Premiership Transfer Betting

With Andriy Shevchenko continuing to misfire at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is reported to have placed Spanish striker David Villa, who currently plies his trade in his homeland with Valencia, at the top of his transfer wish list. However, Valencia president Juan Soler has insisted that if Chelsea or any other club are interested in luring the 24-year-old away from the Mestalla, then they will need to negotiate his buy-out clause, which is currently worth a staggering £100million (150million euros), as he is in contract at Valencia until 2013. The Magic Sign, Ladbrokes, are offering odds of 11/5 about Villa starting next season at 'The Bridge', while Ukranian hitman Sheva, who set Chelsea back £30million in the summer, is 7/4 with Ladbrokes to commence the 2007/08 campaign elsewhere. To illustrate how high expectations were for Sheva at the start of the season, he was 9/2 with Ladbrokesto be the top goalscorer in the Premiership - Now he can be backed at 25/1. The Ukranian was being linked with a move back to AC recently, but those rumours have subsided. Manchester United are reported to be lining up a £12million bid for Spurs' unsettled striker Jermaine Defoe. Defoe has been linked intermittently with a move to Old Trafford over the last year, and with the 24-year-old's relationship with manager Martin Jol thought to be in tatters, a move when the January transfer window opens looks highly likely. Having sold Ruud van Nistlerooy to Real Madrid in the summer, Sir Alex is desperate to bolster his resources up front. Rooney and Saha have formed a potent partnership, but with Giuseppe Rossi out on loan, Alan Smith well short of match fitness and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer injured, Ferguson is understandably keen to add to his strikeforce, especially with Saha being particularly injury-prone. Fernando Torres, Darren Bent and Klaas Jan Huntelaar have all been linked with a move to the Theatre Of Dreams at some stage during the past year, but Defoe is said to be at the top of the Man Utd shopping list at present.