“Pep Guardiola agrees personal terms with Juventus”. Yep, that was a headline early last week, made up by some pathetic publication and boy did it do the rounds!
Unscrupulous journalists plagiarised the story, quoting “sources” ranging from a coffee shop in Turin, to the lucky young lady who bleached Pep’s naught recently.
Then on Sunday, apparently Chelsea’s Maurizio Sarri had also signed a pre-contractual agreement for the very same club?
I mean, I’m in the same position, I guess I could do exactly the same.
Perhaps I should start coming up with “exclusives” to try and grow some interest in what I write?
Or maybe I should make up an unbelievably crazy story about the biggest club in England employing a trainee coach, who screws everything up after half a season? Oh hold on a minute.
Anyway, as always, my advice is stop getting turned on by transfer speculation, because 9 out of 10 times you’re gonna be disappointed and look like a right plonker for boasting that your club is about to make a marquee signing.
I guess my irritation is amplified right now because it looks like Chelsea aren’t going to appeal the transfer ban imposed by Fifa in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
I’ve got nothing to look forward to, in fact, I’m just counting the days I can still say Eden Hazard is a Chelsea player, despite the club holding out for £130m to bag off Real Madrid with only 12 months left on his contract.
RUMOURS OF MOVE: Man City's Pep Guardiola. David Klein/Reuters.
In the meantime, we have the Europa League final to contest (Wednesday night at 9pm).
I still can’t believe the board sanctioned a trip to the USA instead of giving the players a rest.
OK, it was for a good cause, supporting the fight against anti-Semitism, but why not schedule that after the season is properly closed, or better still as part of pre-season warm-ups?
Losing our most in-form player, Callum Hudson-Odoi, will hopefully teach those "upstairs" not to make such a frikkin' stupid decision again.
As mentioned last week, I'm not really that bothered about the Europa League final now that we’ve secured Champions League Football.
Adding to that, the way fans are being treated over ticket allocation and travel costs puts me off completely.
It’ll be good to see the Gunners kept out of the Champions League next year, though.
The big one is of course on Saturday night and I’m certainly looking forward to that.
It’s strange, paging through websites and papers, it all seems a bit quiet.
Not the usual daily barrage of associated news. It feels like that old, "calm before the storm" scenario.
Such a huge game, so much at stake.
In this modern age of football, a Champions League win can create something very special for the winners: the money, marketing, player boost is immeasurable.
The fact that both clubs aren’t achieving silverware makes it that much more interesting - that much more desperate.
I’m still convinced that Tottenham don’t quite have enough to stop the bubbling Reds.
But of course, on the night anything can happen.
Mauricio Pochettino and Jurgen Klopp have met nine times before with the German enjoying an edge in the stats, having played 9, won 4, drawn 4 and lost 1.
He’ll feel that his side have the beating of Spurs, but Poch is no mug, despite a poor run-in at the end of the season.
His masterful turnaround of a brilliant young Ajax side will have brought strength and belief.
Will we see both sides playing as they do in the Premier League? Are they gonna go toe to toe? High press? Will there be goals?
I’d say a big yes to all of that (and more)! Let’s hope the magnitude of the occasion doesn’t subdue the attacking philosophy of these two brilliant coaches.
It’s titanic. I haven’t looked forward to a CL Final like this since Chelsea (somehow) beat Bayern in their own backyard in 2013.
I’ll be at The Blue Whistle on Saturday night to down a couple at full-time singing “You’ll never walk alone”!