The latest transfer gossip, rumours and damned lies

Ashley Young not going to Tottenham
The Guardian say Martin O’Neill will definitely not sell his prized asset, particularly to a club “on a similar level”. He utterly refuses and will not be persuaded. Unless they stump up £30m, that is.

The Spoiler truth-o-meter: As much as ‘Arry admires the left-sided forward, £30m is a little steep.

Barry Ferguson to Birmingham
Despite his infamous naughty drinking problems, Alex McLeish is keen to reacquaint himself with the former Scotland captain. The 31-year-old midfielder would cost around £1.5m.

As net pay decreases, so will top European talent

In order to pull the UK back from the brink of financial apocalypse, Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling has revealed some risky plans in his pre-budget report. One bail out strategy is to introduce a new tax band of 45 per cent on earnings over £150,000 from 2011. This seems like a perfectly reasonable method of keeping the economy afloat, but it could have an adverse effect on the Premiership.

Cristiano Ronaldo currently earns a gross of £6.24m per year, on which he pays 40 per cent on earnings after £37,400 (which is only around two days work for him!). Under the new plans, he will pay an extra £304,500, roughly the cost of

Gunners gaffer cannot explain Aston Villa defeat

Never one to admit his own faults, Professor Wenger responded to Saturday’s home defeat to Aston Villa thusly:

There is no rational explanation… there was no energy left in the side. I don’t know.

If you are looking for a rational explanation as to why teams keep dominating your midfield, Mr Wenger, perhaps you should consider the huge Mathieu Flamini-shaped hole that you and your extensive scouting team have failed to adequately fill.

Is Mr Wenger’s cluelessness due to his pride, or is he finally losing it? 25 per cent of Spoiler readers believed it to be the latter two weeks ago, and we are inclined to agree…

Cesc admits receiving an interesting offer from an Italian club

Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas has revealed that a Serie A side attempted to sign him over the summer and admitted that his head was turned by the amount of money that was on offer. He told Sport.es:

 ”Yes, it’s true. I did have offers from an Italian side which were interesting from an economical point of view. However, nothing really happened after that.”

It has been speculated that AC Milan were the side who made the bid but The Spoiler isn’t convinced

Gunners Alumni continue to face misfortune

Whether Arsene Wenger has developed a knack for selling players at exactly the right moment, or there is some genuine witchcraft going on, it seems that Arsenal players who move on to ‘better their careers’ don’t seem to be able to live up to expectations.

When making his home debut for Barcelona at the weekend, delicate little flower Alex Hleb was forced off the pitch with an ankle injury that will keep him out of action for three or four weeks.

Also facing misfortune during Barcelona’s 1-1 draw with racing Santander at the weekend was Thierry Henry, who was left out of the squad following a disappointing display in a 1-0 defeat to La Liga newbies Numancia two weeks ago.

Continuing the trend of stars who have failed to live up to the form and success they experienced in a red and white shirt is Mathieu Flamini, who has thus far failed to set Serie A alight with Milan, who are maintaining a 100 per cent league loss record so far. Also, when the Frenchman’s former colleagues travel to the Ukraine to begin the Champions League campaign proper,

What’s it like being a cursed Frenchman?

Whatever metaphorical rollercoaster Mathieu Flamini thought it worth boarding a few weeks ago, it was a very misjudged move, and has now crashed. Today he was cut from France’s final Euro 2008 squad.

At the beginning of the season he was considered a hyperactive midfielder with a good engine but little in the way of genuine flair, yet by the season’s close he was revered as one of the best midfielders in the Premier League. The future looked great.

Mathieu’s teammates find cringe-worthy method of likening him to his AC Milan counterpart

At the start of this season, Mathieu Flamini earned himself a new nickname among his team-mates - Flattuso. He earned the moniker because his playing style is similar to AC Milan’s midfield enforcer Gennaro Gattuso.

Fans will get the chance to directly compare the two players tonight, and big-brained Arsene believes we will see Flattuso at his best:

“Yes he had that name. Flamini has a similar style to Gattuso because of his size and the fact he’s always up for it.