Kante “I am at home. It is my club, I am a Chelsea player. as the star rubbishes PSG Rumours

Mercy Lank

At least one and erhaps two big Premier League clubs are going to finish outside of the UEFA Champions League this year. As it stands now, those clubs are Arsenal and Chelsea. The former could still seal a spot in the UCL via winning the Europa League but Chelsea needs wins and help from the field to find a way into the fray. [ MORE: Best PL summer buys ] An absence for either side will send UCL-bound vultures over the rosters of the failed clubs, hoping to woo the best players with Champions League dreams. N'Golo Kante has been a name bandied about as a potential departure should Chelsea miss its mark, with the French star mentioned as high atop Paris Saint-Germain’s wish list. The midfielder, who turns 27 at the end of the month, has moved to squash those rumors (from The London Evening Standard): 

“I am at home. It is my club, I am a Chelsea player.
“We will fight until the end to finish in the top four and to get in a Champions League position. We also have the FA Cup to play for – it is a good competition. Last season we failed in the final. It is the only trophy we can win this season, so we have to give everything to get to the final and win it.”

That’s good, because we’re looking forward to seeing what a midfield with Kante and Tiemoue Bakayoko could do with an offseason together.

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Arsenal ask to pay €40M to land the centre back super star in the summer

Mercy Lank

Arsenal’s defence has been heavily criticised this season and whoever is in charge come the summer will invest heavily in several new recruits for the back four, and they won’t come cheap. One player the Gunners are said to be targeting is Benfica’s standout centre-back Ruben Dias. The Portugal U21 international has come right through the ranks at Benfica and has developed into a first-team regular this season as he looks to fill the void left by Victor Lindelof who joined Manchester United for a reported €35m last summer. Reports from Portugal suggest that Dias will leave Benfica in the near future with interest from a number of European clubs, but the 20-year-old defender will not leave on the cheap. Record state that Dias will be sold for at least €40m if Benfica decide to cash-in on him, but the defender also has a contractual release clause of €60m, so it will be interesting to see how close an interested party gets to meeting that figure.

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'I dream of wearing Arsenal's shirt' French hopeful wants to emulate Thierry Henry

Mercy Lank

Under Arsene Wenger Arsenal have a rich history of developing French players.

The likes of Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit and Thierry Henry have starred under Wenger and many of their countrymen have since made the move. And the latest Frenchman to confess his love for the Gunners is Valenciennes defender Pierre Barremaecker. The 21-year-old is yet to play for the French side's first team, but he has ambitions of moving to Arsenal, reports Football.London. Usually by this age a player would have already gained minutes for the senior side. However, Barremaecker can use Gunners vice-captain Laurent Koscielny as the perfect example. The centre-back was a relative unknown during his spells in France. He made over 50 Ligue 2 appearances across spells with Guingamp and Tours before joining Lorient aged 23. From there Koscielny joined the Gunners in the summer 2010 and has developed into one of the best centre-backs in the game with a series of consistent performances at the heart of the north London outfit's defence as well as the Les Bleus national team.

"My models are Koscielny and Thiago Silva, for his leader mentality," he told Nord-Eclair over the weekend "Other than that, I dream of playing in the Premier League and to wear Arsenal’s shirt, because when I started to watch football, Vieira, Henry and Bergkamp were there. “If I could one day wear the France shirt, that would really be a magical moment in my career.”

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Spain boss Julen Lopetegui:Chelsea forward Alvaro Morata Can still make it at world cup

Mercy Lank

Spain boss Julen Lopetegui has claimed that Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata could still win a place in the squad for the World Cup, but he has to prove his worth. The 25-year-old was left out of the setup for upcoming international friendlies against Germany and Argentina due to his lacklustre form at Stamford Bridge. The forward has scored 13 goals in 38 appearances in all competitions and only one in his last 14 outings for the West London outfit. "Of course Morata has a lot of possibilities to go to the World Cup and he knows it," Lopetegui told El Partidazo de COPE. "He has to show these months the player he is inside."

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Herdsmen Killings:What Gov. Ortom begged US

Mercy Lank

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom has solicited the support of the United States, US, in bringing an end to the crisis between farmers and herdsmen in his state.

