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CHELSEA manager Jose Mourinho’s pursuit of Manchester United’s unsettled striker Wayne Rooney has added spice to the first big Premier League match of the season when the title rivals clash at Old Trafford on Monday.The west London club have already tabled two bids for the England forward and have not ruled out making a third, despite new United boss David Moyes’ steadfast refusal to sell.
“We have Plans B and C,” Mourinho said ahead of Wednesday’s home game against Aston Villa, which they won 2-1 thanks to a second-half header from Serbian Branislav Ivanovic.
“Don’t ask me names because it’s difficult to speak about players from other clubs. We have the conditions to try to improve our team by bringing in one more player and we are going to try that till the end.”
The Blues are keen to add to their striking options of Fernando Torres, Romelu Lukaku and Demba Ba but United do not want to sell to a Premier League title challenger despite the form of Robin van Persie and Danny Welbeck, who each scored twice in an opening 4-1 win at Swansea City on Saturday.
Monday’s match between two of the Premier League’s biggest rivals sees David Moyes in charge of United at home in the league for the first time since replacing Alex Ferguson, a man whose absence the returning Mourinho said would be strange.
“It will be difficult for me, and I think all managers, to go to Old Trafford and play against Manchester United without this mythical figure waiting for us,” he recently told Sky Sports.
The match is part of another busy start to the season for Europa League holders Chelsea, who take on European champions Bayern Munich for the Super Cup in Prague on Friday, a repeat of the 2012 Champions League final.
It is also the first in a tough run of fixtures for former Everton boss Moyes’ side, who also play Liverpool and Manchester City in coming weeks, and the Scot will be desperate to make an early mark in front of his new fans at Old Trafford.
Arsenal will look to put their off-pitch woes to one side when they make the short trip to Fulham tomorrow.
Manager Arsene Wenger has been under fire for a lack of transfer activity, especially after a shock 3-1 home defeat by Aston Villa on Saturday, though he maintains reinforcements will be brought in before the transfer window shuts on September 2.
One player ruled out of the game is winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who injured his knee against Villa and could be out for three months or at least six weeks, according to Wenger.
“Gutted I’m injured so early in the season. But I’m going to be working hard to hopefully be back playing in 3 months,” the player tweeted on Tuesday.
Newcastle United will hope for a significant improvement on their 4-0 thrashing at Manchester City when they host West Ham United tomorrow, a match which sees Sam Allardyce return to St James’ Park where he briefly managed in 2007-8.
Cardiff City host their first top-flight match since 1962 when Manchester City travel to South Wales on Sunday and are confident Danish striker Andreas Cornelius will make his Premier League debut after missing the 2-0 defeat at West Ham.
The Welsh side’s chances of gaining their first Premier League points could be slim, however, despite the likely absence of captain Vincent Kompany with Manuel Pellegrini’s expensively assembled side looking ominous in their opener.
Having splashed out over 50 million pounds to date on new players, Tottenham Hotspur will be keen to impress against Swansea City at White Hart Lane on Sunday after their opening 1-0 victory at Crystal Palace.
Meanwhile, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has conceded defeat in his pursuit of Liverpool striker Luis Suarez after declaring there is “no chance” the Uruguayan will move to the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal have had two bids for Suarez rejected during the current transfer window and, speaking after his side won 3-0 at Fenerbahce in the first leg of their Champions League play-off, Wenger said they would not be making another offer.
“(There is) absolutely no chance of that,” Wenger said, in remarks widely reported in the British media yesterday. A number of British media outlets, including the BBC, claim that Arsenal have expressed an interest in signing Real Madrid pair Karim Benzema and Angel Di Maria.
The London club have also had a bid for Newcastle United’s France international midfielder Yohan Cabaye rejected.
Wenger would not be drawn on the identity of his transfer targets, but he confirmed that the club are working to bring in new players.
“We tried to bring one in, but we are working on that. You have to understand there is still a long way to go,” he said.
“The transfer market starts for me now and a lot of activity will happen between now and 2 September.
“From 21 August until 2 September you have 12 days, so a lot will happen. It starts now.”
In another development, Real Madrid’s quest to land Tottenham Hotspur winger Gareth Bale for a world record fee looks to be nearing its conclusion with Spanish media reporting yesterday a deal was all but secured.
The nine-times European champions have a reputation for getting their man and sports daily Marca were sourcing radio station Cadena COPE when they said a deal had been agreed and would be confirmed today for 99 million euros (85 million pounds).
Real’s signing of Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United in 2009 set the world record transfer fee at some 96 million euros.
Even if the deal for the Welsh international is not confirmed today, all the indications are that the player will be running out at the Bernabeu this season in the currently vacant number 11 shirt.
The 24-year-old has been ruled out of action for the opening matches of Tottenham’s season as he has suffered a couple of niggling injuries, though media speculation has suggested it is part of a tactic to force through the move.
His current club have been busy in the transfer market, landing Spain striker Roberto Soldado from Valencia for a club record 30 million euros and are reportedly close to exceeding that figure with a move for Brazilian forward Willian from Anzhi Makhachkala. – Reuters/ Sapa/AFP
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