Football transfer rumours: Ruud van Nistelrooy to West Ham or Spurs | Barry Glendenning
Today's tell-all promises so much, but delivers so little
Good morning. Today's Rumours overslept, so you'll have to go without today's pointless opening paragraph o'fun. But then who needs one, when the word on the street is that Ruud van Nistelrooy has decided against pledging his future to an East End club joint-owned by a pair of rhythm mag publishers, one of whom has a fondness for the kind of burgundy crushed velvet dinner jackets made trendy by Bernard Manning in the 1970s. Despite West Ham's offer of £100,00-per-week, the Dutch international striker will definitely sign for Spurs. Maybe.
Having declared at the end of December that the chances of him buying anyone in this transfer window were "very, very, very, very slim" on New Year's Eve, Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp is emphatically not assembling a £10m ransom in the hope of securing the release of Younes Kaboul from Fratton Park. The visage of the permanently surprised looking Portsmouth defender can also be seen on "Wanted" posters near Sunderland's Stadium of Light and Manchester City's Eastlands. Redknapp is also completely uninterested in Palermo's blond, blue eyed Danish centre-half Simon Kjaer, who is on the market for £11m, but apparently looking for too much in the weekly wedge department. And you can also add Juve defender Giorgio Chiellini to the increasingly long list of players that Harry Redknapp won't be enquiring after, not least because the player's agent was in Manchester for the Carling Cup semi-final on Wednesday night. "I was invited by the two clubs and I was pleased to see a good match," said Davide "Son of Marcello" Lippi, holding his cards very close to his chest.
Having become as much a daily staple in the current transfer window's Rumour Mills as Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Barry were this time last year, Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh has decided he enjoys the attention being lavished on him so much that he's not going to decide where he's off to until the last minute. He's told Arsenal and Liverpool he'll choose between them at the month, at which point hopefully both of them will tell him to sling it.
Rumours linking Kris Boyd with a move to Aston Villa have been greatly exaggerated, claim Aston Villa, who according to the Independent have "distanced themselves" from talk that they're close to signing the rangers striker who broke Henrik Larsson's all-time Scottish Premier League record of 158 goals when he netted 41 times in a 56-3 smiting of Dundee United in December*.
The prospect of hearing 47,000 Mackems singing "Sunday, Monday Habib Beye! Tuesday, Wednesday Habib Beye! Thursday, Friday Habib Beye!" is becoming increasingly real, what with Sunderland boss Steve Bruce wanting to bolster his decidedly porous backline and Martin O'Neill being willing to let the French born Senegalese leave Villa Park for £1.8m. Bruce also likes the cut of Middlesbrough winger Adam Johnson's jib, but will have to clash antlers with Mick McCarthy and Carlo Ancelotti if he's to secure the 22-year-old's John Hancock.
The Express reveals that Burnley manager Brian Laws is hoping that Portsmouth see "common sense" and let David Nugent stay on loan at Turf Moor until the end of the season. With all the evidence suggesting that common sense is thinner on the ground at Fratton Park than promptly delivered pay-slips, the Rumour Mill can't help but feel that if Laws had kept schtum, there's a very good chance Pompey would have forgotten that Nugent is their player.
West Ham and Birmingham are both interested in bringing out-of-favour Milan striker Klaus Jan Huntelaar to the Premier League on a loan spell, while the player's agent has confirmed that his client is eager to go to a club willing to give him first team football so that he can guarantee his place in the Dutch World Cup squad. Marco Ruben's chances of securing a berth on Holland's plane to South Africa are considerably slimmer, not least because he's Argentinian. The striker does, however, remain hopeful that Roberto Martinez will pluck him from Villarreal reserves and give him a chance at Wigan.
Despite being openly courted by Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini, Real Madrid's lank-haired Argentinian midfielder Fernando Gago has announced that he wants to sign for Boca Juniors. "There are many teams that want to have him," said the player's agent, Marcelo Lombilla. "He knows that if he returned to Boca, he would play regularly, which is what he needs. Money is not important to him. He wants to play regularly before the World Cup."
Meanwhile in Italy, Roma technical director Bruno Conti has quelled speculation linking midfielder Daniele De Rossi with a move to Real Madrid in the summer. "We have never been in talks with the Spanish side's directors to sell our vice-captain," he said. "Daniee is settled in Rome and won't be going anywhere. We are not planning to release him."
So that's that, then. So long, sock-suckers.
* This is not strictly true.
