Bent Or Defoe To Villa? Monday's Transfer Talk

The papers are all full of Villa links to Portsmouth striker Jermain Defoe again today. The Sun claims the striker had an argument with Portsmouth's under pressure manager Tony Adams who it appears is having half the team sold from around him. The red top report by Andrew Dillon claims the England striker 'threw a strop' after being told he was on the bench for the Arsenal game.

They quote Adams: 'Jermain was really annoyed with me for leaving him out and is still angry with me now. It was tactical. I wanted to line up exactly like we did at Liverpool. He may have a point and could turn round and say ‘You have got it wrong, boss, because you lost’.' He also says that despite the paper talk he has yet to have had a bid for the 26-year-old. 'I have had no offers for Defoe, not one.'

The Daily Mirror have a different angle saying we have contacted Portsmouth for the player and if we can't get him we'll go for Tottenham's Darren Bent. I think that report is a bit far fetched, they can't afford to sell another striker after letting Defoe leave last January and Dimitar Berbatov who sulked his way from the club in the summer. Having just read Vital Spurs their eds response is quite interesting, seems he believes the majority of Spurs fans would prefer Defoe to Bent. Bent to Villa? >> Click Here

The Mirror claim that Defoe wants a return to Spurs and if that happens O'Neill will go for Bent. They also claim, in direct contradiction to some of the whispers at the moment, that Emile Heskey is refusing to leave Wigan in the January transfer window and will instead wait until the summer when he can make a packet on a free. Michael Owen's Newcastle plan appears to follow the same pattern.

The Daily Mail meanwhile says Villa will spend up to £16million on Defoe. They claim Randy Lerner has been in contact with Portsmouth owner Alexandre Gaydamak who is looking to balance his books by selling the quality players at Pompey making his managers job nigh on impossible to do!

The Daily Mail also claim that Manchester City are looking to buy West Ham striker Craig Bellamy who has been linked several times with Villa.

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