There’s just thirteen days to go before the window is opened

In the summer everyone was expecting Xabi Alonso to move to Juventus only for coach Claudio Ranieri to eventually decide that he was too slow. The Daily Telegraph today claim that Ranieri is planning another Anfield raid, with underused duo Daniel Agger and Ryan Babel, who have eight league starts between them this season, top of his wishlist. The former Chelsea coach is poised to offer £19 million to persuade Rafael Benitez to part with his favourite substitutes. Here are today’s other major rumours:

Slaven Bilic to Sunderland
Former West Ham and Everton defender Super Slav has been backed down from 12/1 to 6/4 favourite for the Sunderland job but don’t be fooled into wasting money backing him because The Times say he is still not a leading contender. They claim that Bilic has hardly entered Niall Quinn’s thinking and that caretaker boss Ricky Sbragia will lead the club into Christmas.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: Bilic has spoken before of his desire to lead Croatia at the World Cup so a move remains unlikely right now

Luis Fabiano to Chelsea
Peter Kenyon has been fairly adamant in recent months that Chelsea won’t be spending any money in January but that hasn’t stopped the tabloids discussing who could be arriving. First Andrei Arshavin was meant to be on his way over from Zenit but The Daily Star have now decided that Sevilla striker Luis Fabiano, who scored 24 league goals last season, is a more feasible target.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: Luiz Felipe Scolari is already struggling to accommodate both Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba so a new winger seems a more important target