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City are believed to be interested in Real Madrid's Raul Albiol. Joe Giddens/EMPICS Sport
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The Departures Lounge: your very first lunchtime transfer round-up of 2012

The January window is upon us once again, which means the rumours are flying.

WELCOME ONE AND all to The Departure Lounge, where we look forward to bringing you a daily dose of the best transfer tittle-tattle over the coming month.

So Robbie Keane will join up with Spurs for a third time, the London club have confirmed today.

The agreement does not necessarily rule out a possible loan deal to Aston Villa however, as the news is that he plans to catch up with his old team-mates and do some training up until January 20.

David Beckham, LA Galaxy’s other major import, won’t be joining Keane and Landon Donovan in making a return to Europe.

Paris Saint-Germain had been after the signature of the 36-year-old but word is that Victoria’s quite happy in the US right now so a move to the French capital is off the cards, according to the BBC.

Although Alex Ferguson has said that he is planning to make do with his injury-ravished squad and doesn’t see Manchester United spending in January, it was always likely that the Wesley Sneijder story which dragged on last summer would raise its head once again.

The Daily People believe that any club willing to fork out €30m for the Dutchman can have him. CSKA Moscow’s 21-year-old Alan Dzagoev is also being reportedly monitored by Fergie’s scouts.

Arsenal are badly in need of picking up a couple of reinforcements, with the full-back positions particularly short on numbers.

Names such as Manchester City’s out-of-favour Wayne Bridge and AC Milan defender Taye Taiwo have been mentioned while The Daily Mirror claim Arsene Wenger is eyeing up a surprise move for Kieran Richardson, who would relish a move back to his native London from the North East.

Snubbed

Manchester City are never ones to miss out on throwing truckloads of cash at (insert European club here) during a transfer window but TalkSport are leading us to believe that Roberto Mancini won’t get his hands on Roma’s combative midfielder Daniele De Rossi as he plans to sign a new deal with the Serie A side instead.

Not to worry, as The Daily Mail say City will turn their attention to luring Raul Albiol away from Real Madrid so the Spaniard can fill in for both Touré brothers, who are off the African Cup of Nations later this month.

Chelsea have kicked-off a reported €180m spending spree with the capture of Gary Cahill, and Porto’s 80s TV superhero Hulk is next on AVB’s wishlist.

He may have to look elsewhere however as The Daily Mail quote Porto’s president Pinto Da Costa, who says he is doubtful Roman Abramovich will stump up the €100m buyout clause.

The best of the rest includes Aston Villa’s pursuit of Steven Pienaar, Nicky Maynard’s potential move from Bristol City to Wolves, and Mario Balotelli accompanying Carlos Tevez in a double swoop by AC Milan once they offload Alexandre Pato to PSG. Say it ain’t so.

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