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Newcastle United's Joey Barton arrives at Newcastle's training ground. Owen Humphreys/PA Wire/Press Association Images
Ins and outs

The Departures Lounge: your daily lunchtime transfer round-up

Find out which club Joe Cole is signing for on loan, what looks like being Robbie Keane’s latest destination and which club Shane Long is set to turn down.

IT SEEMS TOTTENHAM rate Christopher Samba quite highly.

The London side, it appears, are prepared to offer half their team for the lanky centre-half… Well, not exactly, but they are willing to part with Robbie Keane, Jermain Defoe, Sebastien Bassong or David Bentley.

Meanwhile, Neymar – aka the player who’s wanted by everyone who’s anyone in Europe – has been told to stay with Santos by none other than Pele. The Brazilian legend previously warned Premier League clubs that the 19-year-old was a bit of a prima donna.

Normally I’d complain about someone trying to run a player’s life, but this classic effort has earned Pele the right to do almost anything.

The ongoing Cesc Fabregas story is now being overshadowed by the sub-plot of whether journalists will include the accent in his name – we don’t, The Irish Times don’t, but the Guardian do – yes, I am that bored of the actual transfer saga. But I might as well add that Barcelona are now making a £35million bid for the Spaniard.

Meanwhile, Joe Cole may be on his way to QPR on loan, with Kenny Dalglish finally realising that his side have about ten midfielders too many.

Not to imply they haven’t been working intensively over the summer in an attempt to rid themselves of the curse known as Alberto Aquilani. AC Milan are the latest club allegedly interested in the Italian.

Speaking of expensive-but-unwanted foreign acquisitions, Alex Ferguson has admitted he won’t exactly go out of his way to prevent Dimitar Berbatov from joining Paris St Germain.

A host of top clubs and Leicester are currently interested in signing Shane Long. It’s no surprise, therefore, that the striker looks set to turn down the latter club, according to the Irish Sun (print edition).

Ill-advised transfer of the day: Arsenal need a defender, but is Scott Dann really the right man to finally fill Tony Adams’ boots? Somehow, I doubt it, given Birmingham’s less-than-solid defensive displays last year.

Advised transfer of the day: Joey Barton to anywhere: he may be a bit of a maverick, but based on his performances last season, he is well worth signing on a free.

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