Let the rumours begin...

I thought that it would be a relatively quiet time club wise at the moment with focus switching to the World Cup, but the past day has seen a few rumours flying about.

First up is one from Aston Villa blog which suggests that we could make a move for Juan-Pablo Angel to re-unite his partnership with Darius Vassell. First I've heard of this and I don't see Pearce making this move as money would be better spent elsewhere.

Following on from his omission from the England squad, it was to be expected that the return of SWP would be bandied about, and Stuart Pearce has not hidden a desire to take him back if the circumstances are right. There is no way we can afford to sign him on a permanent basis, and I don't see Chelsea benefitting from a loan deal so again a long shot for me. Added to this is the quote from Peter Kenyon which says three players will leave Chelsea over the summer but 'Wright-Phillips won't be one of them'.

As equally unsurprising as the SWP link was the City back in for Malbranque rumour once Malbranque was placed on the transfer list. Could we afford him though? I think he will be eyeing a move to a Champions League side and I've heard Celtic may be tempted to make a move, but perhaps Fulham would be tempted into a swap deal for Sylvain Distin as has been suggested. Personally I would be against this and would much prefer us to through Joey Barton into any swap deal (even if we had to stump up some cash on top as well).

And finally, if this is true and not merely 'newspaper spin' on a throwaway comment then I cannot believe that Pearce would admit to it.