WITH rumours linking Arsenal to more players than there are sides on a new £1 pound coin, the latest concerns Southampton defender Calum Chambers. According to The Independent the 19-year-old is being lined up by the Gunners as a replacement for Bacary Sagna.
The veteran French defender has been offered a new two-year contract at the club, said to be worth in the region of £75,000 a week, but the Independent claims Sagna is "set to reject it" and leave Arsenal at the end of the season, for either Paris Saint-Germain or Monaco. As a result, claims the paper, manager Arsene Wenger is turning his attention to right-back Chambers, who has done a sound job for the Saints in his 19 appearances this season.
Though Chambers signed a new four-year deal with Southampton last summer, everyone knows that such contracts are as binding as a Budget promise and the Independent says an offer in the region of £10m could be enough to prise the teenager away from the Saints. Manchester United are also said to be eying up Chambers but the bookies believe the youngster will plump for Arsenal.
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The Indie has clearly had its ear to the ground of late for it also claims that Arsenal are "monitoring" Sebastian Jung, the Eintracht Frankfurt defender. Apparently Wenger is hoping his current crop of Teutonic talent - Lukas Podolski, Per Mertesacker, Mesut Ozil and Serge Gnabry – will persuade Jung to join the German revolution at the Emirates in the summer.
Chambers is not the only Saint being linked with a move to the Gunners. Metro reports that Southampton midfield general Morgan Schneiderlin wants to play for a "great club" and has also refused to rule out a move to the Emirates.
The paper claims that Arsenal, where fit midfielders are as rare as trophies, have been tracking the tough tacking Frenchman for months and are ready to lodge a summer bid for the 24-year-old. Schneiderlin did little to dissuade the Gunners when he was asked about the rumours by French media and said: "Arsenal? ...it will not be easy. It's my dream to one day play at a great club though – so why not?"
Metro says that the Saints, who are known as tough negotiators, will expect a fee in the region of £15m if he does leave.
Yet another Southampton starlet being linked with a move away from St Mary's in the summer is 18-year-old frontman Sam Gallagher, who scored his first Premier League goal last weekend, and has apparently caught the eye of Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho. The Daily Mirror describes the teenager, who could play for England or Scotland, as "the next big thing off of the Southampton conveyor belt of talent" and says he is now a "top summer target" for the Blues
Talking of starlets (and who isn't?) Talksport says it's young Lazio ace Keita Balde Diao making hearts beat faster in the Premier League. The 19-year-old frontman is known to be on the radar of both Liverpool and Manchester United after scoring four goals in six Serie A appearances for Lazio. The Spain-born forward is now rated as one of Italian football's hottest properties – and doesn't agent Ulisse Savini know it.
In conversation with Italian broadcaster TMW, Savini said: "It is normal to receive the attentions of some foreign team every weekend. I know of appreciation, but there has still been no direct contact with me." Asked which club was leading the chase for his young client, Savini replied: "I think Keita would play in English football in the future - I can see him much better there than in Germany, for example. And probably in his head, the aspiration of playing in the Premier League is important." In his head, and dare one say it, in his bank balance.
Finally, Goal.com reports that Chelsea and Manchester City target Edinson Cavani has insisted he is happy at Paris Saint-German despite recent rumours suggesting he was angling for a move from the French capital.
The Uruguay international arrived in Paris from Napoli last summer and has scored 21 goals despite regularly being used on the flank rather than in his more favoured central position. Asked by beIN Sport if this might precipitate a move from PSG in the summer, the 27-year-old Cavani responded: "The results until now are proving that everything's going well, even if I'm not playing in the same position that I had at Napoli."
