As reported on here yesterday we're interested in re-signing Peter Crouch. Peter Storrie made a cheeky comment on the Official Site about how we'd have to "watch this space", whilst Harry Redknapp has already said it would take "silly money" to tempt Crouch away from St Mary's. Well yes Harry, YOU might say that, but I'd imagine Rupert and his boardroom buddies will take the first offer.
This story has also given the gutter rags research departments a chance to go mental; we can forgive The Daily Mail for incorrectly stating how many goals Crouch scored during his last spell at Fratton, but quite how The Mirror decided that Crouch helped us to promotion before being sold is another thing altogether. Obviously the ten seconds it would've taken to check Soccerbase.com and realise he was already a distant memory by the time we went up were ten seconds better spent making up some rumours or producing a Big Brother special pull-out.
Elsewhere, Gary O'Neil's agent has claimed that the England U21 captain is happy at Portsmouth and has no desire to move. Rafa Benitez is apparently a big admirer of O'Neil but it's believed he's going to chase the horrifically over-rated Owen Hargreaves instead because he'll probably be a bit cheaper; his contract at Bayern is up next year.
Whilst it was nice to hear a representative of a professional footballer say all the right things - "Gary remains 100 percent committed to Portsmouth", "He's very happy at the club", "Gary is very content at Portsmouth" - there were also a couple of minor worrying statements if you read between the lines (and I do). I refer to Exhibit A; "There has been nothing hard and fast put on the table in any case. At the moment it is just an enquiry."
At the moment? So it'll be time to talk personal terms within a week then! Well, providing O'Neil hasn't wormed his way into the England B Team tour of USA. Sorry, I forgot - he doesn't play for a big enough/London club!
What a cynic I am.
The only other news at the moment is that Middlesbrough Chief Executive Keith Lamb told Sky Sports News that there were still a couple of bits and pieces to be ironed out with the Yakubu deal, but even so we all know it's finished business. No doubt they're just trying to find a wheelbarrow big enough for him to carry his money home in, or have encountered Barry Silkman in the boardroom with a big brown sack with "SWAG" written on the side.
Stay tuned for more updates as and when anything of interest happens - and what with this being the first week of pre-season, that could be some time.