Football transfer rumours: Eden Hazard to Real Madrid?
Following Saturday's bruising encounter between Wales and England in the Rugby World Cup, there has been much soul-searching, with assorted pundits bemoaning home skipper Chris Robshaw's decision not to opt for the late kick at goal that may well have earned England a draw, rather than his doomed call to go for the try, a decision which guaranteed defeat against a team so ravaged by injury that one Welsh player was forced off the field alone, holding his own severed arm under his other arm, because Welsh medical staff were too busy treating his fallen comrades whose battered and broken bodies were strewn elsewhere on a pitch that at times resembled a battle scene from Game of Thrones. Of course if England had scored that try, Robshaw would currently be basking in the glory of a splendid job well done, what with the line between looking like a genius and a complete idiot being an exceptionally fine one. But they didn't, so we can probably expect to see that advertisement for a popular sports drink in which several of his rivals gad about wearing Chris Robshaw masks quietly shelved. Such are the margins in this sporting life ... All of which space-filling and largely irrelevant waffle enables the Rumour Mill to point out that equally slender are those separating success and failure in the football game, with Chelsea's official website having famously described the hammering their team endured at the hands of Manchester City earlier this season as "a game of fine margins". In an already eventful season for the club, their star midfielder Eden Hazard is being touted as Real Madrid's latest target, with completely unfounded speculation suggesting that should the Belgian move to the Bernabéu next summer, then Cristiano Ronaldo or Gareth Bale will be sold. Real are also being linked with a move for Liverpool's Brazilian playmaker Philippe Coutinho, but could face competition from their rivals Barcelona who have previously been reported to be interested in prising the dead ball specialist from Anfield. With Simon Mignolet continuing to attract criticism for his performances between the sticks for Liverpool, the club's famous transfer committee are understood to have identified Manchester United outcast Victor Valdés as a potential replacement for the Belgian. Meanwhile, Manchester City will attempt to bounce back from their defeat at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur by making cooing noises in the direction of Bayern Munich's 24-year-old midfielder Thiago Alcântara but may have to do so without the help of their elite development squad boss Patrick Vieira, who some say could replace Dick Advocaat as manager of Sunderland. Moussa Konaté is a 22-year-old Senegalese striker currently plying his trade with FC Sion in Switzerland, where scouts from both Arsenal and Chelsea are believed to have been watching him play, making approving clucking noises and writing complimentary things down on clipboards. And finally, Brondby whelp Armend Aslani has caught the eye of Tottenham scouts, who have recommended that the club's bean-counters give them £345,000 to sign the 17-year-old forward who has been described in various quarters as "a Danish wonderkid". Source: The Guardian Photograph: BPI/Rex Shutterstock
