FRENCH RUMOURS

Last updated : 16 May 2003 By Editor
There are rumours that Rennes are ready to let Escude go and
that Fergie will sign him this summer.

Mexes’ agent is reportedly working hard to engineer a move from
Auxerre and apparently the club are becoming tired of this and
may be willing to sell.

However, the smart money could be on us signing Marseille's
Daniel van Buyten. Though all the speculation regarding him has
died down somewhat, Marseille are now clearly making moves to
sign Boumsong from Auxerre, which indicates that there's going
be both changes in terms of defensive personnel and a fair bit
of money coming into the club. He's one of the four players
nominated for the French player of the year award but wants to
leave France, preferably for England, as he feels that he only
plays to 70% of his potential.

As regards Ronaldinho, it seems that there are two factors that
are slowing down any deal- the complicated issue of the
ownership of his image rights, and the player's preference for
playing in other more technical, foreign leagues.