Keegan's purse heaviest!
Kevin Keegan is reportedly set to become the biggest spender in English football's January sales by launching an audacious bid to sign Leeds striker Robbie Fowler.
Tuesday's Guardian said Keegan was prepared to bid seven million pounds (11.3 million dollars) to bring the former Liverpool striker to Maine Road as a partner for Nicolas Anelka.
The paper predicted that Keegan would swoop almost as soon as the transfer window opens on Wednesday and that Fowler could be unveiled as a City player as early as this weekend.
Fowler, 27, has now recovered from a hip injury which kept him out of most of the autumn campaign. But he is behind Alan Smith and Mark Viduka in the Leeds pecking order and the Yorkshire club are a reported 80 million pounds in debt.
Manager Terry Venables could be tempted to sell to finance the purchase of a midfielder, which he has identified as his top priority. Brazilian World Cup winner Kleberson has been touted as a possible target.
Under new FIFA rules, clubs have until the end of the month to sign players for the rest of the campaign.
Speculation about who is going where has inevitably been rife but few major deals are expected to be done anywhere in Europe.
The chill financial wind currently sweeping through football means most of the richest clubs are currently looking to cut, or at least contain, costs.
There is also a shortage of top quality players who are both available and eligible to play in the latter stages of the Champions League for their new clubs.
Manchester United have made no secret of their desire to sign a new striker but Alex Ferguson will want to be sure he can field him in Europe -- which rules out anyone who has already played for another club in the tournament.
This situation has fuelled rumours that Ferguson will make a move for an English-based forward.
The name of Tottenham's Welsh forward Simon Davies has attracted the most attention but there have also been rumours that Ferguson will attempt to prise Kevin Phillips away from relegation-threatened Sunderland.
Goalscoring reinforcements are the priority for most of the relegation-threatened clubs with West Ham hoping to sign former England striker Les Ferdinand from Tottenham. Ferdinand wants regular first team football but has been overtaken by Robbie Keane at Spurs.
Birmingham City are hoping to secure the services of French World Cup winner Christophe Dugarry on loan from Bordeaux with a view to a permanent deal provided they stay in the Premiership.
But that deal has been complicated with Dugarry's lawyer revealing that both Spurs and Manchester City have expressed an interest in the Bordeaux captain.
Birmingham's first choice, former Celtic and Nottingham Forest forward Pierre van Hooijdonk, has been ruled out after he asked for a deal worth more than 50,000 pounds/week.
Newcastle and Liverpool, who face each other on Wednesday, have obvious requirements -- Liverpool badly need a wide player while Newcastle could do with a new centre half.
Jaap Stam, who has done nothing to dampen rumours he wants to return to English football, could fit the bill for Newcastle boss Bobby Robson while his Liverpool counterpart Gerard Houllier would like to sign either Mark Overmars or Harry Kewell.
But Liverpool already have the biggest squad in the Premiership and neither of those targets would come cheap so Houllier may have to accumulate some cash before he can start to speculate.
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