Rumours abound as transfer window gets closer

Four out of ten in the predictions yesterday. That’s pretty good for me! You can’t predict into the future though. Who could possibly predict the results for future? Who could possibly know where a player is going to be by the end of January?

We are just a few days away from the silly season that is the January transfer window. It is silly because everyone will be linked to a move from everywhere to anywhere and the media will heighten the tension and speculation by reporting on every time a player sneezes in a manner likely to mean he is on the move!

Semblance of truth

I just want to point out that this site will be no exception! We will tell you about every rumour, whether it is based on a semblance of truth or whether it has come about because the friend of one of my mate’s cousins works in Rochdale and he says that one of his mate’s sister’s friend’s auntie definitely saw Lionel Messi going into the Rochdale players entrance in disguise!

The rumours annoy me and interest me in just about equal measures. The stories very often turn out to be totally untrue but the fun is in trying to spot the ones that actually are possibilities.

In the week before Christmas alone, I saw the following rumours:

Carlos Tevez from Manchester United to Arsenal
Diego Lopez from Villarreal to Manchester City
Adriano from Inter to just about anywhere
Arsenio Halfhuid from Excelsior Rotterdam to Aston Villa
Eljero Elia from FC Twente to Ajax
Andrei Arshavin from Zenit to Barcelona
Andrei Arshavin from Zenit to Real Madrid
Andrei Arshavin from Zenit to Tottenham
Andrei Arshavin from Zenit to Arsenal
Massimo Donati from Celtic to Milan
Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn to Manchester City
Gokhan Inler from Udinese to Arsenal
Gianluigi Buffon from Juventus to Manchester City
Didier Zokora from Tottenham to Portsmouth
Stewart Downing from Middlesbrough to Tottenham
Matthew Upson from West Ham to Manchester City
Any top player in the world from anywhere to Manchester City

That is just a very few of the hundreds and hundreds of rumours that are wildly circulating around the media fuelled transfer frenzy in football as the window prepares to open.

Most likely

As I say, the exciting bit is to work out which of them might be based on truth. From the above list, the most likely move seems to be the last one. Any top player from anywhere to Manchester City!

Robinho proved that top players may be prepared to move to an under achieving club rather than a Champions League club if the money is right. Having said that, Robinho couldn’t establish a regular place in the Real Madrid team and they hardly set Europe alight in his time at the club.

Well renowned

Other likely moves in England I think will invole Tottenham who may well ship out a few and bring in a few. Harry Redknapp is well renowned for his transfer dealings and he will be looking to stamp his mark on the team. I also think it likely that Santa Cruz will leave Blackburn.

In Italy, I would expect Jose Mourinho to expand his Inter squad although whether he will raid his old Stamford Bridge hunting groundis less certain.

I would also expect Juande Ramos to try to strengthen his Real Madrid team with more signings than just Lassana Diarra.

Square root

So there we have it. Although most of the rumours will be based on the square root of bugger all, the transfer window always leads to some interesting and exciting speculation.

SoccerNews will be bringing it all to you as it happens and we can all dream that the signing that will make all the difference to our team is going to be the one that makes the headlines.

As a Watford supporter, I am told by the board of the club that we will be selling in January to ensure that the club balances the books and manages to survive. I accept that, but I’m sure we’ll make one big signing that will see us roaring up the table towards the Championship play-off places.

In fact, my brother told me that a friend of his in Watford was shopping in WH Smith in the town the other day and he had spoken to a bloke he used to work with who told him that a friend of his uncle’s had been told that one of his mates had seen Thierry Henry walking towards Watford’s Vicarage Road ground.

You heard it here first!