With the gavel apparently having fallen Bargain Hunt style on a £51.3m bid for Atlético Madrid striker Radamel Falcao and Porto's James Rodríguez and Joao Moutinho already in the bag, Chelsea centre-half Branislav Ivanovic is next on the shopping list of money-bags Monaco. The newly promoted Ligue 1 side's Russian owner Dmitry Rybolovlev is, as we speak, moistening his thumb and preparing to peel off £25m in used tenners, but incoming Chelsea manager José Mourinho isn't interested.
The Special One is, however, interested in retaining the services of Michael Essien at Stamford Bridge, having had the Ghanaian midfielder on loan at Real Madrid for the season just gone. He also wishes to bring Vitesse Arnhem's Holland Under-21 box-to-box midfielder Marco van Ginkel to London. And with his Chelsea contract due to expire next month after a season spent exiled to train with the young 'uns, Chelsea winger Florent Malouda will resurrect his career at Lyon.
Rumour Mill staple, Napoli striker and all around Uruguayan Adonis Edinson Cavani tops Real's wanted list, but his £52m get-out clause means the Spanish side may try to prise Luis Suárez away from Liverpool instead, reports The Sun.
The Spanish side also want Gareth Bale, say the Daily Mail, but then doesn't everyone? An offer of £65m will test the mettle of Spurs chairman Daniel Levy. Meanwhile in Italy, the Corriere Dello Sport maintains that Cavani will head to Manchester City, while their news-stand rivals Tuttosport say Juventus still want Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez and are also plotting to derail Arsenal's efforts to bring Fiorentina's Stevan Jovetic to London. Lyon midfielder Clément Grenier is French, 22 and obviously wanted by Arsenal.
And PSG manager Carlo Ancelotti, himself believed to be in line to take over from Mr Mourinho at Real Madrid, has poured icy cold water over speculation suggesting that moody Swedish superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic has asked to leave the French champions because he misses Italy and wants to return to Juventus. "This is not true, he did not ask to leave the club," harrumphed the Italian. "Our relationship is good, as it is with other players." So now you know.
