It's the time of the season when rumour fatigue sets in. With the January window a distant dream the tabloids can't bring themselves to drum up any tittle-tattle related enthusiasm. Even dubiously sourced websites struggle to suggest the most paltry of links. But fortunately (for everyone) the agents, "close personal friends" and even the players themselves are more than happy to fill the void.
Take Genk's South Africa defender Anele Ngcongca. "I have to be honest, there are a couple of teams interested in me and to become a top player you have to play amongst the best players," he said. "When we played Porto there were scouts from Manchester City and they were talking about this young South African guy and it has been hitting the newspapers here in Belgium." We'll assume, as Anele has, that they were referring to him.
Former Birmingham City hitman Mauro Zárate has had a "close friend" whipping up interest. "If he leaves Rome, he could consider Spain, he should go to Real," said José Alberti (an agent, but not Zárate's agent) somewhat optimistically. "He has told me he wants to succeed with Lazio in Italy. But from what has happened to him lately, I can see him far from Italy."
Alberti then told Italian radio: "Personally I know that Tottenham would be willing to still take the player. About a month ago I spoke with someone who knows a lot in those parts, who assured me that Spurs were ready to offer around €25m for Zárate. Spartak Moscow also asked me about him."
Arsenal are at the head of a queue of teams looking to sign scary-eyed winger Jesús Navas. Juventus, Barcelona, Chelsea and Real Madrid are also interezzzzzzzz … and Juventus, Liverpool and Manchester United are set to battle it out for Real Madrid's Karim Benzzzzzzz …
Tottenham are tipping all the 20p pieces out of the Quality Street tub by their bed, in the hope of collecting up £6m to splash on Newcastle's Andy Carroll.
And Villarreal's Giuseppe Rossi is a January target for Lazio, presumably as long as José Alberti's close personal friend heads out of Rome.