Today’s gossip, rumours and damned lies

While Manchester City have saved themselves a tidy sum of money by avoiding Ronaldinho, Chelsea appear to have finally folded their hand in regards to costly bench warmer Andriy Shevchenko. The Ukrainian is on the verge of being adored at AC Milan once again, as the Blues plan to shift him out on loan. They are so desperate to free up his place on the team coach that they will continue to pay his £130,000 a week wages in full.

Roque Santa Cruz to Aston Villa
Manchester City have tried and failed to prize Santa Cruz from Paul Ince, and now it seems that it’s Aston Villa’s turn to try their luck. Villa have reportedly launched a £16m bid for the Paraguayan in the hope that Blackburn will suddenly decide that selling their best striker

Today’s gossip, rumours and damned lies

Yesterday, David Villa was supposed to be ushered into White Hart Lane for a cool £32 million, but today all the talk is about Dean Ashton and how they won’t pay West Ham’s £18 million asking price (quite right, too). Fear not though, Spurs fans, Juande Ramos has now decided Atletico Madrid’s Diego Forlan is the right man for the job, according to the journos fishing for a story experts at The Mirror…

Louis Saha to West Ham
The Irons are another side actively trying to bring in another striker, but the Daily Mail reports that they want to wait until the Frenchman’s knee injury clears up before making an offer. Perhaps they don’t want any outside help in their bid to retain the Physio Room Injury League title.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: Saha may prefer the ex-United haven at Sunderland, while

Eleven men, all hated by one man

United players fall into two distinct camps: the ones Sir Alex will personally visit over Christmas for a cuddle - Giggs, Irwin, Solksjaer, Neville, Scholsie - and those he’ll spy on from a nearby tree, whispering profanities under his breath - Dwight Yorke, Becks, and now Cristiano Ronaldo. Ferguson does not tolerate certain characters, and as things stand, the gelled-up winger looks likely to be playing himself into this team of rebels, all of whom still send angry chills up Ferguson’s aging spine.

GK Jim Leighton
Leighton was riding the crest of a wave in his early Man United days, with even Brian Clough saying “Jim Leighton is a rare bird - a Scottish goalkeeper that can be relied on.” But then Sir Alex axed him from the 1990 FA Cup final replay against Palace, sending the keeper into a downward spiral, involving anger, shame, Les Sealey, and, eventually, Dundee.

DL Gabriel Heinze
The future was so bright for Heinze (pronounced “hent-zay” apparently) - United fans loved him, his hair was only second in footballing terms to Ginola’s. But then it all went hideously wrong. His body revolted, Ferguson embarked on a love affair with Patrice Evra, and Gabriel could no longer be guaranteed the satin starting shirt he so yearned for. He threw an almighty strop, and finally Ferguson bundled him in the direction of Real Madrid - simultaneously ignoring the clamour from Liverpool.

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Ex-con is a highly sought after commodity, apparently

Last week, Spoiler readers voted that Joey Barton should never be allowed to play football again, a decision that probably would have been unanimous save for the loyal Newcastle supporters who have been put in the troubling position of having to defend the malicious young Orbison-alike.

Unfortunately, Newcastle have had little choice but to stand by their £5.8m investment, but people with a vague sense of morality were shocked to learn that up to three other clubs were waiting in the wings to snap him up if King Kev decided not to expose the rest of his squad to grievous bodily harm. So who were these clubs?

The Spoiler believes they may have been Bolton (Megson said it was a pleasure to work with Anelka and will generally take anyone he can get), Sunderland (they just signed El-Hadji Diouf so no one is off limits), Blackburn (Paul Ince used to work for Franchise FC, so he clearly has no conscience) and perhaps West Ham (who were challenging Newcastle for his signature last summer).

Anyone else have any ideas? Let us know below…

This morning’s gossip, rumours and damned lies

Just as Fergie was enjoying watching his pre-season mind games unfold, Carlos Tevez has made a bid to increase the old duffer’s blood pressure with comments about C-Ron’s move to Real Madrid. He said: “I understand Cristiano. Every footballer wants to play at Real Madrid,” later adding “if what he seeks is something else, I think that should be respected.” Considering speculation has died down, and more attention is being paid to Ronaldo’s macho dress sense, it’s an odd time for Tevez to go public with his thoughts.

