Unfortunately, although these people usually assure us that they are not just getting it from the tabloids but instead from "someone in the know who is rarely wrong", I can't help feeling that that someone is in 99% of those cases just someone down the pub, who in turn claims inside knowledge but is in fact getting it from the tabloids (or another someone down the pub). And in the remaining 1% they've read Arseweb's dismissal of the story, forgotten both the sceptical nature of the article and where they read it, and are emailing it back to us as a positive rumour.

Anyway, all 3 rumours have been going for some time now. The Angel one coincided with him suddenly finding his form at Villa. He now says he's excited by the link and that speculation is not a bad thing, but that he's still a Villa player so he hopes Villa fans won't boo him. Of course, these are the kind of quotes which you can spin any way you like. But if he does continue to develop, the chances are that the Colombian will end up somewhere other than Villa. He knows it, O'Leary knows it, and so do the Villa fans.

I have a feeling however, that someone just misunderstood something they heard about Wenger putting an Angel on top of the xmas tree, and assumed that Arsenal were not only signing the player but making him the spearhead of a new Venables-style formation in front of Henry and Bergkamp (I hope to be hearing that one again soon, told to me earnestly down the pub).

Dutch trouble-maker Kluivert is a dead cert, having been seen buying a house in Avenell Road and applying for a residents parking permit. According to "reports", it is "common knowledge" in Barcelona that he is on his way to Arsenal.

Cameroon star Samuel Eto'o is the most interesting rumour, and by talking about us getting him in the summer it by-passes the old "but Arsene said he's not buying anyone in the transfer window" ploy. The story from Spain is that Real Madrid are hoping to use the 22 year-old to get hold of Thierry Henry at the end of the season. As a product of Real Madrid's youth system, they have retained a 50% share of his transfer value despite the fact that he is now a Real Mallorca player. So if we did buy Eto'o, we'd owe Madrid some money which they could offer to forego as part of the Henry deal. Don't worry, it's not going to happen. At least, the offer of the estimated £7million half-share in Eto'o does not make the estimated £50million+ transfer of Henry any more likely than it was before you started reading this article (remember then? you weren't worried about us selling Henry in the summer back then, were you?). It's also worth noting that Real Madrid's interest in Eto'o is purely financial, they have no say whatsoever in his destination when he leaves Mallorca (although a scurrilous rumour-monger could point out that Madrid's goodwill could be worth something to Mallorca.... ooooh it must be true). The Eto'o part of this story we like (he is a terrific player), but the Henry part makes it smack of stirring on the part of Real Madrid and Spanish journalists.

And that's the trouble with the Kluivert and Eto'o stories. While they come with all sorts of beguiling detail, they come out of Spain, and anyone who's followed our coverage of transfer rumours for the last 10 years, or who remembers the Vieira and Beckham sagas of recent years, will know what that means. In our experience the Spanish football world's transfer mill is more bullshit than any other, if only because Real Madrid and Barcelona deliberately use it to try to make stuff happen, with an energy that goes beyond anything we know in this country.

You never know, we might sign any of these 3 strikers. The only way I can see it happening in the transfer window would be something like a part-exchange involving Wiltord and Angel (in order not to lose Sylvain for nothing in the summer, and Angel because he's not cup-tied in europe), but that is a hell of a long shot. Whatever ends up happening is not made any more likely by the current spate of "strong" rumours.

4 days into the transfer window and we've signed 3 strikers already!