The Big Bumper Thursday Gossip
We start this morning's transfer gossip with those four fateful words, 'Player Plus Cash Deal'. Just like the first rule of "Fight Club" was 'You do not talk about Fight Club', the first rule of deciphering transfer gossip is player part exchange stories never happen. There are rare exceptions to this key tenet such as Ashley Cole's move to Chelsea for £5 million plus William Gallas but these are very much the statistical outliers. So be very wary of the story in this morning's Sun which claims Tottenham are set to 'Dangle Benteke Bait'.
Spurs are 'unwilling to match Villa’s £25million asking price for the wantaway striker' so Daniel Levy and company have thrown out four fishing rods into the Thames containing one Spurs 'star' on each hook. Levy will allow Randy Lerner to bite on at least one of Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Scott Parker, Jake Livermore and Tom Huddlestone in order to complete the deal for the Belgian striker. Villa are 'understood to want a cash-only sale for Benteke' and are probably not going to be enticed to change that stance for any of those four players so Levy is unlikely to feel a tug on his line anytime soon.
While most Manchester United fans had accepted the possibility of Thiago Alcantara crushing their dreams and staying at Barcelona, the possibility of being pipped by Pep hadn't really been countenanced. So, the report by Spanish radio station Cadena COPE that the Spain U-21 captain will be announced as a Bayern Munich player today came a bit of a surprise.
This would see Alcantara fighting for playing time with Bastian Schweinsteiger, Luis Gustavo, Toni Kroos, Javi Martinez and Mario Götze in Bayern’s midfield. There has been speculation that Guardiola could employ Götze as a “false nine" but even still, Thiago would face a tough task establishing himself in the first XI of the European Champions. Given he faces fierce competition to nail down a place in Vicente Del Bosque's 23-man squad ahead of next year's World Cup, surely a move to a club where he would be vying with Tom 'Brand' Cleverly for selection would have been a safer option.
