Today’s gossip, rumours and damned lies

The maths genii at The Daily Star are ahead of the game once more, reporting that if Liverpool cave and pay £18 million for Barry, Villa will use the money to sign David Bentley (who last time we heard was valued at £15 million alone), Anton Ferdinand and Steve Sidwell. And apparently there’s spare change from all that to buy a new keeper too. The Spoiler’s calculator puts that shopping list somewhere around the £30million mark….

Emmanuel Adebayor to Barcelona
Once upon a time Arsenal signed Nicolas Anelka for £500,000 then sold him for £22.3 million two years later. It looks like Arsene Wenger will be rich again as Barcelona have reportedly offered £30 million for top scorer Adebayor.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: An offer perhaps too good to turn down

Roque Santa Cruz to Arsenal

Wenger already has a replacement lined up, probably for less than half of the money they can make on Adebayor. Paul Ince has said Cruz will stay put, but Arsenal are ready to test Blackburn’s resolve.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: Blackburn will drive a hard bargain

Dimitar Berbatov to Man United
Real Madrid have generously told Man United that they won’t compete with them should Ferguson choose to bid for Berbatov. Oh yeah, but they have to give them Ronaldo first.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: United are the favourites in the Berbatov race

Hull actually plan on staying up
We’ve been critical of the promoted sides for so far showing no signs of wanting to stick around, but Hull have been linked with Roy Makaay, George Boateng, Geovanni and Bernard Mendy over the past 24 hours.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: All four would be impressive signings