Hot Football Transfer Gossip: Shanghai ‘rule out Rooney move’, Fabregas ‘available for loan’

Boss of Goss Kevin Darling on yet more bad news for the England captain and is the end nigh for Arsenal's favourite Chelsea player?....

 

Every self-respecting household has to have a Pot Noodle in the cupboard. You don’t eat it for your dinner, obviously. That would be a terrible state of affairs. Instead, you just leave it there - forever. It’s security. It’s the reassuring knowledge that, even if one day you have no other food in the house - whether due to poverty, nuclear war or mere forgetfulness - the Pot Noodle will be there.

But this morning, something awful has happened in Wayne Rooney’s house. The Manchester United captain has opened his cupboard to check on his Pot Noodle - and it’s gone!

Or put another way, the Sun has reported that Shanghai SIPG coach Sven Goran-Eriksson has ruled out any future move for Rooney.

This comes a day after USA legend Alexi Lalas urged MLS clubs not to buy England’s record goalscorer because he would be “stealing money” from the American people.

Even in Rooney’s darkest days sitting on the bench this season, whether for United or England, he could console himself with the fact he had not just one, but two Pot Noodles in the cupboard. China and the MLS.

They might have been difficult to stomach - given the glamorous ways he had previously become accustomed to - but they were better than nothing.

 

Yet Eriksson’s comments about signing Rooney seemed to have wiped that last resort from existence.

The Swede said, “There is absolutely nothing in it, zero. It is not something we have ever even spoken about at the club — and we have been discussing our options for next season a lot.”

All of which could leave Rooney scrambling behind the back of the sofa looking for crisp crumbs come the end of the season.

How the mighty have fallen. And another former giant whose season is not panning out the way he wanted is Cesc Fabregas.

The Times reports that Chelsea are willing to loan out the midfielder in January and "may even subsidise his wages” to ensure someone takes him.

The Spaniard is said to be the Blues’ third highest-paid player, after Eden Hazard and Diego Costa, on wages of £160,000 a week, and the club have decided this is an “unjustifiable outlay” on a man who has only started one league game all season.

Milan and Juventus are interested, but Fabregas is said to be “happy in London”.

Much of today’s other gossip concerns players who will not be moving to new clubs, with West Ham’s beloved Alexandre Lacazette being offered a new contract at Lyon (Mirror), Man Utd target Goncalo Guedes pledging his future to Benfica (Star) and Old Trafford outcast Henrikh Mkhitaryan categorically “not for sale” (Squawka).

Elsewhere, Marseille have joined Liverpool in the race for Inter Milan midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia (Talksport), Tottenham considering a January loan move for Real Madrid playmaker Isco (Mirror) and Frank de Boer is set to be sacked by Inter today “by conference call” (Gazzetta dello Sport). Hopefully Frank has got a Pot Noodle in the cupboard, just to make himself feel a bit better