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Getting caught up in racism allegations doesn't help. True or not, the accusation lingering over you is enough distraction for the player and enough reason for the club to disassociate with the player very quickly.

Now you mention it, I did see something in the Metro about him. Until I see someone on Twitter claiming to know someone linked to the deal who's confirmed it, I refuse to believe it. Failing that, I'll go on Holiday in football manager and see if he ends up here.

Because he'll be overwhelmed of our stature moving from lowly Barcelona..

New type of pies available AND 10p off a cup of Bovril? Exciting times.

Another forward seems odd. I don't know Corriere dello Sport or how reliable they are.

@calciomercatoit: Aston Villa have lodged a bid in the region of £7.5M for SS Lazio's Keita Balde Diao. (Corriere dello Sport) #AVFC http://t.co/RSHOAlCDH2

Worse. Someone on Twitter who claims to know the person who knows Adama. Straight from the horse's, owner's, son's, classmate's, sisters', uncle's mouth. Can't argue evidence like that. In fact, I'm not even sure why I gave it the attention i did.

Someone on Spain claiming to know him has said he wants further talks with Barcelona to establish his future at the club before moving to England. Understandable. Signed for Barcelona, playing in their B team, approaching the age of pushing on into the first team, Barcelona in a transfer ban so a handful of injuries could see him given a chance, and then sold. I think he'd be more open to a loan, or a contract with a low buy back than a permanent transfer. I imagine it's gotta be difficult to leave Barcelona at this stage in a career.

Woah. Calm down there kids. Talking about the past. It's all about the present and we're on course to match Arsenal's invincibles by going season unbeaten. What happened prior to that is as irrelevant as the previous years where I haven't seduced Natalie Portman. But tonight I have my best shirt on, a bottle of Rioja and a pack of johnnies in my wallet.

Why would we want Ronaldo? We've got Adama Traore now. Ronaldo can go to somewhere like Stoke; a front 5 of Affaley, Bojan, Diouf, Shaqiri and Ronaldo wouldn't be too far behind ours.

I reckon West Brom lost tonight on purpose just to dent our title battle with City. Just cause they haven't won all season.

Was just about to post this. Strangely enough, Im Actually Looking forward to playing Manure on Friday I'm looking forward to the game. I'm not looking forward to it being on a Friday night. Very impressed with 'Gana' though. Looked assured, composed, and once he gets to grips with the movement going on around him from Ayew, Sinclair and Veretout, he's only going to have more impact on a game. Early days but so far looks a real improvement on Delph.

I was thinking the same. I'm guessing a release clause can have a pre determined buy back too.

Crespo was bought for his versatility I am sure, but doesn't mean to write him off. He'll be third choice right back, but can cover centre back, left back and even half decent in the holding mid apparently. I don't think he's under any illusions that he'll be first choice, we just need someone solid with no thrills we can call on when needed. For that role, I think he'll do well.

I still picture his signing negotiation with Tim in the style of a Hugh Bonneville W1A chat 'So, I made a pretty good name for myself as a right back' 'And I'd like to sign you!' 'Great. Except I'd like to play centre back' 'Oh?.. But you've no positional sense, you're a...' 'Centre back, otherwise I'll go West Ham' 'I'll see what I can do..' 'Centre back. And captain.' 'Err...' 'And the moon on a stick' 'Erm.. But that's...' '... Just kidding' 'Oh.' '.. But I still want captain.' 'I see'.

I refuse to believe it.

Make him captain please Tim.

Same here. It's a win-win for Barcelona and a lose-lose for us. We pay €15m, if he's good, he goes back to Barcelona for a similar amount (so essentially a loan), if he's crap, we paid €15m for him and get stuck with him. That's a bit black and white - for Barcelona to use their clause he would have to go on to be one of the greatest players we've ever had at this club. If he falls anywhere short of this this we would likely be left with a top quality player (just not good enough for Barca). He could be better than Young, Downing, Milner etc and still not be good enough for Barcelona to want him back. No, his value just has to raise to more than the buy back. If the buy back is €15m (about £11m) then he wouldn't have to be outstanding for Barcelona to probably be interested in buying him back just to sell him on for more money.

Wonder how well he got on with Bojan and Affaley.

Same here. It's a win-win for Barcelona and a lose-lose for us. We pay €15m, if he's good, he goes back to Barcelona for a similar amount (so essentially a loan), if he's crap, we paid €15m for him and get stuck with him.

Reckon Sinclair might get the nod ahead of him? He's in my draft fantasy team, I could do with transferring him out if he's not gonna play.. although God knows who to bring in instead :-/ Seems odd to not be playing a new 9m signing, but given how preseason has gone and that he looks to play the same position as Sinclair, it looks like he might be making his appearances from the bench to start with?

Thats a pretty old picture surely? If it is and he's posted that today then surely that's even more suspicious. Meeting up with him as an ex teammate for a drink could be totally un-villa related. Choosing to post an old picture unprompted amidst the recent speculation is very suspect. Of course, Stan could know nothing (or know there's nothing in this) and just loves seeing the response this gets. Or he's on a mission to force Spurs hand for the Adabeyor deal.

They'd spend the whole game moaning at each other for not running / passing to them

And I don't know who Guzman is.

Obviously a slow news day, given the chat what's occurred here these last few pages. It appears to be beards, Eredivisie and Victor Valdes. I'll check back again tomorrow.