverpool had an offer rejected for Ince last month and Blackpool boss Michael Appleton said earlier this week that the Premier League club have not returned with a second bid.

Nevertheless, Liverpool are confident that Ince will become their second signing of the window after the £12m capture of Daniel Sturridge from Chelsea.

Ince moved to Blackpool in the summer of 2011 for £250,000 in compensation on a two-year contract which expires at the end of the season.

Sir Alex Ferguson made a move for the England Under-21 international in October but Manchester United dropped their interest to leave the path clear for Liverpool.

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EXCLUSIVE
By Daniel Jovanov

Gojko Kacar’s transfer to Hannover has collapsed and he is now set to stay at Hamburg, Goal.com can reveal.

The former Serbia international had been in advanced negotiations with the seventh-placed Bundesliga side, but it seems that any potential transfer in January will no longer occur.

Hamburg sporting director Frank Arnesen wants to raise €6 million to fund a deal in the winter window, and Kacar’s exit would have freed €2m annually for the club to reinvest.

However, the Serb’s salary is believed to have scared off Hannover and ended talks abruptly, with the club instead pursuing Duisburg’s Andre Hoffman, whom they signed on Wednesday.

The breakdown in talks occurred despite Thorsten Fink’s side being willing to sell him on for a loss having signed him for €5m in 2010 from Hertha Berlin.

The player’s uncle and advisor Milan Kacar confirmed to Goal.com that the Lower Saxony club were the only club originally interesting in taking on the 25-year-old.

He said: “There is no other interest from clubs.”

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson wants the Premier League to investigate Ezekiel Fryers’ move from Standard Liege to Tottenham.

The 20-year-old looked set to join Spurs when his contract at Old Trafford expired on June 30 but the two clubs were unable to agree a compensation package.

Fryers instead moved to Liege on a two-year deal, meaning compensation did not have to be paid to United, and ended his spell in Belgium to sign for Tottenham on Thursday.

But Sir Alex believes the transfer has Spurs chairman Daniel Levy’s fingerprints “all over it” and has called for the player’s registration to be looked into.

“How would you put it? To me, I think it’s a blatant manipulation of the rules,” he told MUTV.

The United boss added: “I think the league should look into it.

“I think the registration should be stopped until they investigate it thoroughly. There’s bound to be a trail, either mobile phones or e-mails, that could give you the full story of it.

“I must say I’m disappointed in Tottenham. For whatever reason, a club that size has decided to go down this route. I’m disappointed.”

Fryers initially joined up with Spurs on trial after his contract at United came to an end, even taking part in a pre-season training camp in Portugal.

Sir Alex added: “We knew immediately and suspected that he would return to Tottenham in January and that’s happened. It’s a Daniel Levy deal. You know, it’s his fingerprints all over it. It’s the kind of thing we expected he was going to do.”

EXCLUSIVE
By Hassan Talib Haji

Andre Villas-Boas was the key factor in Lewis Holtby’s decision to join Tottenham from Schalke, according to his agent.

The 22-year-old will join Spurs in the summer on a free transfer, the north London club announced on Friday, and his representative has stated that the Portuguese boss was the deciding factor in his destination.

“Schalke made Lewis a very good offer, we know that,” Marcus Noack told Goal.com. “But this decision is not against Schalke.

“We had a lot of offers from every top league in Europe. If you look at the whole package, then Tottenham was the best choice.

“Andre Villas-Boas is especially convincing. This is a top coach. The decision to leave Schalke and join Tottenham came in mid-December. And it was very hard for us to choose.”

Noack added that a transfer to Spurs in the January transfer window had not been discussed.

He continued: “The agreement says: [in the] summer. If a winter move was possible, I can’t say right now, because we didn’t talk about that.”