Football transfer rumours: Christoph Kramer to Tottenham Hotspur?

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/oct/27/football-transfer-rumours

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Remember when Germany’s Christoph Kramer banged his head during a sickening collision with Argentinian defender Ezquiel Garay during the World Cup final? He doesn’t. Luckily, the Bayer Leverkusen midfielder, currently on loan at Borussia Mönchengladbach for a second consecutive season, appears to have suffered no lasting damage from the accident and is now the subject of serious interest from Tottenham Hotspur. A preposterously athletic, sleeves-up, tough tackling defensive midfielder whose performances last season earned him a surprise call-up to Joachim Löw’s World Cup squad, Kramer is a tireless chugger with excellent distribution who looks increasingly comfortable bursting forward with the ball at his feet. With his contract at Leverkusen due to expire this summer, Tottenham are highly unlikely to have it all their own way in the stampede to secure his services.

No longer an automatic first choice at Barcelona and set to drop further down the pecking order now that Luis Suárez has served his latest suspension, Pedro is believed to be open to the possibility of a move elsewhere, even if he did recently toe the party line by saying he welcomed competition for places in Luis Enrique’s first team. “I’m competing with the best strikers in the world and it’s hard to always get in the team,” he told Barca’s website a few weeks ago. “What [Barcelona strikers] Munir [Haddadi] and Sandro [Ramírez] are doing is motivating for all of us. They want to do things right and that’s good for the team. And there’s still Suárez to come. The more the merrier.”

With so many forwards battling for so few places at Barca, Arsène Wenger is rumoured to be interested in spending up to £25m adding Pedro to his collection of superfluous speedy and industrious wide men, but will placate supporters tearing their hair out at his apparent neglect in areas in which he is short of personnel by bringing in Kiwi centre-half Winston Reid from high-flying West Ham in January. Reid is out of contract in the summer and currently keeping his options open. The Daily Mail reports that Arsenal are also interested in signing Juve’s Swiss right-back Stephan Lichsteiner, but will have to grapple Women In Love style on a hearth rug with Real Madrid if they are to get him on the pay roll.

Difficult to spell former Manchester United and Brighton goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak is 32 years old and currently without a club, but could be on the verge of landing himself a surprise gig as cover for Manuel Neuer at Bayern Munich. Discussions between the German club and the Pole are ongoing, what with Bayern’s second and third choice keepers Pepe Reina and Thomas Starke both facing spells on the sidelines recuperating from injury.

Stoke City, QPR and Aston Villa are among several clubs interested in taking Clint Dempsey on loan from Seattle Sounders in January in a bid to keep the USA captain out of mischief and off the streets during the MLS off-season. Dempsey’s club and international team-mate DeAndre Yedlin, on loan from Tottenham having been signed by Mauricio Pochettino during the summer, is likely to be summoned to London in January, which could herald the sale of Kyle Naughton to Swansea City for £3m. Meanwhile in the Big Apple, having just equalled the MLS goalscoring record by bagging 27 in 32 matches with the New York Red Bulls, Bradley Wright-Phillips may also get antennae twitching in his native England.

The Mirror reports that AC Milan are interested in bringing Adel Taarabt back to the San Siro in January and it’s difficult to see QPR turning down any sort of reasonable offer. Milan’s city rivals Inter are rumoured to be eyeing up David Moyes as a replacement for their manager Walter Mazzarri.

And finally, long term Arsenal target André-Pierre Gignac has just inked a new deal that will keep him at Marseille for the foreseeable future, while Ajax, Manchester United, Liverpool, Barcelona and Real Madrid are all keeping tabs on 19-year-old Heerenveen midfielder Daley Sinkgraven.