Manchester City edged close to signing David Silva after it was claimed the Valencia and Spain winger had agreed a five-year deal.
Silva, 24, has been offered £80,000 a week salary after tax, according to reports in Spain last night. Valencia need to pay off some of their £330million debt this month, and have already sold David Villa to Barcelona for £33million.
Decent bets
Liverpool have told Fiorentina they want £7.5million for Emiliano Insua. The Serie A side have offered £5million for the Argentine defender who moved to Anfield three years ago.
Guirane N’Daw, the Nantes and Senegal midfield player, is expected to sign a four-year deal with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Serge Déblé has been offered to Blackburn Rovers among other Premier League clubs. The striker, 20, was among five players that joined Charlton Athletic from the Asec Mimosas academy in Ivory Coast two years ago, but has spent the past two years on loan at Angers SCO in France. He won the most valuable player award playing for Ivory Coast at the Toulon Under-20 tournament, where they beat Denmark 3-2 in the final last month.
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Zurab Khizanishvili has been told by his manager that he should leave Blackburn Rovers. The defender, who has a year left on his deal, was on loan at Newcastle United and Reading last season. “He is one to let go for our sake and for his,” Allardyce said. “We wouldn’t be standing in his way.”
Sunderland are also hoping to sign on loan Ahmed Al-Muhammadi, who plays for ENPPI, the Egyptian club as a right back, and who was on trial with the North East club in January.
Long shots
Mamadou Samassa, the Marseilles striker, has been offered to Wigan Athletic. The Mali striker scored seven goals on loan at Valenciennes last season. William Gallas, the France defender who is out of contract at Arsenal, has turned down a move to Juventus.