I'm hell Bent on joining Villa (The Sun)
David Bentley has never been one of discretion or subtlety so today's report in the Sun that he has admitted to being in talks with Aston Villa should come as no surprise.
Bentley, who owns a villa in Puerto Banus, as the Sun irrelevantly points out, is quoted as saying: “I'm in talks with Villa at the moment.”
Assuming he means the West Midlands football club and not a deal to expand his property portfolio, the reporter reckons he will move to Villa Park for a cut-price £7m, less than half the amount we shelled out to experience the dubious pleasure of his company.
I think its pretty clear that Bentley is off this summer. He has hardly featured since driving Redknapp round the bend during a series of lacklustre performances in the run up to Christmas and few fans will be sad to see the back of him.
Though many may remember fondly his brilliant goal against Arsenal, my abiding memory of the overrated bighead will be a turgid first half display against Burnley in the Carling Cup at White Hart Lane.
Martin O'Neil clearly wasn't watching that night and fancies his chances of reviving Bentley's ailing career. He might be right and for £7m could do a lot worse.
His departure will leave us looking a little light on options on the right hand side, so I would expect Harry to bring in some competition for Aaraon Lennon. Croatia's Dario Srna, anyone?
Tottenham trio set to cross London to Fulham (The Telegraph + The Express)
“Set” - it's a funny little word. What it should mean, when used in headlines such as the one you can see above, is that something is ready to happen. It implies that this event will occur soon and it used by journalists to lend weight to a story. You can't really use “might”, “could” and “may” because that would suggest the article is speculative, or worse still, made up. Set, then, suggests a certain authority to the transfer rumour. The journalist in question clearly has an inside track and a deal is imminent.
In this case, however, it's not. Cristiano Ronaldo is set to join Real Madrid is a perfectly accurate statement. Jamie O'Hara, Tom Huddlestone and Gareth Bale are set to join Fulham, is not.
According to right wing rag the Express, O'Hara is the latest Tottenham player to attract interest from Fulham and the combative midfielder joins Tom Huddlestone and Gareth Bale on Roy Hodgson's radar, which clearly doesn't have a range beyond the M25.
As is the case with the majority of what passes for football journalism over the summer, there aren't any quotes to back up these claims, not even from an unnamed source, an agent or Jamie's mum.
PS. I've mentioned the Telegraph in this report because they continue to rehash other publication's copy before publishing it on their website. They are by no means the only offenders, but few articles seem to escape their clutches. I'll refrain from ranting about how this is a perfect example of why newspapers are dying out. If reading exclusives with made up quotes is annoying the first time round, it's even more infuriating when it's lazily rehashed over and over again. Is it the paper's fault or are they simply trying to compete in a market where news is free and less people are buying papers? It's a difficult question to answer, but they certainly aren't doing themselves any favours.
Tottenham target aims to remain in Spain (Marca – reported on Setanta)
In a decision that's unlikely to bring the football world to its knees, Atletico Madrid winger Maxi Rodriguez has rebuffed talk of a switch to White Hart Lane this summer.
It had been reported that, after falling out of love with David Bentley, Harry Redknapp had sounded out the Argentina ace for a rebound fling. Unsurprisingly, Mr Rodriguez already has a girlfriend and she likes hot weather and Champions League football.
The Atletico captain told Spanish newspaper Marca ambiguously: “We will have to see how everything goes.”
Before clarifying his stance: “I am very, very happy there. When I arrive for preseason I will do what the club wants me to do.”
Which we will have to assume won't involve him packing his bags and moving to N17.
Interest mounts in Pavlyuchenko (Stuttgarter Nachrichten)
Continuing on the theme of borrowing stories from foreign publications, Setanta reports that Bundesliga side Stuttgart have lined up Roman Pavlyuchenko as a replacement for the soon to be departed Mario Gomez.
For some reason Bayern Munich have decided one lumbering, paceless striker isn't enough and have signed Gomez for his passable impression of Luca Toni, who probably won't be hanging around for much longer anyway. Apparently a host of clubs, including us, are interested in his unique brand of heading glorious chances straight into goalkeepers' hands.
According to Stuttgarter Nachrichten, the German club's general manager, Horst Heldt, said: “Pavlyuchenko is an interesting player.
“His name has come up in discussions within the club.”
Right, well that clears that up then. It would seem, like their English counterparts, it isn't beneath German publications to print completely ambiguous not committal quotes that could mean anything. Besides, I thought Roman was off to Rome?