EPL Rumour Mill: Manchester United, Liverpool To Bid for English Defender?

As Rio Ferdinand suffers from yet another injury, and while Jaime Carragher loses more and more pace, Manchester United and Liverpool seem to be sniffing around for potential replacements for their talismanic defenders. 

Both Englishmen are coming toward the twilight of their glittering careers, and Sir Alex Ferguson and Roy Hodgson will need to replace them with newer, younger players.

Scott Dann might just be this player. Last season was his first in the English top flight and he, as well as his defensive colleague Roger Johnson, hit the ground running. They have formed what is probably the best all English defence in the League and have won many fans for their robust tackling, towering headers, and utterly no-nonsense style of play.

Roger Johnson is already 27, but at 23, Dann can still be moulded into the player that Ferguson or Hodgeson wants. If a bidding war sparked and the choice came to Dann, it's worth noting that he is a Liverpool fan, something which could sway any decisions in Hodgson's favour. 

One stumbling block may be that 8 million valuation that has apparently been put on his head. Alex Mcleish would be loathe to lose out on one of his best young players and the chances of letting him go for such an amount are slim-to-none.

His outstanding performances will see him valued by Birmingham at a much higher price, and if Capello ever deigns to visit St. Andrews and subsequently call up Dann to England duty (an honour of which he is deserving) then his suitors can add another few million onto their bids.

One possible element is that Dann recognises that he has only had one year of Premier League experience and that at the moment he is at the club which made that possible for him. He and Roger Johnson are a tight-knit partnership at present and there may just be enough at Birmingham (who have had a decent start to the season) to keep him interested. The last thing Birmingham wants is to become recognised as a selling club.

Should a push for Europe appear possible, and with the likes of Hleb joining it is an outside possibility, then maybe Dann will see no reason to move on so quickly.