Ortom said the US should assist in the realization of the move for establishment of ranches across his state and the country. He spoke while receiving the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Stuart Symington at the Benue Peoples House Makurdi, the state capital. According to Ortom, assisting in the establishment of ranches was one reliable way of guaranteeing peace in his state and the country. Ortom said, “Let me on behalf of the government and people of Benue State welcome you to the Presidential wing of the Benue Peoples. I appreciate your visit. We were glad when we learnt that you are coming to visit us because we look up to America for a lot of things. Today the Presidential system of Government that we practice, we borrowed it from America. “I have been advocating for ranching which I know America for the rearing of cattle instead of the grazing that we have in Nigeria today. Because of the shortage of land, the issue of grazing has become a major security challenge, especially in my state. Frequently, there are clashes between farmers and herdsmen because the land is not there and my people are mostly farmers so they find the herdsmen encroaching and trespassing on farmlands and thus destroying their crops and when they are confronted, it will become a fight and we have lost so much. “I have been calling for the establishment of ranches just like it is done in America. Most of us look forward that our Government at the Federal level and the state level will come together and find a lasting solution because this crisis is not only peculiar to Benue State. There are other states too that are affected. But to me, I see that ranching as it is done in America can solve the problem permanently because the land is not increasing but the population is increasing.

“When there were grazing routes in the fifties, the total population of Nigeria was less than forty million. Today, by the 2012 projection, we are over a hundred and seventy million and by 2017, I am sure we will be hitting two hundred million. So it is a big challenge. While we want to support the herdsmen to graze and to rear cattle, it should not be at the detriment of lives and property of our people. And so you are welcome. “America has been supporting us in several ways. USAID has been of great assistance to my Government. Before I assumed office, they were about leaving the state but I invited them to come back for dialogue and since then, they have been of tremendous help to us.”

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‘I’d rather spend £200m on Salah than Neymar’ - Tony Cascarino says

Mercy Lank

Writing in his The Times column, Cascarino reacted with wonder to Salah’s performance in Liverpool’s defeat of Watford. The Egypt forward scored four and assisted the other of the Reds’ five goals, to put in his standout showing since arriving at Anfield. Liverpool spent just £34m on Salah this summer, a fee which no longer can even be described as a bargain. It was daylight robbery from the Reds, though no one could have expected the former Chelsea player to have this sort of impact upon his return to English football. Salah was known as a talented player who had improved since his Chelsea days, but to lead the race for the European Golden Shoe in the final stages of the season is the most unexpected of realities. And Cascarino feels Salah is performing at a level which means he falls only behind Ronaldo and Messi in terms of his quality on the world stage. “Neymar was signed by Paris Saint-Germain for almost £200 million in the summer,” Cascarino wrote. “If I had that money now I would spend it on Mohamed Salah — I can’t think of anyone in world football I would rather buy. “He is having an extraordinary season, his scoring is on a par with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo and I can’t think of many players who have had such an instant impact.

“The Egypt forward deserves to be compared to the likes of Messi and Ronaldo this season and he betters them in some areas — he works far harder off the ball and, despite being the star man, still chases back and puts in tackles. He puts in the work for the team, and the team and system works for him to create so many chances — he is a top scorer but could have had many more. When I think about players who are not strikers but score goals, I think Salah is only behind Messi and Ronaldo but has the potential to be on a similar level. I would certainly have him in my team ahead of Neymar.”

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Reports: Arsenal and Man City in battle over £60 million rated forward

Mercy Lank

What's the rumour?

According to multiple reports, top Premier League clubs like Arsenal and both the Manchester sides are keen on signing the next big thing in Portuguese football. That happens to be a promising Benfica B youngster João Félix. Other reports claim that the English clubs aren't the only ones keeping tabs on the talented forward with AS Monaco, RB Salzburg, Hamburg and Borussia Munchengladbach also monitoring his situation. The 18-year-old attacking footballer generally plays on the left wing but has shown his versatility by playing all across the forward-line. He is currently in red-hot form as well, with 4 goals and 2 assists in his last 4 matches. Felix is dubbed the next great footballer to come from Portugal and has immense potential to carry the tag. Top clubs seem ready to bet big on the youngster with his astounding £60 million release clause not too daunting for them.

The heart of the matter

Arsenal are hoping to add some fresh blood into their side, and having missed out on a certain Portuguese a couple of decades ago, will be hoping they can get the forward this time around. Manchester City, meanwhile, have restrained themselves from going for the big names and have opted for talented youngsters and groomed them into brilliant footballers. Pep Guardiola will be determined to add another successful mentee to his resume but will have to battle bitter rivals United and a host of other clubs before he can do that.

Rumour rating/probability 6/10

It seems unlikely that the youngster will take such a massive step-up so soon, but we've seen weirder things happen in the world of football. If the top clubs do decide to swoop in for Felix, the transfer fee will not be a major barrier for them as we've witnessed multiple times already. There is a fare chance of it happening as the drought of good strikers in England continues.

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