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The Vital Connection Gossip
IF WISHING MADE IT SO
Kudos to the intrepid BBC reporter who cornered Ramon Calderon while he was trying to enjoy Sunday's magnificent tennis at Wimbledon.
Calderon, carrying on his fine tradition of not talking about Cristiano Ronaldo, said that he thought the apple of his eye would be staying at Manchester United for at least another season.
Interestingly, Calderon and David Gill should be sharing a room at the meeting of European football's latest pow-wow today, but whether or not a certain slimey individual will be on the agenda remains to be seen.
Details? This way.
CHELSEA PLAY BID DOWN
After AC Milan head honcho Adriano Galliani claimed yesterday that Chelsea had made a 'very big', 'massive' or 'astronomical' (depending on what translation you believe) offer for Kaka, the club are apparently playing it all down.
More on that one here.
And in case you missed it, Brazil coach Dunga proclaimed over the weekend that Ronaldinho would be joining Milan, not Manchester City.
INTER OFFICIALLY MOVE FOR FAT FRANK
Word in The Sun this morning is that Inter Milan have finally made an official move for Frank Lampard.
After some weeks of hints and faffing around, the Italians apparently faxed (always with the faxes) an offer of £6.5million to Chelsea on Sunday.
With just the year left on Lampard's contract, Inter apparently believe Chelsea will accept that figure rather than losing him for nowt next summer.
The paper quotes a 'top Inter source' as saying: "Our technical director Marco Branca has sent a fax to Chelsea to request the beginning of negotiations for Lampard.
"We will now wait for Chelsea's response."
And it seems the ball really is in Lampard's court, given that he can either wait six months and sign a pre-contract with Inter in January, or buy himself out of the last year of his contract.
ONE STAYING, ONE NOT
If you missed it, and frankly you're not paying attention if you did, Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood claims that Emmanuel Adebayor is staying at the Emirates, while Alex Hleb could be on his way.
For more, clicketh here.
A QUEUE FORMS...
Word in The Daily Mail this morning is that quite a queue is developing for Real Madrid midfielder Ruben de la Red.
The Spaniard has just returned to the Bernabeu after a very successful season at Getafe, and now it seems several Premier League clubs are sniffing round him.
They include Arsenal, Spurs and Aston Villa, who all may baulk slightly at the apparent asking price; a cool £15million.
However, Spurs may raise some of that cash by flogging Pascal Chimbonda for the frankly ludicrous price of £8million to Valencia.
BUSY TIMES AT POMPEY
Looks like 'Appy 'Arry Redknapp is in for a busy few weeks if you believe the papers this morning.
After all the Saturday rags seemed convinced a deal for Peter Crouch would be completed today, the papers this Monday morn reckon a few more could be coming in, and one going out.
The Daily Star and The Daily Express agree that, along with Crouch Pompey will spend around £10million on Younes Kaboul and Nicky Shorey. Not exactly the finest money can buy, but still.
Meanwhile, 'Arry has told David Nugent he is no longer required at Fratton Park, which he probably could have worked out from his long spells on the bench last season.
Anyway, Hull seem favourites to sign him, and will be duped into stumping up £3million for his scribble.
AND THE REST...
Middlesbrough and Bolton are ready to form a pact to stop an auction for Reading midfielder James Harper...Wigan boss Steve Bruce has pulled out of the race for Ivan Klasnic...Hull boss Phil Brown is making a shock move for QPR midfielder Martin Rowlands...Watford chairman Graham Simpson insists Danny Shittu is not for sale...Leicester chairman Milan Mandaric is on the verge of completing an £800,000 deal for CSKA Sofia defender Aleksander Tunchev...Carlisle striker Joe Garner will join Andy Cole as the latest arrival at Nottingham Forest this week...Birmingham are determined to fight off interest from Blackburn and Celtic to hold on to James McFadden...Andrei Arshavin will make Arsenal wait for a decision on his future...
Atletico Madrid are maintaining an interest in Everton midfielder Mikel Arteta...Hull are making a move to sign QPR midfielder Martin Rowlands...Fredrick Stoor's agent has confirmed Fulham are leading the race to land the Rosenborg full-back...Former Southampton defender Jermaine Wright is due for talks with Blackpool...Burnley will sign Dutch midfielder Remco van der Schaaf...Newcastle are preparing a £4million bid for Swiss international Gokham Inler...Roy Makaay is in Hull's sights after a change of management at Feyenoord means he is available for £1.5million...Paul Dickov and Darren Huckerby are considering offers from Toronto FC...Aberdeen reject Derek Soutar has knocked back the chance to stay in Scotland...Hearts have been told they would only have to pay around £120,000 to make Uganda boss Laszlo Csaba their new head coach...Simon Lynch hopes he has earned a move to Partick.
