Premier League - Transfer Talk: Striker light?

Eurosport - Tue, 27 May 19:09:00 2008

Outlandish striker purchases are the theme of today's Premier League Transfer Talk, with Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal all rumoured to be eyeing moves for big-name goal-getters.

FOOTBALL Zlatan Ibrahimovic - 0

The Daily Mirror claims United are set to splash £50 million on Sevilla's Brazilian striker Luis Fabiano, clubmate and countryman Daniel Alves and Manchester City defender Micah Richards.

The Daily Star's back page reckons Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o and Internazionale hitman Zlatan Ibrahimovic (pictured) will both join Chelsea if Frank Rijkaard takes over as coach, although it should be pointed out that this is a paper that thinks the first ever glimpse of Danielle Lloyd's right nipple is front-page news.

La Liga top scorer Dani Guiza of Real Mallorca is being tipped to follow in the hallowed footsteps of Franny Jeffers (currently peddling his unique brand of jug-eared uselessness at Championship bottom-feeders Sheffield Wednesday), as Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger begins his fruitless annual search for a 'fox in the box'.

The Times thinks that Wenger is also coyly flashing his pretending-not-to-be-interested face (as revealed in the latest Nike advert) in the direction of St Etienne midfielder Blaise Matuidi .

Meanwhile, the Made-up Transfer Fee experts at the Daily Express have been working overtime to establish that, should Cristiano Ronaldo join Real Madrid, it will be for the princely sum of £39.8 million, Sergio Ramos, Mahamadou Diarra, Robinho and a lifetime subscription to Marca for United boss Sir Alex Ferguson.

The Made-up Transfer Fee department at The Times also merits a mention, having concocted an £18 million move to Manchester City for CSKA Moscow's Brazilian striker Jo and a £9.6 million switch from Lazio to Tottenham for Swiss midfielder Valon Behrami. You'll note the skilful deployment of the decimal point there.

Blackburn midfielder David Bentley - who's upped his claim for David Beckham's England place by getting a horrendous dye job that even the LA Galaxy man would flinch at - is said to be a £15 million target for Chelsea and Spurs.

Elsewhere, Man City defender Richard Dunne, Man United goalkeeper Ben Foster, Barcelona wonderkid Giovani Dos Santos and Chelsea misfit Steve Sidwell may or may not be on their way to Aston Villa, while the Daily Mirror says Villa bench-warmer Luke Moore is set to join West Brom for £3.5 million.

Tom Williams / Eurosport