Welcome to the Relocation Conversation. It’s what you get if you put transfer gossip into a thesaurus. Basically, it’s my angle on everyone else’s transfer rumours.
Jose Mourinho wants to be the next recipient of an Old Trafford statue by shipping new record holder Wayne Rooney off to China. Guangzhou Evergrande and Beijing Guoan are apparently preparing to offer £700,000 per week for the England captain.
Everton are looking to reduce the average age of their squad by offloading 34 year old Phil Jagielka to Sunderland. The Merseyside club are lining up a younger replacement in the statuesque Branislav Ivanovic, 32.
More cold than hot winger Gerald Deulofeu has become the latest former Premier League player to light up another league. Aiming to follow in the footsteps of Samir Nasri, Hatem Ben Arfa and Nani by relighting his career away from England the 22 year old has reappeared in some red and black stripes worn by AC Milan.
In stark contrast to this, Liverpool wide man Lazar Markovic has failed to impress in a European league. After just six games on his return to Portugal with Sporting, he will move closer to his parent club and join Hull for a battle against relegation.
Brentford striker Scott Hogan is expected to become the 33rd striker signed by West Ham United in the past 7 years. Expect an update soon on where he will be moving to on loan come the summer time.
Speaking of former Hammers strikers, Mauro Zarate looks to return to London (ok Watford, but I’m northern so to me it’s all London) after a spell in Italy. Watford, four goals in seven, will take the Argentinean on loan for the rest of the season before completing a £2.4m move in the summer.
The ink is dry on some transfers already:
It has been pointed out that Jose Fonte’s move from Southampton was more sideways than upwards. The fact is though that West Ham are one place above his former club, and you can’t argue with facts.
Martin Olsson moved to the Swansea defence and his impact was clear to see. In his debut at the weekend the Swans conceded half their normal amount per game, shipping two instead of the usual four.
And finally.
Everyone can take the rest of January off now, Berahino has finally moved away from the Hawthorns. I hope he still has a pair of boots because the Sports Direct in the city centre shut down a while back. Assuming he can borrow a pair he’ll be in training this week for Stoke, possibly looking to make his debut against Everton. If it’s not this weekend, he has a lot of experience of sitting in the stands, or on the bench, or on the sofa at home.