Well, media outlets need something to fill their pages, right? So, let’s see what rumours are doing the rounds today...
According to the Manchester Evening News, Wilfried Bony’s agent has dismissed suggestion the Ivorian could leave in January.
Swansea and West Ham had reportedly been keen to secure the striker’s services but Francis Kacou has told press a move is not on the cards.
“Wilfried will stay at Manchester City,” he said. “They are all just rumours.
“A departure this winter was never on the agenda, and City simply wouldn’t sell him.
“He has been injured often since arriving at the club, but he still has eight goals this season in 23 appearances, of which only 14 were starts.”
However, when asked about the prospect of an end-of-season switch, he replied: “We will both have to see what the situation is in the summer.”
Elsewhere, ESPN claim alleged target Julian Weigl has no desire to swap Dortmund for Manchester any time soon.
“I really don’t plan on leaving Borussia,” he stated. “It’s just not an issue for me.
“I can only stress that I am under contract at BVB until 2019, and I still want to achieve a lot with this club.”
Dortmund’s sporting director Michael Zorc also asserted Weigl “will play for us for a long time.”
So, I guess that’s the end of that!
In other news, talkSPORT believe City are set to do battle for the signing of Fulham starlet Moussa Dembele.
An article on the radio station’s website reads: “Manchester City and Tottenham are also tracking the exciting young striker and a bidding war could ensue once the Italian side [Juventus] kicks of proceedings with a nominal bid.
“Wolfsburg and Monaco are also watching the 19-year-old Frenchman, who is out of contract this summer.
“If Fulham are to get anything for the former Paris Saint-Germain youngster then they will have to cash in this month or risk losing him for free in the summer.
“In the wake of Southampton parting with £4m to land Charlie Austin, the QPR striker who found himself in a similar contract situation, an opening bid of £3m looks fair for the youngster.
“But Fulham will hope, if they can’t convince the teenager to stay, that clubs across Europe start making calls and driving up the price of their star man.”
Finally, it’s reported in the Metro Barcelona were interested in signing Sergio Aguero - hardly surprising! - before opting to move for Luis Suarez.
Mark Brus explains: “In an interview with Marca, former club director of football Andoni Zubizarreta made the revelation that Suarez was not the Catalan giants’ first choice.”
‘We had some options,” he conceded. “The first was not Suarez … In winter, we considered the signing of Aguero.”
Brus continues: “Both players have been among the best in the world in recent years, but Suarez’s superb form since moving to Barca means the club are unlikely to regret missing out on Aguero.
“The Uruguayan has a superior goal record since both players were playing in England together.”
That’s all for today. There’ll be more transfer gossip at the same time tomorrow morning…
