France Transfer Rumors

December 20th, 2007 | by: Laurie | View Comments

As promised, a few transfer rumors to brighten your days.

There is not a whole lot of news this winter transfer season because so many players moved during the summer and it’s a bit too early for them to be getting antsy. Or at least to be getting out of their new contracts. So here’s what I’m seeing:

Good news for Willy Sagnol fans: He and Bayern Munich have apparently come to terms that will allow him to stay at the club. This makes me happy, because I just can’t see him establishing himself as a starter at another good club at this stage of the game. Interesting quote:

“There were differences of opinion about the level of his fitness,” general manager Uli Hoeness said. “He thought it could only get better if he played, the coach thought he could also improve through practice. Now it’s clear that Willy Sagnol will stay and we have to close our ranks.”

Okay. Whatever that means. Stay, Willy! Stay! Good boy!

Nicolas Anelka is the other biggie looking for a move. The main rumors seem to be Chelsea and Man City. I am not a big Chelsea fan, aside from the Makelele and Malouda connections, so I’m not sure I’m thrilled by this one. And I wasn’t sure about Man City because they’re not Big Four, and I want to see Nico in Champions League before he gets too old! But Man City has just overtaken Liverpool to slip into fourth place, so maybe I’m wrong. I have a hard time seeing them staying in fourth, though. Liverpool just has too much money. But maybe Nico could prove me wrong, and he does seem like the type to relish the challenge. So we’ll see. In the meantime, though, Bolton is one point out of the relegation zone and desperate to hold onto him. What do you think? Will he stay or go?

And Julien Escudé (who is right up there with Philippe Mexès as a player I wish Raymond would give more field time to) is saying that Sevilla is not nearly as much fun this year as last. When they were, y’know, winning. He’s been linked to some EPL club, but I’m not sure which one because the article was long and boring and I have no attention span. But I’ll keep an eye on this one. LOVE Escude.

And here’s one I don’t quite get. Rio Antonio Mavuba just moved from Bordeaux to Villareal this summer. He’s been warming the bench and not happy, so now he’s being linked to Lille or PSG. I guess there’s no place like home? Let’s hope this starts a trend of young French players realizing that the grass is not always greener and coming BACK to Ligue 1. (Yoann Gourcuff, I’m looking at you.)

I’ve been following Arsenal only from a distance this year, so it had escaped my notice that Lassana Diarra is not happy. But he is emphatically and very much not happy and has been saying so very publicly. He’s being linked to Tottenham and hoping for more playing time.

And I know there are others in the back of my mind that will come to me as soon as I hit “Post,” but I’m thinking they can wait till the next transfer post.