JOE’s Transfer Wrap: Gareth Bale, the £150 million man

It might be Sunday morning, but there's no room for the small fry. Today's transfer wrap-up has big names and lots of them.

Now we’re talking. It’s the penultimate weekend of the transfer window and the Sunday papers have upped their game and cranked the rumour mill into full flow with suggestions that some mighty big names could be on the move.

With all due respect to the more average players and the smaller clubs out there, there won’t be many football fans discussing James Bailey’s proposed move away from Derby County, but Manchester City potentially forking out £150 million for Gareth Bale is bound to get tongues wagging.

You can read more about the frankly ludicrous price Spurs are supposed to have put on Bale’s head here, but needless to say there’s not an awful lot of foundation behind the story and the Sunday Mirror have outdone themselves on this occasion.

Staying with Spurs, it’s not only Bale that could be on his way out of White Hart Lane, Luka Modric might be getting itchy feet as well. Chelsea’s links to the brilliant Croatian are well known, but the rumour mill is suggesting this morning that Manchester United are about to muscle their way in with a £50 million bid.

Again, there’s not an awful lot to suggest that this is the case, merely putting two (United’s already weak midfield) and two (Modric’s excellence) together and making five.

Star of the show in the Premier League yesterday was Irish captain Robbie Keane and the Dubliner put the proverbial two fingers up to anyone who scoffed at his ability to thrive in the Premier League with two thunderbolts to help Villa to victory against a Wolves team as similarly well-endowed with Irishmen the Villains.

Alex Keane on Robbie

Not surprisingly, Big Eck wants Robbie for more than the couple of months he’ll spend in the midlands, but whether Robbie a) wants a move back to England or b) could convince his LA Galaxy paymasters to let him play soccerball somewhere else remains to be seen. More on that one here.

While the performance of old Bob was the major talking point for Irish fans, there would have been plenty of Liverpool fans on this side of the water fuming at the insipid nature of the Reds’ capitulation against Bolton of all teams.

Kenny Dalglish reportedly read the riot act to his underperforming players after the horror show at the Reebok and as their major problem is sticking the ball in the onion sack, you’d imagine the logical solution would be to enhance their strikeforce, not further deplete it.

Not so, according to The People, who reckon that Liverpool are prepared to offload their best player Luis Suarez, who they claim is “damaged goods” as a result of the whole Patrice Evra racism scandal. They claim that Real Madrid and Inter are ready to pounce should Liverpool get rid, unlikely and all as that sounds.

Still if it does come about, Liverpool fans should keep the chins up, they’ve got big Andy in reserve after all.