France Transfer Rumors: The Usual Suspects

Let’s get right down to the latest and greatest rumors. Since it’s Friday, though, and I’m feeling lazy, I’m not going to try to go back and find all of the links for these. You can either take my word or google them yourselves for verification. (A lot of them are from google.fr, so check there first if you speak French.)

Thierry Henry has signed for Barcelona! Wait, where have I heard that before? Only this time the entire blogosphere is saying it’s for real. Except the blogs that aren’t. No word on whether Barcelona will have to widen the walls and raise the roof at Camp Nou to accommodate all of the egos which will now be residing there. (And by this I of course mean: Love you, Titi, melon énorme and all!)

Speaking of Barcelona, is Lilian Thuram at risk? Some sources are blaming him (among other expendable players) for the fact that Real Madrid stole the title Barca rightfully considered their own. Thuram in particular came in for criticism for defensive errors that gave them a draw where they would otherwise have had a win. Keep in mind that Barca tied with Madrid on points but lost on the head-to-head tiebreaks, so an extra two points would have given them La Liga. I haven’t seen any specific Thuram rumors just yet, but I doubt that Lilian is resting easy right now.

And in more Barcelona news, it looks like Eric Abidal may be staying at Lyon unless Barca gets its act (and its offer) together really soon. Inara can give you more details, but I think Lyon flatly turned down €12 million as an insult and are now insisting that Eric will remain at OL. (Unless, of course, he doesn’t.)

As reported previously, it looks like Claude Makélélé is definitely on the way out at Chelsea. The rumor coming up most often seems to be Paris St. Germain, which interests me. I personally have been looking for a reason to care about PSG, and Claude might be it. Let’s see if this one pans out. The other Makélélé rumor floating around says Bordeaux is a possibility. (Although the blog linking Claude to Bordeaux also mentioned the possibility of Bordeaux and Fabien Barthez, so consider the source and make up your own mind.)

The Florent Malouda rumors are still all saying Chelsea, Chelsea, Chelsea. (That cracking sound you hear? My heart breaking.) Chelsea apparenently offered a trade of Malouda for Lassana Diarra, but Aulas said no way. Chelsea cheapskates. Why don’t you just fork over cash like everybody else? It’s not as if you’re short on funds.

And it looks like David Trezeguet may actually be staying at Juventus. New manager Ranieri says he wants David to stay, David’s teammates want him to stay (except for those who would benefit from his departure), and perhaps even David wants to stay. Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon even went os far as to say that The Gesture was not offensive. (Thanks for clearing that up, Gigi.) The most recent rumors I’m seeing are even saying that Juve will come up with more money for Trezeguet’s salary demands.

So. Will David and Juve go riding off happily into the sunset together? Who knows? But he’s been with the team since 2000, and I’ve always gotten the feeling that he spent the year feeling like an ignored spouse. He didn’t really want a divorce, but he wanted his sacrifices to be recognized and appreciated. Otherwise he would have left long ago rather than hanging around and whining and engaging in attention-seeking behavior. If Juventus doesn’t work out, though, there are still rumors linking him to multiple clubs, including Lyon and Arsenal.

And what about Djibril Cissé, still on loan to l’OM from Liverpool? Several interesting rumors here. First we have the possibility that OM will buy him flat out. Liverpool is pushing that one. Or they might get him on loan for another year — something OM wants but Liverpool is cool to. OR, if all else fails, Bolton is interested in bringing him in to play alongside Anelka. This last interests me for several reasons. First…well, I’m not going to try to be tactful here. Does anybody else think that Anelka and Cissé kind of suck when playing together? I sure haven’t seen great synergy for France. That might develop with time, but I’m skeptical. And the second thing is, didn’t Cissé and Anelka’s new bride used to be…well…together? When I was reading up on Anelka’s marriage I came across several ugly and graphic descriptions of their relationship — things I wouldn’t really like to be reminded of on a daily basis if I were Nico. But maybe international soccer stars take these things in stride. Who knows?

Oh, and Alou Diarra may (or may not) still be going to Portsmouth. And Rio Antonio Mavuba may or may not be leaving Bordeaux for Italy, specifically Juventus.

And that’s all I have for this week. Enjoy your weekend and tune in for more next week!