Green Gossip and Riga Rumours

A quietish weekend for transfer gossip was understandably focussed on 'keeper Robert Green...

A number of sources claim that Green's statement that he felt "undervalued" at the Boleyn Ground has alerted Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill who is in the market for a new custodian having said goodbye to the erratic Scott Carson.

Green's comments, which appeared in Friday's Sun, initially gained some sympathy with supporters but the mood changed with United's revelation that he had signed a new deal only a year previously. Villa had been linked with Blackburn's Brad Friedel but this deal seems to have stalled, apparently due to intransigence on the part of our old friend Paul Ince.

Should Green depart, Fulham's Finnish no.1 Antti Niemi could be a replacement. The former Southampton stopper is said to be looking for a departure from Craven Cottage, though Juventus and Liverpool are both said to have expressed an interest, though it is not known whether Liverpool have bothered with the niceties of making any official (rather than an illegal) approach - well there's a first time for everything.

Out on the pitch, there is still no official news of Valon Behrami, though a number of newspapers and tv sources have insisted that a deal to bring the Swiss international to the Boleyn for anywhere between £1m and £7m (depending on who you want to believe)is close to being announced.

Another foreign player allegedly being linked with a move to E13 is Levante winger Riga Mustapha. Apparently he hasn't been paid by the Spanish outfit for 8 months - and Rob Green feels undervalued! The lack of pay means that the 26 year-old Ghanaian-born Dutch U21 international would be allowed to cancel his contract unilaterally under FIFA's current anti-slavery rules. Reports suggest that the winger is also being linked with West Brom so it's not clear at the moment if this is a genuine link or merely a matter of somebody hearing the word "West" and immediately thinking of Green Street.

More "news" as and when we receive it....