Football transfer rumours: Antoine Griezmann to Arsenal?
The Arsenal manager was otherwise engaged at the weekend, overseeing his side's defeat at the hands of Stoke City and telling French TV show Telefoot that he's been stalking Real Sociedad's Antoine Griezmann, according to The Guardian.
A winger by trade, with 19 goals to his name this season, the 22-year-old Frenchman is valued at £25m and Wenger admits he has been "following" him "for a long time". Should Real Sociedad decide to cash in on their prize asset this summer, Real Madrid, PSG and Juventus are expected to join Arsenal in the bidding war.
In other overseas television news, Toni Kroos's little brother Felix has suggested his sibling might not be adverse to a move to Manchester United during the summer. A midfielder with Werder Bremen, Felix told Sky Germany that he and his brother have spent some quality family time discussing a potential move to Old Trafford for Toni. "We have already talked about it," he said. "Manchester has been the team of my dreams since I was a child. However, I don't give him any advice. He will take a good decision for himself. There are worse situations than having to decide something like that."
In Portugal, meanwhile, Sporting Lisbon's midfield enforcer William Carvalho has told journalists that he wouldn't be adverse to a move to Manchester United either. Asked about his future in the wake of his side's win over FC Braga, the Angola-born Portugal international said "It could be Manchester United or Real Madrid" before adding the usual platitudes about being flattered by the interest of such big clubs but remaining "totally focused on Sporting" until the end of the season.
Despite constant speculation linking him with a move away from the team of Felix Kroos's dreams this summer, possibly to Internazionale, Patrice Evra may yet be persuaded to stay where he is. David Moyes is believed to be working hard to convince the Frenchman to stay at Old Trafford and United are believed to have offered him a £10,000-per-week rise that would result in him earning almost a third as much as his team-mate Wayne Rooney. And in an apparent bid to hog as much of this morning's Rumour Mill as possible, United have cooled their interest in the Everton right-back Seamus Coleman and turned their gaze on his younger PSV Eindhoven counterpart Santiago Arias instead. A Colombian with an astonishing turn of pace, Arias made his international debut last year in Colombia's 2-1 away win against Paraguay during World Cup qualifying.
With his team's chances of qualifying for next season's Champion League preliminaries looking decidedly forlorn, Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Jan Vertonghen may hitch his Euro-dreams to Liverpool's wagon instead. Presumably impressed by the initiative, guile and duplicity the crafty 26-year-old Belgian employed to get the Dnipro player Roman Zozulya sent off and spark an impressive Spurs comeback last Thursday, Liverpool's manager Brendan Rodgers believes Vertonghen would be an asset to any team making a return to the Champions League group stages after an absence of several years.
Ashley Williams is another centre-back who features regularly in this column and it seems that Rafael Benítez is the latest in a long line of managers to have his head turned by the impressive performances of the Swansea City captain, who has just one year left on his contract and is available for around £5m. The Mirror reports that the Spaniard's Neapolitan employer has instructed some Italian men wearing expensive suits and shades to make Williams an offer he can't refuse, but similar types working for Everton, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Liverpool, and Tottenham may very well try to top it.
