Smell That? It’s the Hot Stove Heating Up.

By: Martha | November 20th, 2007

Gleeful French boys. Have I lost everyone with that baseball reference? Probably. My point is that the transfer window is almost open, and the hardcore rumors have officially started to fly. Today’s La Gazzetta starts the ball rolling, with a headline touting the arrival of young superstars Branislav Ivanovic, Samir Nasri and Karim Benzema in Italy, and a couple of older, rougher Italians are on the move in today’s press, as well.

The rumors about Ivanovic, a 23-year-old Lokomotiv Moscow defender who is on the wishlists of a whole lot of major clubs based largely on his stellar performance at last summer’s U-21 European Championships, have been all over the Italian media lately. In a recent interview, the Serb announced his intention to go to Italy, England or Spain when he leaves Russia (Sorry, Ajax.), but rushed to say that he just signed a new deal with his current club and won’t be going anywhere any time soon. Mmmhmm. If he DOES move to Italy (and not, say, England), though, the defender thinks he would get a better chance to play at Juve than, say, Inter (AKA The Place With a Serbian Assistant Coach); ignoring the player’s wishes, La Gazzetta thinks Inter and Milan will end up battling for the right to pay Lokomotiv’s firm €15 million asking price.

We’ve heard it all before about the baby French boys, and even La Gazzetta admits half the clubs on earth are chasing both of them. Just a partial list of the clubs (maybe) interested in Benzema includes Real Madrid, Juve, Arsenal and Milan, the latter of which spends every night dreaming of a Pato and Benzema demolishing all of Serie A for decades to come. Of course, there is the small matter of an asking price, currently at about €30 million, but Milan have supposedly already started talks with both Lyon and the player’s agent.

Nasri, meanwhile, has been in Inter’s sights since March, when they supposedly approached the player’s father/agent about bringing him to Milan as a replacement for the Great Figo. The story last June was that the youngster would stick with Olympique Marseilles until this coming summer, at which point he’d make his fated moved to the Nerazzurri. Now, though nothing has changed on the Inter front, Real are reportedly expressing a serious interested in Nasri. That said, he seems unlikely to move this winter — particularly to those two clubs, since he wants a regular starting spot — but he’s definitely going somewhere soon. (Still no mention of Roma in the rumors, Chris.)