Ricardo Costa, Laurent Blanc, Gonzalo Higuain, Oh my!

By: Sam | December 14th, 2006

Mucho transfer rumours as we approach the winter window…

Olympique de Marseille have seemingly found the perfect piece for the always-almost-finished puzzle that is their defence. Ricardo Costa, Portuguese international currently property of FC Porto, has agreed to a six-month loan to OM, according to French paper Aujourd’hui en France. Unhappy with his playing time in Portugal, he wishes to make a fresh start in a club who is always looking to improve their inexperienced defence corps.

Anyway, have any of you heard about Diego Milito? Probably not, all he did last year was score four goals in one game against this club named Real Madrid. This year, he is tied for the goal-scoring lead in La Liga. Good enough, thought Lyon. A cool 20 million might be enough to lure him away from Zaragoza. Sorry. Not enough for the Spaniards to give away their main man.

Since no Argentina or Spain Offside exists just yet, it’s (I guess) my responsibility to tell you that the overnight superstar Gonzalo Higuain has alledgedly signed with Real Madrid. According to the ever-present Radio Marca, River Plate and Real agreed to a six-year, thirteen-million euro deal that would see the Argench (Argentinian-French, obviously) wonderboy play at Bernabeu starting this January.

That sneaky little boy Didier Deschamps, current manager of the pride of Serie B, Juventus, and ex-manager of AS Monaco, has taken his knowledge of the principality’s talent. Serge Gakpé, the young attacker who is amazing everyone on a lackluster Monaco side, could be crossing the “border” to Turin shortly, to the tune of 2 million euros. Don’t take it for cash, though, because Deschamps has talked about Malouda and Abidal as well.

Now, who remembers Laurent Blanc? The tall, lanky dude who did the Barthez’s head-kissing thing in 1998. They could be together again, with Barthez maybe heading to Nantes to take over goalkeeping duties. For Nantes’ staff, coaching isn’t so hot at the moment either. There’s been some speculation about bringing in the 1998 world champion, who himself could imagine himself on the bench in the north of the country.

Other quick snippets:
Lens are looking into Swiss international Ludovic Magnin.
Auxerre and Sochaux are doing some searching of their own, namely for Habib Bamogo, Marseille’s striker, who is trying to get out of town. This should be done pretty soon.
Benzema and Fred, Lyon’s strikers, are practising once again.