Nothing brightens up our Monday morning quite like a 'Player Plus Cash Blockbuster' and the Daily Mirror's chief rumour monger Alan Nixon provides a juicy treat for the many fans of the genre. According to the paper, Tottenham are unwilling to pay Wigan's £20million valuation for James McCarthy and 'are going to try to put fringe men into the deal.' As Nixon puts it, 'Andre Villas-Boas wants the relegated midfielder but doesn't fancy the full retail price – so he's going to wheel and deal'. Said "fringe men" are 'striker Harry Kane - capped by England at under-21 level - is one of those (Bolton manager Owen) Coyle could take plus other up-and-comers.' The lack of conviction of vagueness of this assertion would suggest the chances of this deal happening are similar to AVB offering some of his 'fringe' suits in exchange for one of Giorgio Armani's finest in an attempt to get a discount on the full retail price.
Even Nixon seems to somewhat accept this, admitting that 'Coyle would prefer the cash and will not budge on the valuation' for McCarthy who he strangely describes as a 'midfield machine'. That moniker is usually reserved for very athletic midfield types like Ramires and Yaya Toure with the machine in mind being something like a tank or a monster truck. Maybe Nixon is looking to break that particular mould and he sees the Ireland star as a dynamic robot vacuum that sweeps up everything in its path with the minimum of fuss.
Another development in the Gonzalo Higuain melodrama today with the Mirror's Arsenal correspondent John Cross reporting that the Real Madrid striker 'has stalled on a move to Napoli - in the hope Arsenal come back in.' Higuain has 'asked for 48 hours to think over whether to join Napoli after Rafa Benitez's new club had a £30million bid accepted for the Argentine World Cup star.' Cross writes that despite Higuain's preference for a move to the Emirates and previously agreeing personal terms, Arsenal 'are not willing to increase on their valuation and have now made Liverpool striker Luis Suarez their No.1 target.'
This sounds pretty foolhardy on the part of Arsene Wenger given that £30 Million is a reasonable price to pay for a proven goalscorer at the elite level of European football and their chances of securing the mercurial Uruguayan are far from certain. Indeed if Higuain joins Napoli, Los Blancos would have increased funds to pursue Suarez if they so desire and unsurprisingly the Liverpool forward apparently 'would prefer to go to Real Madrid'. By the end of this transfer window Arsenal fans could be quoting John Cleese in Clockwise who said “It's not the despair, Laura. I can take the despair. It's the hope I can't stand.' Those frustrating Summers of signing mid-level players could be looked back on with nostalgia after months of having their hopes dashed on a consistent basis.
(Picture credit: Barry Cregg / Sportsfile
