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Rumour Mill

The Departures Lounge: Roma cling on to de Rossi for dear life

Here’s your daily dose of transfer rumour, guesses and downright lies…

WITH TEN DAYS to go until the Sky Sports-fueled, giant iPad-driven, Jim White-centric festival that is transfer deadline day, that sound you hear coming from Premier League boardrooms is one of panic and desperation.

“That Michu lad looked a player at the weekend? Can we get someone like that for £2m?”

“Get on the phone to Moyesy and see how much Fellaini will set us back?”

“Anyone for Andy Carroll?”

Ah yes, the silly part of silly season is about to kick off in a big way.

Going…

The only club in the Premier League who arguably don’t need to strengthen, Manchester City are the ones hogging all the red-top headlines this fine Tuesday afternoon. Long-term target Daniele de Rossi now looks set to stay in Italy despite Roberto Mancini’s best efforts to lure him away from Roma with 30 million of Sheikh Mansour’s finest petrodollars.

But what that means for the future of Nigel de Jong in an already crowded City midfield is anyone’s guess. With the hard-hitting Dutchman out of contract in the summer of 2013, now might be the time to recoup some of the £18 million spent to bring him in from Hamburg three years ago. Both Milan clubs, Inter and AC, are known to be interested.

If he stays, Nige might well find himself sharing a dressing room pew with Scott Sinclair who is on the brink of agreeing a big-money move from Swansea. The champions are ready to pay in the region of £5m for the winger, 23, and Sinclair seems happy to force the issue by not committing to a new deal at the Liberty Stadium.

Going…

In more exciting (but less reliable) news, Fernando Llorente could be on his way from Athletic Bilbao to the Prem. The Telegraph have been speaking to the Spaniard’s agent who coyly revealed that “there are two [interested] clubs. One is in London, and one is in Manchester.” That narrows it down to about half the teams in the league so. Sorry, Liverpool fans.

Those on the red half of Merseyside can console themselves with the fact that they are apparently in the driving seat to sign Adam Johnson from Manchester City, according to the Independent. Does nobody think of Stewart Downing’s feelings when conjuring up rumours like this? Spurs, Sunderland and Everton are also in the £10m chase.

Andre Villas-Boas is ready to ship out the deadwood with Michael Dawson and Tom Huddlestone now surplus to requirements at White Hart Lane. Is the Hudd going out on loan to Stoke? Sky Sports seem to think so… so probably not.

Gone!

And now for some actual transfer news. One man already gone as part of the AVB reign of terror is Sebastian Bassong, who has joined Norwich City on a three-year deal. That’s about all of note apart from the semi-stale news that Arsenal’s Alex Song is officially a Barcelona player having completed his medical at the Camp Nou.

Until tomorrow, rumour lovers…

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