WHAT A LOAD OF BOLOGNESE
We are in the situation here where someone is lying and someone is telling the truth. Bologna president Giuseppe Gazzoni has claimed Arsenal are vying with Inter Milan to buy Roberto Baggio and pay him £6m over the next three seasons, as cover for Dennis Bergkamp in any Champions League away matches that it would be tricky for the non-flying Dutchman to reach. Arsenal, however, have scotched these stories, saying that they are not interested in old Italians (he is 31) when manager Arsene Wenger's policy has always been youngsters.
The chances of Robbie leaving us have unfortunately risen to 99.9%,'' Gazzoni said. ''Arsenal and Inter are offering him something that we can't: the Champions League. It's a bit more prestigious than the InterToto Cup, but we haven't given up yet. I've given his manager our latest offer in writing - a 35% pay rise and provisions for when he stops playing. We obviously want to keep him: he can do things with his feet that other people can't even do with their hands, but we can't afford the kind of money Arsenal are offering him.''
Inter, who want to team Baggio with Ronaldo, are going to offer £4m over the same period, but the player is expected to take it because he's never showed any interest in leaving Italy. The Milan giants could sweeten the deal by loaning squad players like Nigeria's Nwankwo Kanu, who can't get in their club side but are fully-fledged internationals, to Bologna.
Gazzoni wouldn't be trying to hike up Baggio's valuation would he?

STAN PROMISES TO DO BETTER NEXT TIME. AGAIN
Cheer up Villa fans, Stan Collymore says that the rumours he's already on his way out of the club is all but over are rubbish and that he'll do much better than his mighty haul of eight goals next season. There's something we haven't heard before!
Collymore, who joined his boyhood heroes from Liverpool for £7m a year ago, dismissed reports that manager John Gregory was looking to off-load him. "I love being a Villa player., he said, a refrain that will seem oddly familiar to Liverpool supporters. I know that I haven't done myself justice but I know that I can do the business for the club and I will be going flat out to do that next season. I am the first to admit that these 12 months have not been the best for me, on or off the pitch. But I have learned a lot from what has happened, and that will stand me in good stead in the future. I will be looking to score goals in the kind of numbers that I did not manage last season."

HAMMERS ARE BRAZIL NUTS
West Ham are chasing a Brazilian World Cup winner to help get them over the hump and into the UEFA Cup next season. No, don't expect to bump into Romario or Bebeto in The Blind Beggar pub or a Brick Lane curry house, Harry Redknapp is apparently negotiating with 33-year-old goalkeeper Claudio Taffarel, although the players says, There is nothing concrete yet. The Hammers will certainly be on the lookout for an experienced keeper having seen French international return to Paris St Germain at the end of his recent loan spell.

'GAZZA A MANAGER? BE SERIOUS!'
We all had a good chuckle on Monday at the thought of Paul Gascoigne becoming a football manager, but his close friend and former Spurs teammate Gary Mabbutt says Gazza's claims prove that he isn't the drunken kebab-guzzling dunderhead too much of the media makes him out to be. ''It is a good sign from Paul that he is thinking along those lines, Mabbutt claimed. It is positive in terms of the maturity he is showing. But… Paul still enjoys a laugh and a joke, if he became a manager he would have to change. The skills you need for each are totally different, the way you behave has to be totally different. You are no longer one of the chaps in the dressing room, you are out on your own in with all the team selections and the training. Paul couldn't take too much of his jocular nature with him as a manager. I don't think we should be talking about him in terms of management just yet.''