Football transfer rumours: Everton to bid for Alexandre Pato

Football transfer rumours: Everton to bid for Alexandre Pato?



You must forgive The Mill this morning. Like a raised bit of road designed to cull speed in residential areas, we’ve got the hump. That’s not to say that it is a slow news day, or that The Mill is a canine frothing at the mouth for a scrap of gossip but … oh you get the picture.

This week is all turning into a bit of an anticlimax. Normally spirits are high as the transfer window nears its end – dry January is coming to a close, youngsters everywhere are gearing themselves up for the traditional English pastime of huddled “in and around” a Sky Sports News presenter in a car park somewhere, and The Mill is kept busy with Arsenal’s attempts to sign every half-decent wantaway in Europe. But with this month being considerably “wetter” than anticipated, Sky Sports ruining everybody’s fun, and Arsenal taking an eternity to get one miserly deal over the line, it’s all gone to pot.

Combine that with the fact that the biggest story of the day involves a Brazilian – urgh! – and it’s all left The Mill feeling a bit underwhelmed. Alexandre Pato, you see, has been offered to just about every Premier League club and while Hull City and Queens Park Rangers (!) have decided that the 25-year-old’s reported £60,000-a-week wages are too hefty, Everton’s need to arrest their terrible run of form, and fill a Samuel Eto’o-shaped hole, has led to interest in the forward. The 25-year-old, who is currently on loan at São Paulo from Corinthians, has largely struggled in his homeland since his “wonderkid” years in Italy and is thought to favour a move back to Europe.

Manchester United seem intent on blowing far too much money on a La Liga defender with Athletic Bilbao’s Aymeric Laporte the latest to be linked to the Premier League bigwigs. The Frenchman may have yet to earn an international cap – apparently finding Eliaquim Mangala and Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa (who has signed for Roma on a permanent deal for £5.5m) too difficult to usurp – but that hasn’t stopped Bilbao slapping a hefty £31.5m buyout clause on Laporte’s contract as they attempt to pull a very expensive woolly jumper over Ed Woodward’s head.

Another Frenchman doing the rounds is Mill-favourite Morgan Schneiderlin, who has again been linked to a summer exit at Southampton. To replace him, manager Ronald Koeman has scoured the globe, searching for the next hidden gem, and decided that simply returning to the club he managed last year, Feyenoord, and plucking their diamond captain Jordy Clasie, is the best option.

With a deal for Crystal Palace-bound Shola Ameobi apparently falling flat, West Bromwich Albion have opted for Besiktas’s Demba Ba instead. The Senegalese, who was not included in his country’s squad for the Africa Cup of Nations, has previously scored 43 times in 99 Premier League appearances for West Ham, Newcastle and Chelsea, with the Bimingham Mail linking the striker with a move to the Midlands.

Finally, another Turkey-based player angling for a move back to Blighty is Galatasaray’s Emmanuel Eboué, with Sunderland leading the chase, while Derby are chasing the QPR duo Junior Hoilett and Matty Phillips. What a way to end.

Guardian