What's hot and what's not on the great transfer grapevine?
Sunderland boss Howard Wilkinson just about hit the nail squarely on the head when he said of the current state of the transfer market..'instead of a transfer window, it's almost like a swap shop', in clear reference to the number of loan deals which have taken place since the start of January.
Steve Bruce, who has secured a few loan moves of his own at Birmingham, may have landed Matthew Upson from Arsenal on a permanent basis, finally, but there's precious little in the way of hard cash changing hands at the moment and Wilko added: "I don't see a massive acceleration taking place and there has not been frantic movement in the first few weeks of the transfer window."
Birmingham boss Bruce though was delighted to have at last persuaded Arsenal's highly-rated defender in a deal which could end up costing the Blues £3m, despite an 11th hour showing from Leeds. Bruce has been working overtime to strengthen a defence decimated by injuries and was expected to unveil Upson this afternoon.
Leeds boss Terry Venables, meanwhile, is 'beside himself with anger' at the prospect of losing defender Jonathan Woodgate to Newcastle and he has warned the United board: "I will be seriously unhappy if he goes, but I will do everything within my power, and more, to keep him."
Just in case Venables loses that particular power struggle, so soon after Lee Bowyer's departure to West Ham and the breakdown of Robbie Fowler's proposed move to Manchester City, the Leeds boss is believed to be lining up a replacement for Woodgate in the shape of Independiente's highly-rated Gabriel Milito.
The Argentinian club, however, want £6million for the 22-year-old, and that is way in advance of what Leeds would be prepared to offer in the current climate. Milito himself has gone on record as saying: "My agent has told me there has been interest from Leeds. Of course, I would love to play in England, as it's one of the biggest leagues in the world."
Once again, a loan move with a view to a later permanent deal might be the solution, but one loan deal which wont be happening is that of Juan Pablo Angel from Aston Villa to Real Betis. Villa stressed on Tuesday they would not be looking for any loan deal and want to recoup a sizeable chunk of the £9.5million they paid to River Plate two years ago.
Elsewhere, Arsenal are making a move to sign Brazilian keeper Marcos; Slovak international Vratislav Gresko could be going to Blackburn; and Bolton could be set to sign Pierre-Yves Andre from Nantes.
