Use pinch of salt in rumour mill

It was foggy last Sunday lunchtime in suburban Madrid, but reporters at Getafe v Rayo Vallecano could still make out the well wrapped-up figure of Phil Neville sitting in the plusher seats directly in front of the press box.

It was not immediately clear what Neville was doing at Getafe’s Coliseum Alfonso Perez, and the Manchester United coach didn’t speak to any of the journalists present. But, by process of elimination mostly, a consensus soon formed that United were interested in signing Saul Niguez, a very promising 19-year-old midfielder/defender on a season-long loan at Rayo from Atletico Madrid.

Saul’s representatives Bahia Internacional were happy to go along with this idea, telling the Daily Telegraph that Atletico was “a selling club” but admitted no actual contact had been made. These reports were soon quickly picked up by the Madrid media with Marca talking up a possible big money move by lunchtime on Monday.

This is not unusual. United may or may not fancy Saul, but reports of them chasing a young Spanish midfielder have been widespread this month with chief scout Robbie Cooke spotted at Atletico’s 1-0 win at Malaga (cue stories about Koke) and Athletic Bilbao’s 6-1 win at home to Almeria 6-1 (Ander Herrera again). At the time of writing no move has taken place, or even interest been publicly acknowledged, but under pressure United boss David Moyes has been shown to be clearly addressing his issues in the centre of the park so Neville and Cooke’s travels have already paid off.

Agents unsurprisingly often play a role in starting such speculation as has happened with the sudden recent burst of stories linking Osasuna midfielder Raoul Loe with a move to England. Loe, 23, was mostly unknown outside La Liga until stories appeared last week claiming a bunch of Premier League clubs were jostling to sign the ‘Osasuna ace’. The mystery cleared when experienced agent Willie McKay told Sky Sports: “I have been given the exclusive mandate from Osasuna to work on a deal for Raoul Loe in the UK.” Loe has yet to move either.

Often stories are based on even less, like when Sergio Aguero’s father Leonel Del Castillo talked to a Mundo Deportivo reporter after Manchester City’s 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on December 28. Del Castillo gave some nice quotes about how his son and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi had been ribbing each other ahead of their side’s upcoming Champions League games, but said “nada de nada [nothing at all]” when asked if his son might be interested in signing for Barca.

The Catalan paper reproduced these three words near the bottom of their story the following day, but when lifted back to the UK in translation the quote became a denial of a big money move was in the works. It is not, but that is beside the point.

Such back-and-forth between papers in different countries is constant, with extra information added, sometimes accurately but often not, each time a translation takes place. Spanish papers last week used ‘as reported in the English press’ to link Arsenal with Real Madrid youngster Alvaro Morata, Real Madrid with Wayne Rooney, Xavi Hernandez with new MLS franchise New York City and literally hundreds of less sensational but probably just as baseless stories.

No harm, perhaps, as everyone loves a good transfer rumour.

And clubs, players, managers, agents, family members, journalists, advertisers, travel agents and even fans are, it can be argued, part of an unacknowledged conspiracy to keep such soap opera storylines running.

But always keep in mind that, as reported in the Irish media today, 99% of this month’s transfer tittle-tattle is just cut and paste cannibalism.