Dimitar Berbatov to AC Milan
On a day that is certain to make Sir Alex Ferguson’s face even redder than normal comes the news that Tottenham will accept a cheaper offer from AC Milan for Berbatov just to make sure that the striker doesn’t wind up at Old Trafford.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: Levy clearly means business

Brad Friedel to Aston Villa
The word is that Martin O’Neill has had an offer accepted for the American goalkeeper and the reason Blackburn - whose chairman John Williams recently said “Brad Friedels don’t grow on trees” - are suddenly happy to sell is that they have Paul Robinson waiting in the wings.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: This move probably

Today’s gossip, rumours and damned lies

Barcelona are hoping to become the second Spanish club to ruin Manchester Utd’s summer by poaching stroppy Spurs star Dimitar Berbatov. He would be expected to fill the huge void left by Ronaldinho, not to mention Uzbekistan-bound Samuel Eto’o. Manchester Utd are still favourites to land the Bulgarian, but they appear to have made one more enemy on the Iberian peninsula.

Emmanuel Adebayor to AC Milan
The Italians are favourites to sign the greedy poor, underpaid striker after agent Vincenzo Morabito revealed that Arsenal have drastically lowered their valuation. Adebayor has been left out of the squad for their traditional pre-season friendly with Barnet, who he scored against last year.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: Wenger is planning for an Adebayor-less future

Robbie Keane to Liverpool
Rafa Benitez has decided he won’t let Steven Gerrard bully him into buying his best mate anymore and he is instead going to give in to Tottenham’s demands and make Robbie Keane their biggest signing this summer.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: Ideally they’ll still want both

Pascal Chimbonda to Newcastle or Everton
The Sun reports that the two clubs are battling

Today’s rumours, gossip and damned lies

Lets all take a minute to laugh at Real Madrid. They unscrupulous Spaniards unsettled Robinho by trying to offload him in exchange for Cristiano Ronaldo, and right now, it looks like they may end up without the services of either player. Chelsea are thought to have offered £48 million for the Brazilian man-o’-sex, which could leave Los Blancos without a playmaker, and a La Liga title, next season.

Gareth Barry to Arsenal
Martin O’Neill says that Arsenal have also expressed interest in the once-loyal captain, and may look to hijack Liverpool’s drawn out attempts to sign him if they fail to meet the asking price.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: O’Neill wants rid now, as shown by making this news public, something he previously criticised Benitez for.

David Bentley to Aston Villa
Yesterday all the talk was about Bentley finalising a deal to Tottenham but Paul Ince revealed that Spurs have not even made a bid. Villa have, and despite Ince’s claims that he wants the winger to stay, could he be making it public to start a bidding war?

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: Villa and Spurs have more appeal than Blackburn

Today’s rumours, gossip and damned lies

Various whispers suggest arrogant winger David Bentley is no longer a target for the Big Four coffers, and will join Tottenham today. We’re desperately hoping it’s true after a weekend where the biggest transfer news was Watford’s Danny Shittu rejecting a move to Rangers…

Brad Friedel to Aston Villa
Spurs are supposed to be shifting shifting Paul Robinson over to Blackburn as part of the Bentley deal, and Paul Ince has so much faith in the slippery-fingered one that he will offload Friedel to Aston Villa.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: The only thing Robinson has over Friedel is youth. Sort of.

Ronaldinho to Man City
Citeh have made an £18 million bid (controversially via email, not the Premier League’s preferred communication method of fax) but you get the impression that he would arrive reluctantly, possibly with a roll of fifty pound notes shoved in his mouth to silence the screams. Ronaldinho’s camp have allegedly leaked the deal in a desperate attempt to get Milan to bid and save him.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: He wants to go to Milan but it looks like they can’t match Man City’s offer. You couldn’t have dreamt of reading that sentence a year ago.

Alexander Hleb to Barcelona
One irritating saga that is finally reaching its conclusion is Hleb’s great escape

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