Stupid Rumours

This is an entry I'm going to try and do each day going through the transfer tittle tattle of the day and looking at the Stupid and Interesting rumours.

From today's BBC Gossip page:

Stupid:
"Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce is considering a £4m swoop for Everton skipper Phil Neville. (Express)"
- Why on Earth would Everton sell their Captain? He's one of their most useful players.

"Gilberto has revealed he only found he had missed out on the Arsenal captaincy via the club website. "I was surprised," he said. "But I'm not upset." (Various)"
- A lot of websites were reporting that we was made captain last week, before the news that it was Gallas that had been made Captain broke.

"West Ham have offered Barcelona's Eidur Gudjohnsen an £80,000-a-week deal but want an answer from the striker, who wants £100,000, on Tuesday. (Mirror)"
- Are West Ham ever going to take no for an answer?

"Derby are set to hold on to Giles Barnes after slapping a £6m price tag on the midfielder. (Star)"
- Any hopes they have of staying up hinge on keeping him. I can't see the point in them selling him for that little when they're about to splurge £5.5m on Kenwyne Jones...?

Interesting:
"Tottenham are set to make an offer for West Brom's Curtis Davies. (Guardian)"
- Yawn...

"Everton have bid £6m for Benfica's 50% share in Manuel Fernandes. A private investor owns the other 50%. (Sun)"
- Oh dear, not more... What are they going to do with the other 50%?

"Everton have not given up hope of signing Middlesbrough striker Yakubu. (Independent)"
- Boro really are trying to buy relegation...

"Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is prepared to pay up to £8m for Blackburn's Morten Gamst Pedersen. (Mirror)"
- Good for Arsenal...

"Tottenham have been alerted that Real Madrid midfielder Guti will be available for £5m if Arjen Robben joins the Spanish giants. (Mirror)"
- Spurs real weakness in the middle of the park would be helped by that.


The Guardian's ever-excellent Rumour Mill has:

Stupid:
"apparently Bryan Robson reckons he can lure Peter Crouch to Sheffield United."
- What?? HUH??

"The only real question at this stage is which of West Ham, Newcastle or Manchester City will get to shatter his [Robson's] delusions."
- i.e. link the three teams who've been linked to players all summer to a player. Genius.

Interesting:
"Derby have made a bid for Marlon King"

"Shattering, of course, is exactly what Eidur Gudjohnsen would do to West Ham's wage structure later this afternoon, were it not patently obvious they simply don't have one. Expect Eggert Magnusson to cave into his £100,000-per-week demands by 5pm at the latest, before also lodging a bid for Newcastle's Nobby Solano."
- It's a dangerous game West Ham play, if you believe the tabs' tittle-tattle; throwing money at people isn't a guarantee they'd play brilliantly for you...


From Football365's Transfer Gossip:

Stupid:
"ALVES NOT ON STRIKE. PROBABLY
Daniel Alves has been left out of the Sevilla squad for this week's Champions League tie with AEK Athens, prompting renewed speculation that he is set to move to Chelski. According to the Daily Mail, Chelski are still trying to sign the £20m-rated defender in time for Sunday's rather tasty match at Liverpool. "The decision to play or not is mine. It's not something I have to think about very much," the Brazilian commented. Naturally, The Sun has a more sensational twist, announcing: 'Alves has threatened to go on strike at Seville to force a move to Chelsea. 'The Brazilian right-back revealed he will refuse to play in tomorrow's Champions League qualifier against AEK Athens.' Err, not according to those quotes above, he didn't."
- Yet more evidence of the "come and get me plea" style of tabloid journalism, inventing crises where they don't exist.

Interesting:
"ALLARDYCE WANTS FAYE
Sam Allardyce is, for the second time this week, returning to Bolton - and this time he wants to sign Abdoulaye Faye. The Toon boss wants to add Faye to his injury-ravaged squad and the likelihood of Faye leaving the Reebok increased last night when Bolton signed Portsmouth's Andy O'Brien for £1.2m. 'Bolton do not want to sell Faye to Allardyce but Newcastle's offer is the best so far for the 29-year-old Senegalese, whose contract is up next season,' says The Mail."
- Would add yet more depth and steel to Big Sam's side. Many Toon fans would still shudder at the name Faye, though..

More tomorrow, obviously.