Non-Chelsea Transfer Pub

[Jase 43,479]

Twitter? Good signing for them if true.

Being mentioned there but looks like it might be true. Have 1-2 backbones to the story it seems. We shall see.

[JDY 1,290]

Twitter? Good signing for them if true.

Pedro Pinto and Gab Marcotti seem to think so, both well respected.

We'll see though.

[Spike 12,049]

Pedro Pinto and Gab Marcotti seem to think so, both well respected.

We'll see though.

I generally don't trust Gab Marcotti outside of Italy. He knows everything about Italy and the Serie A but outside of it...eh...

[Tricky 301]

Our rivals are:

Tottenham

Arsenal

Fulham

QPR

Millwall

West Ham

Leyton Orient

Brentford

Leeds

May have missed out on a couple of London clubs there but you get the point. We aren't rivals with Man United, Man City or Liverpool. A rivalry takes more than just a decade of close competition for the same prize, otherwise Chelsea-Barcelona would be the second most important fixture for Barcelona after El Clasico.

Fulham, Brentford, Orient are not our rivals. Not in my lifetime anyways. United & Liverpool are definitely rivals, the aggressive atmosphere at any home game against them and my irrational hatred of the scouse is all the proof I need.

[jmarlow 458]

I would be more than happy with us signing any one of these guys on deadline day -

Schurrle

Fellaini

Lewandowski

Jovetic

Remy

Llorente

and of course the dream signing Falcao!!! but that has no chance of happening!

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

I'm expecting absolutely nothing from us on deadline day. I think we're done for this window. Any signing we make will be a bonus.

[cujo101 75]

I'm expecting absolutely nothing from us on deadline day. I think we're done for this window. Any signing we make will be a bonus.

I agree. As much as I would like to see another striker (even on loan) added to the ranks, I don't see it happening.

[magic weeds 446]

so Granero is signing for QPR today! Hughes is really doing some business huh

[Spike 12,049]

SWANSEA!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19421873

[Leif 6,006]

Maicon about to sign for Man City.

[NiclasCFC 2,582]

@Leif,Source?

[Leif 6,006]

@Leif,Source?

I'm... in the know

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

Why are they signing him? Makes no sense. Aren't they covered in the full back department?

[Justin_3d 1,140]

Lies, damned lies and transfer rumors

By: ED

As this summer's transfer window approaches its frantic denouement, things really stepped up a gear on Wednesday.

Moussa Dembele sealed his move from Fulham to Tottenham while Javi Martinez completed his switch from Athletic Bilbao to Bayern Munich despite the Basque club claiming he had left to undergo his medical without their permission.

But perhaps the transfer news which caused the biggest stir on Wednesday, in certain spheres at least, came on Twitter. The person behind the 'FootballAgent49' account, which had accrued some 40,000 followers during the transfer window, exposed it as a fake. Rather than being an influential football agent who was privy to all the juiciest exclusives, it was, in fact, the account of an 18-year-old with time on their hands and some attention to seek.

'Bored person fools idiots on internet' may not be the most earth-shattering headline of all time, but nonetheless it served to embarrass a few people who should really have known better.

It was the biggest fuss made over a media spoof since Sky had to clearly signpost that their detective show A Touch Of Cloth was a parody in trailers because many viewers just didn't get it.

"I started out when I was bored one evening and I never once thought that I could get 43k followers," FootballAgent49 said in their farewell post. "I feel my twitter experience has been very successful with some of my 'Stories' even trending 5th in the world. I'm proud to say that I haven't had even one transfer scoop in my time yet people still say im more reliable than Sky Sports News and the BBC. Laughable.

"The Daily Mail even wrote an article based on my Kaka tweets and the 2 journalists who wrote it were following me."

Another account, EPLAgent007, had come clean on Monday, only using much more colourful language in their own statement.

Both account-holders used their closing statements to expose everyone who claims to be 'ITK' (in the know) on Twitter, forums and message boards as frauds, something which seems obvious to most people. Claiming to be ITK is rather like someone telling you "I'm mad, me". If you are going out of your way to tell people you are, then you almost certainly are not.

Despite the obvious flaw in the whole conceit that anyone whose livelihood depends on handling sensitive information is not going to simply distribute it for free to whomever is interested, thousands of people have bought into the whole concept.

And why wouldn't they? Is it any different to following some of the reheated rumors and regurgitated gossip that fills the sports pages of some newspapers during transfer windows?

ED knows of at least one instance of a reporter being told to create a link between a player and a club in order to fill space as deadline approached.

When a deal comes off the back pages will scream with the claims that they were the ones to bring you the news first, even though the very enthusiasm of those claims exposes just how often they don't get it right.

Real agents are guilty of propagating such rumors, too. Both Victor Moses and James McCarthy were reportedly wanted by Real Madrid and Barcelona a couple of years ago. Both ended up playing for Wigan.

This is not to say that the vast majority of transfer stories do not have some basis to them. Reporters can glean genuine information from any number of sources and relay it in good faith only for nothing to come of it.

With the calendar and ticking clock now forcing clubs into decisive action in the transfer market, fans everywhere are desperate for any nuggets of information or rumor about the players their club is going to sign.

Rumors linking X to Y in a £Zm swoop are churned out and gobbled up on a daily basis, with all parties seemingly aware of what is going on but all happy to be complicit in any case. That is where much of the appeal of the transfer window lies, that supporters everywhere can be allowed to daydream. It certainly beats the reality of an actual transfer, like that of Luka Modric to Real Madrid, chugging along all summer.

As long as people are willing to buy into it, then the rumor mill will stay open for business. Perhaps that is no bad thing.

[Leif 6,006]

Why are they signing him? Makes no sense. Aren't they covered in the full back department?

I guess it's just the board trying to keep Mancini 'happy'.

Both Richards and Zaba are currently better than him IMO.

[Jype 6,398]

so Granero is signing for QPR today! Hughes is really doing some business huh

Granero would be a great signing for them but Hughes' transfer policy has been nothing short of ridiculous. That is nothing new of course, considering what he did at Man City. Hell, they're still trying to get rid of the deadwood Hughes brought to the club and because of their absurd wages they won't attract any interest. City have players like Bridge, Santa Cruz on +100k a week playing for their reserves and they haven't got a game at City for years now.

QPR have now got a lot of has-beens from top clubs and all of them are on too high wages for a club like QPR. Also getting Rob Green to play as their first choice GK, and then get a proper top class keeper like Julio Cesar two games later can't do any good for their squad harmony. Everyone gets promised a shitload of money and a guaranteed place in the starting lineup but then they move on and get half a dozen more new players to play in that exact same position and someone is bound to be unhappy. Would love to see that club get relegated now.

[KonohasOrangeFlash 2,607]

Oh actually I've just figured it out. Maicon is being bought because Citeh are using 3-4-3/3-4-1-2. Makes a bit more sense now but not the best option.

[magic weeds 446]

Swansea are really doing good. Pablo Hernandez is a very good player at 5.5m. 27 years and has been good for Valencia. They are ooking to play it 'the continental way'.