Mavuba to ManU? Juve? Or Nowhere? And Is Abidal Staying or Going?

Rio Antonio Mavuba’s agent has confirmed talks with Manchester United and Juventus over the Bordeaux midfielder, but it apparently would take a large sum of money to make Bordeaux part with him this month. Whether or not that money will be forthcoming is anybody’s guess. Rio’s agent says, “Bordeaux are an ambitious club that are attempting to qualify for a second consecutive UEFA Champions League, so it may be easier for Rio to leave in the summer. But if a club offer a big sum of money during the January transfer window, we will see if Bordeaux are interested in transferring him. I sincerely think that the summer transfer window will be more interesting for him.”

It is a possibility that the money will be there. I know Juventus needs to beef up their team or risk losing players like Buffon, Del Piero and Trézéguet, so they might be willing to fork over some cash. On the other hand, yesterday’s news says that Mavuba is currently out with a douleur inguinale. My college French classes didn’t cover that one, and the online translators are also coming up blank, but from translations in the general vicinity this may be another “I just don’t want to know” injury. So my guess would be that everybody’s going to wait till he’s healthy before forking over any cash.

And Lyon left-back Eric Abidal has not been shy about saying he’s leavin’ town. Eventually. He’s said all along that he would probably go to Barcelona after the season, and Lyon isn’t taking this sitting down. They seem to be adopting a “don’t let the door hit your butt on the way out” strategy. The news is filled with reports that Lyon has picked up the “next Abidal,” Nadir Belhadj. But of course their goal isn’t to drive Eric out of Lyon! They just want to get him fired up!

Of course.

And now Eric has till the end of the transfer window to decide how to respond.

UPDATE: Nadir Belhadj has signed with Lyon, but he’s not coming till the current season is over. He’ll be on loan to his current (read: former) team, Sedan, to try to help keep them from being sucked down into the relegation vortex.

Other than that, there’s a lot of smoke and no fire for our Bleus in this transfer period. And of course, that could all change tomorrow.