Europe’s most in-demand striker could be heading to Eastlands

Financially-troubled Valencia’s vice-president Fernando Gomez has revealed that they met with Manchester City representatives to discuss the possibility of selling David Villa this summer.

City balked at the asking price quoted by the Spanish side and are yet to have made an offer. Valencia reportedly faces debts of £400 million but Gomez is adamant they won’t be short-changed for their top-scorer. He said:

“Yes, it’s true [that the clubs met] but they didn’t make us an any offer. The president Vicente Soriano asked for a significant amount and they didn’t agree.

“I think they are two very important players, with a lot of quality and if we sell them, we are not going to sell them on the cheap.”

After being publicly rejection by Kaka in January, Manchester City were probably trying to go about their business more discreetly so are unlikely to welcome Valencia alerting Real Madrid and Liverpool that Villa is up for grabs.

All the latest gossip compiled in one handy list

(Photo Credit: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)

The least shocking of this morning’s revelations is that “friends” of Sam Allardyce have confirmed that he is interested in the Sunderland job. Considering these “friends” have already told the press that he would be interested in managing Blackburn, Portsmouth and his local corner shop (probably), it should now go without saying that will take any job he can get.

Gallas: I feel humiliated
That’s the headline in today’s Sun for a story where a close relative of William Gallas (his aunt’s stepson’s second cousin?) revealed that he has no friends at Arsenal, feels humiliated and hopes to join Milan in January.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: Arsenal can’t afford to lose their best centre-back unless there’s a replacement lined up

Fowler decides to stay at Blackburn

Real can’t have Cristiano Ronaldo, will poach Tevez instead

Spanish rag Marca claims Carlos Tevez has already agreed to leave Old Trafford and join Real Madrid for the 2009/10 season.

With just one league goal to his name this campaign, and not many more league starts than that, Tevez has been a peripheral figure this season. It seems that Alex Ferguson just doesn’t fancy Carlito, a stance which confuses the majority of Man Yoo fans - most United fans we know think Tevez should be in the starting XI much more often.

Of course, Marca makes countless claims about big names who are definitely off to the Bernabeu, only for nothing to happen, but this rumour is credible, at least - United do seem reluctant to buy out Tevez’s contract from the MSI agency, and while Ferguson has denied he wants to offload the Argentine, with Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov established as his favoured forwards, there’s a decent chance that Tevez will follow in the footsteps of Gabriel Heinze.

Should Fergie let Tevez go?

Today’s gossip, rumours and damned lies

Inter have allegedly decided how much they wish to spend on Frank Lampard, but the newspapers have invented three different prices ranging from £8-11 million, while the Daily Star claim there has been no offer at all.

Despite all the signs to the contrary, however, Big Phil Scolari has claimed there is no chance of Lamps reuniting with his former lover Jose Mourinho this season.

Alexander Hleb to Barcelona
Hleb has confirmed he wants to leave because his style of play (brilliant one minute, woeful the next) doesn’t match Arsene Wenger’s. He also decided to take a dig at Cesc Fabregas, who wanted him to stay, by calling him selfish.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: He will leave, with Barca his preferred destination

Didier Drogba to stay
The Blues are begging someone to pay the reasonable enough sum of £24 million (just £200,000 more than they paid) for the Ivory Coast striker but nobody is willing to show him some love.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: Milan may renew their interest

Tottenham Reserves to Blackburn
Juande Ramos is so desperate

Today’s gossip, rumours and damned lies

Gareth Barry is still working on his ‘Mr Popular’ reputation by getting himself banned from Aston Villa’s training ground. According to The Times, he is reluctant to put in an official transfer request as he will miss out on loyalty payments. And who is more deserving of loyalty payments than the man who has insisted that he wants to leave his current employers high and dry?

Elsewhere, Arsene Wenger is leading the race to see the spectacle of Andrei Arshavin sign a contract while looking in the opposite direction, and it will cost The Gunners around £15m for the privilege…

Emmanuel Adebayor to Barcelona
AC Milan conceded defeat in the pursuit of the Arsenal striker yesterday, but Barca have upped their bid.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: His head may have been turned

Andrei Arshavin to Arsenal
If Barca break the bank for Adebayor, then maybe they won’t need Arshavin, leaving Arsenal to replace the Togolese striker and have some money to spare.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: Chelsea may also bid - Abramovich has allegedly demanded a Russian.

Samuel Eto’o/ Florent Malouda exchange
Malouda is officially a flop after one season, and at Chelsea you rarely get a second chance.

All the latest transfer rumours, gossip and damn lies

The mire of spurious summer transfers has thrown up an interesting player/ club combination today: according to the rumour vine, Andriy Shevchenko could be on his way to warming Barcelona’s bench in the near future. To compensate for selling approximately 57 attacking players this summer, Barca want to bring the Ukrainian in on a season-long loan, which means they pay no transfer fee but Chelsea get him off the wage bill. With the Milan option fading, he may just have to take this one.

Emmanuel Adebayor to Chelsea
New stories every day tell us the same stuff about Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Drogba, so it’s nice to see the press get more inventive. Chelsea want shot of Drogba and it seems they view Adebayor as the perfect replacement.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: Surely he won’t do an Ashley Cole

Robbie Keane to Liverpool
Could a (reasonably) big club have finally realised Robbie Keane is one of the best strikers in the Premier League and that despite Berbatov’s moments of brilliance, Keane works harder and is more consistent?

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: May want to stick around at Spurs this season

Gareth Barry to Liverpool
One transfer saga that definitely looks

Today’s transfer gossip, assessed and dissected just for you

Precious little Alex Hleb last month claimed his sensitive eardrums couldn’t handle the bustle of urban life in London, and he now seeks a more serene atmosphere. If the rumours of a move to Barcelona are true, however, he will find anything but the peace and quiet he seeks: in the Catalan city, honking at all hours is considered a national pastime, shouting is the preferred method of communication and the bars are completely full of loutish British stag parties every weekend. Enjoy the relative calm of London while you can, Alex.

Alex Hleb to Barcelona or maybe Bayern Munich
The honeymooning star has been linked with absolutely everyone in the past few weeks, even Rushden and Diamonds have a shot at landing him. His agent says: “The only transfer Alexander is making at the moment is from the hotel to the beach and back.”

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: He’ll be linked to AC or Roma tomorrow

Gareth Barry to Liverpool
Those Real Madrid-esque bullies, using Steven Gerrard as bait, have finally turned Barry’s head and the Villa captain has told his club he wants out. Liverpool are expected to up their offer today.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: Seems likely now

Justin Hoyte to Aston Villa
A miserable day for Villa fans may get worse if they sign Arsenal’s other Englishman. You know, the guy that plays even less than Theo Walcott and sometimes gets in the Arsenal League Cup team.

The Spoiler Truth-o-meter: If it gets any bleaker, O’Leary will be back!

Luis Felipe Scolari to Chelsea
“Big Phil” has revealed

West London club linked to every player under the sun

According to Marca (a daily pro-Madrid sports paper), or specifically a Mr Garcia Caridad director of Radio Marca, Chelsea have offered 50 million Euros (around £40m) for Fernando Torres.

Avram Grant has already shown interest in the Spanish striker, after asking Benayoun to introduce them. The powers that be at Liverpool, however, are reportedly not interested in listening to offers.

This isn’t the first time the striker has been linked with a departure. Last month, we reported on an article in The Times that claimed Liverpool would be obliged to offload Torres and Babel