THE INSIDER: Liverpool like the look of Villa ... Rovers ready for Larsson... Bolton beating on Vukcevic's door... Milito eyes Goodison Park switch... Plus all the rest of the gossip

13 April 2012

Simon Jones is Sportsmail's man on the inside of all the transfer moves this summer. His daily column offers you an insight into the deals which will be done and those that won't - and why ...

Don't miss your daily instalment of The Insider every weekday throughout the summer transfer window on these pages.

(INSIDER'S RATING: 0/5 means this deal's pie in the sky. 5/5 and it's a done deal)

Villa

David Villa, Valencia to Liverpool - The Insider says: 2/5

Although Rafa Benitez has publicly identified Villa as a top target and the Valencia man would be a ready-man strike partner for his Spain teammate Fernando Torres, it is difficult to see how Liverpool would finance the deal with Benitez about to spend up to £18m on Gareth Barry and £3m on goalkeeper Diego Cavalieri. Liverpool will receive only £7m up front from Portsmouth for Peter Crouch and with Xabi Alonso’s £16m move to Juventus still in the balance, it could be asking too much for Messrs Hicks and Gillett to stump up £20m for Villa.

Larsson

Seb Larsson, Birmingham to Blackburn - The Insider says: 3/5

Blackburn are already looking at replacements for David Bentley but prising the former Arsenal midfielder away from Birmingham will not be easy. While there is no doubt Larsson would welcome a return to the Premier League following Birmingham’s relegation last season, he has more than two years left on his contract and Blues chairman David Gold has already said he will leave over his dead body. Rovers boss Paul Ince has been given an extra £3m but might have to look somewhere else to spend it.

Vukcevic

Simon Vukcevic, Sporting Lisbon to Bolton - The Insider says: 1/5

Bolton were keen to sign the striker whose first-leg equaliser at the Reebok helped knock them out out of the UEFA Cup last season but they are set to be disappointed in their bid to sign the £4.5m Montenegro striker. Manchester City and Blackburn were also trailing Vukcevic but the player’s agent has now come out and confirmed he will be staying in Portugal for another season at least.

Milito

Diego Milito, Real Zaragoza to Everton - The Insider says: 3/5

Although the Argentine has expressed a desire to return to Genoa in Serie A following Zaragoza’s relegation last season and David Moyes has limited transfer funds to finance an £8m deal, a season-long loan might suit both sides. Moyes will have more room on the wage bill - and a slot up front to fill - if Andy Johnson completes a £10m move to either Sunderland or Wigan and Milito figures prominently on his list of targets.

Miguel

Miguel, Valencia to Aston Villa - The Insider says: 2/5

Martin O’Neill needs a right-back after playing Olof Mellberg out of position for much of last season but will he want to spend £11m on the Portugal international if he can sign Steve Finnan as part of the package that will take Gareth Barry to Liverpool? With Steve Sidwell moving to Villa Park as Barry’s replacement, expect O’Neill to put a goalkeeper at the top of his list after failing to strike a permanent deal with Liverpool for Scott Carson.



Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in