Close your eyes, sit back and think yourself back to the 2008-09 season. These were happier times. Innocent times. Sir Alex Ferguson was still warming the bench and indeed the dressing-room air at Manchester United; Arsène Wenger could still be relied upon to qualify Arsenal for the Champions League; and Roy Hodgson’s stock was riding high as he guided Fulham to seventh place in the Premier League and qualification for the Europa League. Who wouldn’t want to go back to 2008-09? Hodgson certainly would, which could be why he seems so keen to sign Carlton Cole.
The Englishman, now 33, was still a promising young pup then, and on his way to a best-ever single-season league-only goal return of 10. Since then he has been released by West Ham, signed by West Ham again, released by West Ham again and had spells at Celtic (five games), Sacramento Republic (four) and Persib Bandung (five), the Indonesian side and current answer to the question “where the heck is Michael Essien these days?”. However Crystal Palace, Hodgson’s latest employers, are neck-deep in a striking crisis and any out-of-contract player with Premier League experience, two legs and no crutches is therefore of interest.
Manchester United have despatched scouts to Italy, where they are busily monitoring the Roma midfielder and long-term friend of the Mill, Radja Nainggolan. “Mourinho is understood to be making plans for Michael Carrick’s retirement,” reports the Mirror, “and the Belgium international is his first choice. But United are also scouting young people who you might not already have known about for several years, and had a representative keeping a close eye on Keinan Davis during Aston Villa’s 4-0 win over Burton Albion on Tuesday night. They’re not the only ones keen on Keinan, as Arsenal, Everton, Swansea, Stoke and Brighton also had scouts at the game.
United scouts have clearly been busy, with news also breaking that they have been avidly pursuing the Sarpsborg midfielder Krepin Diatta. “I’ve spoken to Manchester United’s scouts twice,” the 18-year-old told Norwegian television. “First at the Under-20 World Cup, and again after the game against Brann. To join them would be a dream come true. I think I’m good enough, but we’ll see what happens in the future.” The Sarpsborg sporting director, Thomas Berntsen, has also been chatting about Diatta, insisting “that there are many clubs” watching him, that “he is the most exciting young player in Norway” and that “he will cost a lot of money, without any shadow of doubt”.
Elsewhere, Internazionale have abandoned all hope of signing Shkodran Mustafi from Arsenal in January, because they won’t be able to. And the forgotten Watford defender Brice Dja Djedje, left out of the club’s Premier League squad yet again, has vowed to force through a move to Marseille in January. “I hope to leave Watford,” he said. “I can’t bear it any more. It has crossed the line. I’m at my limit.”