Football transfer news

LA Galaxy star Landon Donovan has thrown the prospect of a future loan spell at Everton in doubt after revealing his desire to assess his future playing career.

The USA internatonal is unsure over whether to prolong the playing dayd, revealing it is “impossible to think” about his future while he is an active progfessional.

Donovan has admitted to suffering from a lack of motivation during points in his career, and enjoys the freedom of travelling around the world away from the constraints of the modern-day game.

“Right now, I need time to think and that is impossible to achieve while I am playing,” he told ESPN.

“I need to determine if I want to play, and if the answer is yes, I need to work out where and for how long.

“I plan to spend a lot of time travelling to distant places, alone. I am not sure where. I want to take time to have some freedom and not worry about my next game or being fit. It may take me two weeks, two months or a year.”

Donovan insists he is not just concerned with when, or if, he comes back, but more so how he feels at that moment in time.

He continued: “I don’t plan on worrying about the end result. I want to focus on being present and making the decision when I am ready.

“I am at a point where I realise that if I am to come back I need to do so with the right mindset.”

And if Donovan was to return to football after a spell away, he would definitely consider rejoining Everton, with whom he enjoyed two fruitful loan spells.

“Everton was a fling that grew into a full-blown affair. I do think about them because they really stole my heart when I walked into Goodison Park,” he said.

“Everyone was so unbelievably welcoming, from [David] Moyes to the tea lady. I have such affection for the club.

Kevin Strootman‘s agent has ruled out a January move to Manchester United, although he hinted the PSV central midfielder may be available in the summer transfer window.

The 22-year-old Dutch star has reportedly impressed scouts at Old Trafford and Italian giants Milan, with rumours circulating in the summer an €18.6 million move to Sir Alex Ferguson’s side had been prepared.

Although the tenacious midfielder eventually stayed in his homeland, Chiel Dekker suggested his client would be receptive to an approach next summer – pouring cold water on a mid-season move.

“My client could leave in January? Absolutely not. There’s nothing in that,” he told Calciomercato in Italy.

“We are only in October – the only thing I can say is to call me back in May.”

After conceding a number of uncharacteristic early goals this season, Strootman is seen as the player to fill the screening role United have lacked since the departure of Roy Keane.

The holding midfielder has played 15 times for Netherlands, scoring one goal, and was handed the captain’s armband for the recent clash with Andorra and is seen as the natural successor to Mark van Bommel for Oranje.

Juventus general director Giuseppe Marotta has insisted that his side have never thought about signing Didier Drogba, and have no intention to go after the Shanghai Shenhua star in the January transfer window either.

The Cote d’Ivoire international, 34, is reportedly unhappy at his current club, and has recently been linked with a move to Italy, with the Old Lady keen to add some more firepower to their squad.

However, the former Chelsea striker is not one of the candidates to strengthen the Serie A leaders’ attack this winter.

“We have never considered making a move for Drogba. That’s just rumour and speculation,” Marotta told Mediaset Premium.

Juventus are also be said to be monitoring the situation’s of Roma’s Pablo Osvaldo and Athletic Bilbao’s Fernando Llorente.

EXCLUSIVE
By Romeo Agresti

Manchester United star Nani will have to wait until the summer to seal a potential move to Juventus with the Italian giants prioritising the signing of a striker in January.

Goal.com revealed last week that the Italian champions had joined their Serie A rivals AC Milan and Inter in the race to sign the out-of-favour Portuguese winger.

But, after sounding out the player through third parties, the Old Lady are set to cool their interest in the 25-year-old, who is in no rush to agree fresh terms and extend his current contract which expires at the end of next season, and make a renewed attempt to sign him at the end of the current season.

Nani, who joined United for €25.5 million from Sporting Lisbon back in 2007, has amassed over 200 appearances for the club but has struggled to make an impression in the first team this season following the arrivals of Shinji Kagawa and Robin van Persie.

The Portugal international, who featured as a substitute in Tuesday’s 3-2 win over Braga in the Champions League, appears destined to leave Old Trafford but is unlikely to do so when the transfer window reopens in January.

Juventus have enjoyed an encouraging start to their domestic title defence – they currently head Serie A by three points from Napoli following a 2-0 win over Walter Mazzarri’s side last weekend – but are precariously placed in the Champions League after they were held to a 1-1 draw against Danish minnows Nordsjaelland on Tuesday.

The Old Lady are concerned that a lack of firepower could hinder their pursuit of silverware this season – veteran midfielder Andrew Pirlo is their current joint leading goalscorer this term, while summer loan signing Nicklas Bendnter is yet to open his account – and will therefore shelve plans to tempt Nani to Turin until the summer and instead press ahead with their pursuit of Atletico Bilbao centre forward Fernando Llorente.

EXCLUSIVE
By Greg Stobart

Tottenham are set to miss out on Joao Moutinho in January with the Porto playmaker having changed his mind over a potential switch to White Hart Lane.

Paris Saint-Germain are now hot favourites to land the 26-year-old and are understood to be preparing a huge January bid, while Russian champions Zenit Saint Petersburg are also likely to make a move.

Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas made Moutinho his top target in the last transfer window but the player’s wage demands – plus administrative errors and wrangling with Porto – meant the proposed €27 million deal was not completed before the deadline.

Villas-Boas had hoped to make a renewed effort to sign Moutinho in January but the finances involved in the deal are now beyond Spurs’ means, while the former Sporting Lisbon man has cooled on the switch and is eager to play for a club in the Champions League.

Moutinho could earn in excess of €184,000-a-week at PSG or Zenit on top of a transfer fee of up to €37m, with Porto notoriously tough negotiators and likely to increase the asking price as the sale of Hulk to Zenit for €39.4m leaves them with little need for the money.

Spurs were angered by the Portuguese champions’ conduct on the final day of the summer window and are considering alternative options in the knowledge that they cannot compete with the financial might of PSG.

The French club have made contact with Moutinho’s representatives over a January deal, although a transfer could be put on hold until next summer depending on Porto’s progress in the Champions League.

Moutinho’s agent, Pini Zahavi, has also tried to broker a deal with Barcelona but the Spanish giants are overloaded with creative midfielders and will not consider a bid.

Mousa Dembele has played as Spurs’ deep-lying playmaker so far this season but Villas-Boas wants another versatile midfielder to add to his options, with Shakhtar Donetsk star Willian still on the club’s radar.